Discuss the racial problems addressed by the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. What provisions of the Constitution provided the basis for each of these policy decisions?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), the Supreme Court justices overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that segregated schools were inherently unequal, and thus they violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court further stated that the maintenance of separate school systems generates feelings of social inferiority on the part of minority students. Because the Fourteenth Amendment applies only to acts of government, private firms are not affected by it. In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress used its commerce power to entitle all persons equal access to establishments serving the general public, and to forbid discrimination in hiring, promotion, and payment of employees in medium and large firms. Congress's commerce power was utilized to restrict discrimination in public places and employment.