When Someone Mentions The Civil Rights Movement, They Probably First Think Of De

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Term Paper Title	When Someone Mentions The Civil Rights Movement, They Probably First Think Of De
# of Words	1210
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.84

When someone mentions the Civil Rights Movement, they probably first think of demonstrations such as Rosa Parks' famous bus ride or the March on Washington D.C.  However, the movement goes back further than that, to the late 1890s, when Homer Plessy; was arrested for riding in a white-only railroad car because he was bi-racial.  Plessy sued on the grounds that a Louisiana statute requiring segregated streetcars violated his right to equal citizenship under the 14th Amendment. (Wexler 6)  His efforts started the spark that gave us the "separate but equal" doctrine.  Plessy v. Ferguson held that segregation of the races in public institutions and accommodations was constitutional as long as facilities were "separate but equal". (Cayton, Perry, and Winkler 761)  This doctrine effected the school system, in that there were separate schools for white and black children. But it wasn't until the case of Brown v. Board of Education that the "separate but equal" doctrine was questioned.  The 1954 Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education was a great legal triumph that destroyed the constitutional foundation upon which legalized segregation rested and created tension in the South.
     Prior to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the precedent of "separate but equal" was set by the 1892 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Case.  Although no laws forced public facilities to be segregated, it existed anyway. (Cozzens 1)   Morgues, prisons, polling places, schools, swimming pools,
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restaurants, and even water fountains were either segregated or for whites only.  Segregation thus became an American institution, a way of life embedded in the law of the land. (Wexler 6)  During this time, the cities went through a process of ghettoization.  People lived in areas where others of their ethnic background were.  In turn, The schools in these ethnic areas were effected by this segregation.  Black schools became under staffed and run down while white schools were well maintained and amply supplied.  Many African Americans didn't get a good education because of the lack of fully equipped schools.  Southerners were satisfied with the new segregation law, but the African American population was displeased.
     After fifty years later in Topeka, Kansas, a black third grader named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away.  Linda's father, ...

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