LAD#37

LAD #37

in the early 1950's racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America. Most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.

In Topeka, Kansas a black 3rd grader named Linda Brown had to walk through a railroad switch track to get to school, even though a white school was only 7 blocks away. Her father took the case to court. The US district court of Kansas heard the case in June 1951. They did not prevail and Brown and the NAACP appealed to the supreme court on October 1, 1951. The supreme court first heard the case in December 1952 but failed to reach a decision. The re-argument was heard December 1953.

On May 17, 1954 chief justice Earl Warren read the decision of a unanimous court: The supreme court struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy vs Fergueson for public education, ruled in favor of the plaintive, and required the desegregation of schools across America.

The supreme court's Brown vs Board of Education did not abolish segregation in other public areas, nor did it require desegregation of all public schools by a certain time. Even partial desegregation of these schools was still very far away.