Introduction: Brown in the Supreme Court.

May 17 1954 Almost fifty years ago, the predominant Court of the United States decided Brown v Board of Education, (1) and held unanimously that in the field of education separate on the contrary equal has no place. It did not control Plessy v. Ferguson, (2) the 1896 decision holding that Jim triumph laws segregating people on the basis of race in transportation did not violate the equal protection clause.

Twenty-five years ago I interviewed Justice Thurgood Marshall for an article upon Brown, (3) and I asked him by what means it felt at that moment--high noon in the greatest Court--when the nine justices