According to the material, which Supreme Court case is described as rejecting the doctrine of separate educational facilities in public education?

• A. Plessy v. Ferguson
• B. Brown v. Board of Education
• C. Dred Scott v. Sandford
• D. Marbury v. Madison

Answer: (A)

The key idea is how the Supreme Court addressed segregation in public schools. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka held that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. This ruling overturned the earlier standard set by Plessy v. Ferguson, which allowed “separate but equal” facilities and effectively sanctioned racial segregation in schools. Brown’s decision shifted the legal and moral understanding of education by showing that forcing Black and white students into separate schools created unequal learning environments and harmed students’ development, making desegregation a constitutional obligation. While the other cases are important in different contexts—Dred Scott focused on citizenship and slavery, Marbury v. Madison established judicial review, and Plessy upheld segregation in general—Brown is the case that specifically rejected the idea of separate educational facilities being constitutional.