Introducing
Your new presentation assistant.
Refine, enhance, and tailor your content, source relevant images, and edit visuals quicker than ever before.
Trending searches
Who are the parties involved in this case?
In this case "Charlotte Mecklenburg" refers to Charlotte Mecklenburg board of education in Charlotte, NC.
The "Swann" in this particular case refers to an African American couple (Vera and Darius Swann ) whose child was forced to ride a integrated bus to a far away school in order to speed up the desegregation process when they lived two miles away from a school. (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sued on their behalf - as well as for 9 other families experiencing the same problems.)
By Kevin Dunning
10/23/14
Mr. Johnson 1st
This particular case deals with the topic of desegregation and the strategies implemented in order to make it work ( to be specific integrated busing). Basically what happened is The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sues the Charrlotte Mecklenburg Board of Education on the behalf of Vera and Darius Swann. They were represented by a lawyer named Julius L. Chambers and the reason they sued is because they believed it to be unconstitutional to force the couple's child to ride a integrated bus to a school several miles further rather than the one just two miles from their house just to speed up the desegregation process. Another name for the busing policy is "forced busing" so it is not like these people had a choice and this was causing some anger and uproar among families. (The reason that the Swann family was chosen for the "representative name" was because the dad was a theology professor and would likely not suffer economically from the case.)
What is the Story of the Case?
In this case "The Swann's" argued that it was unconstitutional that students were forced to ride buses to schools far away from their homes that they didn't have a say in attending in order to fulfill the constitutional requirement of desegregation when there is a school 2 blocks down the road. They argued that there was nothing mentioned in the constitution that desegregation must be speed up and that this forced busing was causing a huge problem for both them and their kids.
What Were the Arguments Made? (Continued)
The argument made by Charlotte Mecklenburg is that integrated busing is needed to help ensure that schools would be racially integrated and that all students regardless of their race with receive the same educational opportunities. They also presented the point that they are trying to desegregate school and the busing technique is both an effective and reasonable way to achieve that goal. Therefore, it is constitutional because it helps to get rid of segregation. (something that was ruled unconstitutional.)
The Supreme Court decision was a unanimous vote
( 9 - 0) in favor of Charlotte Mecklenburg board of education. In other words they voted in favor of upholding the use of racially mixed buses ( and other desegregation methods) to speed up the desegregation process.
The lasting impact of this case was that it showed to America that the Government had set a standard that says segregation is unconstitutional and that they will use all means necessary (including forced busing) to insure that racial mixing in schools and integration of schools does take place and in a quick manner. This case also caused some hard feelings against the Supreme Court from both African Americans and whites because the bus rides often harmed African Americans and they forced whites to attend less than desirable schools. (Eventually the Supreme Court ruled out the forced busing policy.)
Lasting Impact of the Case