---
doc_id: brown-v-board-of-education.executive-summary
paper: brown-v-board-of-education
version: 2026-02-23
---

# Executive Summary

**Holding:** Segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race denies equal protection, even if tangible factors are equal.

**Core reasoning:** The Court focuses on the effect of segregation itself on education, including “intangible” harms and a legally-sanctioned sense of inferiority that undermines educational opportunity.

**Disposition:** The Court rejects any contrary language in *Plessy v. Ferguson* as applied to public education and restores the cases to the docket to hear further argument on the appropriate relief.