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			Brown vs. Board of Education
	The Story     Synopsis     Civil Trial   Brown vs. Board of Education   The Filmmaker     Michael Chandler Interview     Michael Chandler Editorial		The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case decided in 1954 by the U.S. Supreme Court, holding that segregation in public schools was a violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. A unanimous Court stated that racial separation, no matter how equal the facilities, branded minority children as inferior, thus hindering their development. The separate but equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson was reversed. In 1955 the Court added that schools must desegregate with deliberate speed. The Brown decision gave impetus to the civil-rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, and hastened the end of segregation in all public facilities. Plessy v. Ferguson case decided in 1896 by the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding Louisiana's right to segregate racially separate but equal railway carriages. The Court held that the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandated political but not social equality. The decision led to comprehensive Southern segregation laws, maintained until Brown v. Board Of Education (1954).

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