The 14th Amendment, added in 1868, guaranteed equal protection. At that moment our nation began an odyssey into uncharted legal and philosophical waters which continues to confront the Supreme Court. The issue of equal protection has sparked some of the Court's most important, memorable, volatile, and fascinating cases. In this volume, students examine how the Court has responded to the profoundly complicated subjects of race and racial integration, affirmative action, race and education, and sex discrimination.