Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

During the 1950s, American public schools were racially segregated with the assumption that Black and White students were to receive a “separate but equal” education regardless of their school campus location. Unfortunately during this time in history, most Black public schools were academically and often physically inferior to the public schools of their White counterparts. The Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision initiated educational and social reform throughout the United States (U.S.). The case served as a catalyst in launching the Civil Rights Movement. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and the individuals involved in this landmark case is the story of the struggle of democratic ideals for all of America’s children.

The widely disseminated story about how this case actually evolved begins with a man named Oliver Brown who sought to enroll his daughter, a Black third-grader named Linda, in a White Topeka, Kansas elementary school only seven blocks away from their...