LAD# 37

  Vs.

Little Linda Brown, an African American, had to walk a mile in order to get to her bus stop for school. Linda could have easily walked to the white elementary school seven blocks away, but was denied enrollment into the school because of her race. Oliver Brown, her father, and thirteen other parents then decided to bring this issue to the courts. Brown argued that black schools were only getting a third of the money that the white schools were receiving. "They did not have the most current textbooks, not enough school supplies, and overcrowded classrooms". Yet, the white dominated court room referred to Plessy vs. Ferguson and stated that the schools were separate, but equal. The NAACP would not face defeat that easily, and decided to bring the case to the Supreme Court. On October first, 1951, similar cases regarding separate schools for blacks and whites were combined into one case and the trial would begin on December 9, 1952. The Browns argued in court that Black people were in different schools because they were different than everyone else. The case went on for several months. However, one of the justices died and the case had to be presented again. Finally, after two years, the court turned in favor of the Browns and segregating schools became against the law. Although, it took many states years to put blacks in the same schools as whites because of the tensions between the two races.