Segregation and education
- Before the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) decision, education in the South was segregated and legitimized by the doctrine of “separate but equal”, established by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
- Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was a landmark Supreme Court ruling that allowed racial segregation as long as facilities for Black and white people were considered “equal.”
- It legalized state laws requiring segregation in public facilities, including schools.
- It legitimized Jim Crow laws, entrenching systemic racial discrimination across the United States for decades.
Note
The NAACP legal teams documented the disparities in education in cases like Murray v. Maryland (1936) and Gaines v. Missouri (1938), which later on helped build the legal case against segregation of Brown v. Board.
- For example, in terms of funding Southern states spent significantly less per Black student, often less than half the amount allocated for white students.
- Black schools were frequently overcrowded, poorly maintained, and sometimes housed in dilapidated buildings or converted churches.
- Textbooks for Black students were often outdated, hand-me-downs from white schools, or in short supply.
- Black schools operated fewer days annually, sometimes 3-4 months shorter than white schools.
- Black teachers earned substantially less than white teachers despite similar qualifications and workloads.
- Many states provided no graduate or professional schools for Black students, forcing them to study out of state if at all.
NAACP Legal Strategy
- The NAACP, led by Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall, developed a legal strategy to challenge segregation.
- They demanded equal funding and facilities for Black schools, exposing systemic underfunding and inequality.
- Their strategy aimed to prove that “separate” could never truly be “equal.”
- This strategy culminated in Sweatt v. Painter (1950), where the Supreme Court recognized the intangible disadvantages of segregation, such as unequal access to resources, beyond just physical facilities.
Case study
Sweatt v. Painter (1950)
- Heman Sweatt, an African American applicant, was denied admission to the University of Texas Law School solely because of his race.
- Texas established a separate law school for Black students, but it was vastly inferior in facilities, faculty, and reputation.
- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine was violated, emphasizing that intangible factors such as interaction with peers and faculty, prestige, and networking opportunities were essential to legal education.
- This landmark decision weakened segregation by establishing that separate facilities could never truly be equal, especially in graduate education.
