Which Supreme Court case ruled that racially segregated public schools were unconstitutional in 1954?

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

Answer: (C)

This question hinges on how the Supreme Court uses the 14th Amendment to challenge state laws that enforce segregation in education. In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Court declared that racially segregated public schools are unconstitutional because separate facilities are inherently unequal, violating equal protection. This overturned the earlier Plessy v. Ferguson ruling that allowed “separate but equal” facilities to stand in public life, at least in theory, and it marked a turning point toward desegregation across schools and many other public spaces. The other cases mentioned dealt with different issues—Dred Scott v. Sandford concerned citizenship and slavery before the Civil War, and Roe v. Wade addressed abortion rights—so Brown is the one that directly addressed schooling in this context.