Does segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though physical facilities and other tangible factors may be equal, deprive minority children of equal educational opportunities in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Minor Black children, through their legal representatives, sought admission to public schools in their communities on a nonsegregated basis in four consolidated cases arising from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. Each child had been denied admission to schools attended by white children under laws requiring or permitting racial segregation. In Topeka, Kansas, a statute permitted cities of more than 15,000 residents to maintain separate schools, and the Topeka Board of Education elected to segregate its elementary schools. In South Carolina and Virginia, state constitutional and statutory provisions required segregated schools. In Delaware, state constitutional and statutory provisions likewise required segregation.

The plaintiffs alleged that segregated schools deprived them of the equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment. In Kansas, South Carolina, and Virginia, the lower courts found that the Black and white schools were equal or were being equalized with respect to buildings, curricula, teacher qualifications and salaries, and other tangible factors. The Kansas court nevertheless found that segregation has a detrimental effect on Black children. In Delaware, the Black schools were found to be inferior, and the state courts ordered the plaintiffs' admission to white schools on that basis.

In the Kansas case (Brown), plaintiffs sued in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas to enjoin enforcement of the Kansas statute permitting segregated elementary schools. A three-judge district court found that segregation has a detrimental effect on Black children but denied relief because the schools were substantially equal in tangible respects. The case came to the Supreme Court on direct appeal.

In the South Carolina case (Briggs v. Elliott), a three-judge district court for the Eastern District of South Carolina found the Black schools inferior and ordered the defendants to equalize facilities, but upheld the segregation provisions and denied admission to the white schools. The Supreme Court vacated and remanded for the court's views on a progress report. On remand, the district court found substantial equality except as to buildings, which were being rectified. The case returned to the Supreme Court on direct appeal.

In the Virginia case (Davis v. County School Board), a three-judge district court for the Eastern District of Virginia found the Black school inferior in physical plant, curricula, and transportation, ordered equalization, but upheld the segregation provisions and denied admission to white schools. The case came to the Supreme Court on direct appeal.

In the Delaware case (Gebhart v. Belton), the Delaware Court of Chancery ordered the immediate admission of Black plaintiffs to white schools because the Black schools were inferior. The Supreme Court of Delaware affirmed. The defendants sought certiorari, which the Supreme Court granted.

The Supreme Court consolidated the cases and heard argument in the 1952 Term. It ordered reargument in the 1953 Term on questions concerning the history of the Fourteenth Amendment. After deciding the constitutional question, the Court restored the cases to the docket for further argument on the appropriate relief.

(Warren, J.)

Yes. Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race deprives minority children of equal educational opportunities, even where physical facilities and other tangible factors are equal, and violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

The history of the Fourteenth Amendment is inconclusive on the question of school segregation. Public education in 1868 bore little resemblance to its present form, especially in the South, where free common schools had not taken hold and education of Black children was nearly nonexistent. The question therefore cannot be resolved by looking to 1868 or to 1896, when Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was decided. Public education must be considered in light of its full development and its present place in American life.

Because the lower courts found the schools equalized in tangible factors, the decision cannot turn on a comparison of buildings, curricula, or teacher qualifications. The inquiry is the effect of segregation itself on public education. Education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments. It is the foundation of good citizenship, a principal instrument for awakening cultural values, and essential to success in life. Where a state undertakes to provide it, it must be made available to all on equal terms.

Segregating children from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. Sweatt v. Painter, 339 U.S. 629 (1950), and McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents, 339 U.S. 637 (1950), relied on intangible considerations in graduate education, and those considerations apply with added force to children in grade and high schools. The Kansas finding that legally sanctioned segregation retards the educational and mental development of Black children is supported by modern psychological authority.

Any language in Plessy contrary to this finding is rejected. In public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place, because separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. The plaintiffs are therefore deprived of the equal protection of the laws. Because of the complexity of formulating relief, the cases are restored to the docket for further argument on the decrees.