✊🏿ap african american studies review

Equal protection clause

Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025
Verified for the 2027 exam
Verified for the 2027 examWritten by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated August 2025

Definition

A clause in the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees equal protection of the laws to all citizens; the Supreme Court cited this clause in Brown v. Board of Education to rule school segregation unconstitutional.

AP course connection

Topic 4.4: 4.4 Discrimination, Segregation, and the Origins of the Civil Rights Movement

Unit 4