Which Supreme Court decision declared state laws segregating schools unconstitutional?

Which Supreme Court decision declared state laws segregating schools unconstitutional?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Dred Scott v. Sandford
• D. Loving v. Virginia

Answer: (A)

This question checks your understanding of a landmark ruling that ended state legal support for segregated schools. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) held that racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because separate facilities are inherently unequal. This decision overturned the earlier Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that allowed “separate but equal” facilities, and it set a legal and moral standard that desegregation should be pursued in American education. It's also useful to know how the other cases fit in: Plessy v. Ferguson established the precedent that segregation could exist if facilities were equal, which Brown rejected for education. Dred Scott v. Sandford denied enslaved people citizenship rights before the Civil War, and Loving v. Virginia later struck down laws banning interracial marriage. The key idea here is that Brown explicitly declared school segregation unconstitutional and catalyzed the broader civil rights movement.

This question checks your understanding of a landmark ruling that ended state legal support for segregated schools. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) held that racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because separate facilities are inherently unequal. This decision overturned the earlier Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that allowed “separate but equal” facilities, and it set a legal and moral standard that desegregation should be pursued in American education.

It's also useful to know how the other cases fit in: Plessy v. Ferguson established the precedent that segregation could exist if facilities were equal, which Brown rejected for education. Dred Scott v. Sandford denied enslaved people citizenship rights before the Civil War, and Loving v. Virginia later struck down laws banning interracial marriage. The key idea here is that Brown explicitly declared school segregation unconstitutional and catalyzed the broader civil rights movement.