Yesterday. Today. Tommorw. its all THE SAME!

The Case

The Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education can easily relate to every generation, from the Dred Scott Case to the t Jena 6 case. Race laws and controversies are always on the rise.

On May 17, 1954 a combination of 5 school segregation cases defined as “brown,” (the brown case in Kansas, and numerous cases from South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, and Washington DC) and the Board of Education battled in the U.S. Supreme Court about the segregation issues they were facing in those days. This case had taken a while to make it to the Supreme Court but it made it. Finally the court decided that segregation of schools was to be abolished along with the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine.The plaintiffs (Brown) had won their cases. Stopping all segregation of schools in America but keeping public areas segregated.

(video above contains the Original Footage of School Segregation from that era. Many people were outraged at with segregation)

Yesterday

From my understanding the Dred Scott case was actually not the first supreme court case when the slave was a prosecutor or defendant rather than an object. Dred Scott fought for his freedom and lost the supreme court case because any slave or descendant of a slave had no rights of being an U.S. Citizen. However it created a tremendous amount of awareness of slavery issues to other states.

American Society relates because it was suppose to make schools integrated so you get a chance to be socially accepting of differences. However the segregation of races continues.

Today

In December of 2006 six black high school students had been arrested due to a fight the white students had provoked by hanging nooses on a tree that the black students had tried to sit at the day before. When the students where held on their trial in the small town of Jena, Louisiana (85% of the population is white) all of the jury was white. This upset most of the black community in Jena starting a nationwide controversy about race. The results of the case varied for each student but one thing I didn't read was the white students being punished for provoking the fights:
“The case drew national headlines when the teens initially were charged with second-degree attempted murder after they allegedly knocked out Justin Barker while stomping and kicking him.
After the charges triggered protests, they were reduced to aggravated second-degree battery. One of the teens, Mychal Bell, reached a plea agreement on a battery charge in juvenile court.”

Tomorrow

My final comparison for the Brown v. B.O.E. case is Barack Obama. Had it not been for integrated schooling would he be able to run today? I highly doubt he would have his Harvard law education. Or the chance to run because of his skin . Its funny how everything from the past determines the future, and yet a lot of the past is kept in the present time. I shouldn't have had examples to relate this case to but its sad, will it always be this way?

SOURCES iN ORDER LiNKED (high lighted italic citations are primary sources the blue one is a classmate):

• Bell, Jasmine. "Jasmine's Humanities blogs: Are we going back 1951?." Jasmine's Humanities blogs. 2 Oct. 2008 .

• "Brown v. Board of Education." Brown v. Board of Education. 11 Apr. 2004. Brown Foundation for Educational Equity. 1 Oct. 2008
  

• U.S. Supreme Court. "PLESSY v. FERGUSON, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)." FindLaw Cases and Codes. Thomson Reuters business. .

• APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS. "Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) (USSC+)." Civil Rights: Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The National Center For Public Policy Research. 1 Oct. 2008 .

• JOHNSON, CLIFTON. "THE AMISTAD CASE and ITS CONSEQUENCES IN U.S. HISTORY." Amistad Research Center :: Where Heritage Meets Vision. 2006. Amistad Research Center, Inc. .

• Press release. 9 May 2008. .

• Goodman, Amy. "The Case of the Jena Six: Black High School Students Charged with Attempted Murder for Schoolyard Fight After Nooses Are Hung from Tree." Democracy Now! The Case of the Jena Six. 10 July 2007. Democracy Now! The War and Peace Report. .

• Callebs, Sean. "Judge taken off remaining 'Jena 6' cases." Jude Taken Off Remaininf 'Jena 6' cases. 1 Aug. 2008. CNN. .

• Unknown. "Meet The Candidate." Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need. Obama Biden. .