Brown Sites in Topeka
There are several Brown sites around the Topeka area. To view information on each tour site, view the information on each site on the page below.
Monroe Elementary School
The old Monroe Elementary School Building was operated as one of four schools in Topeka for African American children up until 1954. This school was attended by children of three of the plaintiffs during the court proceedings in the Brown case: Oliver Brown's daughter Linda, Sadie Emmanuel's son James, and Vivian Scales daughter Ruth Ann. Oliver Brown's wife, Leola, had attended this school when it was a new building. His children attended this school, his grandchildren attended this school and his youngest daughter, Cheryl, taught here in 1972 before it closed. The school was closed in 1975 because of declining enrollment.
In the fall of 1991 the U.S. Dept. of Interior designated this building as a National Historic Landmark. On October 26, 1992, President Bush signed the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site Act of 1992 establishing this school as a national park. Plans are underway to open the park in late 1997.
Law Offices of Brown Attorneys
The Law Offices of Scott, Scott, Scott and Jackson were located at 724 1/2 Kansas Avenue for more than 20 years. NAACP president, McKinley Burnett, along with attorneys from this firm developed and litigated the Topeka case in Brown. The local attorneys were Charles Scott, John Scott, Elisha Scott, and Charles Bledsoe.
Post Office
On the northeast corner of 5th and Kansas is a two-story gray building that serves as Topeka's main post office. Until 1976, this building also housed the Federal District courtrooms. It was in this building that the plaintiffs and attorneys in Brown v. Board stepped out of the courtroom and into the pages of history. Although many of those involved (including Oliver Brown) are deceased, their actions in this place will live forever.
East of the post office building is a red brick building. This building now houses the Federal District Court.
Bus Stop
The bus ride home for African American children from this area fo Topeka concluded at 1st and Kansas. Kansas Avenue is one of Topeka's busiest roads. Even during the 1950s, the morning and evening traffic was heavy.
The children began their walk home through the railroad tracks while listening carefully for whistles announcing any oncoming trains. The children would walk on the side of the street where the tracks were because it was open and safe. The fields and old buildings that dominated the right side of the street were often a haven for bums who would ride the rails, stopping to knock on doors for food before jumping a train to continue their journey.
Brown Family Home
Because of a freeway bypass, the home where Oliver Brown and his family lived just a few feet south of the railroad crossing sign is no longer standing. Also, a fire demolished the home across the street where Mrs. Brown's parents lived. That is the house the family returned to after Oliver Brown's death in 1961 at the age of 42.
It is believed that because of his death only seven years after the historic case, many people are not aware that it is his name that the case is known by: Oliver L. Brown, et.al., vs. The Board of Education of Topeka. However, there were many others involved in the case.
Sumner Elementary School
Until 1954, Sumner Elementary School was for white children only. Oliver Brown agreed to participate in the class action because it was not logical for African American children, including his daughter, to travel to Monroe Elementary School everyday when they could walk four blocks to Sumner School.
In 1987, this building was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Parks Service. When it closed in 1996, Sumner had a minority enrollment of about 30 percent.
On February 23, 1996, WIBW News reported on the final class yearbook photograph taken at Sumner Elementary. View the report here.
Todd Home
The residence at 1007 Jewell was the home of Mrs. Lucinda Todd. Mrs Todd was the NAACP secretary and the first parent to volunteer to be a plaintiff in the Brown case. Ironically, she had been a teacher in the Topeka Public Schools. She is credited with writing the letter to the National NAACP requesting their assistance with the local case. A lot of the strategy was planned in this house.
Buchanan Elementary School
At 12th and Buchanan is the old Buchanan Elementary School building. This was the segregated school Mrs. Lucinda Todd taught in and her daughter Nancy later attended during the court proceedings in Brown. Mrs. Todd as part of the NAACP plan attempted to enroll her daughter in Randolph Elementary School, which was then a segregated school for white children.
The children of the following plaintiffs also attended school at Buchanan:
Marguerite Emmerson
Darlene Brown
Alma Lewis
Shirley Hodison
Maude Lawton
Lena Carper
McKinley Elementary School
The old McKinley Elementary School was one of the four segregated schools for African American children in Topeka. During the Brown case the children of plaintiff Zelma Henderson attended school here. After attending Monroe, Oliver Brown's daughters, Linda and Terry, also attended this school once their father received his assignment to the nearby St. Mark AME Church.
The fourth segregated school was Washington Elementary in East Topeka. It was demolished as part of a street expansion.
Children of the following plaintiffs attended Washington School:
Shirla Flemming
Sadie Emmanuel
St. Mark AME Church
It was while at this church that Rev. Brown and his family learned of the Supreme Court's decision after three years of court proceedings. It was in this sanctuary that the only televised interview with Rev. Brown was taped by a CBS show called 20th Century, the forerunner of the news magazine shows of today.
Common Justice Sculpture
IN MEMORY OF COMMON JUSTICE
In 1954, three Washburn Law School graduates represented the plaintiffs in the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Out of that case came the decision that 'in the field of public instruction, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place.' This message appears at the base of a sculpture in the Washburn Law School that was dedicated in 1984 to commemorate this historic case that ruled school segregation unconstitutional.
The idea for the sculpture originated in 1975 during planning for Topeka's celebration of the nation's Bicentennial. It was suggested initially that a plaque commemorating the landmark Brown decision be created and placed in a prominent public location in Topeka. In the fall of 1976, an ad hoc committee was formed at Washburn and interested Topekans were invited to join the committee. Out of that invitation grew an honorary committee consisting not only of Topekans, but of prominent national figures as well.
The ad hoc committee decided to raise funds for a sculpture instead of a plaque. It was agreed the sculpture would be placed on Washburn's campus in the vicinity of the Law School. Fundraising efforts continued for the next eight years. They included: a reception in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Washburn alumni chaired by Samuel Jackson; a jazz concert in White Concert Hall at Washburn featuring the notable jazz pianist Jay MacShann and his combo; and a solicitation by mail for funds across the United States.
When fundraising was finished and the sculpture was completed, a dedicatory program was held in White Concert Hall on May 17, 1984, the 40th anniversary of the Brown decision. Honored guests at the dedication included the plaintiffs in the Brown case, Charles Scott Sr., one of the lawyers in the case and Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr., who gave the commemorative address. A symposium on the Brown decision and school desegregation was held the next day in the Robinson Courtroom at the Law School.
The sculpture is the creation of two well-known Topeka artists. John Tarlton designed the sculpture of welded bronze, which then was fabricated by sculptor Jim Bass. Their combined efforts resulted in a dignified, permanent symbol of the Brown case, gracing the main lobby of the Washburn Law School.
The sculpture, entitled Common Justice, is designed from bronze, wood and steel. Two angular, bronze columns extending upward represent the concept of equality. The two columns separate at the base and are of different shapes, symbolizing the fallacy of 'separate but equal.' Upon close examination, the design is suggestive of Kansas textures resembling wheat and various grasses. The two columns are angled differently at the top, each having a unique slant. The upward thrust and the space between the columns are suggestive of the struggle for national unity.
The sculpture sits atop a base of walnut logged near Osawatomie and the Marais de Cynges River. In Kansas history, some of John Brown's efforts toward freeing the slaves took place in this part of the state.
The Brown decision commemorative sculpture provides the American people with a challenge to continue to educate for life in a literate, multi-cultural society.
On February 28, 1951, a complaint was filed in the United States District Court of Kansas in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. The individuals who took these historic steps toward common justice were:
Parents: Mr. Oliver Brown, Mrs. Darlene Brown, Mrs. Lena Carper, Mrs. Sadie Emmanuel, Mrs. Marguerite Emmerson, Mrs. Shirley Fleming, Mrs. Zelma Henderson, Mrs. Shirley Hodison, Mrs. Maude Lawton, Mrs. Alma Lewis, Mrs. Iona Richardson, Mrs. Vivian Scales, Mrs. Lucinda Todd.
School Children: Linda Carol Brown, Saundria Dorstella Brown, Katherine Louise Carper, James Meldon Emmanuel, Sadie Emmanuel, Claude Arthur Emmerson, George Robert Emmerson, Duane Dean Fleming, Silas Hardrick Fleming, Donald Andrew Henderson, Vicki Ann Henderson, Charles Hodison Jr., Victoria Jean Lawton, Carol Kay Lawton, Theron Lewis, Martha Jan Lewis, Arthur Lewis, Francis Lewis, Ronald Douglas Richardson, Ruth Ann Scales, Nancy Jane Todd.
Counsel for Plaintiffs: Charles E. Bledsoe, Washburn Law School, Class of 1937; John Scott, Washburn Law School, Class of 1947; Charles Scott, Washburn Law School, Class of 1948; Elisha Scott, Washburn Law School, Class of 1916.
Members of the Ad Hoc Committee
Jim Hunt, Chair; Chair of the Art Department, Washburn University
Dr. Julia Etta Parks, Secretary; Professor, Department of Education, Washburn University
Dwight Deay, Director of Information Services, Washburn University
Roger Franzke, Vice President-Marketing and Advertisement
The Honorable Clarence Love, State Representative, Kansas City
The Honorable Kenneth Marshall, State Representative, Topeka
The Honorable William McCray, State Senator, Wichita
The Honorable Sherman A. Parks, Judge, Kansas Court of Appeals
John Reed, Director, Kansas Arts Commission
Lt. Col. William Richards, Rtd. Dir. of Social Serv., Kansas Dept. of Social and Rehab. Serv.
Charles Scott, Sr., Attorney and co-counsel for the plaintiffs in Brown case
Honorary Committee
Dr. John Henderson, President, Washburn University
Samuel Jackson, Attorney, Washington, D.C.
Dr. Roy Menninger, Director, Menninger Foundation
The Honorable Robert Dole, U.S. Senator, Kansas
The Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, President, Notre Dame University
The Honorable Edward Brooke, U.S. Senator, Massachusetts
Dr. Carl Rowan, Journalist, Washington, D.C.
The Honorable Martha Keys, U.S. Representative, Kansas
The Honorable James Pearson, U.S. Senator, Kansas
Dr. Kenneth Clark, Educator and Psychologist
Raymond L. Spring, Dean, Washburn School of Law
Dorothy Height, President, National Council of Negro Women