In 1954 the US Supreme Court partially overturned its previous decision made almost sixty years earlier in the case Plessy v. Ferguson. That decision had permitted racial segregation in separate but equal facilities, but in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka the court decided unanimously that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in his opinion that “in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Racial desegregation of public schools, especially in the South, progressed with varying rates of speed and success, often in the face of violent opposition. In 1957 the first nine Black students to attend Little Rock Central High School faced opposition from a local mob, the governor of the state and the Arkansas National Guard. The Little Rock Nine were only able to attend classes after President Dwight Eisenhower deployed soldiers from the 101 Airborne Division to provide an armed escort.