WORD COUNT: [1930]
Q1.
It is beyond doubt that the Supreme Court of the United States’ (SCOTUS)
judgments of Brown1 and Bolling2 are landmark decisions. Albeit both are – to this
day – contentious and controversial, it would be unreasonable to argue that they
achieved ‘little if anything’. The significance of these decisions must not be
overshadowed. To exemplify this thesis, this essay will first analyse the
achievements and the limitations of the Brown judgment, subsequently moving on to
evaluating Bolling. Challenges will be addressed to demonstrate the certain
limitations that the rulings faced.
First and foremost, Brown represented a shift in SCOTUS’ approach to the issue of
segregation in educational facilities. As this segment of the essay will show, this shift
alone represents a milestone for the civil rights movement. Indeed, the judgment
overturned the contentious SCOTUS ruling of Plessy which, decided 58 years before
Brown, upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation. 3 The 1896 ruling had also
produced the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine which stated that racial segregation is not
unconstitutional as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality. In
practice, the doctrine served as a sign of acceptance of (and a justification for) the
abhorrent and deeply racist practice of segregation. According to the evidence, the
separate facilities provided to African American were seldom equal; albeit Black
people made up 42% of Florida’s population in the 1930s, the value of Black schools
was circa 20 times lower than the value of White schools.4 It was not until Brown that
States were ‘forced’ to abolish such evident favouritism of White students and the
obvious discrimination of their Black counterparts, with the Court rightly confirming
that ‘separate educational facilities are inherently unequal’. 5 What adds significance
to this decision is the Court’s holding that the separation of black children solely
because of their race ‘generates a feeling of inferiority […] that may affect their
1
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)
2
Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954)
3
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
4
Federal Writers Project, ‘Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State’ (1939) OUP (New York), p.130
5
See n.1, [495]
1
, hearts and minds in a way likely to ever be undone’. 6 This is the first time that the
psychological impact of segregation on Black children has been recognised at a
nationwide judicial level. There are some who criticise this for not going far enough,
with academic commentator Ides arguing that the Court should have explained the
impact of segregation on minority students more clearly. 7 Although this is a valid
criticism, the opinion said enough to point the American society and the lawmakers
of the era in the right direction. What was the acceptance and promotion of racial
segregation in Plessy (deepening inequalities and revealing institutionalised racism)
became the outright opposition to such practice under Brown. The Plessy judgment
continues to be criticised by SCOTUS, with Alito J recently holding that it was
‘erroneous’ and ‘damaging’, and that it ‘betrayed our commitment to equality before
the law’.8 It is evident that Brown paved the way for racial desegregation; it worked
as a catalyst to further racial and civil justice. The reasoning behind the judgment in
Brown sits close to the grounds on which the civil rights activists stood: to guarantee
equality before the law for Black Americans. For the first time in history, Black
Students were given the legal right to integrate with their White counterparts, and
vice versa. This alone is a landmark victory for the civil rights movement because it
broke down the barriers which were erected to further racism and inequalities. As
Sullivan rightly argues, Brown is a symbol of an affirmative attack ‘on the effects of
white supremacy in a Jim Crow America’.9
Although there can be no doubt that Brown is a significant decision, it is nonetheless
somewhat problematic. Brown’s claim that segregated schools in themselves hinder
the intellectual development of black children, but not white children, is controversial.
This segment of the judgment borders on articulating a notion of black inferiority, and
this is troubling. It is beyond doubt that segregation has a negative impact on both
Black and White students alike. Where Black students had to combat inferiority, the
nature of segregation and the focus of states on prioritising White education
effectively meant that White students were taught that they are, in some sense,
superior as they received better education. 10 The failure of the Court to acknowledge
6
Ibid, [494]
7
A. Ides, ‘Tangled up in Brown’ (2003) 47 How LJ 3, 16
8
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. (2022), per Alito J at [43-44]
9
Ronald Sullivan, ‘Multiple Ironies: Brown at 50’ (2003) 47 How LJ 29, p.30
10
Ibid, p.32
2
