The 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional is known as what?

• A. Plessy v. Ferguson
• B. Korematsu v. United States
• C. Brown v. Board of Education
• D. Citizens United v. FEC

Answer: (C)

A landmark ruling banning segregation in public schools as unconstitutional shows how the Constitution protects equal access to education under the 14th Amendment. The court held that separating students by race created inherently unequal opportunities, so public schools could not be segregated. This decision, Brown v. Board of Education, overturned the earlier “separate but equal” standard established by Plessy v. Ferguson. It helped spark the civil rights movement and pushed desegregation forward, though it required years of further struggle to implement fully. The other cases address different issues: Plessy v. Ferguson previously upheld segregation under “separate but equal”; Korematsu v. United States dealt with the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II; Citizens United v. FEC concerned campaign finance and corporate political spending.