Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Before understanding the significance of many civil law cases that have been conducted over the years that have paved way for furthering the progress of civil law rights for many people, one must understand what civil rights and civil laws are.
Civil law is a justice that is the practice of dealing with disputes between individuals, organizations, or groups of people. Rewards for winning a claim are usually monetary in nature no matter what the dispute is. Modern civil law is an evolved form of Roman law. Judges usually base their decisions in civil law cases on civil law cases their were determined in the past. This not only makes civil law trials easier to judge and an overall smooth process, but also ensures that decisions are made properly with the application of code of ethics enforced by common law.
1. Consolidated cases of the Civil Rights Movement:
The Civil Rights Movement was a monumental period, not only in the United States, but all parts of the world. It lasted from about 1950 to 1980. It was a movement for the equal rights of all human beings, regardless of face, creed, or practice of religion. The major issue in the Civil Rights Movement was the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the United States.
During this time, there were five major civil law cases presented to federal court pertaining to the African-American Civil Rights Movement and they were all consolidated into one issue. The disputes claimed that African Americans were refused service in “white only” facilities. The ruling of the court in this civil laws case in favor of the plaintiff helped the Civil Rights Movement take a large leap forward.
2. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Civil law case of 1954:
This trial was a landmark civil laws decision that reached a conclusion that public schools that separated white and black children gave black children inferior educations and opportunities. This was a monumental decision because it helped initiate the African Civil Rights Movement and gave African Americans hope that progress can be made for the betterment of their future.
A class action suit was filed against the board of education in Topeka, Kansas by the parents of twenty children, and called for a change in the process of school education segregation. The named plaintiff was Oliver L. Brown, an African American welder who worked with the Santa Fe Railroad. The District Court ruled in favor of the Board of Education, summarizing that “separate but equal” laws enforced within Kansas insured that education for both white and black students, while separate, were indeed comparable. Even with the outcome, many local schools began to desegregate as the civil rights movement picked up steam.
3. Plessy v. Ferguson, Civil laws case of 1896:
This landmark civil case helped to enforce the merit of racial segregation within the United States between whites and blacks. After the establishment of slavery, many black citizens began to take up ordinary jobs and integrated themselves into the white community. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Plessy, a man that was seven-eighths white and only one-eighth black, refused to move to a colored car after he had boarded a train in Louisiana. He was later jailed and tried in a civil laws case.
Plessy’s argument was finally rejected by court and that the segregation of races was an integral part of “public policy”.