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As late as the 1950s, society in the Southern United States remained racially segregated by law. The segregation laws in these states were supported by an 1896 Supreme Court ruling. In the case of PLessy vs. Ferguson, the Court had ruled that "seperate but equa ....

Middle of Essay
.... an eight year old black girl from Topeka. Linda was required to attend an all black school 20 blocks from her home, even though there was an all white school only a few blocks away. With help from the NAACP, Linda's father, Oliver Brown, sued the Topeka Board of Education so that his daughter could attend the nearby all whtie school. NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall challenged the Plessy vs. Ferguson ruling and argued that even if seperate black schools were equal to white schools, black children were still suffering great psychological damage. On May 17,1954, Chief Justice EArl Warren announced that it was the unanimous decision of the Court that "s ....