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- "Separate But Equal"
- BLACKS ONLY!
- WHITES ONLY!
- The Brown Family
- Sumner Elementary School
- In 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that segregation between races was legal as long as both races had access to facilities that were equal. This became known as the "separate but equal" doctrine. Everything became separated into different restaurants, buses, and even schools for blacks and whites. Violence against black people also increased over the next 50 years.
- A Long Walk
- In 1950, Linda Brown lived in Topeka, Kansas with her younger sister and parents. She was a 7 year old girl who was excited to start school. The closest school by her house that was only 7 blocks away so her parents tried to enroll her there.
- The Lawsuit
- The school closest to Linda Brown was the Sumner Elementary School. When Mr. Brown tried to enroll his daughter there, he was told no. Sumner Elementary was an all-white school and because Linda was black she was not allowed to attend school there.
- Victory!
- Linda was forced to walk along the railroad tracks to catch a bus to another school. The Monroe School was an all-black school that Linda was allowed to attend. However, it was over a mile away from her house.
- Mr. Brown was furious that Linda had to walk in the snow and rain to go to a school so far away when there was one right by their house. So, he called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights organization, for help. The family sued the Topeka Board of Education for denying Linda entrance into an all-white school. The Brown family wasn't alone in their fight as other families had started to sue school districts across the country.
- Finally, in 1954 the United States Supreme Court overturned Plessy vs. Ferguson and ruled racial segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The States were very slow to desegregate so the Court ordered them to speed the process up. Unfortunately, the process ended up takingdecades to accomplish.
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