The Supreme Court mandated that the school board must formulate new plans and steps towards realistically converting to a desegregated system.

In Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, the Warren Court ruled that state-sanctioned segregation of public schools was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.

One year later, in Brown II, enforcement of this principle was given to district courts, ordering that they take the necessary steps to make admittance to public schools nondiscriminatory "with all deliberate speed."

Judge John J. Parker of the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit led many in the South in interpreting Brown as a charge not to segregate, but not as an order to integrate.

In response, the Board, in order to remain eligible for federal financial aid, adopted a "freedom of choice" plan for desegregating the schools.

[9] The newly enrolled black students reported harassment by their white peers, to which teachers and administrators turned a blind eye.

The Court of Appeals approved the "freedom of choice" provisions, although it remanded for a more specific and comprehensive order concerning teachers.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund lawyers Samuel W. Tucker, Jack Greenberg, Henry L. Marsh, III, James Nabrit III, Michael Meltsner and Oliver W. Hill argued and prepared the petitioners' case, and Tucker presented their arguments.

[11] The Court noted that "freedom of choice" plans[further explanation needed] tended to be ineffective at desegregating a school system.

Moreover, a plan that, at this late date, fails to provide meaningful assurance of prompt and effective disestablishment of a dual system is also intolerable.

Several events took place in New Kent County, Virginia during May 2018 to celebrate 50 years since the Supreme Court's ruling on the case.