Brown v. Topeka Board of Education was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court 65 years ago today. Before the 1954 desegregation case, Topeka’s black and white schools were already substantially equal with respect to buildings, transportation, curricula, & teacher qualifications. Unlike other districts, Topeka Schools even paid the cost of busing. However, Chief Justice Earl Warren noted in his unanimous decision that despite these comparable “tangible” factors, going to segregated schools had adverse “psychological” effects on black children. “To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. . . . A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. . . . We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place.” Read more about race relations in Topeka 100 years ago in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
