The ideological intent of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling was to challenge and ultimately dismantle legal segregation in American schools. The Supreme Court unanimously declared that racial segregation in public education violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, reversing the precedent set by Plessy v. Ferguson. This ruling emphasized that "separate but equal" educational facilities were inherently unequal, thereby denying minority children the same opportunities as their white counterparts. It served as a cornerstone for the civil rights movement, igniting greater demands for racial equality and legal reforms throughout American society.