Board Of Education Vs Brown

The Landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Case

A Turning Point in American Civil Rights

The Case That Ended Segregation in Schools

The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 17, 1954. In a unanimous 9-0 decision, the Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Prior to the Brown case, public schools in the United States were largely segregated by race. This system of segregation was upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson, which established the doctrine of "separate but equal." However, over time, it became clear that separate schools for black and white students were not equal in any meaningful way.

In Brown v. Board of Education, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) argued that school segregation violated the Equal Protection Clause. The NAACP challenged the lack of equal facilities and resources in black schools, as well as the psychological harm caused by segregation. The Supreme Court agreed with the NAACP's arguments, ruling that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

The Brown decision marked a turning point in American civil rights history. It desegregated public schools and helped to pave the way for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment, public accommodations, and government programs.