In the Midwest town of Topeka, Kansas, a little girl named Linda Brown had to ride the bus five miles to school each day although a public school was located only four blocks from her house. The school wasn't full and the little girl met all of the requirements to attend all but one that is. Linda Brown was black. And blacks weren't allowed to go to white children's schools.
"Jim Crow" school in the South.
The supreme court case Plessy v. Ferguson is one of the somberest chapter in the pages of American history. In this landmark decision of 1896, the court found that the doctrine of "separate but equal" concerning segregation of public facilities did not violate the constitution. Seperate schools for whites and black became a basic rule in southern society, legitimated in this doctrine that legalized segregation.September 8, 1954. The above picture was taken at a school in Fort Myer, Va., shortly after the school was desegregated under the mandate of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Although the unanimous ruling declared that segregation in education was inherently unequal, many Southern politicians regarded the decision as a "clear abuse of judicial power" and ten years after the case only one percent of Negro students in the South attended desegregated schools. It was not until 1954 that the doctrine of "seperate but equal" was challenged. In attempt to gain equal education opportunities for their children that were not provided for under the Plessy v. Fergusen decision, African-American community leaders took action against the segregation in America's schools. Aided by the local chapter of the NAACP, a group of thirteen parents filed a class action suit against the Board of Education of Topeka Schools.
Governor of Alabama George Wallace, one of the chief spokesmen for school segregation: "I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.