"We Conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' as no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
-Richard Wormser
Young African American children were faced with discrimination at a young age. In most states it was unlawful for students of separate races to attend the same school(Kentucky Jim Crow). Black children were sent to an inferior facility while the whites attended the newer and better equipped schools for receiving a better education. When the whites were receiving a new edition to a book, the old torn books were sent to the black schools.
When a black child was denied access to a white public school, the case was taken to court that it was against the law (Brown V. Board of Education).
On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Following a series of Supreme Court cases argued between 1938 and 1950 the 1954 decision declared that separate educational facilities were unequal. The 1954 decision was limited to the public schools, but it was believed to imply that segregation was not permissible in other public facilities.
The key phrase in the ruling delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren was as follows:
"Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group. A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn. Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to [retard] the educational and mental development of Negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racially integrated school system. ... We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."