Public Schools v. Walker was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the issue of racial segregation in public schools. The case was brought by a group of African American parents in the state of Virginia who argued that their children were being denied access to public schools due to their race. The parents argued that the state's segregation laws violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the parents, finding that the state's segregation laws were unconstitutional. The Court held that the state had violated the Equal Protection Clause by denying African American children access to public schools on the basis of race. The Court also held that the state had violated the Fourteenth Amendment by denying African American children the same educational opportunities as white children. The ruling in Public Schools v. Walker was a landmark decision in the fight for racial equality in the United States. The Court's decision established that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applied to public schools and that states could not deny access to public schools on the basis of race. The decision was a major victory for civil rights activists and helped to pave the way for the desegregation of public schools in the United States.

In Public Schools v. Walker, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a state law that allowed African American children to attend public schools with white students violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The majority opinion held that it did not violate the clause because there was no evidence of discrimination against African Americans in this particular case and therefore their rights were not being denied or abridged. However, Justice Field dissented from this ruling and argued that allowing African American children into public schools with white students would create an unequal educational environment for both groups since they would be subject to different rules and regulations based on race. He further argued that such segregation could lead to social unrest as well as increased racial animosity between whites and blacks which could ultimately undermine civil society by creating divisions among citizens instead of promoting unity.