Primary Sources: Civil Rights in America - Events: Brown v. Board of Ed. (1954)

"Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the opinion of the unanimous Court. The Supreme Court held that “separate but equal” facilities are inherently unequal and violate the protections of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court reasoned that the segregation of public education based on race instilled a sense of inferiority that had a hugely detrimental effect on the education and personal growth of African American children. Warren based much of his opinion on information from social science studies rather than court precedent. The decision also used language that was relatively accessible to non-lawyers because Warren felt it was necessary for all Americans to understand its logic. "
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483

"The Court held that the problems identified in Brown I required varied local solutions. Chief Justice Warren conferred much responsibility on local school authorities and the courts which originally heard school segregation cases. They were ordered to implement the principles which the Supreme Court embraced in its first Brown decision. Warren urged localities to act on the new principles promptly and to move toward full compliance with them "with all deliberate speed.""
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/349us294

"This archive contains documents and images which chronicle events surrounding this historically significant case up to the present."

"In 1950, members of the Topeka, Kansas, Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) challenged the "separate but equal" doctrine governing public education through a class action suit when they were denied the opportunity to enroll their children in the white-only schools. When the Topeka case made its way to the United States Supreme Court it was combined with other NAACP cases from Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. The combined cases became known as Oliver L. Brown et. al. vs. The Board of Education of Topeka (KS). On May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision overturning "separate but equal" as unconstitutional, stating that segregation in public schools was a violation of the 14th amendment."

Briggs v. Elliot became one of the five cases that the Supreme Court heard collectively, consolidated under the name Brown v. Board of Education, that overturned the "separate but equal" doctrine.

"Filmed interview with Paul E. Wilson conducted for Eyes on the Prize. Discussion centers on Brown vs. Board of Education, a case in which Wilson was a lawyer representing the school board."

Primary sources online from the Kansas Historical Society related to Brown v Board of Education.

"The Court held that the state law was constitutional. In an opinion authored by Justice Henry Billings Brown, the majority upheld state-imposed racial segregation. Justice Brown conceded that the 14th Amendment intended to establish absolute equality for the races before the law, but held that separate treatment did not imply the inferiority of African Americans.

In short, segregation did not in itself constitute unlawful discrimination.

In dissent, John Marshall Harlan argued that the Constitution was color-blind and that the United States had no class system. Accordingly, all citizens should have equal access to civil rights. "
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1850-1900/163us537

"MARCH 21, 1955 Participants: Rufus E. Clement, president, Atlanta University, and Dr. Horace M. Bond, president, Lincoln University, interviewed by Larry Lesueur. Topics: The revolution in education, effect of Brown v. Board of Education on black universities and colleges, blacks in the teaching profession, and the importance of Afro-American and Afro-Asian relations."

Exhibit by the Library of Virginia on Virginia's response to the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision. The site includes documents from the LVA