Which Supreme Court decision declared state laws segregating schools unconstitutional in 1954?

Which Supreme Court decision declared state laws segregating schools unconstitutional in 1954?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Dred Scott v. Sandford
• D. Roe v. Wade

Answer: (A)

Public-school desegregation and the rejection of “separate but equal” are being tested here. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that state laws mandating racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional, overturning the previous doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson that allowed segregation as long as facilities were equal. This watershed decision, brought by the Warren Court, held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires schools to be desegregated because segregation itself denies minority students equal educational opportunities. The other options don’t fit: one earlier case upheld segregation under “separate but equal,” another denied citizenship rights to enslaved people, and another addressed abortion rights.

Public-school desegregation and the rejection of “separate but equal” are being tested here. In 1954 the Supreme Court ruled that state laws mandating racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional, overturning the previous doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson that allowed segregation as long as facilities were equal. This watershed decision, brought by the Warren Court, held that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires schools to be desegregated because segregation itself denies minority students equal educational opportunities. The other options don’t fit: one earlier case upheld segregation under “separate but equal,” another denied citizenship rights to enslaved people, and another addressed abortion rights.