Brown V. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483

Involved

Petitioner: Brown

Respondent: Board of Education of Topeka

Heard by: Vinson Court (1949- 1953)

Decided by: Warren Court (1953- 1954)

The cases that were put with Brown v. Board were:  Briggs v. Elliott (filed in South Carolina), Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (filed in Virginia), Gebhart v. Belton (filed in Delaware), and Bolling v. Sharpe (filed in Washington D.C.).

Chief Justice Earl Warren

What Happened

Black children were denied admission to public schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting segregation according to the races. The white and black schools approached equality in terms of buildings, curricula, qualifications, and teacher salaries. This case was decided together with Briggs v. Elliott and Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County.

Where and When

Argued December 9-11, 1952

Reargued December 7-9, 1953

Decided May 17, 1954

Case started in Topeka, Kansas

How and why was it brought to the Supreme Court

In 1951, a class action suit was filed against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas.  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People recruited thirteen angry parents who were the plaintiffs who asked that their school district to reverse its policy of racial segregation.  Separate elementary schools were operated by the Topeka Board of Education under an 1879 Kansas law, which allowed districts to maintain separate elementary schools facilities for black and white students.  

The District Court ruled in favor of the Board of Education, saying that the U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), which had upheld a state law requiring "separate but equal" segregated facilities for blacks and whites in railway cars.  The three-judge District Court panel agreed that segregation in public education had a negative effect on black children, but said that black and white schools in Topeka were substantially equal with respect to buildings, transportation, curricular, and educational qualifications of teachers.  This case was appealed to the Supreme Court.