Which year is associated with the Brown v. Board of Education decision?

• A. 1954
• B. 1957
• C. 1955
• D. 1956

Answer: (A)

This question tests knowledge of when the Brown v. Board of Education decision was issued. The ruling was announced in 1954, specifically on May 17, 1954, and it held that racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause because separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. This decision overturned the long-standing Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of “separate but equal” in the realm of education and became a landmark moment in the civil rights movement. A related ruling, Brown II, came in 1955 and addressed desegregation timing, but the initial decision itself is the 1954 one. The other years listed do not correspond to the date of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.