LAD #37: Brown v. Board of Education

Little Linda Brown (pictured to the left) become the subject of a monumental civil rights case in 1951.  After being denied entry to a white only school, Brown's father along with the help of the NAACP challenged the ruling in court.  Although the U.S. District Court agreed with Brown's belief that this separation was unequal, the Supreme Court had yet to overrule the Plessy v. Ferguson Case.  Therefore they sided with the Board of Education in Topeka Kansas.  Brown appealed to the Supreme Court and after a few years of debate the Supreme Court made its decision.  On May 17th, 1954, Chief Justice Earl Warren explained: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place." This proved to be a huge win for African Americans across the nation, as the ideas of separate but not equal no longer held any substance.