Which U.S. Supreme Court case reversed the 'separate but equal' decision in Plessy v. Ferguson?

• A. Brown v. Board of Education
• B. Plessy v. Ferguson
• C. Dred Scott v. Sanford
• D. Roe v. Wade

Answer: (A)

Overturning the separate but equal idea in education shows how the Equal Protection Clause can strike down laws that maintain racial segregation. In Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court held that state laws creating separate public schools for Black and white students are unconstitutional because segregation itself implies inferiority and cannot be equal in fact. This ruling rejected the Plessy v. Ferguson framework for education and sparked desegregation across the country, supported by evidence about the harmful effects of segregation on children. The other cases involve different issues—Dred Scott v. Sanford dealt with citizenship and slavery before the Civil War, Roe v. Wade addressed abortion rights, and Plessy v. Ferguson was the case that established the separate but equal doctrine—so they don’t fit as the reversal case.