History of Discontent Segregation and the Supreme Courts
It must be noted prior to commencing this discussion on the role of Federal law in the history of segregation in the United States that it is a stance, which, as history dictates has been left largely undeclared. While many modern scholars can refer to particular social progressions or regressions resulting from federal legislation and rulings on segregation, very few have drawn from these isolated instances a conclusive response to the question of whether federal law possesses an inherent moral authority to frame or unframe the majority public sentiment on the issue of segregation. At particular points in history the sentiments of the federal government, be they brought about by way of federal law or mere suggestion, have carried a tremendous degree of authority in changing the social framework of racial segregation in the United States. However, on few occasions certain unambiguous and deliberate Supreme Court rulings have been blatantly ignored by the nation. This juxtaposition creates an interesting relationship between the creation of law and the nation’s reception and interpretation of law- particularly in regards to racial segregation. It is this polar existence, which gives rise to the argument that neither the mandate of federal law nor the government’s authoritative sentiments alone have the ability to create or destruct racial segregation. Law cannot stand alone from the social sentiment surrounding it and to this regard the affirmation or dismissal of segregation as a fundamental principle of American society is no exception. The history of segregation in the United States has been dictated by a convergence of federal law and social sentiment. In the following pages, this relationship and those elements that influence it will be discussed with particular interest being placed on the role of the Supreme Courts of 1896 and 1954 and their opinions in the cases of Plessy V. ... How did the Court’s definition of segregation evolve from 1856 to 1954? To what extent were the decisions of the Court influenced by the general sentiment of the nation in regards to segregation? ... And lastly, what role did public sentiment play in establishing the rulings of the Court’s as the common and supreme law of the land? The historical debate regarding segregation has continued on even through the ruling in the case of Brown V. ... Board decision by the United States Supreme Court, historian C. Vann Woodard argues that racial segregation is not a social characteristic deeply rooted within American history. Instead he suggests that segregation exists as a postwar trend brought about by federal legislation, which was fueled by the changing conditions in the ‘New South.