Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (dec 9, 1952 – may 17, 1954)

Description:

The case was four lawsuits filed by the NAACP on behalf of African American students denied admission to all white schools, consolidated into one. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled (9-0) that segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment. It rejected the ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) of “separate but equal” with Chief Justice Earl Warren stating that “segregated schools are inherently unequal”(History, 2021). The court stated that school districts and schools boards end segregation “with all deliberate speed”(History, 2021) but many evaded desegregation or defied it. The ruling was a landmark case ending legal segregation in public schools, but segregation largely remained in the southern states until the late 1960’s. It is “considered one of the most important rulings in the court’s history”(Duignan, 2020). It helped start the civil rights movement and was the first major victory against the Jim Crow laws, it inspired more action.