Brown v Board of Education
May 17, 1954 · 20th Century
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled unanimously in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that mandating, or even permitting, public schools to be segregated by race was unconstitutional. This decision overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling and was a major victory in the civil rights movement.
Key Figures
Earl WarrenThurgood MarshallOliver BrownLinda Brown
Locations
United States Supreme Court, Washington D.C.Topeka, KansasMonroe Elementary School
Topics
plessy v fergusonsupreme courtcivil rightscurriculumearl warren5th gradebrown v board of education
Connected Events — 5 Connections
Plessy's 1896 "separate but equal" doctrine legalized racial segregation for 58 years until Brown v Board unanimously overturned it, declaring segregated schools inherently unequal Plessy v Ferguson Supreme Court Decision
Brown v Board ruled that school segregation violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause — the same argument Plessy had rejected 58 years earlier — overturning "separate but equal" Fourteenth Amendment Ratified
The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, led by Thurgood Marshall, spent decades building the litigation strategy that culminated in Brown v Board of Education, systematically challenging segregation case by case through the federal courts NAACP Founded
Set desegregation precedent that emboldened Executive Order 9981 — Military Desegregation
Forced federal enforcement of Little Rock Nine Integrate Central High School
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