Brown v Board of Education declared segregation in schools to be what?

• A. Separate is illegal
• B. Separate is permissible if equal
• C. Segregation is required by law
• D. Separate is inherently unequal

Answer: (D)

The essential idea is that racial separation in public schools cannot be reconciled with equal protection under the law. Brown v. Board of Education holds that separating students by race sends a message of inferiority and undermines the goal of equal educational opportunity, so in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Because separate facilities are inherently unequal, segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection. This ruling did more than say facilities can’t be equal enough to justify separation; it declared that the very act of keeping students apart on the basis of race is inherently unequal in education. While it prompted desegregation, the key takeaway is that separation by race in schooling is inherently unequal.