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Why did the Supreme Court call separate educational facilities inherently unequal in Brown v. Board of Education?

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Plessy v. Ferguson judgment — Plessy v. Ferguson *Plessy* v. *Ferguson* judgment, issued by the U.S. Supreme Court on May 18, 1896, advancing the controversial “separate but equal” doctrine for assessing the constitutionality of racial segregation laws.

In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court rejected the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) by shifting its focus from "tangible" factors—such as buildings, curricula, and teacher qualifications—to the psychological and social impact of segregation itself.12

Writing for a unanimous Court, Chief Justice Earl Warren argued that the policy of forcing African American children into separate schools solely based on their race generated a profound sense of inferiority. This feeling of inferiority, supported by contemporary psychological research, was found to undermine the children's motivation to learn and deprive them of educational opportunities that would be available in an integrated environment.12

Consequently, the Court concluded that because segregation inherently damages the educational development of students, "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and have no place in public education under the Fourteenth Amendment.12