in what way was the brown vs. board of education ruling a reflection of the historical context of the mid-20th century?
A. It empowered State Government to deal with racial segregation at a time when Americans were extremely skeptical of increasing federal power.
B.It forced southern states to integrate public facilities at a time when most southern leaders were actively fighting to end racism in the region.
C.It interpreted the equal protection clause to prohibit segregation at a time when African Americans were demanding civil rights.
D.It interpreted the due process clause to apply differently to white Americans and African Americans at a time when racial distinctions were stronger than ever.
Facts: Brown v. Board of Education (1954), now acknowledged as one of the greatest Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century, unanimously held that the racial segregation of children in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that racially segregated public facilities were legal, so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal. The ruling constitutionally sanctioned laws barring African Americans from sharing the same buses, schools and other public facilities as whites—known as “Jim Crow” laws—and established the “separate but equal” doctrine that would stand for the next six decades.
