Part one of term paper
In 1896 the Supreme Court had held in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation was permissible as long as equal facilities were provided for both races. Although that decision involved only passenger accommodations on a rail road, the principle of "separate but equal" was applied thereafter to all aspects of public life in states with large ...

Part two of term paper
... from South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware, all of which involved the same basic question: Does the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment prohibit racial segregation in the public schools? It was not until the late 1940's that the Court began to insist on equality of treatment, but it did not squarely face the constitutionality of the "separate but equal" doctrine until it decided the Brown case. In a brief, unanimous opinion delivered by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court declared that: ...