SCOTUS: Desegregation of Public Schools (Brown v. Board of Education)

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a major, landmark Supreme Court decision in 1954. The ruling declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional and was the first major victory for civil rights activists during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Here’s how the case unfolded.

In 1951, the public school district of Topeka, Kansas, refused to allow Oliver Brown’s daughter to enroll in the white-only school closest to their home because they were African-American, instead, making her attend a segregated school farther away. To get to the segregated school, Brown’s daughter (along with numerous others) had to walk over a mile, crossing several railroad tracks along the way, to get to a bus stop that took students across town.

Therefore, Brown, along with 12 other families facing a similar problem, filed a class-action lawsuit with the help of the NAACP in a federal court against the Board of Education of Topeka, claiming that the segregation policy was unconstitutional and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Unfortunately, the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas ruled against Brown, citing the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case where the “Separate but Equal” doctrine was established. They also said that the schools were of “equal quality,” so it was legal to segregate the schools. Brown et al. then appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.

In 1952, the Supreme Court combined five other similar cases into this one and heard them all together. The Court heard arguments in the spring of 1953, but the court was extremely divided and couldn’t make up its mind. However, Chief Justice Fred Vinson, who wanted to postpone the decision as he believed the case to be too important, died, and President Eisenhower nominated Earl Warren as Vinson’s replacement. He ordered the Court to rehear the case in December 1953. Despite some internal conflict within justices, Warren was able to convince all of them to vote unanimously in favor of Brown.

So, on May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court voted 9-0 in favor of Brown et al., declaring segregation of schools based on skin color was unconstitutional against the Equal Protection Clause. Plessy v. Ferguson was also overturned by this decision. The majority opinion was issued by Warren, and said the following:

“We conclude that in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

“To separate [Black children] from others of similar age and qualification solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their stauts in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone.”

People were surprised to see a unanimous decision. Most people expected a divided court.

Obviously, the ruling was met with fierce opposition in the South. Some school districts closed all schools rather than desegregate them. It took several years to fully desegregate schooling, especially in the South. In a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, federal troops had to be called in to escort nine Black students to school for an entire year!

The case was monumental in driving the Civil Rights Movement to the forefront. It paved the way for full racial desegregation and the Civil Rights Act later on in the 1960s and came as a major victory to the Civil Rights Movement. This was, arguably, one of the most important Supreme Court ever made. Its legacy still continues to live on to this very day.