The Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education judged the "separate but equal" clause from the Plessy v. Ferguson case in education. Linda Brown was a black third grader who had to walk three miles to get to her school for black children in Topeka, Kansas. There was a white school much closer to her house, a mere seven blocks away, but she was not allowed to enroll in this school because of her race. Her family then contacted the NAACP for help, and her case gained much support from those facing similar hardships. Finally, they argued the principle that segregated schools creates a distracting inferiority complex in education that adversely affects students. The Topeka board responded that this segregation was good preparation for adult life. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court, and considered the rights granted to citizens in the fourteenth amendment. After much deliberation, the court ruled the segregation to be unconstitutional. It was a significant step towards desegregation but the ruling was largely ignored since the racist status quo in the south greatly hindered the progress of civil rights.
