Dear Friends,
On behalf of the Brooklyn Legends family, it is an honor to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Linda Brown, the lead named plaintiff in Brown v. Board of Education – the 1954 landmark case which led to the outlawing of school segregation.
Linda Brown passed on Sunday, March 25, 2018. She was 76 years old. Her actions, and those of the other students represented in the case, charted a new course in America’s educational system.
In 1950, the NAACP asked a group of African-American parents, that included Linda’s father – Oliver Brown, to attempt to enroll their children in all-white schools with the expectation they would be turned away. Mr. Brown honored this request and set out to place Linda, who was in 3rd grade, in Sumner Elementary School. As anticipated, she was was not allowed to attend. This action set the strategy for the civil rights group to file a lawsuit on behalf of the 13 families, who were from different states. Since Linda Brown’s name appeared at the top of the list of plaintiffs, the case was known as Brown v. Board of Education and would be argued before the United States Supreme Court. The lead attorney working on behalf of the plaintiffs was future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
An important objective of Brown was to dismantle the precedent that was set in place by the 1896 decision of Plessy v. Ferguson, which sanctioned the idea of “separate but equal” facilities for racial divisions. When the Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education, their decision disavowed the notion of “separate but equal” and concluded that segregated facilities deprived African-American children of a richer, and fairer, educational experience.
Life for Linda after the ruling
When the Court reached its decision, Linda Brown was in junior high school student, which was a grade level that had been integrated before the Brown decision. In 1959 the Brown family moved to Springfield, Missouri. In 1961 Oliver Brown died and Mrs. Brown moved the girls back to Topeka, Kansas shortly thereafter. Linda Brown went on to attend Washburn and Kansas State universities.
To learn more about Linda Brown’s life and legacy, please follow this link.
“Sixty-four years ago a young girl from Topeka brought a case that ended segregation in public schools in America,” he tweeted. “Linda Brown’s life reminds us that sometimes the most unlikely people can have an incredible impact and that by serving our community we can truly change the world.”
Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer
Submitted with gratitude and appreciation.
Thank you Ms. Brown!
Monique
Brooklyn Legends 