The landmark Supreme Court case *Brown v. Board of Education* (1954) declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. However, desegregation didn't happen overnight. Many school districts resisted, leading to further legal battles and the eventual use of busing as a tool to achieve racial balance in schools. While no single individual initiated busing, federal courts frequently ordered its implementation as a remedy for de facto (in practice, not by law) segregation, often in response to lawsuits filed by civil rights organizations. The federal government, under various administrations, played a significant role in enforcing these court orders.