Final answer:
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City v. Dawson was a landmark Supreme Court case that declared racial discrimination in a city-owned beach unconstitutional, contributing significantly to civil rights advancements and the desegregation of public facilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City v. Dawson was a significant legal case in the history of civil rights in the United States. The case dealt with racial segregation at a city-owned beach in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1955, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial discrimination in recreational facilities owned by the city was unconstitutional. This ruling was an important step in the legal journey towards desegregating public facilities and is often studied in the context of the civil rights movement.
The case exemplifies the judicial efforts to end the separate but equal doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson, gradually leading to a more integrated society. By determining that the city could not deny African-Americans access to a municipal beach based on race, the Supreme Court helped to establish the precedent that segregation was not permissible in public accommodations.