. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal", and therefore violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. "[72], The Topeka Public Schools administration building is named in honor of McKinley Burnett, NAACP chapter president who organized the case. . "[25] The lower court observed that "colored children in many instances are required to travel much greater distances than they would be required to travel could they attend a white school" but also noted that the school district "transports colored children to and from school free of charge" and that "no such service [was] provided to white children. When Justice William O. Douglas traveled to India in 1950, the first question he was asked was, "Why does America tolerate the lynching of Negroes?"
A principal source of school segregation is the persistence of residential segregation in American society; residence and school assignment are closely linked due to the widespread tradition of locally controlled schools. [19] There is some disagreement about what to make of trends since the 1980s; while some researchers have presented trends as evidence of "resegregation," others argue that changing demographics in school districts, including class and income, are responsible for most of the changes in the racial composition of schools. [20][21], The District Court ruled in favor of the Board of Education, citing the U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), which had upheld a state law requiring "separate but equal" segregated facilities for blacks and whites in railway cars. [29], The research that has been conducted on the effects of school segregation can be divided into studies that observe short-term and long-term outcomes of segregated schooling; these outcomes can be either academic or non-academic in nature. The Reconstruction Era saw efforts at integration in the South, but Jim Crow laws followed and were also passed by state legislatures in the Southwest and Midwest, segregating blacks and whites in all aspects of public life, including attendance of public schools. Justice Jackson dropped his concurrence and Reed finally decided to drop his dissent. "[95] Most Senators and Representatives issued press releases hailing the ruling. Patterns of residential segregation and Supreme Court rulings regarding previous school desegregation efforts also have a role. The district court reopened the Brown case after a 25-year hiatus, but denied the plaintiffs' request finding the schools "unitary." Studies of short-term outcomes observe the relationship between school segregation and outcomes such as academic achievement (test scores), racial prejudice/fear, and cross-cultural friendships. Douglas later wrote that he had learned from his travels that "the attitude of the United States toward its colored minorities is a powerful factor in our relations with India."
I did not agree then, and I certainly do not agree now, with the statement that Plessy against Ferguson is right and should be reaffirmed. Native American communities were also heavily impacted by segregation laws with native children also being prohibited from attending white institutions. "[25] Districts may use income-based school assignment policies to try to indirectly achieve racial integration, but in practice such policies are not guaranteed to produce even a modest degree of racial integration. [28], In the school choice realm, policy can ensure that greater choice facilitates integration by, for instance, adopting "civil rights policies" for charter schools. The plaintiffs were thirteen Topeka parents on behalf of their 20 children.[14].
No bus service was provided for white students, who were required to walk to their schools, and the physical facilities and teaching at the black schools were substantially equal to the white schools. [46] These studies included those of Kenneth and Mamie Clark, whose experiments in the 1940s had suggested that black children from segregated environments preferred white dolls over black dolls. ", "Integrating Suburban Schools: How to Benefit from Growing Diversity and Avoid Segregation", "Equity Overlooked: Charter Schools and Civil Rights Policy", Schools without Diversity: Education Management Organizations, Charter Schools and the Demographic Stratification of the American School System", "E Pluribus...Separation: Deepening Double Segregation for More Students", "New Evidence about Brown v. Board of Education: The Complex Effects of School Racial Composition on Achievement", "From All Walks of Life: New Hope for School Integration", "Does Segregation Still Matter?