Brown’s ruling contained two incompatible theories of segregation’s harm

Evidence

In his Brown opinion, Chief Justice Warren footnoted the famous doll tests as evidence of the negative impact of segregation on Black people. He felt sure enough to write, “To separate [colored children] from others of similar age and qualification solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.” In short, “segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children.” It tended to retard their “education and mental development” and deprived “them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial[ly] integrated school system,” Warren surmised. “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 927 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Legislators and lay-people alike had long being struggling with these issues. In 1896, for example, the Supreme Court, in the case of Plessy vs. Ferguson, handed down a ruling that undermined racial discrimination while affording segregation by establishing “separate but equal” facilities (e.g., schools, water fountains, restaurants) for White and Black Americans. Over time, however, it became evident that “separate but equal” was a fiction that was fundamentally at odds with the constitutional proclamation that “all men [sic] are created equal.” Indeed, in the same year that Allport published his book, the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Brown vs. The Board of Education that separate is inherently unequal and, in 1955, they decreed that schools should be desegregated with “all deliberate speed.” — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2084 (#responds-to, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Delegating implementation to local judges enabled Southern delay of desegregation — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2978; Brown’s majority reasoning depended on segregation’s psychological harm rather than evidence of unequal facilities — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 927; Brown v. Board outlawed separate-but-equal schooling as inherently unequal (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Brown’s majority reasoning depended on segregation’s psychological harm rather than evidence of unequal facilities #complicates (0.90) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 927
• Brown vs Board of Education legally declared separate inherently unequal in 1954 #responds-to (0.85) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2084
• Brown v. Board outlawed separate-but-equal schooling as inherently unequal #exemplifies (0.75)