A civil right is an enforceable right or privilege, which if interfered with by another gives rise to an action for injury. Examples of civil rights are freedom of speech, press, assembly, the right to vote, freedom from involuntary servitude, and the right to equality in public places. Discrimination occurs when the civil rights of an individual are denied or interfered with because of their relationship in a particular group or class. Statutes have been enacted to prevent discrimination based on a person's race, sex, religion, age, previous condition of servitude, physical limitation, national origin, and in some instances sexual preference.
             Before 1954, segregation existed in many American schools, as well as in restaurants, hotels, and other aspects of day-to-day life. Many African-American children in Topeka for example, were forced to attend schools miles from their homes, though white elementary schools were nearby. In other cases outside Topeka, African-American children attended poor facilities lacking basic school equipment.
             Several African-American parents in Topeka tried unsuccessfully to enroll their children in white schools. On the parents' behalf, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) organized a class-action lawsuit to end public school segregation in Topeka.
             The U.S. District Court of Kansas heard the case in June 1951. The NAACP argued that segregation taught black students that they were inferior to whites and that separate learning facilities were inherently unequal. The Board of Education argued that school segregation would prepare black children for social conditions they would face in adulthood.
             The district court sympathized with NAACP's case but ruled against it-deciding it could not supersede an 1896 Supreme Court ruling, Plessy v. Ferguson, which allowed for separate but equal facilities. The NAACP appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1952, and the case...