The standard citation for Brown v. Board of Education is Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). That is the form to use in a legal brief or Bluebook-style paper; APA and MLA rearrange the same information slightly, and a companion 1955 decision known as Brown II carries its own citation at 349 U.S. 294. If you are wondering how to cite Brown v. Board of Education, the format you need depends on which style guide governs your document and whether you are pointing to a specific page.1National Archives. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
What Each Part of the Citation Means
Every piece of 347 U.S. 483 (1954) has a job. Knowing what each element does lets you add a pinpoint page, switch reporters, or spot a typo in someone else’s work.
- 347 is the volume number in the United States Reports, the official reporter for Supreme Court opinions.
- U.S. is the abbreviation for United States Reports.
- 483 is the first page of the opinion in that volume.
- (1954) is the year the Court decided the case.
When you need to quote or paraphrase a specific passage, add a pinpoint page after the starting page. For the Court’s line that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” the citation becomes Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 495 (1954).2Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Bluebook Format for Legal Writing
The Bluebook is the standard for American legal writing, and its rules govern most briefs, motions, and law school papers. In court documents, italicize the case name:
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).
Academic legal writing such as law review articles historically used roman type for case names in main text, though many journals now accept italics. When you cite the case a second time after a full citation, the Bluebook lets you shorten it. Use Brown, 347 U.S. at 495 for a later reference, or Id. at 495 if the immediately preceding citation was to the same case.
APA Format
APA treats court cases as a distinct source type. In the body of your paper, italicize the case name and give the year in parentheses: “In Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Court held…” In the reference list, the case name appears in standard (non-italicized) type, followed by the volume, reporter abbreviation, and starting page, with the year in parentheses at the end. The underlying elements are the same ones used in the Bluebook version; only the punctuation and italics change.
MLA Format
MLA treats the government body as the author. A works-cited entry begins with “United States, Supreme Court,” then the italicized case name, the decision date, and the container or database where you found the text, with a URL if it is online.3MLA Style Center. Documenting Legal Works in MLA Style A typical entry reads:
United States, Supreme Court. Brown v. Board of Education. 17 May 1954. Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School.
In-text, italicize the case name the same way you would in Bluebook or APA.
Brown II and Bolling v. Sharpe: Companion Citations
The 1954 opinion resolved the constitutional question but left the remedy for later. A year later, the Court issued Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294 (1955), known as Brown II, which ordered desegregation to proceed “with all deliberate speed.”4Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka5Supreme Court of the United States. Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al. If you are writing about how desegregation was actually enforced, you need the 349 U.S. 294 citation, not the 347 U.S. 483 one. Citing only Brown I when Brown II is the relevant authority is a common error.
On the same day it decided Brown I, the Court also issued Bolling v. Sharpe, 347 U.S. 497 (1954), striking down segregation in the District of Columbia schools under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause rather than the Fourteenth Amendment.6Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Bolling v. Sharpe Bolling gets its own citation because it is a separate opinion. Writers covering desegregation law comprehensively usually cite Brown and Bolling together.
Parallel Citations
The same Brown I opinion appears in two other reporters: 74 S. Ct. 686 (the Supreme Court Reporter, published by West) and 98 L. Ed. 873 (the Lawyers’ Edition).7Legal Information Institute. Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al. The text is identical; only the pagination differs. For almost all purposes, the United States Reports citation (347 U.S. 483) is the one to use, because it is the official government publication and the version preferred by both the Bluebook and most court rules. You will see S. Ct. and L. Ed. citations in older briefs or in databases that display every available reporter, but if you have room for only one, use U.S. Reports.
Where to Read the Opinion
Free full-text versions of both Brown opinions are available online, which is useful when you need to verify a quotation or find a pinpoint page:
- Justia hosts searchable versions of Brown I and Brown II at supreme.justia.com.
- Cornell’s Legal Information Institute publishes the full text with parallel citations at law.cornell.edu.
- The National Archives provides a transcript alongside historical context and images of the original document.1National Archives. Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
- The Library of Congress hosts a PDF scan of the original United States Reports pages, which is the most reliable source for verifying pinpoint pagination.5Supreme Court of the United States. Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al.
The Justia and Cornell versions are easiest to search. If you are citing a specific page and want to be certain the number matches the printed U.S. Reports, cross-check against the Library of Congress PDF.