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Plessy v.Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a case in which a black man named Homer Plessy fought against Louisiana's segregation laws when he was unfairly arrested. When this case was fought in the Supreme Court it was found 7-1 that the segregation was fair. This led to schools continuing to be separate. As long as the schools were separate but equal colored people would continue to go to one school and whites would go to another school. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
After Plessy v. Fergason lost, Oliver Brown took the Board of Education to court to absolve the separate but equal clause. As brown went around to different schools he found that colored schools were severely underdeveloped. It was fought that separate schools were unconstitutional and were indeed unfair. The court overruled the separate but equal clause and segregated schools were no longer a law. -
Engel v. Vitale
Before Engel v. Vitale schools would require prayer in schools. Steven Engelfound fought against this as he found this unconstitutional against the First Amendment as his child was Jewish. In court, it was found that it was against the separation of religion and state. Now schools are no longer allowed to have prayer. -
Title IX
It was seen by Patsy Mink that there was gender segregation in education. Patsy went through all 3 branches of government to create a law saying that discrimination of gender would no longer be allowed. As it passed through each branch President Nixon signed the law. Now there is no longer a tolerance for sexual discrimination in schools. Women can now participate in any activity. -
Lau v. Nichols
Schools in California were not required to offer assistance to students who speak other languages. Kinney Lau, a Chinese student fought this as he and other students were able to learn in school. They said that this was against the Civil Rights Act. It was found that schools must provide assistance to non-English speakers. -
Education of all Handicapped Children Act
Disabled children throughout the U.S. were unable to go to school as public schools were not required to educate them. EAHCA fought for all public schools to give equal educational opportunities needs of the children with disabilities. President Ford signed an amendment creating the law that all children with disabilities have a right to a free education. -
Pyler v. Doe
In Texas a law was passed that decided on defunding schools that educated undocumented students and allowed schools to deny undocumented students. MALDEF filed a case against the law saying it goes against constitutional rights. The courts found 5 to 4 that this is unconstitutional. Now public schools are open to all children legally a citizen or not. -
Grutter v. Bollinger
Grutter v. Bollinger challenged the action policies of the University of Michigan's use of race in admissions. Barbra Grutter fought against the University when she was denied administration due to her race. The Supreme Court found that this was constitutional as long as there was diversity in the school and that the rules needed to change to uphold its ruling. Today higher education sees the importance of diversity and to update polices over time.