Key Court Cases on Segregation: Focus on Brown v. Board of Education

Context and Background

14th Amendment - Equal Protection Clause: "No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Established "separate but equal," providing governmental approval for segregation.

Significance: Considered a pivotal case in dismantling segregation.
Key Player: Thurgood Marshall, NAACP lawyer, argued against school segregation.
Context: Combined cases, including Linda Brown's from Topeka, Kansas, highlighting denied admissions to nearby white schools.
Argument: Marshall highlighted that separate schools, even of equal quality, cannot be equal if segregation is based on race.

Initial Challenges: Supreme Court divided; the case was put on hold for new briefs and arguments.
Chief Justice: Earl Warren replaced Fred Vinson, advocated for a unanimous decision to ensure legitimacy.
Federalism Concern: Some justices felt states should decide on desegregation, though many saw it as a violation of the 14th Amendment.

Unanimous Decision: Chief Justice Warren's opinion focused on the societal impact of segregation, not just school resources.
- Key Experiments: Cited controversial doll studies to argue segregation fostered feelings of inferiority.
Ruling: Declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal," violating the 14th Amendment.
Resistance and Change: Despite Southern resistance, the ruling prompted gradual school desegregation.
Legacy: Paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement, influencing the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act a decade later.

Encouragement to explore more historic court cases in additional educational resources.