Brown v. Board of Education
Citation: 347 U.S. 483 (U.S. Supreme Court, 1954)
Facts
Several consolidated cases challenged racially segregated public schools in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Black schoolchildren were denied admission to schools attended by white children under state laws requiring or permitting segregation. The plaintiffs argued that segregated schools were inherently unequal.
Issue
Does racial segregation of children in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?
Holding
The unanimous Court (Warren, C.J.) held that “separate but equal” has no place in public education, and that racially segregated public schools are inherently unequal in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.
Rule
Racial classifications in public education cannot be justified by the “separate but equal” doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Separation itself generates a sense of inferiority that adversely affects children’s educational development — making the facilities unequal as a matter of constitutional law.
Significance
Brown is the most transformative civil rights decision in American history. It overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, demolished the legal foundation of Jim Crow segregation, and set the stage for the Civil Rights Movement. The Court’s unanimous opinion (a product of Chief Justice Warren’s diplomacy) gave the ruling moral authority. Brown II (1955) addressed implementation, ordering desegregation “with all deliberate speed.”