July 19th - Still in Kansas - Brown V Board of Education

I was cruising along Interstate 70 through Kansas - very very hot.  There were periodic roadside signs trying to get me to visit this or that attraction.  Some looked interesting but I was on a mission to get through Kansas and get home.  And then - a sign pointing out a historical site in Topeka, Kansas - the capital of Kansas.  The historic site was Monroe Elementry school that was the impetus for the Supreme Court to once and for all state that school segregation was unconstitutional. I had to stop.

In 17 states, up to the US Supreme Court decision ruling school segregation unconstitutional - segregation was required by law.  In 4 other states - school segregation was optional.  Kansas was one of those 4 states.  The 17 states that had mandated segregation took the position that separate but equal education was not unconstitutional.

At the time there were 4 other school districts that had law suits going to the US Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of school segregation.  The basis of the other suits was that the education was not equal due to the substandard schools for African Americans.  Topeka was different.  The "black" schools were good.  Good teachers, and a good education.  The importance of getting away from separate but equal was to show that the very nature of segregating students had the implication that there was a difference between the races and that somehow justified keeping them apart.

In 1954 the court ruled in favor of the plaintifs in the Brown v. Board of Education.   Chief Justice Earl Warren stated, "We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place.  Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."

What this little side trip did for me was to examine the individuals that were responsible for fighting for a cause that seems so basic but at the time threatened their very lives.  These should not be considered "Black" heroes for the fight against injustice but should be considered heroes in general.  How many kids in school today, black or white, know the fights these people went through.

When I left the Monroe Elementary and walked back to my bike - I was saddened by the empty parking lot.

If you have any interest in this subject - you can find details on the other 4 schools and the struggle to make school segregation unconstitutional by going to www.nps.gov/brvb.

The actual desegregation of most schools didn't happen until much later.