Segregation was not harmful to black people.

Psychological testing demonstrated the harmful effects of segregation on the minds of African American children.

Segregationist Arguments

Whites were making a good faith effort to equalize the two educational systems. But because black children were still living with the effects of slavery, it would take some time before they were able to compete with white children in the same classroom.

The Fourteenth Amendment allowed the government to prohibit any discriminatory state action based on race, including segregation in public schools.

Integrationist Arguments

The Fourteenth Amendment did not specify whether the states would be allowed to establish segregated education.

In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court had misinterpreted the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Equal protection of the laws did not allow for racial segregation.

Social separation of blacks and whites was a regional custom; the states should be left free to regulate their own social affairs.

The Constitution did not require white and African American children to attend the same schools.

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