Segregation

Week Three: Brown v. Board of Education-Reflective Posts                                         September 14, 2011

Our intriguing discussion in class about racism and segregation really sparked my interest. In all my years of hearing about the different racial situations that have gone on throughout the years, I had never once heard about the Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit. When this was mentioned, and I was clueless, I decided to research this very topic. This well-known conflict began in the summer of 1950 with a little girl named Linda Brown. Her father, Oliver Brown, and thirteen other surrounding African American parents decided that they were going to try and enroll their kids in the local “white school”. The all white school was so much closer to their neighborhood than the “black school” that they were told that their kids were allowed to attend. In fact, that was the one of the four schools that their kids were allowed to attend in Topeka, Kansas. These were the only available schools for their children simply because it was full of all African American kids, not a single white child. One article said that “For every $150.00 spent on white children at the "white schools" only $50.00 was spent on African American children at the "black schools." None of the “black schools” had current supplies that were needed to keep the kids up to date but the “white schools” were provided with every essential for the children. After Oliver was turned down by the school he took his case to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) just so his daughter could get into school. Finally, after many trials and tribulation, in 1954 the case was won. Linda and all the other African American students that surrounded her could now attend a school nearby despite the outer skin color of each individual. This case is so incredibly relevant to A Raisin in the Sun because in this play the white neighborhood is completely and totally against having the “black” family move into their neighborhood. They are outraged at the fact that these “outsiders” would even think of intruding into their territory. Although times have definitely improved immensely, it brings grave disappointment to me that still this day there is division in the races. It is discouraging that one would feel differently towards another due to the color of their skin or their ethnic background. There is no difference in a successful, married white man, and a successful, married black man. Our Heavenly Father has never seen a difference and never will, so what makes us think that we have the right to?