Brown vs. Board of Education National Historical Site - Topeka, KS. - Civil Rights Memorials on Waymarking.com

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which permitted segregation. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." As a result, de jure racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. This ruling paved the way for integration and the civil rights movement
The old Monroe Elementary School Building was operated as one of four schools in Topeka for African American children up until 1954. This school was attended by children of three of the plaintiffs during the court proceedings in the Brown case: Oliver Brown's daughter Linda, Sadie Emmanuel's son James, and Vivian Scales daughter Ruth Ann. Oliver Brown's wife, Leola, had attended this school when it was a new building. His children attended this school, his grandchildren attended this school and his youngest daughter, Cheryl, taught here in 1972 before it closed. The school was closed in 1975 because of declining enrollment.

In the fall of 1991 the U.S. Dept. of Interior designated this building as a National Historic Landmark. On October 26, 1992, President Bush signed the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site Act of 1992 establishing this school as a national park.

Source/Credit:http://www.nps.gov/archive/brvb/pages/monroe.htm

Civil Right Type: Race (includes U.S. Civil Rights movement)

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