Over fifty years have passed since the United States Supreme Court found that racial segregation in the public school system was unconstitutional. On May 17, 1954, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas and its four related cases from Virginia , South Carolina , Delaware , and Washington , D.C. lit a spark that would help ignite the flame of the Civil Rights Movement.

Popular mythology identifies the Brown case with images of a small African American girl walking a long, difficult path past a beautiful new school reserved for white students to a shabby, run-down building designated for black children. Was this really what the case was about? What about the situations in the other four communities represented under the Brown case? Why was segregation challenged in the court system? What happened after the Brown case was won?

Although a significant amount of time has passed since the Supreme Court ruling on segregation, many issues involving race and education are still very current in the news and still raise controversy. To understand our current situation, we must first look closely at the history of the Brown v. Board of Education case and analyze the issues involved.

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Photo provided by Brown V. Board of Education Historic Site