Which case, decided in 1954, held that school segregation is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment?

Which case, decided in 1954, held that school segregation is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Hernandez v. Texas
• C. Roth v. US
• D. NAACP v. Alabama

Answer: (A)

The central idea is that public school segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection because separate facilities for different races are inherently unequal. In 1954, the Supreme Court held in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, overturning the long-standing “separate but equal” rationale from Plessy v. Ferguson in the educational context. The decision treats education as an area where state-imposed separation stigmatizes minority children and denies them equal opportunities, so the state cannot provide separate schooling for different races. This case isn’t about jury selection, obscenity, or membership privacy—the other choices address different constitutional issues.

The central idea is that public school segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection because separate facilities for different races are inherently unequal. In 1954, the Supreme Court held in Brown v. Board of Education that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, overturning the long-standing “separate but equal” rationale from Plessy v. Ferguson in the educational context. The decision treats education as an area where state-imposed separation stigmatizes minority children and denies them equal opportunities, so the state cannot provide separate schooling for different races. This case isn’t about jury selection, obscenity, or membership privacy—the other choices address different constitutional issues.