Reflections on Justice Before and After Brown

This Article discusses the important role that Brown v. Board of Education and the federal legislation that followed from it played in nullifying the Jim Crow edits. The Article examines how the result in Brown and certain subsequent events allowed for the creation of a black middle class. Martin Luther King's movement directly challenging state-forced segregation was highly effective in this matter; his 1963 march on Washington, in which 250,000 people turned up in support, became the turning point in the segregation battle. Brown also served as a predicate for the passage of the 1964 Federal Civil Rights Act which prohibited discrimination in places of public accommodation.

The Article also discusses the varying attitudes of federal judges to desegregation. Some judges found the adjustment difficult while others, despite strong resistance, did not hesitate to follow Brown.