may 17, 1954 - Brown vs Board of Education

Description:

What is it? Brown v Board of Education was an important supreme court case in which the Court ruled unanimously that the racial segregation of children in schools was unconstitutional, and prior decision in Plessy vs Ferguson where the separate but equal phrase was created was removed as the court believed that seperate educational facilities are inherently unequal. The case began with Oliver Brown, a black resident in Topeka, Kansas. A public school district in Topeka, Kansas refused to enroll Brown’s daughter, saying that she would need to ride a bus to an elementary school for black children much farther away. Brown and twelve other families in a similar situation filed a lawsuit against the school district, on the basis that segregation was unconstitutional.
Who was involved? Oliver Brown, twelve other families in a similar case, Topeka’s Board of Education
Where did it happen? Topeka, Kansas
Major Cause: Oliver Brown and twelve other families felt that since they can not send their children to the public school district elementary school closest to them, and they would have to take a bus to a school farther away, it was unconstitutional as it was segregation.
Major Effect: It helped established that the ruling in Plessy vs Ferguson is not constitutional at all, as it is certainly unequal, thus this was an important cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement.