Brown v. Board of Education

WHERE

Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.

WHAT

1. A landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. 2. The decision effectively overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education.

SIGNIFICANCE

1. All the Topeka elementary schools were changed to neighborhood attendance centers in January 1956, although existing students were allowed to continue attending their prior assigned schools at their option. 2. Although the decision strictly applied only to public schools, it implied that segregation was not permissible in other public facilities. 3. Considered one of the most important rulings in the court's history, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka helped to inspire the American civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.

WHO

1. Named plaintiff: Oliver Brown = parent AND his other plaintiffs = 13 Topeka parents on behalf of their 20 children 2. Board of Education.

WHEN

1951: A class action suit was filed against the Board of Education 1954: The Warren Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."