

The Court's decision in Brown created not just desegregation strategies such as busing and the changing of school funding allocations but also instructional approaches such as Title I programs, magnet schools, and bilingual and multicultural education.Īs with any movement, an evolutionary development rather than While it had a dramatic impact on the quality of education for African American youth in the United States, Brown also became a major force for improving the educational experience of other ethnic and racial groups as well, notably Latinos. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) was the basis for a number of initiatives and strategies to improve the educational treatment of people of color.


In reading the majority opinion in a case challenging segregation in schools, Chief Justice John Warren declared, “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The ruling was intended to reverse decades of unequal treatment that African Americans faced in the United States.

Board of Education of Topeka that separate facilities were often inferior for blacks and therefore segregation laws were unconstitutional. The ruling would stand until almost exactly 58 years later, when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Ferguson that “separate” accommodations for whites and blacks were constitutional as long as they were “equal.” The Plessy doctrine led to legalized racial segregation across the United States in all aspects of public life, including public schools, restrooms and restaurants. On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Plessy v.
