# data[].attributes.body
Brown V. Board of education was a case that made the law "separate but equal" unconstitutional in the United States. This court case was a defining moment in civil rights history because it made such a huge impact for many generations to come.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A child born to a Black mother in a state like Mississippi... has exactly the same rights as a white baby born to the wealthiest person in the United States. It's not true, but I challenge anyone to say it is not a goal worth working for.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brown v. Board of Education Celebrating the 67th Anniversary of LDF's Seminal Case May 17, 1954 marks a defining moment in the history of the United States. On that day, the Supreme Court declared the doctrine of "separate but equal" unconstitutional and handed LDF the most celebrated victory in its storied history.

# data[].attributes.body
Olivia Brown filed a lawsuit due to the denied admission of white school closer to her house. She argued that it denied the 14th amendment's equal protection clause.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brown v. Board of Education - Case Summary and Case Brief

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Following is the case brief for Brown v. Board of Education, United States Supreme Court, (1954) Case Summary of Brown v. Board of Education: Oliver Brown was denied admission into a white school As a representative of a class action suit, Brown filed a claim alleging that laws permitting segregatio…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Brown v. Board of Education

# data[].attributes.body
This case led to the start of desegregation to all schools in the U.S. Prior to the ruling, children like Olivia, were denied access to white schools in Topeka, Kansas, due to the Plessy v. Ferguson case which states the facilities could be separate but of equal equality. The Brown v. Board of education case argued against it and ultimately won.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education ended with a Supreme Court decision that helped lead to the desegregation of schools throughout America. Prior to the ruling, African-American children in Topeka, Kansas were denied access to all-white schools due to laws allowing for separate but equal facilities. The idea of separate but equal was given legal standing with the 1896 Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. This doctrine required that any separate facilities had to be of equal quality. However, the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education successfully argued that segregation was inherently unequal.

Case Background

In the early 1950s, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) brought class action lawsuits against school districts in several states, seeking court orders that would require the districts to allow black children to attend white schools. One of these suits was filed against the board of education in Topeka, Kansas, on behalf of Oliver Brown, a parent of a child who was denied access to white schools in the Topeka school district. The original case was tried in a district court and was defeated on the grounds that the black schools and white schools were sufficiently equal and therefore segregated schooling in the district was protected under the Plessy decision. The case was then heard by the Supreme Court in 1954, along with other similar cases from around the country, and it became known as Brown v. Board of Education. The chief council for the plaintiffs was Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first black Justice appointed to the Supreme Court.

Brown's Argument

The lower court that ruled against Brown focused on comparisons of basic facilities offered in both the black and white schools of the Topeka school district. By contrast, the Supreme Court case involved a much more in-depth analysis, looking at the effects that the different environments had on the students. The Court determined that segregation led to lowered self-esteem and a lack of confidence that could affect a child's ability to learn. It found that separating students by race sent the message to black students that they were inferior to white students and therefore schools serving each race separately could never be equal.

The Significance of Brown v. Board of Education

The Brown decision was truly significant because it overturned the separate but equal doctrine established by the Plessy decision. While previously the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was interpreted so that equality before the law could be met through segregated facilities, with Brown this was no longer true. The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law, and the Court ruled that separate facilities based on race were ipso facto unequal.

Compelling Evidence

One piece of evidence that greatly influenced the Supreme Court decision was based on research performed by two educational psychologists, Kenneth, and Mamie Clark. The Clarks presented children as young as 3 years old with white and brown dolls. They found that overall the children rejected the brown dolls when asked to pick which dolls they liked the best, wanted to play with, and thought were a nice color. This underlined the inherent inequality of a separate educational system based on race.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Brown v. Board of Education Did for American Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education ended with a Supreme Court decision that helped lead to the desegregation of schools throughout America. Prior to the ruling, African-American children in Topeka, Kansas were denied access to all-white schools due to laws allowing for separate but equal facilities.

# data[].attributes.body
The vote in the court was unanimous in the ruling that segregation in public schools violated the 14th amendments equal protection clause. This was one of the first major movements leading towards the desegregation of the U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On May 17, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren issued the Supreme Court's unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The upshot: Students of color in America would no longer be forced by law to attend traditionally under-resourced Black-only schools.

The decision marked a legal turning point for the American civil-rights movement. But it would take much more than a decree from the nation's highest court to change hearts, minds and two centuries of entrenched racism. Brown was initially met with inertia and, in most southern states, active resistance. More than half a century later, progress has been made, but the vision of Warren's court has not been fully realized.

The Supreme Court Rules 'Separate' Means Unequal

The landmark case began as five separate class-action lawsuits brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) on behalf of Black schoolchildren and their families in Kansas, South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The lead plaintiff, Oliver Brown, had filed suit against the Board of Education in Topeka, Kansas in 1951, after his daughter Linda was denied admission to a white elementary school.

Her all-Black school, Monroe Elementary, was fortunate-and unique-to be endowed with well-kept facilities, well-trained teachers and adequate materials. But the other four lawsuits embedded in the Brown case pointed to more common fundamental challenges. The case in Clarendon, South Carolina described school buildings as no more than dilapidated wooden shacks. In Prince Edward County, Virginia, the high school had no cafeteria, gym, nurse's office or teachers' restrooms, and overcrowding led to students being housed in an old school bus and tar-paper shacks.

Brown v. Board First to Rule Against Segregation Since Reconstruction Era

The Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board marked a shining moment in the NAACP's decades-long campaign to combat school segregation. In declaring school segregation as unconstitutional, the Court overturned the longstanding "separate but equal" doctrine established nearly 60 years earlier in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In his opinion, Chief Justice Warren asserted public education was an essential right that deserved equal protection, stating unequivocally that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

Still, Thurgood Marshall, head of the NAACP's Legal Defense and Educational Fund and lead lawyer from the plaintiffs, knew the fight was far from over-and that the high court's decision was only a first step in the long, complicated process of dismantling institutionalized racism. He warned his colleagues soon after the verdict came down: "The fight has just begun."

In 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously strikes down segregation in public schools, sparking the Civil Rights movement.

Brown v. Board Does Not Instantly Desegregate Schools

In its landmark ruling, the Supreme Court didn't specify exactly how to end school segregation, but rather asked to hear further arguments on the issue. The Court's timidity, combined with steadfast local resistance, meant that the bold Brown v. Board of Education ruling did little on the community level to achieve the goal of desegregation. Black students, to a large degree, still attended schools with substandard facilities, out-of-date textbooks and often no basic school supplies.

In a 1955 case known as Brown v. Board II, the Court gave much of the responsibility for the implementation of desegregation to local school authorities and lower courts, urging that the process proceed "with all deliberate speed." But many lower court judges in the South, who had been appointed by segregationist politicians, were emboldened to resist desegregation by the Court's lackluster enforcement of the Brown decision.

In Prince Edward County, where one of the five class-action suits behind Brown was filed, the Board of Supervisors refused to appropriate funds for the County School Board, choosing to shut down the public schools for five years rather than integrate them.

This backlash against the Court's verdict reached the highest levels of government: In 1956, 82 representatives and 19 senators endorsed a so-called "Southern Manifesto" in Congress, urging Southerners to use all "lawful means" at their disposal to resist the "chaos and confusion" that school desegregation would cause.

In 1964, a full decade after the decision, more than 98 percent of Black children in the South still attended segregated schools.

The Brown Ruling Becomes a Catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement

For the first time since the Reconstruction Era, the Court's ruling focused national attention on the subjugation of Black Americans. The result? The growth of the nascent civil-rights movement, which would doggedly challenge segregation and demand legal equality for Black families through boycotts, sit-ins, freedom rides and voter-registration drives.

The Brown verdict inspired Southern Blacks to defy restrictive and punitive Jim Crow laws, however, the ruling also galvanized Southern whites in defense of segregation-including the infamous standoff at a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. Violence against civil-rights activists escalated, outraging many in the North and abroad, helping to speed up the passage of major civil-rights and voting-rights legislation by the mid-1960s.

Finally, in 1964, two provisions within the Civil Rights Act effectively gave the federal government the power to enforce school desegregation for the first time: The Justice Department could sue schools that refused to integrate, and the government could withhold funding from segregated schools. Within five years after the act took effect, nearly a third of Black children in the South attended integrated schools, and that figure reached as high as 90 percent by 1973.

Legacy and Impact of Brown v. Board

More than 60 years after the landmark ruling, assessing its impact remains a complicated endeavor. The Court's verdict fell short of initial hopes that it would end school segregation in America for good, and some argued that larger social and political forces within the nation played a far greater role in ending segregation.

As the Supreme Court has grown increasingly polarized along political lines, both conservative and liberal justices have claimed the legacy of Brown v. Board to argue different sides in the constitutional debate. In 2007, the Court ruled 5-4 against allowing public schools to take race into account in their admission policies in order to achieve or maintain integration.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority, asserted: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." And in a dissenting opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the ruling "rewrites the history of one of this court's most important decisions."

Are Schools 'Separate But Equal' in the 21st Century?

School segregation remains in force all over America today, largely because many of the neighborhoods in which schools are still located are themselves segregated. Despite the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 and later judicial decisions making racial discrimination illegal, exclusionary economic-zoning laws still bar low-income and working-class Americans from many neighborhoods, which in many cases reduces their access to higher quality schools.

According to a 2014 report by Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute report, as of the 60th anniversary of the Brown v. Board verdict the typical Black student attended a school where only 29 percent of his or her fellow students were white, down from some 36 percent in 1980.

Fact Check

We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brown v. Board of Education: The First Step in the Desegregation of America's Schools | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Supreme Court ruling was initially met with inertia and, in many states, active resistance.

# data[].attributes.body
The case lasted five years before it finally made it to the supreme court. There was actually five other cases that also made the court realize exactly what was happening to the children that were not allowed to attend white schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling.

Subjects

Social Studies, U.S. History

On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The ruling, ending the five-year case of Oliver Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, was a unanimous decision. Brown, actually a collection of five individual cases arguing against school segregation, overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine outlined in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. Brown ruled that racial segregation itself was unconstitutional. In particular, such segregation violated the so-called "equal protection clause" of the United States Constitution's 14th Amendment: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Brown decision had an enormous impact on public schools in the U.S. In Topeka, elementary schools desegregated within two years. (Middle and high schools had already been integrated.) However, not all states accepted the Supreme Court's decision. In the state of Virginia, for instance, a campaign called "Massive Resistance" opposed desegregation. Many public schools in Virginia closed down rather than accepting integration. Virginia did not entirely integrate its public schools until the 1970s.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Writer

National Geographic Society

Producer

National Geographic Society

other

Last Updated

August 9, 2022

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. She or he will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling. Social Studies, U.S. History On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation in public schools. The ruling, ending the five-year case of Oliver Brown v.

# data[].attributes.body
This case showed that while the facilities may be equal, the education between the two schools was not, and African-American children were being educationally deprived.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The icon indicates free access to the linked research on JSTOR.

The US Supreme Court's decision in the case known colloquially as Brown v. Board of Education found that the "[t]he 'separate but equal' doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537, has no place in the field of public education." The Plessy case, decided in 1896, had found that the segregation laws which created "separate but equal" accommodations for Black Americans, specific to transportation but applicable generally, were not a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. Segregation in education had been challenged throughout the first half of the twentieth century, and rulings in a number coalesced to propel Brown to the level of the Supreme Court to address segregation in all public schools.

Below is an annotation of the opinion, with relevant scholarship covering the legal, social and education history leading up to and after the decision. As always, the supporting research is free to read and download.

The red J indicates free access to the linked research on JSTOR.
____________________________________________________________________________

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Brown v. Board of Education, 347 US 483 (1954) (USSC+)

Argued December 9, 1952

Reargued December 8, 1953

Decided May 17, 1954

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS*

Syllabus

Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment -even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white and Negro schools may be equal.

(a) The history of the Fourteenth Amendment is inconclusive as to its intended effect on public education.

(b) The question presented in these cases must be determined not on the basis of conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of the full development of public education and its present place in American life throughout the Nation.

(c) Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.

(d) Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal.

(e) The "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537, has no place in the field of public education.

(f) The cases are restored to the docket for further argument on specified questions relating to the forms of the decrees.

Opinion

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN delivered the opinion of the Court.

These cases come to us from the States of Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. They are premised on different facts and different local conditions, but a common legal question justifies their consideration together in this consolidated opinion.

In each of the cases, minors of the Negro race, through their legal representatives, seek the aid of the courts in obtaining admission to the public schools of their community on a nonsegregated basis. In each instance, they had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to race. This segregation was alleged to deprive the plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment. In each of the cases other than the Delaware case, a three-judge federal district court denied relief to the plaintiffs on the so-called "separate but equal" doctrine announced by this Court in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 US 537. Under that doctrine, equality of treatment is accorded when the races are provided substantially equal facilities, even though these facilities be separate. In the Delaware case, the Supreme Court of Delaware adhered to that doctrine, but ordered that the plaintiffs be admitted to the white schools because of their superiority to the Negro schools.

The plaintiffs contend that segregated public schools are not "equal" and cannot be made "equal," and that hence they are deprived of the equal protection of the laws. Because of the obvious importance of the question presented, the Court took jurisdiction. Argument was heard in the 1952 Term, and reargument was heard this Term on certain questions propounded by the Court.

Reargument was largely devoted to the circumstances surrounding the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. It covered exhaustively consideration of the Amendment in Congress, ratification by the states, then-existing practices in racial segregation, and the views of proponents and opponents of the Amendment. This discussion and our own investigation convince us that, although these sources cast some light, it is not enough to resolve the problem with which we are faced. At best, they are inconclusive. The most avid proponents of the post-War Amendments undoubtedly intended them to remove all legal distinctions among "all persons born or naturalized in the United States." Their opponents, just as certainly, were antagonistic to both the letter and the spirit of the Amendments and wished them to have the most limited effect. What others in Congress and the state legislatures had in mind cannot be determined with any degree of certainty.

An additional reason for the inconclusive nature of the Amendment's history with respect to segregated schools is the status of public education at that time. In the South, the movement toward free common schools, supported by general taxation, had not yet taken hold. Education of white children was largely in the hands of private groups. Education of Negroes was almost nonexistent, and practically all of the race were illiterate. In fact, any education of Negroes was forbidden by law in some states. Today, in contrast, many Negroes have achieved outstanding success in the arts and sciences, as well as in the business and professional world. It is true that public school education at the time of the Amendment had advanced further in the North, but the effect of the Amendment on Northern States was generally ignored in the congressional debates. Even in the North, the conditions of public education did not approximate those existing today. The curriculum was usually rudimentary; ungraded schools were common in rural areas; the school term was but three months a year in many states, and compulsory school attendance was virtually unknown. As a consequence, it is not surprising that there should be so little in the history of the Fourteenth Amendment relating to its intended effect on public education.

In the first cases in this Court construing the Fourteenth Amendment, decided shortly after its adoption, the Court interpreted it as proscribing all state-imposed discriminations against the Negro race. The doctrine of "separate but equal" did not make its appearance in this Court until 1896 in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, supra, involving not education but transportation. American courts have since labored with the doctrine for over half a century. In this Court, there have been six cases involving the "separate but equal" doctrine in the field of public education. In Cumming v. County Board of Education, 175 US 528, and Gong Lum v. Rice, 275 US 78, the validity of the doctrine itself was not challenged. In more recent cases, all on the graduate school level, inequality was found in that specific benefits enjoyed by white students were denied to Negro students of the same educational qualifications. Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, 305 US 337; Sipuel v. Oklahoma, 332 US 631; Sweatt v. Painter, 339 US 629; McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 US 637. In none of these cases was it necessary to reexamine the doctrine to grant relief to the Negro plaintiff. And in Sweatt v. Painter, supra, the Court expressly reserved decision on the question whether Plessy v. Ferguson should be held inapplicable to public education.

In the instant cases, that question is directly presented. Here, unlike Sweatt v. Painter, there are findings below that the Negro and white schools involved have been equalized, or are being equalized, with respect to buildings, curricula, qualifications and salaries of teachers, and other "tangible" factors. Our decision, therefore, cannot turn on merely a comparison of these tangible factors in the Negro and white schools involved in each of the cases. We must look instead to the effect of segregation itself on public education.

In approaching this problem, we cannot turn the clock back to 1868, when the Amendment was adopted, or even to 1896, when Plessy v. Ferguson was written. We must consider public education in the light of its full development and its present place in American life throughout the Nation. Only in this way can it be determined if segregation in public schools deprives these plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws.

Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. Compulsory school attendance laws and the great expenditures for education both demonstrate our recognition of the importance of education to our democratic society. It is required in the performance of our most basic public responsibilities, even service in the armed forces. It is the very foundation of good citizenship. Today it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment. In these days, it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms.

We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does.

In Sweatt v. Painter, supra, in finding that a segregated law school for Negroes could not provide them equal educational opportunities, this Court relied in large part on "those qualities which are incapable of objective measurement but which make for greatness in a law school." In McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, supra, the Court, in requiring that a Negro admitted to a white graduate school be treated like all other students, again resorted to intangible considerations: "...his ability to study, to engage in discussions and exchange views with other students, and, in general, to learn his profession." Such considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools. To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. The effect of this separation on their educational opportunities was well stated by a finding in the Kansas case by a court which nevertheless felt compelled to rule against the Negro plaintiffs:

Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.

Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson contrary to this finding is rejected.

We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated for whom the actions have been brought are, by reason of the segregation complained of, deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. This disposition makes unnecessary any discussion whether such segregation also violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Because these are class actions, because of the wide applicability of this decision, and because of the great variety of local conditions, the formulation of decrees in these cases presents problems of considerable complexity. On reargument, the consideration of appropriate relief was necessarily subordinated to the primary question-the constitutionality of segregation in public education. We have now announced that such segregation is a denial of the equal protection of the laws. In order that we may have the full assistance of the parties in formulating decrees, the cases will be restored to the docket, and the parties are requested to present further argument on Questions 4 and 5 previously propounded by the Court for the reargument this Term The Attorney General of the United States is again invited to participate. The Attorneys General of the states requiring or permitting segregation in public education will also be permitted to appear as amici curiae upon request to do so by September 15, 1954, and submission of briefs by October 1, 1954.

It is so ordered.

* Together with No. 2, Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al., on appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of South Carolina, argued December 9-10, 1952, reargued December 7-8, 1953; No. 4, Davis et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia, et al., on appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, argued December 10, 1952, reargued December 7-8, 1953, and No. 10, Gebhart et al. v. Belton et al., on certiorari to the Supreme Court of Delaware, argued December 11, 1952, reargued December 9, 1953.
[Transcript available from the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/brown-v-board-of-education] Support JSTOR Daily! Join our new membership program on Patreon today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brown v. Board of Education: Annotated - JSTOR Daily

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 1954 Supreme Court decision, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, declared that "separate but equal" has no place in education.

# data[].attributes.body
Now, the Brown v. Board of Education case was 65 years ago, and the states still struggle with the equality of education. Many schools still struggle with attendance, and disciplinary actions with the African American community over their white peers. Many African American students are still underrepresented.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

These celebrated words from the Brown v. Board of Education Majority Opinion ushered in an unprecedented era of civil rights and school restructuring in the United States. In 1954, when this judgment was written, not a single Black student attended a majority white public school in the American South.

"Separate but Equal"

In 1892, Homer Plessy, an African-American man, refused to give up his seat to a white man on a train in New Orleans, as he was required to do by Louisiana state law. For this action he was arrested. Plessy, contending that the Louisiana law separating Blacks from whites on trains violated the "equal protection clause" of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, decided to fight his arrest in court. In 1896, his case was presented to the United States Supreme Court. By a vote of 8-1, the Supreme Court ruled against Plessy. With this ruling, racial segregation was permitted under the guise of "separate but equal" and racially segregated schools were made legal. Despite the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy and similar cases, many people continued to press for the abolition of Jim Crow and other racially discriminatory laws.

Legal Cases on the Issue of School Segregation

In 1952, five separate cases came before the U.S. District Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools. These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (Kansas), Briggs v. Elliot (South Carolina), Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (Virginia), Boiling v. Sharpe (District of Columbia) and Gebhart v. Ethel (Delaware). While the facts of each case are different, the main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases. A three-judge panel at the U.S. District Court heard the cases and ruled in favor of the school boards. The plaintiffs then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

When the cases came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court consolidated all five cases under the name of Brown v. Board of Education. Thurgood Marshall personally argued the case before the Court. Although he raised a variety of legal issues on appeal, the most common one was that separate school systems for Blacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus violate the "equal protection clause" of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Unable to come to a solution by June 1953 (the end of the Court's 1952-1953 term), the Court decided to rehear the case in December 1953. Finally, all of the Justices agreed to support a unanimous decision.

Supreme Court Ruling in Brown v. Board of Education

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court delivered the unanimous ruling declaring state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was therefore unconstitutional.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. These celebrated words from the Brown v. Board of Education Majority Opinion ushered in an unprecedented era of civil rights and school restructuring in the United States.

# data[].attributes.body
This article contains a timeline of the events took place that brought Brown v. Board of Education to light.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Supreme Court held that Blacks, enslaved or free, could not be citizens of the United States. Chief Justice Taney, arguing from the original intentions of the framers of the 1787 Constitution, stated that at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, Black people were considered a subordinate and inferior class of beings, "with no rights which the White man was bound to respect."

Significance: The Supreme Court denied citizenship to Black people, setting the stage for their treatment as second class citizens.

1865
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands

The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, also known as the Freedmen's Bureau,was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1865. Its main mission was to provide relief and help freedmen become self-sufficient in all areas of life.

Significance: The first Black schools were set up under the direction of the Freedmen's Bureau. One of those schools - Howard University - would eventually train and graduate the majority of the legal team that overturned Plessy, including Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall.

1865
Black Codes

Black Codes was a name given to laws passed by southern governments established during the presidency of Andrew Johnson. These laws imposed severe restrictions on freedmen, such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, and limiting their right to testify against white men. They were also forbidden from carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations.

Significance: Segregation Begins - Public schools were segregated, and Blacks were barred from serving on juries, and testifying against Whites.

1866
Civil Rights Act of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 guaranteed Blacks basic economic rights to contract, sue, and own property.

Significance: The intention of this law was to protect all persons in the United States, including Blacks, in their civil rights.

1868
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution is ratified.

Significance: The 14th Amendment overruled Dred Scott v. Sanford. It guaranteed that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the United States and of the state in which they reside, and that no state shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens, deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person the equal protection of the law.

1873
Slaughterhouse Cases
These cases narrowly defined federal power and emasculated the Fourteenth Amendment by asserting that most of the rights of citizens remain under state control.

1875
Civil Rights Act of 1875
In March, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875, prohibiting discrimination in inns, theaters, and other places of public accommodation. It was the last Federal civil rights act passed until 1957.

Significance:
Discrimination in places of public accommodation was prohibited.

1883
Civil Rights Cases
The Supreme Court overturned the Civil Rights Act of 1875, and declared that the Fourteenth Amendment does not prohibit discrimination by private individuals or businesses.

1887
Jim Crow
The practices of comprehensive racial segregation known as " Jim Crow" emerged, and racial separation becomes entrenched.

Significance: Blacks largely disappeared from juries in the South.

Florida was the first state to enact a statute requiring segregation in places of public accommodation. Eight other states followed Florida's lead by 1892.

Homer A. Plessy challenged an 1890 Louisiana law that required separate train cars for Black Americans and White Americans. The Supreme Court held that separate but equal facilities for White and Black railroad passengers did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

Significance: Plessy v. Ferguson established the "separate but equal" doctrine that would become the constitutional basis for segregation.

Justice John Marshall Harlan, the lone dissenter in Plessy, argued that forced segregation of the races stamped Blacks with a badge of inferiority. That same line of argument would become a decisive factor in the Brown v. Board decision.

The Supreme Court upheld a local school board's decision to close a free public Black school due to fiscal constraints, despite the fact that the district continued to operate two free public white schools.

Significance: The Court's opinion argued that there was no evidence in the record that the decision was based on racial discrimination and that the distribution of public funds for public education was within the discretion of school authorities.

1908
Thurgood Marshall is born in Baltimore, MD, on July 2nd.
The Supreme Court upheld a Kentucky state law forbidding interracial instruction at all schools and colleges in the state.

1909
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People founded
W.E.B. DuBois, Ida Wells-Barnett, Mary White Ovington, and others founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Their mission was to eliminate lynching, and to fight racial and social injustice, primarily through legal action.

InGong Lum v. Rice the Supreme Court held that a Mississippi school district may require a Chinese-American girl to attend a segregated Black school rather than a White school.

1935
NAACP begins challenging segregation in graduate and secondary schools. Assisted by his protege Thurgood Marshall, Charles Hamilton Houston, of the NAACP, began his strategy of challenging segregation in graduate and professional schools.

Significance: Houston developed a legal strategy that would eventually lead to victory over segregation in the nation's schools through the Brown v. Board case. Houston's rationale for attacking segregated law schools was largely two-pronged. First, the establishment of separate but equal law school facilities for Black and White students would become too costly for the states. Second, White judges who matriculated in some of the nation's finest law schools could not, in good conscience, suggest that Black lawyers in segregated schools received "equal" legal training.

The Supreme Court decided in favor of Lloyd Gaines, a Black student who had been refused admission to the University of Missouri Law School.

1939
Thurgood Marshall named special counsel of the NAACP

1948
The NAACP board of directors formally endorsed Thurgood Marshall's view on segregation strategy.
By adopting Marshall's view, the NAACP decided to devote its efforts solely to an all-out attack on segregation in education, rather than pressing for the equalization of segregated facilities.

1948
Sipuel v. Board of Regents of University of Oklahoma

A unanimous Supreme Court held that Lois Ada Sipuel could not be denied entrance to a state law school solely because of her race.

Thurgood Marshall and NAACP officials met with Black residents of Clarendon County, SC. They decided that the NAACP would launch a test case against segregation in public schools if at least 20 plaintiffs could be found. By November, Harry Briggs and 19 other plaintiffs were assembled, and the NAACP filed a class action lawsuit against the Clarendon County School Board.

Significance: Briggs v. Elliott became one of the cases consolidated by the Supreme Court into Brown v. Board of Education.

The Supreme Court held that the University of Texas Law School must admit a Black student, Heman Sweatt. The University of Texas Law School was far superior in its offerings and resources to the separate Black law school, which had been hastily established in a downtown basement.

The Supreme Court invalidated the University of Oklahoma's requirement that a Black student, admitted to a graduate program unavailable to him at the state's Black school, sit in separate sections of or in spaces adjacent to the classroom, library, and cafeteria.

Charles Houston provided legal representation for the Consolidated Parents Group, who, under the direction of Gardner Bishop, attempted to enroll a group of Black students in all White John Philip Sousa Junior High School, in Washington, D.C.

Significance: The Bolling case became one of the consolidated Brown cases. The U. S. Supreme Court would eventually file a separate opinion on Bolling because the 14th Amendment was not applicable in Washington, D.C.

1951
February
On February 28, Brown v. Board of Education was filed in Federal district court, in Kansas.

1951
May
Davis et al. v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia, et al.

NAACP lawyer Spottswood Robinson filed Davis v. Prince Edward County, a challenge to Virginia's segregated schools.

Significance: Davis et al.ICounty School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia, et al., was another of the cases eventually consolidated as Brown v. Board of Education.

Briggs et al. v. Elliott et al.

This South Carolina case went to trial. Marshall and the NAACP presented a vast array of social science evidence showing how segregation harmed Black school children, including evidence from sociologist Kenneth Clark's controversial "Doll Study."

Significance: The U. S. District Court denied the Briggs plaintiff's request to order desegregation of Clarendon County, SC, schools and instead ordered the equalization of Black schools. Judge Julius Waring was the lone dissenter.

1951
June
Brown v. Board of Education

Robert Carter led the NAACP legal team into trial.

Significance: In August, a three-judge panel at the U. S. District Court unanimously held in the Brown v. Board of Education case that "no willful, intentional or substantial discrimination" existed in Topeka's schools. The U. S. District Court found that the physical facilities in White and Black schools were comparable and that the lower court's decisions in Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin only applied to graduate education.

1951
October
Gebhart et al. v. Belton et al.; Gebhart et al. v. Bulah et al.; Belton et al. v. Gebhart et al.; Bulah et al. v. Gebhart et al.

These cases went to trial.

1952
March
Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, VA

The U. S. District court found in favor of the school board under the theory of "separate but equal."

Significance: The U. S. District Court unanimously rejected the Davis plaintiffs' request to order desegregation of Prince Edward County, VA, schools, ordering the "equalization" of Black schools instead.

1952
April
Gebhart et al. v. Belton et al.; Gebhart et al. v.Bulah et al.; Belton et al. v. Gebhart et al.; Bulah et al. v.Gebhart et al.

A Delaware court ruled that the plaintiffs were entitled to immediate admission to White public schools.

Significance: In both of the Gebhart cases, the court ruled that the plaintiffs were being denied equal protection of the law and ordered that the 11 children involved be immediately admitted to Delaware's White schools. The board of education appealed the decision.

1952
June

The Supreme Court announced that it would hear oral arguments in Briggs and Brown during the upcoming October 1952 term.

1952
October
The Bundling of theBrown v. Board Cases

Days before arguments were to be heard in Briggs and Brown, the Supreme Court announced a postponement. Three weeks later, the Court announced that it would also hear the Delaware cases, as well as Davis v. Prince Edward County and the District of Columbia case, Bolling et al. v. Sharpe et al.

Significance: The Supreme Court agreed to hear all five of the school desegregation cases collectively. This grouping was significant because it showed school segregation as a national issue, not just a southern one.

[ Note: The U. S. Supreme Court eventually rendered a separate opinion on Bolling v. Sharpe because the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution was not applicable in the District of Columbia.]

1952
December 9th - 11th

First round of arguments held in Brown and its companion cases.

1953
June

The Supreme Court ordered that a second round of arguments in Brown v. Board be heard in October.

1953
September
Chief Justice Fred Vinson Jr. died unexpectedly of a heart attack on the 8th. President Eisenhower nominated California Governor Earl Warren to replace Vinson as interim Chief on the 30th. The Court rescheduled arguments in Brown for December.

Significance: Justice Earl Warren would go on to deliver the unanimous ruling in the Brown v. Board case.

1953
December 7th - 9th

Second round of arguments in Brown v. Board of Education.

1954
March
The Senate confirmed Earl Warren as Chief Justice.

1954
May 17
Brown v. Board of Education
The Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, and declared that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

Bolling v. Sharpe
That same day, the Court held that racial segregation in the District of Columbia public schools violated the Due Process clause of the 5th Amendment in Bolling v. Sharpe.

The Court scheduled arguments on remedy in Brown for October but eventually put them off until April of 1955.

Significance: The Court ruled that state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was a violation of the 14th Amendment and was, therefore, unconstitutional. In the wake of the decision, the District of Columbia and some school districts in the border states began to desegregate their schools voluntarily.

State legislatures in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia adopted resolutions of "interposition and nullification" that declared the Court's decision to be "null, void, and no effect."

Various southern legislatures passed laws that imposed sanctions on anyone who implemented desegregation, and enacted school closing plans that authorized the suspension of public education, and the disbursement of public funds to parents to send their children to private schools.

1954
October

After the sudden death of Justice Jackson, President Eisenhower nominated John Marshall Harlan, the grandson of the lone dissenter in Plessy, to fill the vacancy. After long hearings before the Senate, Harlan was finally sworn in as an Associate Justice in March of 1955.

1955
April

The Supreme Court heard its third round of arguments in Brown, this time concerning remedies.

May 31: Brown II
On the last day of the term, the Supreme Court handed down Brown II, ordering that desegregation occur with "all deliberate speed."

Significance: Brown II was intended to work out the mechanics of desegregation. Due to the vagueness of the term "all deliberate speed," many states were able to stall the Court's order to desegregate their schools. The legal and social obstacles that southern states put in place and encouraged, in their effort to thwart integration, served as a catalyst for the student protests that launched the civil rights movement.
Brown v. Board of Education Main Page

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Timeline of Events Leading to the Brown v. Board of Education Decision, 1954 1857Dred Scott, Plaintiff in Error v. John F. A. Sanford The Supreme Court held that Blacks, enslaved or free, could not be citizens of the United States.

# data[].attributes.body
Overall, the Brown v. Board of Education made strides in the history of education because it desegregated the schools. This gave many African American students the rights to a better education, and a school closer to home. While they weren't welcomed to the schools at first, especially in the south, it was a great step in the Civil Rights Movement. Without the Brown v. Board of Education case, schooling would most likely not be what it is today. Even though many school still struggle to represent the African American community, it is still way better than what it used to be. This case made it possible for children for generations to come to be able to access a good education and go one to really make something of themselves, whereas that might not have been the case before the court ruled the Plessy v. Ferguson case unconstitutional.