Brown v. Board of Education TCI Textbook

• The 1896 Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Ferguson established the "separate but equal" doctrine, which permitted legal racial segregation in states if facilities were equal in quality.
• Segregated facilities and institutions were, in reality, often separate and unequal.

Background of Brown v. Board

• In 1950, the NAACP recruited parents to challenge the segregation policy of Topeka, Kansas, schools, reflecting the ongoing impact of Plessy v. Ferguson.
• In 1951, 13 parents filed a class action suit on behalf of 20 children denied admission to public schools closest to their homes.
• Oliver Brown, the only male plaintiff, lent his name to the case, as attorneys believed this would increase the likelihood of Supreme Court acceptance.
• Linda Brown was refused admission to their local public school because it was designated for white students.
• By the time Brown reached the Supreme Court, it had been combined with four other cases from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
• The Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

Arguments Presented

• Plaintiffs argued segregated public schools are not and cannot be equal, thus depriving them of equal protection under the law.
• The "separate but equal" doctrine originated in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), a transportation case, not education.
• While there had been six cases involving the "separate but equal" doctrine in public education before this, it was never necessary to reexamine said doctrine.
• Unlike previous cases, Brown directly questioned the doctrine's validity.
• The Court acknowledged that tangible factors (buildings, curricula, teacher qualifications, salaries) in black and white schools were being equalized.
• The decision focused on the effect of segregation itself on public education, beyond tangible factors.

Court's Reasoning

• It is not possible to turn back the clock to 1868 or 1896, and it's important to consider public education's full development and current role in American life.
• Education is now a critical function of state and local governments, essential for democratic society, citizenship, and cultural development.
• Education is a right that must be available to all on equal terms.
• Segregation based solely on race deprives minority children of equal educational opportunities.
• The Court referenced Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, emphasizing intangible factors contributing to educational quality.
• Separating children by race generates feelings of inferiority that can negatively and permanently impact them.
• The Kansas case acknowledged segregation's detrimental effect on black children, causing a sense of inferiority and hindering their educational and mental development.
• Modern psychological knowledge supports the finding that segregation is detrimental.
• The Court rejected any language in Plessy v. Ferguson that contradicted this finding.

Conclusion

• In public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" is deemed unconstitutional; separate facilities are inherently unequal.
• Segregation deprives plaintiffs of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
• Due to the ruling, the cases will be put back on the docket to formulate decrees, where the parties are requested to present further argument.