Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court held that separate schools for black and white children could never be “equal.” Despite equalizing measures to ensure “equal buildings, curricula, qualifications, and salaries of teachers, and other ‘tangible’ factors… Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

This decision overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1869).

The case touched on constitutional principles including economic rights, equality, and individual rights, and civic values including justice, perseverance, and respect.