Brown v Board of Education is a 1954 United States Supreme Court case holding that state laws establishing separate public schools for Black and white students are unconstitutional, overturning the separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v Ferguson (1896) as applied to public education. The decision was unanimous, delivered by the Warren Court. A companion enforcement decision the following year, commonly called Brown II (1955), directed that school desegregation proceed with all deliberate speed, a phrase later criticized for the slow pace of compliance it in practice allowed.
Facts
Decision Year Decision Date HoldingRacial segregation of children in public schools, even where the physical facilities and other tangible factors are equal, is inherently unequal because of its harmful psychological effects on the segregated children, and therefore violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. 1 Current StatusControlling precedent since 1954; partially overruled Plessy v. Ferguson's separate-but-equal doctrine as applied to public education and has not itself been overruled. 1 Case Status
Case Status (category)Overruled (in whole or part) 1 Case Status (category) Connections
Associated With
Brown expressly renounced Plessy v Ferguson rather than following it, the Supreme Court's own illustration of departing from precedent judged badly reasoned.
Source Stare Decisis (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School)
Authored By
Source Brown v. Board of Education (Wikipedia)
Decided By
Source Black's Law DictionaryBryan A. Garner, editor; founded by Henry Campbell Black
In Legal System
Source Major Legal Systems in the World TodayRene David and John E.C. Brierley
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Brown v. Board of Education (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia 'Supreme Court decision' section
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous 9-0 decision in favor of the Brown family and the other plaintiffs.
Wikipedia 'Opinion' section, psychological-effects sentence
is inherently unequal because of its harmful psychological effects upon the segregated black children
Wikipedia lead section, Plessy-overruling sentence
The decision partially overruled the Court's 1896 decision Plessy v. Ferguson, which had ruled that racial segregation laws were constitutional as long as the facilities for each race were equal
- Authored By: Earl Warren, Infobox majority field: Warren
In Group: Race and Segregation Cases, Introduction, sentences 1-3
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, even if the segregated facilities are equal in quality.
View the Source Black's Law Dictionary
Bryan A. Garner, editor; founded by Henry Campbell Black, Thomson Reuters, 2019
Wikidata: Brown v Board of Education
Wikidata Q875738, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Major Legal Systems in the World Today
Rene David and John E.C. Brierley, Stevens and Sons, 1985In Legal System: Common Law
Stare Decisis (Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School)
Associated With: Precedent (Stare Decisis)
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