During plessy vs ferguson in the 1870s the idea of segregation after the civil war was not too bad. The Supreme Court decided that as long as children of both colors would receive the same things (blacks got older textbooks and worse schoolhouses) they were equal. In the 1950s however the Supreme Court determined with brown vs. education that while yes they all had the same thing the condition of segregation limited the black children in proficiency, test scores and fed a outdated system. Therefore brown vs. education deemed it unconstitutional to have public school segregation.
