The 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a great legal triumph. Although it did not necessarily end school segregation, it destroyed the constitutional foundation upon which legalized segregation in the South rested, and made future gains possible. This was an important step in the struggle of blacks to step beyond their second-class citizenship.

One of the most significant cases regarding segregation was the case of Brown v. Board of Education. In 1952, the Supreme Court was approached by four states and the District of Columbia, challenging the constitutionality of the segregation of races in the public schools. They wanted desegregation in the public school system, because the current segregation was not equal and it violated their freedoms as citizens of the United States of America.