Brown v. Board of Education“The lone dissenting justice in Plessy, John Harlan, objected to the majority's decision: “[I]n view of the Constitution, in the eyes of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, and dominant. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color blind and does not recognize or tolerate classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law (Board v. Brown..., billofrightsinstitute.org)” In 1865, slavery was abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment (Constitution of the United States. Amend. XIII, Sec THE). The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to African Americans (United States Constitution. Amendment XV, Section I), and the Fifteenth Amendment granted the right to vote to African Americans (United States Constitution. Amendment XIV, Section I). Despite Harlan's views and even with all of these rights afforded to African Americans, the problem of segregation still existed. Separation was not equal and segregation was a constant reminder of this for African Americans. For equality, the activist tried to prove unconstitutionality. In 1896, “African Americans and their legal defenders suffered the most demoralizing defeat ever seen (Telgan 12).” That was the year the Supreme Court issued the Plessy v. Ferguson. This decision allowed for “separate but equal” facilities under the Fourteenth Amendment (Telgan 12). This caused controversy within the education system as blacks fought for their children's rights to a better education. Between the years 1954-1955, the issue of segregation in public schools was finally addressed (Brown v. Board of Education Timeline, www.archives.gov). Brown v. Board of Education was a series of five separate cases heard by the United States... in the middle of the document... and the decision to be made at the beginning of the Brown v. cases. Board (Ginsberg 368). When referring to a precedent in a court case, it is also said that it can be overturned by the Supreme Court after carefully reviewing it, which subsequently allowed the desegregation decision to be made (Precedent, www. Princeton.edu). The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to African Americans and prohibited states from limiting basic rights to African Americans (Ginsberg 42). In discussing the case of Brown v. Board, the 14th Amendment was also called into question. School board attorney T. Justin Moore suggested that the Fourteenth Amendment was not intended to apply to local matters such as schools which made it constitutional (Telgen 56). Although the journey to equal rights in public education had been a long and hard-fought journey, the Supreme Court had finally decided to declare it unconstitutional.