is the very foundation of good citizenship." Warren then restated the original question before the court and provided an answer: "Does segregation of children in the public schools solely on the basis of race . . . deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunity?" His answer: "We believe that it does."Warren supported his analysis with references to research performed by sociologists and psychologists on the damage to children caused by mandatory segregation. Finally, Warren concluded by saying that "in the field of education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. "This ringing statement was followed by a single paragraph of carefully written conciliatory language. Warren declared that segregation was unconstitutional, but that the decision would have no immediate effect on the parties involved. Instead, the court would hear the reargument of the case the following year to consider how to implement its decision.In April 1955 the court heard thirteen hours of arguments over four days on how to end segregation in the public schools. Ultimately, in what is popularly known as Brown II (1955), the Supreme Court turned the implementation of desegregation over to the federal district courts in the South. The district courts were ordered to desegregate schools with "all deliberate speed," an ambiguous phrase that allowed many Southern judges to avoid desegregation for years. Linda Brown did not attend an integrated school until 1955, when she had reached junior high school. None of the children of the 20 plaintiffs in the Clarendon County case ever attended integrated schools. Nevertheless, Brown helped launch the modern civil rights movement and led to other court decisions that struck down all forms of legalized racial discrimination. The Topeka Board of Education did not wait for the Court to rule before amalgamating its black and white e...
