Vashti Cromwell McCollum (November 6, 1912–August 20, 2006) was the plaintiff in a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1948 in a landmark ruling that struck down religious education in the public schools.
McCollum, who was an atheist, filed suit in 1945 against the school district of Champaign, Illinois after being pressured by school officials to enroll her son James, then 8, in what the district termed a "voluntary" religious education class and after her son was ostracized by teachers and classmates because of his non-participation.
McCollum's suit, McCollum v. Board of Education of School District No. 71, Champaign County, Ill. et al. was filed in the county circuit court and sought to bar the classes, which were taught by members of a private religious association and not public school employees. The petition before the court complained that the school district's practice was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which provides for the separation of church and state, as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees that the law will apply equally to all people.
The county court ruled against McCollum and was subsequently upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court upon appeal. The U. S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case In an 8-1 decision announced March 8, 1948, the high court reversed the ruling of the lower court, and held that the school district's religious instruction program was unconstitutional.
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