Significance: This ruling stated that segregation in education created inequality, thus reversing the Supreme Court’s earlier position on segregation set by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). This decision inspired social change toward greater equality by Congress and the federal courts.
Background: When the Browns, an African American family, moved into an all-white neighborhood in Topeka, Kansas, they expected that their daughter Linda would attend the nearby neighborhood school. Instead, they were told that their daughter would have to attend a distant all-black school that was supposedly “separate but equal.” Oliver Brown sued the school board, claiming that school segregation violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Similar cases were developing in South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. The Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education settled all four cases at once.
Decision: This case was argued on December 9, 1952; reargued on December 8, 1953; and decided on May 17, 1954, by a vote of 9 to 0. Chief Justice Earl Warren spoke for the unanimous Court, which reversed its previous position on segregation as stated in Plessy v. Ferguson. Its new opinion held that racial segregation in public schools was by nature unequal, even if the school facilities were equal. The Court noted that such segregation created feelings of inferiority that could not be undone. Therefore, enforced separation of the races in public education is unconstitutional. It is not equal protection and never can be equal protection.
Excerpt from the Opinion of the Court: “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. . . .
“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. . . .
“We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.”
