In the Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al. case, the Supreme Court, lead by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled that “segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other ‘tangible’ factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities.” This court ruling overturned the idea of “separate but equal,” as the Supreme Court had previously ruled in the Plessy v. Ferguson case. This court case shattered American indifference to the race issue. Many people realized that the racial problems must be addressed and they split up into groups of supporters and detractors of civil rights.
