Brown versus Board of Education decision (1954)
- Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.
- It overturned the legal foundation of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) in education, rejecting “separate but equal” and paving the way for more legal opposition to Jim Crow.
- The case was the culmination of decades of NAACP legal strategy, led by Charles Hamilton Houston and later Thurgood Marshall. Their arguments were guided by the 1930 Margold Report, which showed that segregation always produced inequality.
The Margold Report (1930)
- Written by Nathan Ross Margold, a Harvard-educated lawyer, and commissioned by the NAACP under Walter White’s leadership.
- Proposed a comprehensive legal plan to attack racial segregation in education through the court system.
- Margold’s central idea was not to directly challenge the constitutionality of segregation, which was entrenched by Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
- Instead, he aimed to target the unequal implementation of “separate but equal.” He observed that Black schools were consistently underfunded, overcrowded, poorly maintained, and staffed with underpaid teachers compared to white schools.
- The strategy proposed forcing Southern states to uphold the “equal” part of “separate but equal.”
- Margold anticipated that the economic burden of maintaining equal facilities would push states to abandon segregation altogether.
- The report laid out a gradualist legal strategy: build precedents by suing states for failing to provide equal facilities, then use those precedents to attack the foundation of segregation itself.
Precedent Cases That Weakened “Separate but Equal”
- Cases such as Murray v. Maryland (1936), Gaines v. Missouri (1938), Sweatt v. Painter (1950), and McLaurin v. Oklahoma (1950) chipped away at the legitimacy of “separate but equal,” especially in higher education.
- These cases proved that even well-funded segregated schools denied equal experiences and opportunities to Black students.
How U.S. Courts Use Precedent
- In the U.S., court cases that advance equality and rights are based on jurisprudence (prior similar cases).
- The U.S. judiciary operates under a common law system, where laws evolve through judicial precedent rather than a fixed legal code.
- Courts interpret the Constitution and prior rulings to decide new cases. This system contrasts with civil law systems, which rely strictly on codified statutes.
- For this Prescribed Topic, you do not need to know every individual case the NAACP cited. What matters is that Brown v. Board (1954) was the culmination of years of NAACP legal strategy built on precedent.
Structure of the Case
- Brown was a consolidated case, bringing together over 200 plaintiffs across five federal and state challenges: Briggs v. Elliott, Davis v. County School Board, Gebhart v. Belton, Brown v. Board, and Bolling v. Sharpe (DC).
- The lead plaintiff, Oliver Brown, was a parent in Topeka, Kansas. His daughter, Linda Brown, had to travel long distances to attend a segregated Black school, despite a white school being much closer.
- This hardship became a symbol of the injustice of “separate but equal” education.
- Earl Warren’s appointment as Chief Justice in 1953 was pivotal. He secured a unanimous ruling, stressing national unity and legitimacy of the Court.
