In 1954, Thurgood Marshall and Robert Clark won the landmark decision, by which the schools and other educational establishments had to become equally available for all people despite their race, nationality or religion. This was the starting point for the movement against segregation in the sphere of education. The paper discusses the main points and problems in the sphere of US education and analyzes the main aim of Thurgood Marshall in his fight against the system. The analysis of the situation reveals the leading idea of Thurgood Marshall’s fight that was not only to achieve improvement in the sphere of education for African-Americans but to change the attitude to people based on discrimination on the part of the government and laws.
Oliver Brown made a claim to the court against the discrimination of his daughter-schoolgirl Linda Brown. She was forced to go to school for blacks in Topeka, Kansas, situated more than twenty blocks from her home on the other side of the city although only seven blocks from their house, there was a school for whites. The court of Kansas rejected the Brown’s claim considering that separated schools for blacks and whites need to be used by people based on their race. This gave Thurgood Marshall the chance to propose the Supreme Court finally decide that segregated institutions are unequal by definition and in the legal sense, and, therefore, unconstitutional. Marshall’s strategy during the case relied on social science data. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and its Legal Defense fund created several focus groups that developed ideas for protecting people using such spheres as economics, politics, science, history and psychology. The most important turned out to be the investigations and works of Kenneth and Mamie Clark. Their psychological experiments derived the result of the segregation impact on emotional state and self-esteem of the blacks. In fact, one of their investigations revealed that black children in their young age chose to play with dolls that had white color of their complexion but refused playing black-complexion dolls. Thus, the illustrious team of Marshall and Clark brought in the arguments against the segregation in schools believing that such states politics caused significant harm to the psychological state of people having black colored skin. They intended not only improve blacks’ achievements in schools but reach the equal attitude to people despite their race. Their main aim was to show to the government and society that nothing and nobody could determine a position of human based on the skin color, race, religion or other points.
On the 17th of May in1954, the Supreme Court accepted Marshall’s arguments against the state decision. Taking into account the reports and evidence provided by Clark and supported by numerous investigations, the Supreme Court of the US finally agreed with the concept that there should be no place for the doctrine of “separate but equal” in the sphere of education. The Court admitted that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. Therefore, the court accepted the arguments on the case derived by Thurgood Marshall and Robert Clark that the rights of people on equal protection of the law based by the guarantee of 14th Amendment were not observed in the sphere of education making the participants of the case victims of segregation. The Court decision became a turning point for the process of fight for civil rights in the US. According to the interview of Daryl Wynn who is a member of the Oxford University Roundtable on Education Policy, the significance of the segregation in the sphere of education in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education was tremendous. In this case, the highest court of the country essentially indicated that black Americans were treated wrong. He mentions that after this decision, his father who was a teenager during this time felt like a man, a real person. This decision is a constant reminder that every child and every person is a human. Although the Court made this decision, it did not specify the timing of developing and realizing desegregation in schools.
Next year when considering the group of cases dubbed together by case of “Brown II”, Marshall and his colleagues have made the Supreme Court accept that desegregation should proceed “with all its deliberate speed”. This decision did not bring any changes to the process of desegregation. In fact, many black schools were closed, teachers were fired, and school principals became class teachers. The resistance against desegregation continued in some areas of the South. In September 1957, when black students faced the aggression and had no access to studies in Central High School of Little Rock, Arkansas, Marshall came there and filed suit to federal court. Thurgood Marshall’s victory in this case made the fundament for further ideas proclaimed by the President of the US Eisenhower. He ordered that the federal troops must protect the federal laws in any place of their country including the city of Little Rock, Arkansas where black children had the same rights for education.
The case of Brown vs. Board of Education, events in Little Rock and other judicial victories of the NAACP have shown the strengths and limits of possibilities of legal civil rights movement. Young black Americans who were forced to attend inferior segregated schools could hardly dreamed of the idea that the federal authorities will protect them in their right to be in the classes initially intended only for whites in Little Rock and in other places. However, lawsuits were dealt slowly and one by one. Meanwhile, official segregation still prevailed in many places in the South including not only schools but also almost all public places such as swimming pools, buses, movie theaters and restaurants. Supporters of segregation could still be deprived of basic constitutional rights of African Americans. The main troublesome point was the inability to vote due to the color of their skin, which caused significant pressure on human civil rights in the US and opposed people to each other.
It became clear for Thurgood Marshal and his team that they needed the adoption of new civil rights laws. The rewording and change of the laws faced a significant constraint on the part of representatives of south in the Congress, which required more significant actions and arguments from Thurgood Marshall and his support team. The fight in the courts continued, and Thurgood Marshall played the leading role in this process. The movement for political civil rights gained its power finding support among the most prominent and brave African-Americans. They aimed to make the society treat them equal, observe and protect their civil rights due to the simple fact that they are also humans despite their race, language or religious views. They considered themselves Americans and wanted to have their right to vote. The moment when the American society saw the real results of their segregation policy and saw the real situation, the significant change of social mind took place, which changed the attitude of disgust to sympathy causing the major shift of political actions and social ideas.
Thurgood Marshall’s main idea was not only to win the cases that were based on the problem of racial discrimination and segregation in educational sphere but to prove to the US society that people are all equal despite the color of their skin, race, political and religious views and other features. The struggle against the discrimination in the United States continued predominantly in the courts, Congress and state legislative offices. The efforts of lawyers in this question were on the way to success based on two reasons. The first reason included the greatest power of law that supposed the obligatory acceptance of law and legislative policy. The second reason is the idea of equality, which is the leading point of American civil ideas, the basis of the Declaration of Independence and that is a historically based idea. All people are created equal and should be protected by the law. Those parts or individuals in American society that do not like others due to their skin color, language or lifestyle have to accept them with attitude of equality. Although it is rather difficult for the country that has a long history of racial discrimination, the work on this problem is essential nowadays. Thus, the historical experience of the United States has one and the most important rule that is applicable in every sphere of their life: people should be treated fairly and equally under the law.
Brown’s case became a milestone for the US education system, the American legal system and society in general. The researchers describe the importance of this case as the application of doctrine “separated, but equal” as one of the most important American state acts. It became a turning point in readiness of America to face the consequences of centuries of racial discrimination, which has a long history. The process and the decision on the Brown case contributed to the growth of social activity and the development of legislation to overcome the practice of racial and ethnic discrimination. In addition, that moment was a turning point in terms of the political and social perception of the problems of racial segregation and other forms of discrimination. The main aim of Thurgood Marshall was achieved and made the American society think about the inequality of people based on their race, as well as realize the fact that all people were created equal. In spite of all its legal and public importance, the decision in the case was only the beginning of a long and hard way to overcome racial discrimination in the US society.
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