Topic > Impact of Brown V. Board of Education and Tinker V. Des Moines

Napoleon Bonaparte once said, “History is the version of past events on which people have agreed to agree.” This simple quote can be associated with the Supreme Court and its decisions that impact our history of the United States today. Supreme Court decisions become the “law of the land” and, as such, have far-reaching consequences for American society. The Court tells us, through its interpretation of the Constitution, the meaning of our protections and restrictions. Supreme Court cases get a lot of credence, and many Supreme Court cases have had lasting effects on our society today. Two landmark Supreme Court cases that have an exceptional impact today are Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and Tinker v. Des Moines School District. These two cases had a great impact on the history of the United States and have affected our lives forever. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Perhaps no other case decided by the Court in the 20th century had such a profound effect on the social fabric of America as Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. The integration of unions in the 1930s under the watch of the Fair Employment Practices Commission and the desegregation of the military in 1948 marked important steps toward racial integration. However, the legal framework on which segregation was based was itself being dismantled, challenged repeatedly by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The “separate but equal” doctrine was about to collapse. However, the 1950s brought a new wave of challenges to official segregation by the NAACP. Linda Brown, an eight-year-old African-American girl, was denied permission to attend an elementary school just five blocks from her home in Topeka, Kansas. Separate elementary schools for whites and non-whites were operated by the Topeka Board of Education. Linda Brown's parents filed a lawsuit to force the schools to admit her to the nearby but segregated school for white students. The primary question before the Court concerned the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment." Segregating children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprives children of equal educational opportunities?” The Court was asked to decide whether school segregation was unconstitutional. In a unanimous decision the courts ruled in Brown's favor (9-0). The Chief Justice wrote: “Segregation in public education is a denial of the equal protection of the [constitutional] laws…The segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect on children of color. .. A sense of inferiority strikes. Segregation sanctioned by law thus tends to [retard] the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school.." The Court has interpreted the issue of segregation of public schools by reference to the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment which prohibits states from denying or abridging the fundamental rights of every citizen and requires them to afford all persons equal protection and due process. The Brown decision not only reversed the Plessy doctrine of “separate but equal,” but reversed centuries of segregationist practices in America. The Brown decision is seen as a transformative event, it set the precedent for political revolution and