Brown v. Board of Education

A 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that racial segregation in public schools violates the Fourteenth Amendment because separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

Fourteenth Amendment: A Reconstruction-era amendment to the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing citizenship, due process, and equal protection. Its Equal Protection Clause supplied the constitutional basis for the Court’s decision.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund: A civil-rights legal organization that litigates cases challenging racial discrimination. Its lawyers coordinated the litigation that brought the school-segregation cases before the Court.
Earl Warren: The chief justice who led the Supreme Court when it unanimously decided Brown in 1954. He secured a unanimous ruling and wrote the Court’s opinion.
Little Rock Crisis: A 1957 confrontation over the desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. The crisis showed how federal enforcement became necessary when state officials resisted Brown.
Desegregation busing: The transportation of students between school attendance areas to reduce racial isolation in public schools. Busing became a contested remedy for segregation that Brown had made unconstitutional.
Equal Protection Clause: The Fourteenth Amendment provision requiring states to provide equal protection of the laws. The Court used it to reject state-mandated school segregation.
Charles Hamilton Houston: A lawyer and legal educator who developed an NAACP strategy to dismantle racial segregation through litigation. His earlier strategy laid groundwork for the cases that culminated in Brown.
Robert L. Carter: An NAACP lawyer who helped develop and argue the legal challenge to segregated public schools. He helped shape the litigation strategy and research presented in Brown.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: A federal law prohibiting discrimination in public accommodations, employment, and federally assisted programs. Its education provisions strengthened federal action against school segregation after Brown.
Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1: A 2007 Supreme Court decision limiting the use of individual students’ race in voluntary public-school assignment plans. It exposed disagreement over how Brown’s commitment to equality permits race-conscious integration policies.

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