Brown v. Board of Education addressed which doctrine?

• A. It upheld the separate but equal doctrine
• B. It ended segregation nationwide immediately
• C. It established civil rights commissions
• D. It declared separate educational facilities inherently unequal

Answer: (D)

The main idea this question tests is that segregation in public schools cannot stand because separate facilities for different races are inherently unequal. Brown v. Board of Education held that separating students by race generated a sense of inferiority and violated the Equal Protection Clause, so the doctrine of "separate but equal" is not constitutional in education. This ruling explicitly declares that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, overturning the earlier justification from Plessy v. Ferguson in the school context and signaling a move toward desegregation. It didn’t end segregation everywhere at once, and it didn’t create civil rights commissions, but it established the critical principle that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.