Today in labor history: Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Board of Education

On this day in 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated schools were unconstitutional. The court’s ruling overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 that legalized “separate but equal” facilities.

The case was brought by a group of Topeka, Kansas, parents led by Oliver Brown, a welder for the Santa Fe Railroad.

Thurgood Marshall, who later became the first African American justice, argued the case before the court. The Warren’s Court decision was unanimous.

Today segregation remains rife with some 80 percent of Latino students and 74 percent of black students enrolled in schools where the majority of students are not white.

Photo: The Supreme Court with Earl Warren as chief justice ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that “separate but equal” schools were unconstitutional (CC).