The Supreme Court's decision in the Brown case not only began the phasing out of segregated public education but also provided civil rights reformers with a legal precedent with which to challenge other segregation laws. In 1955 a U.S. district court ruled that the city of Baltimore could no longer segregate its public beaches, parks, or recreational facilities. Later that year, the Supreme Court struck down an Atlanta city ordinance that prevented blacks from using the city's public golf course. Jim Crow soon was on the run throughout the nation.

King called the Brown decision "an exit sign that suddenly appeared to one who had walked through a long and desolate corridor," a "decision [that] came as a way out of the darkness of segregation." 12 Rosa Parks invoked the spirit of Brown when she refused to surrender her seat on...