Brown V. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution - Paperbackby Robert J. Cottrol (Author), Raymond T. Diamond (Author), Leland B. Ware (Author) Before 1954, both law and custom mandated strict racial segregation throughout much of the nation. That began to change with Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark decision that overturned the pernicious "separate but equal" doctrine. In declaring that legally mandated school segregation was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court played a critical role in helping to