BROWN Vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

FROM THE MAJORITY DECISION

BROWN v. BOARD of EDUCATION of TOPEKA
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
347 U.S. 483
Argued December 9, 1952
Reargued December 8, 1953
Decided May 17, 1954
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE
DISTRICT OF KANSAS

Syllabus

Segregation of white and Negro children in the public schools of a State solely on the
basis of race, pursuant to state laws permitting or requiring such segregation, denies to
Negro children the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth
Amendment -- even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors of white
and Negro schools may be equal.
 

(a) The history of the Fourteenth Amendment is inconclusive as to its intended effect
on public education.
 

(b) The question presented in these cases must be determined not on the basis of
conditions existing when the Fourteenth Amendment was adopted, but in the light of
the full development of public education and its present place in American life
throughout the Nation.
 

(c) Where a State has undertaken to provide an opportunity for an education in its
public schools, such an opportunity is a right which must be made available to all on
equal terms.
 

(d) Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives
children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities, even though the
physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal.
 

(e) The "separate but equal" doctrine adopted in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 ,
has no place in the field of public education.
 

(f) The cases are restored to the docket for further argument on specified questions
relating to the forms of the decrees.

WARREN, C.J., Opinion of the Court

...We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'seperate but equal' has no place.
Seperate educational facilities are inherently unequal."