Which case declared that segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause and overturned "separate but equal"?

• A. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• B. Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• C. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
• D. Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964)

Answer: (C)

Segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause because separate facilities are inherently unequal, and labeling them as equal disguises the harm and stigma of racial segregation. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared that in the field of public education, the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place, overturning the long-standing Plessy v. Ferguson ruling. The decision held that state-imposed segregation denied students the equal protection of the laws and thus unconstitutional, setting a clear legal path toward desegregation of public schools. It was a landmark ruling led by the Warren Court and built the foundation for subsequent civil rights advances, including later guidance on how desegregation should proceed. Other cases cited involve different constitutional issues—like the right to counsel or the treatment of evidence in criminal cases, or desegregation in places of public accommodation—not the specific issue of schooling and the overturning of the separate-but-equal doctrine.