On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court issued its unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, declaring that state laws establishing separate public schools for Black and white students were unconstitutional. The Court held that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” ruling that racial segregation in public education violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine that had permitted state-sponsored segregation under the “separate but equal” principle. The Brown case consolidated five separate school desegregation lawsuits from Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. Those cases had been coordinated by civil rights attorneys, most prominently Thurgood Marshall and lawyers from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, who argued that segregation stamped Black children with a sense of inferiority that affected their educational and personal development. The Brown opinion, written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, emphasized social science evidence—most notably studies by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark—showing harmful effects of segregation on Black children. Legally, Brown did not specify a precise timetable or mechanism for desegregation; in a follow-up decision in 1955 known as Brown II, the Court directed that desegregation proceed “with all deliberate speed,” assigning district courts the task of overseeing implementation. That phrasing proved ambiguous and was exploited by segregationists to delay meaningful integration for years in many jurisdictions. Some states and localities resisted through legislative measures, litigation, and, in some cases, the closure of public schools or the creation of private segregation academies. Despite resistance and slow implementation, Brown v. Board of Education was a watershed moment in U.S. legal and social history. It provided a constitutional foundation for subsequent civil rights advances, including federal civil rights legislation in the 1960s and further court rulings against segregation and discrimination in housing, voting, and public accommodations. The decision also energized the civil rights movement, lending legal legitimacy to activism that sought to dismantle institutionalized racial barriers. Historians and legal scholars note both the immense symbolic power of Brown and the limitations of a judicial remedy for deeply entrenched social inequalities. Implementation varied widely: some districts moved relatively quickly to integrate schools, while others delayed for years or pursued token compliance. De facto segregation persisted in many regions because of residential patterns, economic disparities, and ongoing policy decisions. Debates about educational equity, racial segregation, and the roles of courts versus legislatures continue to draw on Brown’s legacy. Brown v. Board remains one of the Supreme Court’s most cited decisions and is widely taught as a turning point in the struggle for civil rights. While it did not instantly erase racial inequality in American education, it dismantled the legal doctrine that provided explicit constitutional sanction for segregated public schools and set a precedent for federal enforcement of equal protection under the law.