If I recall correctly, the plaintiff’s attorneys worked long and hard specifically with the hopes of getting a unanimous decision. They felt that anything less would not carry the moral authority needed to truly end segregation. I also recall that the choice of using a case from Kansas as the lead case was also felt to be more likely to get the desired outcome than a case from the highly segregated south.

Thanks for this thread. It’s a reminder of not only how far we have come, but that all the work of obtaining the promise of 2 NE 26:33 where “all are equal”, both male and female, black and white, bond and free is not yet behind us.

Brown I was actually a consolidation of several cases involving the same issue. The genius of the opinion was its recognition of the fact (it seems obvious now but it was against the weight of precedent then) that “seperate but equal” contains an inherent contradiction. The District Court in the Brown case (the first court to hear the case) actually ruled that the black school at issue in the case was substantially equal in all factual particulars, which was not true of the black schools in the other cases consolidated later at the Supreme Court level. The Supreme Court had the vision to recognize that this fact was not important, and ruled that mandated separation was unacceptable under the Fourteenth Amendment regardless of factual equality in facilities. This was truly a great moment in legal history, despite the fact that much work and additional legal battles were necessary to complete the desegregation of public schools. Brown I was the turn of the tide in the courtrooms of the country against Plessy and its progeny.

I do have to quibble a little with singling out Oliver Brown for commendation. He was chosen as the first named plaintiff principally because he was a man, rather than a woman as were most of the other plaintiffs, with an intact family, rather than being a single parent. These factors were considered a PR plus, and so he was chosen to be the first named on that basis. The other plaintiffs were equally courageous and all deserve commendation no less than Rosa Parks and others who risked much in the fight for civil rights in America.