Topeka NAACP and Brown v. Topeka Board of Education
The Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case was initiated and organized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) leadership who recruited African American parents in Topeka for a class action suit against the local school board. Although school buses were provided for African American children, they were only allowed to attend designated public schools based on race.
Oliver
Brown was asked to join the class action
suit by Charles Scott, one of three serving
as legal counsel for the Topeka NAACP. The strategy to use the courts
to
challenge segregation in public education
began with the NAACP under the leadership of Attorney Charles Hamilton
Houston during
the 1930's. Houston was the former Dean of
Howard University Law School. Thurgood Marshall was hired into the NAACP
by Houston,
and worked on Brown v. Topeka Board of Education with a team of attorneys.
Ultimately, the NAACP sought to end the practice of "separate but equal" throughout every segment of society, including public transportation, dining facilities, public schools and all forms of public accomodation.
Brown II and Brown III
The initial court ruling rendered in 1954 that determined
racial segregation in public education was unconstitutional is known as Brown I. The court implementation
mandate of "with all deliberate speed" in 1955 is known as Brown II. In 1979, three young African
American attorneys in Topeka petitioned the court to reopen the original Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case
to examine whether or not the local School
Board had in fact ended all vestiges of segregation in public schools.
That case
is known as Brown III, which resulted in Topeka Public Schools building three magnet schools to
comply with the court's findings.
For more information, contact:
Brown Foundation
P.O. Box 4862
Topeka,
KS 66604
Phone: 785-235-3939
Fax: 785-235-1001