<P> Reporters who observed the court holding were surprised by two facts . First, the court made a unanimous decision . Prior to the ruling, there were reports that the court members were sharply divided and might not be able to agree . Second, the attendance of Justice Robert H. Jackson who had suffered a mild heart attack and was not expected to return to the bench until early June 1954 . "Perhaps to emphasize the unanimity of the court, perhaps from a desire to be present when the history - making verdict was announced, Justice Jackson was in his accustomed seat when the court convened ." Reporters also noted that former Secretary of State Dean Acheson (who had related the case to foreign policy considerations) and current Attorney General Herbert Brownell were in the courtroom . </P> <P> The key holding of the Court was that, even if segregated black and white schools were of equal quality in facilities and teachers, segregation by itself was harmful to black students and unconstitutional . They found that a significant psychological and social disadvantage was given to black children from the nature of segregation itself, drawing on research conducted by Kenneth Clark assisted by June Shagaloff . This aspect was vital because the question was not whether the schools were "equal", which under Plessy they nominally should have been, but whether the doctrine of separate was constitutional . The justices answered with a strong "no": </P> <P> (D) oes segregation of children in public schools solely on the basis of race, even though the physical facilities and other "tangible" factors may be equal, deprive the children of the minority group of equal educational opportunities? We believe that it does...</P> <P> "Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children . The effect is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the negro group . A sense of inferiority affects the motivation of a child to learn . Segregation with the sanction of law, therefore, has a tendency to (retard) the educational and mental development of negro children and to deprive them of some of the benefits they would receive in a racial (ly) integrated school system ."... </P>

When did the brown v. board of education end