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Linda Brown had to travel a mile every day to get to her non-white school, even though
she lived nearby a white school. The Browns attempted to enroll Linda at the white school
but were turned away, as were several other black families. In Brown v. Board of Education,
a group of 13 parents, including Linda’s dad, Oliver Brown, sued the Topeka School
Board on behalf of their 20 children in federal district court, alleging that segregation
deprived them of equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment.
A panel of three district court judges ruled for the school board, finding that the facilities
for black students were largely equal to those for white students. The court cited the 1896
Supreme Court precedent Plessy v. Ferguson, which validated “separate but equal” accommodations
in public transportation, but acknowledged the “detrimental effect” segregation had
on non-white children. Brown appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which granted certiorari and consolidated Brown with four other cases from South Carolina,
Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia to determine whether state-sponsored racial
segregation in public schools could continue. The plaintiffs were representatives of black
children who were refused admission to white public schools under existing racial segregation
laws. The plaintiffs offered sociological data as proof that segregated schools resulted
in black children feeling inferior to their white peers. The plaintiffs argued this type
of educational system should not be sanctioned and sought desegregation.
The Court ruled for the plaintiffs, reasoning that, even assuming equality between the schools,
the separation itself was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment. Chief Justice Warren, writing for a unanimous Court, said, “We conclude that,
in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place.
Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Warren set aside originalist arguments
about the Fourteenth Amendment, remarking on the metamorphosis that had occurred in
public education since the passage of the amendment. Then, education was provided mainly
on a private basis and almost exclusively to white children; states now educated all
children. Warren further relied on the sociological data offered by the plaintiffs regarding the
lasting feeling of inferiority created in black children by segregated schools, finding
that the inherent inequality deprived them of equal protection.
This was a landmark case, because previous segregation cases had focused on the lack
of equality between the separate black and white facilities. The Brown plaintiffs set
out to prove that there is no such thing as “separate AND equal”–separation alone
creates unacceptable inequality. Through this ruling, the Court overturned Plessy, which
had served as the legal basis for racial segregation for more than 50 years.
Foreseeing obstacles to implementation, the Supreme Court asked the attorney generals
of all states with segregated schools to submit plans for desegregation. The Brown case served
as a major milestone in the Civil Rights Movement and became one of the legal foundations for
challenges to segregation in other areas of American life.
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