Editing Education in Kansas (section)

===''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka''===
The landmark 1954 decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka]]'', in which the [[United States Supreme Court]] ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional, was brought as a legal challenge to a Kansas law permitting racial segregation in primary and secondary schools in Kansas towns with a population over 15,000.

In 1951, a [[class action]] suit was filed against the Board of Education of the City of [[Topeka, Kansas]] in the [[United States District Court for the District of Kansas]]. The plaintiffs were thirteen Topeka parents on behalf of their 20 children.<ref>Anderson, ''[http://cjonline.com/stories/050904/04b_localcase.shtml Legacy of Brown: Many people part of local case, Thirteen parents representing 20 children signed up as Topeka plaintiffs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828064154/http://cjonline.com/stories/050904/04b_localcase.shtml |date=August 28, 2008 }}'', The Topeka Capital-Journal (Sunday, May 9, 2004).</ref>

The suit called for the school district to reverse its policy of racial segregation. The Topeka Board of Education operated separate elementary schools under an 1879 Kansas law, which permitted (but did not require) districts to maintain separate elementary school facilities for black and white students in 12 communities with populations over 15,000. The plaintiffs had been recruited by the leadership of the Topeka [[NAACP]]. Notable among the Topeka NAACP leaders were the chairman [[McKinley Burnett]]; Charles Scott, one of three serving as legal counsel for the chapter; and [[Lucinda Todd]].

The named plaintiff, [[Oliver Brown (civil rights)|Oliver L. Brown]], was a parent, a welder in the shops of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway|Santa Fe Railroad]], an assistant pastor at his local church, and an African American.<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june04/brown_05-12.html Black, White, and Brown] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040610182739/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june04/brown_05-12.html |date=June 10, 2004 }}, ''PBS NewsHour'' (May 12, 2004).</ref> He was convinced to join the lawsuit by Scott, a childhood friend. Brown's daughter Linda, a third grader, had to walk six blocks to her school bus stop to ride to [[Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site|Monroe Elementary]], her segregated black school one mile (1.6&nbsp;km) away, while [[Sumner Elementary School|Sumner Elementary]], a white school, was seven blocks from her house.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091028015243/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588641/Brown_v_Board_of_Education_of_Topeka.html Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka] MSN Encarta, archived on October 31, 2009 from [http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588641/brown_v_board_of_education_of_topeka.html the original] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028015243/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588641/Brown_v_Board_of_Education_of_Topeka.html |date=October 28, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cjonline.com/indepth/brown/historic-spots-map.shtml |title=Interactive map of locations in Topeka important to the Brown case – Topeka Capital Journal online |publisher=Cjonline.com |date=October 26, 1992 |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100615182725/http://cjonline.com/indepth/brown/historic-spots-map.shtml |archive-date=June 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>