Brown V
Brown V. Board Of EducationIn 1896 the Supreme Court had held in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial
segregation was permissible as long as equal facilities were provided for
both races. Although that decision involved only passenger accommodations on
a rail road, the principle of "separate but equal" was applied thereafter to
all aspects of public life in states with large black populations.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, decided on May 17, 1954, was
one of the most important cases in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Linda Brown had been denied admission to an elementary school in Topeka
because she was black. Brought together under the Brown designation were
companion cases from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware, all of which
involved the same basic question: Does the equal protection clause of the
14th Amendment prohibit racial segregation in the public schools?
It was not until the late 1940's that the...
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