Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was a landmark Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The case consolidated five separate cases that all challenged the constitutionality of segregation in public schools. The plaintiffs, including Oliver Brown, argued that segregated schools were inherently unequal, leading to psychological harm and perpetuating racial inequality. The case was a direct challenge to the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had upheld the constitutionality of “separate but equal” facilities for Black and white citizens.
Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing the opinion of the Court, stated that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” overturning the Plessy doctrine in the context of public education. This decision had profound implications, declaring that state-sponsored segregation in public schools was unconstitutional and mandating desegregation across the United States. The ruling marked a major victory for the Civil Rights Movement and set the stage for further legal challenges to segregation and discrimination, becoming a cornerstone in the fight for racial equality.