The Role of the Supreme Court in the Civil Rights Movement Essay

The independent Court was important in both suppressing and aiding the civic Rights Movement. However, decisions taken by the President, the continued white opposition and improvements in media communications also had an effect. Although in all were important, the Civil Rights movement alone would have reached the same end without the foster of the self-governing Court, and the devotion of its many members and leaders is the major factor in advancing Civil Rights. The imperious Court is perhaps most nearly known for the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. By declaring that segregation in schools was unconstitutional, Kevern Verney says a direct reversal of the Plessy ruling1 58 years earlier was affected. It was Plessy which gave southern states the authority to continue persecuting African-Americans for the beside sixty years. The first positive aspect of Brown was was the actual consolidation of white and shameful students in schools. Unfortunately, this was no t carried out to a commensurate degree, with many local authorities feeling no obligation to transfigure the status quo. The Supreme Court did consequence a second ruling, the so called Brown 2, in 1955. This forwarded the idea that integration should proceed with all count speed, but James T. Patterson tells us even by 1964 only an estimated 1.2% of black children ... attended public schools with white children2. This demonstrates that, although the Supreme Court was working for Civil Rights, it was still unable to force change. Rathbone agrees, saying the Supreme Court did not do enough to ensure compliance3. However, Patterson goes on to say that the quality did have some impact4. He explains how the ruling, although often ignored, acted relatively promptly in most of the boarder s... ...day.23Mark Rathbone, The US Supreme Court and Civil Rights, account statement Today.24James T. Patterson, The dissipated bequest of Brown v. Board, p. 10.25 Mark Rathbone, The US Suprem e Court and Civil Rights, account Today26 The Troubled Legacy of Brown v. Board, James T. Patterson, p. 6.27 Martha Gellhorn, Justice at Night, The Spectator 193628Douglas A. Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name, p.729Paterson and Willoughby, Civil Rights in the USA, 1863-1980, p.200.30Douglas A. Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name, p.53.31Mark Rathbone, 20th vitamin C History Review, The US Presidency.32Mark Rathbone, 20th Century History Review, The US Presidency.33 Clive Webb, Modern History Review, The Ku Klux Klan.34Clive Webb, Modern History Review, The Ku Klux Klan.35 John A. Kirk, History Toady volume 52 issue 2, The Long Road to Equality for African-Americans