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Doc of the Day: Brown v. Board of Education
05/17/10
One of the U.S. Supreme Court’s most significant decisions, Brown v. Board of Education, was handed down on May 17, 1954. Authored by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the landmark 9-0 ruling declared segregation in the nation’s public schools to be unconstitutional. It effectively overturned the Court’s 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson, which had permitted states to provide “separate but equal” facilities for people of different races.
Noting that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” the Court found that segregation in the public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ruling encouraged African Americans to fight for the full integration of other public and private facilities during the Civil Rights Movement.
Read the U.S. Supreme Court decision in BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION
Read the U.S. Supreme Court decision in PLESSY V. FERGUSON