Today, May 17, 2025, marks the 71st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared the “separate but equal” doctrine unconstitutional and marked a new standard for American education. The watershed victory occurred only after a hard-fought, multi-year campaign conceived by Charles Hamilton Houston and executed by LDF’s founder and first Director-Counsel Thurgood Marshall, alongside a team of dedicated lawyers and clients in a coordinated group of five lawsuits against school districts in Kansas, South Carolina, Delaware, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
LDF President and Director-Counsel Janai Nelson issued the following statement:
“On this day 71 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court released its landmark decision in Brown—unanimously declaring the end of ‘separate but equal’ doctrine and affirming a truth too long denied: that every individual has the fundamental right to access equal opportunity without fear of systemic barriers or discrimination. Brown was not only the catalyst to securing civil rights protections in education, but also in many other areas of racial and social justice, from housing and employment, to how we vote and who we marry. With collective courage and extreme sacrifice, the original Brown plaintiffs, along with visionary civil rights lawyers and community leaders, rose together to insist that the previously unseen could be achieved—a guiding conviction we must carry forward in the continued fight to fulfill Brown’s promise.”
“Today, Brown’s legacy is at risk under erosive forces. Rollbacks of critical supports and protections for students threaten to jeopardize their ability to pursue their educations fully and fairly, including proposals to dismantle the Department of Education and orders by the Department of Justice to reverse federal desegregation efforts. At a time when public schools are more segregated than ever and attacks on truthful, inclusive teaching are proliferating, we must relentlessly fight to uphold the legacy—and true intent—of Brown. LDF is still standing on the frontlines of the effort to end modern-day segregation and improve public education for all. We call on the Trump administration and every American to honor Brown by investing in high quality, equitable public education and reject efforts to return America to an apartheid state.”
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Legal Defense Fund (LDF) – Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
