Brown V. Board Of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1955)

"To separate children solely because of their race
generates a feeling of inferiority that may affect
their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone."

Linda Brown and her new classmates.

Topeka, Kansas, 1950. Linda Brown's school is five miles from home. Her father wants her in the nearest public school, just four blocks away. But Linda is black, the school is for whites only. In Topeka everything public is segregated, from drinking fountains to swimming pools.

The 14th amendment (Section 1) guarantees everyone "Equal protection of the law." Yet in 1896, the Supreme Court had said that as long as separate public facilities for blacks and whites are similar, they're equal. The Brown family disagrees.

And in 1954, so does the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Earl Warren writes the new decision: ""We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal... To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone."

For more...

Brown Vs. Board of Education: The Interactive Experience

AMENDMENT 14 Due Process and Equal Protection of the Law

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. [^].

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