Case name: Brown v. Board of Education

Opinion filed: 1954-05-17

Docket No.: 1, 2, 4, 10

Citations:
• 98 L. Ed. 2d 873
• 74 S. Ct. 686
• 347 U.S. 483
• 1954 U.S. LEXIS 2094

Case holding summaries:
• psychological damage resulting from improper schooling
• in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
• in a district with four elementary schools and 57.4 percent overall black enrollment, this Court disapproves the continued existence of one 100 percent black elementary school, but does not require change at an elementary with over 88 percent white enrollment
• applies strict scrutiny under Equal Protection Clause to reject "separate but equal" doctrine in public schools
• desegregating public schools and finding that separate is not equal
• "[E]ducation is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments"
• overruling Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896)
• "Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments."
• applying same equal protection standards to African American children as to adults
• "Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments."
• education is "perhaps the most important function of state and local governments"
• "[E]ducation is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.... It is the very foundation of good citizenship."
• “education . . . is the very foundation of good citizenship.”
• claim of psychological effect on children "amply supported by modern authority"
• "[I]t is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education"
• rejecting the "separate but equal" doctrine
• holding that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place”
• ending segregation by race in the public schools
• "[Public education] is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment."
• "... it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education. Such an opportunity, where the state has undertaken to provide it, is a right which must be made available to all on equal terms."
• "education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments" because "it is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education"
• education "is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment"
• describing schools as "the principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values"
• studies regarding effects of school segregation
• “To separate [children] 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.”
• Do separate-but-equal schools “deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that [they] do[].”
• rejecting the “separate but equal” doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), while recognizing and rejecting the past practices of making it illegal to educate African Americans, or educating them in inferior surroundings
• "[E]ducation . . . is the very foundation of good citizenship."
• ''[t]o separate [minority children] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community''
• stating that public education “is the very foundation of good citizenship”
• “[I]t is doubtful that any child may reasonably be expected to succeed in life if he is denied the opportunity of an education.”
• minor plaintiffs in class action
• striking down segregation in public schools more than 80 years after the Fourteenth Amendment
• "To separate [Negro children] 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."
• "Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments."
• holding that racial segregation in public education is a violation of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment
• racial segregation by school officials
• “[I]n the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”
• see Columbus Board of Education v. Penick, 443 U.S. 449, 464, 99 S.Ct. 2941, (1979); Keyes v. School Dist. No. 1, Denver, Colo., 413 U.S. 189, 201-02, 208, 93 S.Ct. 2686, 2694-95, 2697, 37 L.Ed.2d 548 (1973)
• "To separate [children in public schools] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community. . . ."
• noting that "education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments"
• “Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments.”
• ―Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority.‖
• "[Public education] is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later profes- sional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his environment."
• "education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments"
• requiring states to end public school seg- regation
• segregation in the school system
• overruling interpretation of Equal Protection Clause that allowed state-imposed racial segregation
• education is "the very foundation of good citizenship"
• challenge to segregation in public schools

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