347 U.S. 483A few things to consider...
1. In 1880, a mere twelve years after ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court in Strauder v. West Virginia interpreted the article as "declaring that the law in the States shall be the same for the black as for the white; that all persons, whether colored or white, shall stand equal before the laws of the States, and, in regard to the colored race, for whose protection the amendment was primarily designed, that no discrimination shall be made against them by law because of their color."
2. In the years immediately following ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, as Congress attempted to enact legislation enforcing the Fourteenth Amendment, a substantial majority of both houses of Congress repeatedly voted to abolish segregation in the public schools. This legislation failed only on account of that "great American tradition," the filibuster, and other procedural obstacles.
3. Even if originally segregated schools were considered to be consistent with equality, objective comparisons of facilities and resources had long since disproved this idea by the time Brown came before the court.
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