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| Linda Brown being escorted out of the "white" elementary school. |
In Kansas, in the 1950s, schools were racially segregated, with white schools often being much better than black ones. The father of Linda Brown, a black third grader, tried to enroll her in a white elementary school, which was much closer to her home than the black one, but the principal refused to let her attend. The NAACP tried to help and requested an injuction. At court, the NAACP argued that segregating schools led to a feeling of inferiority among black children, while the Board argued that since other facilities were segregated, it would prepare them for being segregated later in life. The court felt compelled to rule in favor of the Board, but the NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court, which struck down the "separate but equal" idea of Plessy v. Ferguson, taking a huge step in desegregation of schools.
