In a landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that segregation of children in public schools is unconstitutional, thus overturning the “separate but equal” ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. Chief Justice Earl Warren writes in his opinion:
“Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system.”
— U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren