This unjust act of racism and inequality within the school system can be traced back to 1896 with the Plessy V. Fugurson case which led to “separate facilities for education” and a “equal education”. It is from this case that we remember the term “separate but equal,” in which whites and blacks had to attend separate schools but obtain an equal education. In 1899 there was the Cumming V. Richmond case, in which three black families petitioned the court to allow their children to finish high school at a white high school, due to the closure of the local black high school that would have integrated African Americans and whites in a single structure. Unjust and racial segregation continued into the 1950s with the Sweatt V. Painter case where an African American, Homas Sweatt, was denied entry to the University of Texas Law School because he was black. This unequal treatment of separate but equal education continued until the 1954 case that we all know so well as the “Brown V. Board of Education” case. In this case, a young Kansas girl had to walk 21 blocks to the closet at her all-black school, when an all-white school was just seven blocks away. In which the court declared an end to racially segregated schools due to inequality in education. With Brown v. Board of Education everyone thought we had reached a new level of educational equality. However, prejudice, ignorance, and oppression exist all around us in today's society. Prejudice, or lack of knowledge about others who differ from us, plagues our nation and our education systems. According to Tomko, Heather (September 28, 2009), racism is even more overtly present in Southern schools. When you can open... half of the paper...... From: http://thetartan.org/2009/9/28/forum/racismCampbell, DE (2010) Racism and Schools. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/racism-schools/Dittmann, Melissa. Urban school desegregation. Monitor Staff Vol 35, No. 8 (September 2004). Retrieved: February 20, 2011. from: http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep04/urban.aspxMerlot, Lily. (April 30, 2007). Cultural conflicts and their effects on academic performance. Retrieved: February 21, 2011 From: http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep04/urban.aspxBeswick, Richard.(2000).Racism in America's Schools. ERIC Digest Series, EA Number 49. Retrieved: 02/20/11 from: http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9215/racism.htmRamey, SL, & Ramey, CT (1994, November). The transition to school: why the early years matter for life. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(30), 194-198.