When Ralph W. Ellison heard about the Brown v. Board of Education decision in May 1954, he wrote a friend, “What a wonderful world of possibilities are unfolded for the children!” Other African-American leaders were equally excited—in part because they had wondered, even as late as May 1954, what the United States Supreme Court might say. Thurgood Marshall later commented, “I was so happy I was numb.” At the time, Marshall estimated that legalized school segregation would be wiped out within five years.