1. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) 347 U.S. 483
Editors, History.com. “Brown v. Board of Education.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 27 Oct. 2009,
“FindLaw's United States Supreme Court Case and Opinions.” Findlaw, caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/344/141.html
“Landmark Cases of the U.S. Supreme Court.” Brown v. Board of Education | landmarkcases.org/en/landmark/cases/brown_v_board_of_education
By Cassandra Hrabik

2. What is the constitutional issue involved in the case?
The Segregated school system violated the Fourteenth Amendment and Linda Brown’s parents took their case to the Supreme Court. The Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.

3. Who were the parties involved in the case?
Black and white students were involved in the case. It was racial segregation.

4. When and where did the case take place?
In Topeka, Kansas 1954.

5. What events lead up to the case going before the Supreme Court?
Linda Brown and her family believed that the segregated school system violated the Fourteenth Amendment and took their case to court. Federal district court decided that segregation in public education was harmful to black children, but because all-black schools and all-white schools had similar buildings, transportation, curricula, and teachers, the segregation was legal, however they were never “equal”.

6. What Court or courts heard this before getting to the Supreme Court?
The Browns appealed their case to the Supreme Court, stating that even if the facilities were similar, segregated schools could never be equal to one another. The Court decided that state laws requiring separate but equal schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

7. Historical Context: what was happening in the world that this case needed to be tried?
The Civil Rights Movement. A growing group of Americans spoke out against inequality and injustice during the 1950s. African Americans had been fighting against racial discrimination for centuries; during the 1950s, however, the struggle against racism and segregation entered the mainstream of American life.

8. What was the Supreme Court’s ruling / decision?
A watershed moment in the modern civil rights movement came on 17 May 1954, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was declared unconstitutional.

9. What was the reasoning given by the Supreme Court for making their decision?
May 17, 1954, Warren wrote that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” as segregated schools are “inherently unequal.” As a result, the Court ruled that the plaintiffs were being “deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.”

10. Opposing viewpoints
Brown v. Board, declared that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. It was argued and won by a young Thurgood Marshall. Given that Koch’s family has spent decades opposing this ruling and privatizing schools, there is a special irony lent to Koch's donations with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to promote school "choice."

11. How do you feel about the ruling? Why?
I feel the ruling is true, it should be declared unconstitutional because it was violating rights of the 14th amendment, it is wrong to separate race, education is straight across the board and anyone should be able to learn anywhere.

12. Majority Opinion
What was the Supreme Court vote in the dissent? Unconstitutional
Which justice wrote the opinion for the dissent?
Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren delivered dissent
Describe the dissenting opinion…
The unanimous ruling violating the 14th Amendment
Were there any concurrent opinions written by whom?
No, it was just declared unconstitutional.

13. Relations to the case
The Brown decision was a landmark because it overturned the legal policies established by the Plessy v. Ferguson decision that legalized the practices of “separate but equal”. (14th Amendment)