IB History: Brown Vs. Board of Education (1954)

Where did the Brown vs. Board case originate from? - Answer- Topeka, Kansas Why did the Brown vs Board of Education case occur? - Answer- In Topeka, Kansas 1954, Linda Brown's father beleived his daughter should not have to walk 21 blocks over dangerous railerways past a Whites Only school to get the her Blacks only school that was disadvantaged and lacked sufficient resources. Mr Brown felt the schools should be integrated as Black schools weren't ad well funded as white schools. Linda's father Oliver Brown (tried to enroll her in the white elementary school but the principal of the school refused). What did Mr. Brown do to try bring integration of the schools? - Answer- Firstly Mr. Brown took the case to the State Court where he argued that it was unfair Linda had to walk further and attend a worse off school. There the Court deemed that the schools were "Separate but equal". This was not the result Mr. Brown wanted. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, head of Topeka's branch of the NAACP, and asked them for help. Who was McKinley Burnett? - Answer- ≥ McKinley Burnett, head of Topeka's branch of the NAACP. ≥ Burnett persuaded 13 families to enroll their children in white schools and all of them were denied, so in February 1951 the NAACP filed suit. What was McKinley Burnett planning to do with the "right plaintiff"? - Answer- He had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools, but needed the "right plaintiff at the right time". US District Court for the District of Kansas hear Brown's case from June 25th-26th, 1951. - Answer- ≥ NAACP argued that segregated schools sent the message to black children that they were inferior to whites; therefore schools were in-equal ≥ The Board of Education's defence was that, because segregation pervades many other aspects of life, segregated schools simply prepared black children for the segregation they would face during adulthood, also argued that schools were not harmful to black children. Outcome of the 1951 hearing in the District of Kansas District-Court. - Answer- Board won. The court felt compelled to rule in favour of Board of Education as Plessy vs Ferguson's precedent had not been overturned yet.