Final answer:
The legal challenges brought by marginalized groups in the 1940s and 1950s most directly led to the elimination of state laws.
Step-by-step explanation:
The legal challenges brought by marginalized groups in the 1940s and 1950s most directly led to the elimination of state laws. These challenges included lawsuits brought by the NAACP and argued by Thurgood Marshall, which resulted in Supreme Court decisions chipping away at segregation and declaring certain state laws unconstitutional. For example, in 1941, the Court ruled that Arkansas' segregation law was unconstitutional, and in 1948, it stopped the enforcement of racial covenants that prohibited home buyers from selling their houses to blacks or Jews.