Around 1957
As people started to challenge segregation laws, African American parents filed lawsuits in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. They argued that segregation violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment of the constitution. The reason that the African American parents filed the lawsuits was because the white schools were funded better. This meant that the kids in white schools had water, power, cafeterias, gyms, and clean bathrooms.
|
When they got to the Supreme Court in 1952, all the lawsuits were combined into one case so that it might win. It was called Brown v. Board of Education. It all came together in 1954 when they won. This led up to the “Little Rock Nine” two years later, when the Supreme Court decision allowed nine Black students go to an all white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas.
|
The nine African American students that went to Little Rock High School were heroes. They proved to be courageous enough to attend a school that had been for whites only.
|