Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park!

What Is Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park?

This park preserves Monroe Elementary School, the segregated school in Topeka at the heart of Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka (KS)!

What Makes It Historical?

Unlike other states that mandated segregation by law, here in Kansas, it was allowed but not required. That gave the NAACP a unique opportunity in their fight against these unequal practices. The namesake in their famous court case was Mr. Oliver Brown, who, like 12 other plaintiffs in the case, was concerned that his daughter had to bus across town to Monroe Elementary, one of four all-Black schools, when there were so many schools right by where the family lived.

When the case got rejected at the state level, the legal team, led by Thurgood Marshall, took it to the Supreme Court, where it combined with four other lawsuits: Briggs v. Elliott, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Gebhart v. Belton, and Bolling v. Sharpe! A big key to the success of the ruling, which had stumbled over the “separate but equal” ruling of Plessy vs. Ferguson in 1896, was the unexpected death of Justice Fred Vinson and his replacement by Earl Warren!

After arguments citing the harm of segregation from child psychology to Russian propaganda, the Court ruled unanimously, 9-0, that setting aside special schools for one race out of a belief that it was inferior was inherently unequal and therefore was not constitutional! The Brown v. Board decision wasn’t an immediate success though. Black teachers across the country lost their jobs in retaliation, and kids got bullied in newly integrated classrooms, but the decision paved the way for diverse, integrated classrooms and fueled more Civil Rights efforts from public transportation to voting!

How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?

Volunteer with the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park!
Donate to the Western National Parks Association!
Be a responsible visitor! Remember the old adages: Pack out what you pack in! Take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints!