During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Jim Crow laws were implemented in the Southern United States. The purpose of these laws was to segregate all public facilities in the former Confederate States of America and some other states. These laws affected almost every aspect of their lives since segregation was mandatory in schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants. These facilities had “Whites Only” and “Colored” signs that constantly reminded people about racial segregation. In 1896, the Jim Crow laws were upheld in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson under the doctrine “separate but equal” as ruled by the Supreme Court. This doctrine, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, stated that racial segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment as long as the facilities and services provided for both races were equal. But this was not the reality as the facilities and services provided for African Americans were not equal or simply nonexistent at all. Years after, during the 1950s, the doctrine was found to be unconstitutional during several Supreme Court decisions, which included Brown v. Board of Education.
Despite the enactment of the “separate but equal” doctrine, many African Americans were still being treated differently than whites. The facilities provided for African Americans were in much worse condition as compared to the ones provided for white people, especially within the educational system. Additionally, blacks were systematically denied the vote to right in most of the rural South through the selective application of literacy tests and other racially motivated criteria. Because of this, many people continued to fight for the eradication of discriminatory laws. A particular organization that helped fight against racial inequality and who, to this day, is still fighting for racial equality is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Two of the most influential characters were Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, who led the legal department of the NAACP. These two characters planned a strategy to attack Jim Crow laws by attacking them at their weakest point, which was in the educational field. They also argued in many cases related to racial laws in the educational system, including Brown V. Board of Education, which was the name given to five separate cases regarding the issue of segregation in public schools. In 1952, Marshall brought up several concerns during Brown v. Board of Education, the most common one being that separate school systems for blacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus violated the principle of equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This argument ultimately led to the landmark Supreme Court decision in 1954 that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional, marking a significant victory in the fight against racial inequality in the United States.
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