An evocative chronicle of the battle that led to America's landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling shares insights into the abuses of the "separate but equal system" and how such courageous activists as Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois helped end legal segregation.

Prologue: The end of a long wait -- Separate -- Land of Lincoln -- Resistance -- From the ashes of Springfield -- To the courts -- The red summer -- Passing the torch: The new Negro movement -- The challenge -- To the courts once more -- Thurgood Marshall joins the fray -- Setbacks -- No turning back -- Renewing the attack -- A school of one's own -- The main event -- Student revolt -- Kansas -- The battle is joined -- A change at the top -- Round 2 -- The meaning of equality -- Making it real -- Legacy.