ABSTRACT
During the 1950s, the U.S. Supreme Court rendered several important decisions that struck at the foundation of Jim Crow segregation. In 1954 the Court ruled in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas that racial segregation in elementary public education is unconstitutional. In 1955 and 1956, it ruled in the cases of Mayor of Baltimore v.Dawson and of Gayle v.Browder that racial discrimination in access to public beaches and public buses is unconstitutional. Then, in 1958, the Court outlawed discrimination in access to public parks in the case of New Orleans City Park Association v. Detiege. Finally, in 1963, the Court even had to ban discrimination in access to state courtrooms in the case of Johnson v. Virginia.
