The "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson hardly applied to Washington's public schools before 1954. In the first half of the 20th century, many of Washington's whites moved into nearby suburbs in Maryland and Virginia, while many blacks began moving into the city. This led to overcrowding of the black public schools while underenrollment was the norm in the white schools. School construction stopped during World War II, and although construction of black schools began in earnest after the war, it was not enough to stop the overcrowding. Many black students began attending schools in double or even triple shifts; one group of students might attend school from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM and the next group would come in at 12:45 PM and stay until 5:15 PM. Students at the all-black Browne Junior High School attended school in this double shift in 1947, as the school was over capacity by about 700 students. [1] Students at the neighboorhood all-white junior high school, however, attended school on a single shift, and the school had about 150 open places. Some Browne parents went to court, demanding that their children be admitted to the white junior high. In response to this class action suit, D.C. school officials eliminated the double shift at all black public schools in 1948, and in 1950, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled against the Browne parents in a 2-1 decision.