Brown vs. Board
Cheryl Unruh
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
As we approached, I saw a pleasant-looking school building. Then, upon entering, where the hallway split to the right and to the left, I noticed the side-by-side signs: “White.” “Colored.”
Ugh.
Those signs, however, were not posted in Topeka’s Monroe Elementary when it was in operation; this was an all-black school.
The signs were added to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site to remind visitors that segregation in schools (and businesses) was commonplace before the 1954 Supreme Court decision.
Dave and I recently visited this historic site, located a few blocks southeast of the Kansas Capitol.
Linda Brown, daughter of Plaintiff Oliver Brown, attended Monroe although an all-white school was closer to her home. The building is now part of the National Park Service and tells the story of the struggle for equal rights.
On May 17, 2004, the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, President Bush helped dedicate the site.
‘Brown v. Board’ was a consolidation of five school segregation cases. The Kansas case was selected as the lead case to take the emphasis off the South and to feature segregation as the primary issue rather than inequality. The four other cases were lawsuits from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D. C.
The unanimous ‘Brown v. Board’ decision ended segregation in public schools. It shot down the “separate but equal” ruling from the 1896 ‘Plessy vs. Ferguson’ case.
Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
While the ‘Brown v. Board’ case was a turning point, it was just one part of a long and painful journey for African Americans and for the country.
Equipped with sound clips, films, and touch-screen computers, this is an interactive museum. The Hall of Courage lets visitors walk through the sights and sounds of a hate mob, showing what black children must have experienced during desegregation.
The audio and visual exhibits are incredibly well done. In the auditorium, a series of short films are played, featuring a discussion between a young African American woman and an older man who recounts events of the civil rights movement.
Three screens play at once, each with different images, showing not only the discussion, but also events of the time — such as statements by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.
The building is alive with sounds, voices and images, many from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Timelines put the events into a social and political context.
Three of the four rooms present information. The last room is for “Expressions and Reflections.”
Here, visitors may record their voices, write their thoughts and draw pictures on touch-screen computers. I listened to several recordings. One man said, “I can’t believe that a school district in Virginia would leave the doors of their schools closed for five years rather than integrate — and there just wash away all the prospects of those people, to care not for them, whether Anglo or African American or otherwise.”
Monroe School has been beautifully restored, the exhibits are informative, but the most important offerings are the messages of equality and hope.
For a better understanding of our past, this historic site is definitely worth a trip up the turnpike.
Admission is free. The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, at 1515 S. Monroe Street in Topeka, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (except Thanksgiving, Dec. 25 and Jan. 1).
More information is available at 785-354-4273 or www.nps.gov/brvb.
“Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net.
F Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.