School Segregation - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2062 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/10/30 Category Politics Essay Level High school Tags: Segregation Essay Did you like this example? Over time there has been many issues that the United States have established regarding races and what they can and cant do. To begin with, one issue that holds a huge importance to this day is the United States creating laws regarding school education, to either children or adults entering colleges/universities. The United States didnt create the law of racially segregating students from one another on accident, when it was created, they were well aware that by segregating students from one another that eventually an ill feeling for each other will rise. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "School Segregation" essay for you Create order Of course, when establishing this law, it was supposed to be seen as separate but equal but as needless to say it was nowhere close to separate but equal. Different types of racial groups such as African Americans, Native Americans, Chicanos, and Chinese had to suffer with the consequences that school segregation came with and had no other choice but to follow through because of course the whites dealt with anything and anyone who didnt comply. There are different types of segregation, but the one people are most familiar with is the word segregation in general. What is segregation? According to Merriam-Webster.com, segregation is the separation or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group by enforced or voluntary residence in a restricted area, by barriers to social intercourse, by separate educational facilities, or by other discriminatory means. Another form is of course desegregation, which is the process of ending the separation of different racial, religious, or cultural group. To add on there is also de facto segregation and de jure segregation, de facto segregation is segregation by practice while de jure segregation is segregation by law. In fact, de jure segregation is one of the forms that was used when it came to separate but equal. It didnt matter that African Americans were separate from whites as long as they had equal rights and conditions. There are various cases involving school segregation and outcomes of how it affects separating students from one another and how it was very much not separate but equal, most of the cases involded different types of racial groups but starting off with African Americans they unfortunately had it the worst. Luckily there was an organization that was formed in 1909 by diverse activist who were all about fighting against unequal rights towards African Americans called the NAACP also known as National Association for the Advancement of Colored peoples. This organization had goals that were set to help any individual no matter the race has equal rights, according to the NAACP website itself they describe what their objectives are. To start off the list of their objectives as To ensure the political, educational, social, and economic, equality of all citizens. To achieve equality of rights and eliminate race prejudice among the citizens of the Unite States. To remove all barriers and enforc ement of federal, state, and local laws securing civil rights. To inform the public of the adverse effects of racial disclination and to seek its elimination. To educate persons as to their constitutional rights and to take all lawful action to secure the exercise thereof, and to take any other lawful action in furtherance of these objectives, consistent with the NAACPs Articles of incorporation and this constitution. The NAACP worked very hard to achieve these goals during the civil rights movement as well, they took on various cases to help eliminate any kind of negative measures that would affect African Americans. NAACP is still very important till this day, they have held many protests over the years to fight for what is right for every individual and theyll continue to fight and wont stop until people are aware and educated how our society is hurting one another. A prime example of a case that the NAACP took upon their organization was McLaurin v. Oklahoma, this specific case was one of the many cases that NAACP took into their hands in order to fight for an end of racial segregation at schools. George McLaurin an African American student with a masters degree, had applied for admission to the university of Oklahoma in 1950; in order to pursuit his education. McLaurin was not able to at first be admitted because of his race so it led to McLaurin filing a complaint for injunctive relief which claimed that the statute was constitutional because it deprived him of equal protection of the laws. This led to his complaint being heard and he was fortunately able to be admitted into the university, but it came with restrictions that were seemed to be acceptable at the time. McLaurin was able to use the same classroom, library and cafeteria as white students but when it came down to classroom time McLaurin wasnt able to be IN the same classroom, he wa s put outside with his own desk and had to be taught from a distance where it was a struggle for him to learn. The restrictions that came with being admitted into the university was that he was able to be on campus but he was assigned to sit in a row of classroom seats reserved for African American students, had to sit at an assigned table in the library, and, while he was allowed to eat in the cafeteria, he had a designated table., according to an article called McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents. Supreme Court Cases: The Dynamic Court on EBCOShost. As a result, these restrictions and limitations he had on campus affected his ability to interact with any other students which resulted in affecting his school performance. To add on, in a matter of time his appeal went to the supreme court which they had a unanimous decision reversing the state law, they reasoned that under the fourteenth amendment equal protection clause he should have the same opportunities and receive the same tre atment just as student of other races. Furthermore, not only were African Americans affected by school segregation but so were Asian Pacific American such as the Chinese. Around the time 1890, the Mississippi constitution had no idea of schooling Chinese children since there wasnt many children around because of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act so in result any other race that was not defined as white or Caucasian would belong to the colored race. Over time, Chinese started making their way into the U.S to escape the violence they suffered from their homeland, since more Chinese families were coming to the U.S it meant that their children would eventually have to go to into school despite the school segregation. Even with school segregation going on around them, it was known that white schools were better funded so of course they would want to put their kids into better funded education institutions, so their children were sent to white schools with no problems. Until around 1924, 2 young Chinese girls named Berda and Marth a Lum were not allowed to attend their first day of school at a local white school because they were not members of the white or Caucasian race. Which led to their father Gong Lum a well successful and respected grocery store owner in their community, demand that school board allow his daughter, Martha Lum attend the white school, to help support his case a local law firm was able to help with a pro bono act. According to an EBCOShost article named Gong Lum v. Rice, their reasoning behind not allowing his children was It was widely believed that due to the earlier lack of Chinese women in the Delta, some Chinese men had fathered children with colored women. If children of mixed Chinese and black blood attended white schools, they would have, in effect, desegregated the public schools. If Martha wanted to attend a school in general she couldve been granted attendance at a colored school or either attend a private school but not at the expense of the state. Overall, the case didnt mak e it to where Martha was allowed to attend a white school and the Lums had lost the case in 1927, as stated by an article called How a Chinese Familys 1927 Lawsuit Set a Precedent for School Segregation on Time.com, the court had made a unanimous ruling that Mississippi can regulate their schools however they like. To add on, another case that dealt with a Chicano family who had suffered with the issue of school segregation was the Mendez v. Westminster, which happened around the 1940s. This case holds a huge importance to help ending school segregation because if it wasnt for this specific case, there wouldnt have been any support to ending school segregation. In the 1946, this case was to help end the segregation of Mexican American children in the southern California, around the time the term separate but equal was still around which made it difficult for children of other races to be admitted into white schools because of the doctrine that supported segregation in the U.S and because they were a part of the Mexican heritage but the lawsuit that Mendez had ordered against it was about to abolish the term in schools. The Mendez v. Westminster case was about the children of Gonzolo Mendez, Mendez tried to enroll his kids into an orange county school in 1943 but the school had denied his child ren entry solely because of their ethnicity, but the same day his kids had been denied his niece and nephew had been admitted because their skin was fairer. The school district responded to Mendez by saying that Mexican Americans needed their own separate schools because of cultural and language differences, of course this had angered Mendez and he was encouraged to fight against this. The Mendez family had created an organization with four other families that were facing with similar issues with their children dealing with discrimination and try to go against the federal court to defeat school segregation. Gonzolo Mendez was the lead defendant and had sued four school districts including superintendents, on be half of his children and other Mexican American students that they should have the benefit as white children to attend any white because any Mexican American child was legally white. According to NPS.gov and article called U.S Court House Post Office had stated, The Mendez lawyer filed the lawsuit at the U.S. Court for the Southern District of California, where they could argue that the State of California violated the childrens right to the Constitutions Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The U.S. Constitution states that no State can deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The Mendez lawyer had legitimate solid reasons as to why separating children from other children because of their race was causing harm to them and could be harmful to them in the long term because it would affect the kids self-esteem, their image on how to t reat one another and their achievement. In an article called How segregation Hurts Kids on Daily.jstor.org, it discusses the affects on separating kids affects all kids no matter the race, Hispanic, white, African American, Chinese, Native American etc. The article expresses that not having a diverse environment for children it does affect their performance in school and how they score higher or lower during test. For example, they state, white students scores tended to be lower in schools with fewer non-white students. black, white, and Hispanic students with higher percentages of whites in their peer groups tended to have relatively high scores. All in all, the Mendez lawsuit did last five days, and the five-day trail had the hugest impact of anyone who was facing discrimination, two months after the trail Governor Earl Warren, signed a bill that had made California to be the first to outlaw all public school segregation. To end, this isnt one specific school segregation case that involves two separate group but one group that had suffered with tremendous experiences with the federal government and still does to this day. Native Americans have been dealing with segregation, discrimination, assimilation, etc. for years because of their race. Boarding schools was a way to native Americans children out of their hometown to a rural area where there was no way for the children to get into contact with anyone but the other children around and the supervisors of the boarding schools.