Brown v. Board - Mock Trial Case

Mother & Daughter sit on steps holding newspaper "High Court Bans Segregation in Public Schools"

In class we watched a mock trial of Brown v. Board of Education. This was an actual consolidation case involving Mrs. Brown from Topeka, Kansas, where parents sued under the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause, arguing that segregated schools violated their children's rights. The whole experience of taking notes as if it were an actual trial truly put into perspective how important this was was/is for American history.

Young boy during Doll Test

The arguments from Brown's side were extremely convincing. They pointed out that the United States has lived under "separate but equal" for 60 years, and the fight to end segregation wasn't anything new at this point. Courts had already agreed that segregation in colleges and law schools wasn't actually equal when separate. In my opinion, one of the most compelling pieces of evidence brought up was the Doll Test performed by Dr. Kenneth Clark. This test showed that black children were psychologically harmed by segregation, viewing themselves as less than those of other backgrounds. The argument was that separate has never truly meant equal, and they weren't wrong.

The moral arguments were strong as well. They quoted "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" and argued that the 14th amendment guarantees equal protection under the law. Segregation automatically stamped young black children with a "badge of inferiority". If we're all supposed to be equal under the law, why were people being treated differently? They also heavily implied that segregation shouldn't remain just because it's a part of our history. The case of Plessy v. Ferguson was referenced to emphasize how separate has never been equal. Black schools had broken windows, no heating, and handed-down textbooks while white schools got much better resources. America has never succeeded by sticking to the past, but only by growing and progressing forward.

The economic arguments were mind-blowing. The government was spending $179 per white student, but only $3-4 per black student, which visually to me looks insane. Black unemployment was also twice as high as white unemployment, and Dr. Gunner calculated segregation was costing the United States billions of dollars due to needing two of everything to maintain separation. Education is the gateway to becoming a well-off working citizen, so keeping black students in subpar schools was just continuing the cycle of poverty.

However, the Board of Education also had to make their arguments. It was interesting to hear their perspective, even though I disagreed completely disagreed with them. They argued that facilities were supposed to made equal for both sides, and the Equal Protection clause doesn't guarantee mixing of races in public settings. They also claimed that one's feeling of inferiority isn't caused by the law itself, and that state legislators should be able to choose if they want these rules.

Their tradition argument was that laws established separate schools for decades, and long-standing systems create stability. They even added religion to their argument, saying that the Bible supports separation and that God created different regions to keep cultures separate as their own. Although I see where they were coming from, that seemed like a stretch to me.

As far as their economic arguments, they focused on how expensive immediate integration would be. Reconstruction would bring high costs that school boards may not be able to afford. They worried that wealthy families may switch to private schools, leaving fewer resources for public schools, and for that many teachers would be left jobless. 

After hearing both sides, the arguments on Brown's side made more sense. You can't claim anything is equal when one group is getting over $100 per student and the other is getting less than $5 per student.  You can't overlook the phycological harm done to those children. And you cannot cover up basic human rights behind tradition and economics. This mock trial really showed me how important Brown v. Board of Education was for changing America, even though the fight for actual equality still exists in some schools to this day.