In other words, the question
was whether segregation, in itself, constituted inequality and
was an infringement on a citizen's rights.
On May 17, 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of the City of
Topeka, the Supreme Court declared that school segregation was
unconstitutional and that the "separate but equal" doctrine,
which the Court itself had maintained for half a century, was
also unconstitutional. Although the decision referred directly
only to school segregation, in striking down the "separate but
equal" doctrine, the Supreme Court implied that all legal
segregation was unconstitutional. It contended that to separate
children from other children of similar age and qualifications
purely on the grounds of race generated feelings of inferiority
in those children. It argued that the segregation of white and
colored children in schools had a detrimental effect on the
colored children. Further, the Court insisted that the damaging
impact of segregation was greater when it had the sanction of
law. It pointed out that segregation was usually interpreted as
denoting the inferiority of the colored child.
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