In his arguments in Brown v. Board of Education, the lawyer for Oliver and Linda Brown claimed that "separate but equal" public schools were

neither separate nor equal.

separate but not truly equal.

equal but not truly separate.

both separate and equal.

The correct answer is separate but not truly equal.

During this era, public schools were not equal by any means. All black schools usually received less funding, had less teachers, had older textbooks/materials, and did not have nearly as nice of facilities (buildings) in comparison to all white schools. These were all reasons why black citizens wanted to desegregate schools, as they knew that this integration of black and white students would result in better opportunities for their children.