Final answer:
The Brown vs. Board of Education case started with student protests in Virginia, leading to NAACP involvement. Lawyers Thurgood Marshall and John W. Davis presented arguments for and against school segregation, respectively. The Supreme Court ruled that segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment, deeming "separate is inherently unequal."
Step-by-step explanation:
Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court Case
The controversy surrounding Brown vs. Board of Education began with black students at Moton High School in Virginia protesting against overcrowded conditions and failing facilities, which lead to the NAACP's involvement. The legal battle culminated in the 1954 Supreme Court case, where the two main lawyers were Thurgood Marshall for the NAACP, advocating against school segregation, and John W. Davis for the states maintaining segregation. Marshall argued that segregated schools, even if equal in quality, could never be truly equal due to the psychological effects and stigma associated with segregation, while Davis argued for the preservation of states' rights to maintain separate but equal institutions.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled unanimously that school segregation was a violation of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This landmark decision stated that "separate is inherently unequal," effectively overturning the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision and mandating the desegregation of schools across America.
The ruling was based on the recognition that separate educational facilities are intrinsically unequal, both in the material sense and the detrimental psychological impact on black children, which perpetuated a sense of inferiority.