On May 17, 1954, the U.S Supreme Court ended the "separate but equal" doctrine stating, "Separate education facilities are inherently unequal." The court case came about during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's. Although white and black schools were in the same district they were not equal learning facilities. In Topeka, Kansas, there were 18 schools for white students and only four for black students. Linda Brown, a seven year old grade school student, had to attend school on the other side of Topeka, Kansa. While a public school was only 7 blocks away from her house. Her dad, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white public school, but the principal denied her entry. After many attempts of enrolling her in he finally went to McKinley Burnett head of Topeka's NAACP branch. The NAACP gladly accepted the case because they had wanted to challenge school segregation for many years and this was their ticket to overturn the "separate but equal" doctrine. Finally in 1951 the NAACP requested an injunction to forbid the segregation of schools in Topeka's public schools.
             The case was first heard at the U.S District Court for the District of Kansa from June 25 to 26 1951. Thurgood Marshall was the lawyer. The NAACP's argument was that segregation in public schools made black children feel inferior to white children. They also argued that having segregated schools violated the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment which was ratified on July 9, 1868, gave "equal protection" to all citizens. The Topeka Board of Education's defense was that having segregated schools would help the black children get use to the segregation they would face in adulthood. They also added that having segregated schools did not harm black children because many of African-American who has achieved great popularity in history faced segregation. Both sides had great arguments forcing ...