Midnight: ...Better Late Than Never
Thurgood Marshall (center) with James Nabrit Jr.
and George E.C. Hayes after their victory in the
Brown v. Board of Education case before the
Supreme Court, May 17, 1954.
Photograph courtesy of UPI / Corbis-Bettmann
It was 48 years ago today that the Supreme Court struck down the doctrine of "Separate But Equal" originally established in the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson. In its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, Chief Justice Earl Warren's majority opinion effectively overruled Plessy, finding that "...in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
Brown v. Board of Ed.. was a major step forward for the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties. Thurgood Marshall, himself later appointed to the Supreme Court, argued and won the landmark decision, which eventually forced desegregation of public schools--and all public facilities--in all states. It has been 48 years since Brown v. Board of Ed. was decided, and there is still much resistance in the world, but this landmark decision opened the door and offered hope for a better society.
Posted by cronish at May 17, 2002 12:51 AM