Hugo Rodriguez Dominguez October 14, 2019
English Freshman Composition
Professor Duran
Perhaps one of the most notable and important cases to reach the Supreme Court would be that of Brown vs The Board Of Education (1954). This case was regarding the issue of school segregation in the United States. Thurgood Marshall would handle this case and argued the segregation between white and black students in schools was unconstitutional and the case had gained massive traction. This case arose due to multiple other cases that had occurred in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington DC as tension on segregated school systems in the US grew. The case was argued for a period of two years until May 17, 1954 when Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren announced a unanimous decision that segregated schools in the US was a violation of the 14th amendment and therefore, it would be unconstitutional. Currently, since then there seems to be opposing views on whether or not the result of this case has been enforced throughout the US school systems. Some claim the school systems remain segregated but it’s just more subtle. Others may say, schools are no longer segregated and the result of Brown vs Board of Education has been enforced. The way school systems operates in the US vary depending on the state, such as Chicago, New York and California. Since the conclusion of Brown vs Board of Education, the way school systems operate has transformed to a more modern way of segregation. Schools across the US remain separated and unfair to particular students and it is shown across different schools all over the nation. The question is whether the decision made in Brown vs Board of Education has been enforced in the US or it hasn’t.
Brown vs Board of Education was an important turning point for desegregating the US at the time. The buildup to this case is what sparked so much attention and importance to it because the decision would make a huge impact to the Civil Rights Movement. It began with Plessy vs Ferguson in 1896 when the Supreme Court ruled segregated public places constitutional so long as the places for both blacks and white were equal. This led to the “Jim Crow Laws” which essentially barred African American students from going to school with white students as well as other restrictions. These laws would remain intact and unchallenged up until the 1950’s when NAACP decided to challenge the laws on behalf of Delaware, South Carolina, and Virginia. Amongst the cases Oliver Brown’s case stood out as he filed a lawsuit against the Board of Education because his daughter, Linda Brown was denied entry to an all white school in Topeka, Kansas. The Supreme Court justices were unclear and divided on what to rule in which Fred Vinson insisted the decision of Plessy vs Ferguson should stand. It wasn’t until Vinson’s death in which Earl Warren would take his spot would help persuade the rest of the Supreme Court Justices to rule in favor of Brown and declared segregated schools unconstitutional and a violation of the 14th amendment. The aftermath of the case was chaotic, as states in the South chose to resist and remain segregated while other states chose to comply. The Supreme Court never declared a way in which they would ensure schools wouldn’t be racially segregated any longer which left some states the option to resist and not comply. As a result, the case itself did not immediately end segregation in schools but it was a huge victory for Civil Right activists and caused a sense of inspiration. Iconic national figures such as Rosa Parks or Martin Luther King rose after the ruling of the case and helped advance the Civil Rights movement further.
Despite the result of Brown vs Board of Education it has not been actively enforced throughout the US since. The New York City public system is a clear example of how modern segregation still exists in schools. According to an article from HETS Online Journal titled, “Inequities in public education sustainability threatened: still separate and unequal” it says that as of March 2012 there are 1.1 milliomn public school students in which 405 are Hispanic, 32% are Black, 14% are Asian, and 14% are White. Given this information it is clear that New York City has a diversity of students attending public schools yet why do most Hispanics and Black students attend a school with a very few percentage of White students. The article also says, “New York State is the most segregated state for black and Latino children in America: seven out of eight black and Latino kids here go to segregated schools. The majority of them go to schools where no more than two to four percent of the children are white…. The level of segregation statewide is due largely to New York City, which is probably the country’s most segregated city.” This illustrates how segregation still exists in the US, in this case NYC as some schools will primarily be populated by Asians and Whites and others may be populated dominantly by Hispanics and Blacks. To continue, from 2018-2019 things remain the same, NYC public school remain racially segregated. The population of NYS public school students remains the same at 1.1 million and white students tend to be in schools with other white students while Black and Hispanic students tend to go to a different set of schools. As stated in an article in Fordham Law Journal, “The UCLA Study found that in the New York Metro area, over the last twenty years, white students have become increasingly “overexposed” to white students, and black students have become increasingly “underexposed” to white students.” As shown, segregation remains in NYC public schools because white students become accustomed to going to school with other fellow white students while Hispanic and Black students rarely have many classmates who are white. With those ideas in mind, it is safe to say NYC has not really actively enforced the result of Brown vs Board of Education as schools in New York remain segregated with a particular race of students tend to go to school together despite the diversity of students attending public schools.
In continuation, Chicago has also been a state in the US in which schools are segregated. Chicago is also known for having highly segregated schools in which it has stayed the same with very little progress over the years. In an article tiled, “Perspectives on Racial Segregation in Chicago—A Review Essay” there is evidence shown of how racially segregated Chicago is when it states, “This question was explored in a March 2017 report released by the Urban Institute in partnership with the Metropolitan Planning Council. One of the three important findings in this research was that Chicago continues to struggle as a highly segregated metro area, which has major effects for all residents. The report goes on to state that Chicago is among the highest in the nation with regard to racial and economic segregation and that Blacks and Whites do not reside near one another in the city…”. As shown evidentially in this quote Chicago is racially divided which leads to the segregation in schools in which whites go to school with mostly white white people and black people go to schools predominantly with black people. Furthermore, Brown vs Board of Education may have declared it unconstitutional to segregate schools, however, ever since schools remain segregated. Once again in Chicago more statistics proving segregation exists in schools are shown in an article, “Segregation of Black Students in Chicago Public Schools”. Within this article it states, “In 1989, a decade after the school district started desegregation programs, three-fourths of all Black students were in intensely segregated schools. But since then, there has been little movement. By 2012, 70% of Black students attended intensely segregated schools, down by just 4% from over two decades earlier.” This quote indicates how there has been little since 1989, keeping in mind the ruling of Brown vs Board of Education was given in 1954, despite the ruling black students still attend segregated schools despite attempts made by the school district. Given this information, it isn’t hard to conclude that Chicago’s public schools remain racially segregated since 1954 when the decision of Brown vs Board of Education was made.
The evidence has been clear that US schools have not changed and the decision made in Brown vs Board of Education has caused a slight change in desegregating schools, the change just hasn’t been enough. Bringing back the New York City public school system, a news article published by The Atlantic, “The Privilege of School Choice”, declares “In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal. Yet a decade later, New York City found itself with more segregated schools than it had at the time of the ruling, not fewer. So in early 1964, with the nation transfixed by the southern civil-rights struggle, activists in New York City threatened to conduct a massive school boycott.” As demonstrated, the ruling of the case clearly was not being enforced enough because there was an increase in segregated public schools rather than less, so much that civil rights activists threatened to protest and boycott school as they found it outrageous. Had the ruling of the case been enforced more, there would be no need for boycotting or going on strike, however, segregation remained an alarming issue for New York City public schools.
Moreover, City College itself has been itself an example of a segregated school, dating back to an iconic event that took place in 1969. It was in April 22nd of that year in which a group of minority CCNY students protested on campus demanding more access to enrollment for minorities. Around 200 students, being African American and Puerto Rican locked themselves into 17 buildings of City College in hopes of getting the college to meet their demands. They were locked inside the buildings for around two weeks until political leaders caved in and met their demands which opened to door to apply to City College for more minority students of all races who prior to the protest would have been denied admission. This event left an important mark in fair and equal education for all races and it is fair to say City College is an example of non-segregated schools. According to a website called College Simply, 15% of students are White, 16% are Black, 35% are Hispanic and 25% are Asian at City College. The data given is clear evidence that City College is in fact not racially segregated and the ruling of Brown vs Board of Education has somewhat been enforced at City College with it being a multicultural college. That brings up an interesting theory, are colleges the exceptions, have only colleges managed to racially desegregate?
To counter the previous statement, City College can be seen as an example of a desegregated school, however, not all colleges are the same. California is a
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