Which case addressed desegregation of schools and overturned the Separate but Equal doctrine?

• A. Dred Scott v Sandford
• B. Ex Parte Merryman
• C. Brown v Board of Education
• D. Marbury v Madison

Answer: (C)

The idea being tested is a landmark ruling that makes clear racial separation in public schools is unconstitutional. The decision holds that the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause requires that public education be available to all on equal terms, and that keeping Black and white students in separate schools is inherently unequal, even if facilities were “equal.” This overturned the earlier notion of “separate but equal” from Plessy v. Ferguson, showing that separation itself communicates inequality and harms students, which schools shouldn’t do. The ruling also pointed to social science evidence about the negative effects of segregation on Black children, reinforcing why separate schooling cannot be equal. This opened the door to desegregation across schools and influenced later civil rights progress.