Final answer:
Prior to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, the legal framework allowed for racially segregated schools under the 'separate but equal' doctrine set by Plessy v. Ferguson. This resulted in separate and usually unequal educational facilities. With the Brown decision, the Supreme Court overruled this precedent, citing the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and sociological evidence of segregation's harmful effects.
Step-by-step explanation:
Before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, laws regarding public education reflected a segregationist stance that had been legally sanctioned by the Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896. This case established the doctrine of "separate but equal", allowing for racial segregation in schools across many states in the U.S.
This meant that Black and White students attended different schools; however, the supposed equivalence of education quality was a facade, largely resulting in underfunded and inferior facilities for African American students.
The legal framework upheld segregation until it was confronted and ultimately dismantled by the unanimous decision in Brown v. Board, where the Supreme Court declared the existence of separate public schools for different races unconstitutional, thus overruling the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.
In addition to Plessy v. Ferguson, certain states also had their own legal requirements for segregation in public education, where even after the Brown v. Board decision, less than 10 percent of African American students in the South attended integrated schools.
The case was pivotal, and the judgment drew on sociological studies by Kenneth Clark and Gunnar Myrdal, which showed the deleterious effects of segregation on the self-esteem of African American students.
The equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment played a crucial role in the Supreme Court's decision, noting that segregation violated this clause because it was harmful to African American children and perpetuated the notion of racial inferiority. Eventually, the ruling led to the removal of legal support for segregated schools across the United States.