Which case held that racially segregated public schools are unconstitutional?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Dred Scott v. Sand
• D. Gibbons v. Ogden

Answer: (A)

Racially segregated public schools are unconstitutional because segregation in education denies equal protection under the law. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court held that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, so state laws establishing public school segregation violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. This ruling rejected the earlier “separate but equal” standard that had allowed segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson, and it recognized that separating students by race creates a sense of inferiority that hinders education and equality.

Dred Scott v. Sandford is about citizenship status for enslaved people and predates the Fourteenth Amendment, so it doesn’t address public-school segregation. Gibbons v. Ogden deals with interstate commerce, not education. Plessy v. Ferguson is the case that originally endorsed “separate but equal,” which Brown overturned in the context of public schools.