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Full name: Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, et al.
Hugo BlackHarold Hitz BurtonTom C. ClarkWilliam O. DouglasFelix FrankfurterRobert H. JacksonSherman MintonStanley Forman ReedEarl Warren Note: Court justices do not represent any political party. The color of each judge's name represents the political party of the president who appointed the judge.
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What was this case about
The Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for a state to maintain public schools that are segregated by race.
"Separate" cannot be "equal"
Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the unanimous decision that schools had changed since the end of the Civil War, when white children were educated mostly in private groups, rather than in public schools which eventually become predominant.
Warren wrote...
We come then to the question presented: Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does.
...To separate (children of color) 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... The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.