Matt Selby

BROWN VS BOARD OVERVIEW Segregation was commonplace in many public areas in the United States in the 50s 12 parents filed a suit against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas, protesting the segregation of children in public schools. The Supreme Court was eventually convinced, and voted unanimously to outlaw segregation in public schools. The Brown V. Board outcome overturned the conclusion reached during the case of Plessy V. Ferguson in 1896

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA V. BAKKE Bakke was a white male in his 30s, and was not admitted to college because he was “too old,” and because he was white. The Supreme Court ruled that having certain quotas for schools was unconstitutional. The conclusion still found affirmative action (giving an advantage to a certain race in college applicants or when giving a job) to be constitutional.

IMPACT Both the Brown v Board & Cal. University v Bakke were landmark decisions by the Supreme Court that furthered civil rights. In both cases, the Court ruled certain types of discrimination as unconstitutional. In the Brown v Board case, the court ruled that state laws supporting segregation of schools was unfair and unconstitutional. Affirmative action was upheld by the court in the University of California v Bakke, allowing schools to give special treatment to minorities, although the decision outlawed “quotas” of specific races.

QUESTIONS 1) Why was outlawing segregation in public schools so important? 2) How did the Bakke decision affect today’s workforce? 3) Were there any other fair solutions to these cases? 4) Were these the right decisions?

CITATIONS oyez.org oyez.org/cases/ /1977/1977_76_811 tomberrigan.com schools.nashua.edu lawyernakmuay.blogspot.com jerzygirl45.wordpress.com