School Desegregation

Plessy v. Ferguson

May 18, 1896

This law validated the "Separate but Equal" clause. Although it has nothing to do with school segregation it did set the president for schools to be segregated. This was in part because railway companies in Louisiana were allowed to segregate passengers by race because they had to provide separate but equal space to non-whites. The same argument was then used for all other spaces such as schools, restaurants, even water fountains. www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/163/537

Mendez v. Westminster

Apr 14, 1947

This case helped desegregate school almost 10 years prior to Brown. The schools were desegregated because the districts involved segregated schools even though they were not authorized by the state to do so. This left in place Plessy v. Ferguson but opened up California and Orange County schools to all students.

Gebhart v. Belton

Aug 28, 1952

Decision by the Delaware Supreme Court to integrate several schools because the minority segregated schools in question were not equal to those schools offered to white students. In minority schools the class sizes were larger, teachers had lower education levels and higher level courses such as economics, trigonometry were not offered. Based on these facts the court decided in favor of the Belton.
http://law.justia.com/cases/delaware/supreme-court/1952/15-18-2.html

Brown V. Board of Education

May 17, 1954

The US Supreme Court rejected the "Seperate but Equal" provision established in Plessy v. Ferguson. They also referenced Gebhart v. Belton affirming that the decision was based on separate and unequal schooling. The Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiff's were deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. They also ruled that public segregation was a denial of the equal protection of the laws. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/347/483

Little Rock Nine

Sep 25, 1957

By order of President Eisenhower segregated schools in the south were desegregated. The little Rock nine were not allowed to attend Central High School and were kept from entering by Orval Faubus and the states National Guard. Eisenhower responded by removing the National Guard and sending in the Army to escort the students school.

Civil Rights act of 1964

Jul 2, 1964

Government prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or age in hiring, promoting, firing, setting wages, testing, training, apprenticeship, and all other terms and conditions of employment.

Crawford v. Board of Education [CA Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 18573 (a)(5) (E) (Revised 03/29/96)]

Jun 28, 1976

The CA Supreme Court ruled that school districts must take reasonable cations to desegregate schools regardless of the cause for segregation.
California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 18573 (a)(5) (E) (Revised 03/29/96)

CA ED Code Article 7 48301 (a)

Jan 1, 2004

This section of the code allows for students to transfer schools via interdistrict transfer as long as it does not: (1) the court-ordered desegregation plan of the school district (2) The voluntary desegregation plan of the school district (3) impact the racial and ethnic balance of the school