Brown v. Board of Education (1954) Definition

A U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed racial segregation in public education. The Court ruled that separate public schools for Blacks and whites were inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment equal protection clause. Brown partially overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), which found that "separate but equal" public facilities for Blacks were constitutional.

See also Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954) (racially segregated education facilities in the District of Columbia violated the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment due process clause).