Brown v. Board of Education
Oliver Brown and several other parents of black schoolchildren in Topeka, Kansas claimed that racial segregation of public schools denied black schoolchildren equal protection of the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. On May 17, 1954 the court ruled in favor of Brown by finding that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.
The decision was an historic ruling regarding segregation of public places. In ending segregation of public schools, the decision overturned Plessy's "separate but equal" doctrine and paved the way for desegregation of other types of public places in the next two decades.
Specifics of the case
Appellants: Oliver Brown and several other parents of black schoolchildren
Appellee: Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Chief Lawyer for Appellants: Robert L Carter, Thurgood Marshall, Spottswood W Robinson, Charles S Scott
Chief Lawyer for Appellee: Harold R Fatzer, Paul E Wilson
Justices for the Court: Hugo L Black, Harold Burton, Tom C Clark, William O Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Robert H Jackson, Sherman Minton, Stanley Forman Reed, Chief Justice Earl Warren
Justices Dissenting: None
From the book, Supreme Court Drama: Cases That Changed America. (Available from the online law reference books here)
Books available at your library
All deliberate speed: reflections on the first half century of Brown v. Board of Education by Charles J Ogletree
Brown v. Board of Education: a civil rights milestone and its troubled legacy by James T Patterson
The Supremes' greatest hits: the 34 Supreme Court cases that most directly affect your life by Michael G Trachtman
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