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Brown versus Board of Education is one of the country's most important cases. It overturned an earlier Supreme Court decision, and it helped launch the civil rights movement.
At the center of the case was a little girl. In the early 1950s, Linda Brown was eight years old. Every day, she had to travel for more than an hour to go to a local public school for black children.
At the time, public school systems could legally separate black and white students. The reason related to a Supreme Court decision from 1896. It said that separating people by race was legal, as long as the buildings and equipment were equal.
But the father of young Linda Brown did not think racial segregation was right or fair. He wanted his children to go to the school close to their house, even if the school was for white children. When he tried to register Linda there, school officials said no.
So Brown and other activists took action in court against the law. They said schools separated by race could never be equal.
All nine Supreme Court justices agreed. Brown versus Board of Education demanded equal opportunity in public education, and in time led to desegregation in other public places.
Kelly Jean Kelly wrote this story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
