On May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an unanimous decision in ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,'' ruling that racial segregation in public educational facilities was unconstitutional. The historic decision, which brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, specifically dealt with Linda Brown, a young African American girl who had been denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in ''Plessy v. Ferguson'' that ''separate but equal'' accommodations in railroad cars conformed to the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. That ruling was used to justify segregating all public facilities, including elementary schools. However, in the case of Linda Brown, the white school she attempted to attend was far superior to her black alternative and miles closer to her home. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) took up Linda's cause, and in 1954 ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'' reached the Supreme Court. African American lawyer (and future Supreme Court justice) Thurgood Marshall led Brown's legal team, and in May 1954 the high court handed down its unanimous decision. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the nation's highest court ruled that not only was the ''separate but equal'' doctrine unconstitutional in Linda's case, it was unconstitutional in all cases because educational segregation stamped an inherent badge of inferiority on African American students.