Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park

The Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park preserves the legacy of the pivotal 1954 Supreme Court case of the same name. The park, located in Kansas, was once Monroe Elementary School, one of four segregated schools serving Topeka’s African American community. Oliver Brown, activist and father to Nicole Brown, was one of 13 parents who filed suit against the Board of Education of Topeka, concerned that their children had to be bused far from their neighborhoods to attend a segregated school. On May 15, 1954, the Warren Court handed down a unanimous decision that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” Monroe Elementary School was closed in 1975 because of decreasing enrollment. The Brown Foundation fought to save Monroe Elementary School from being sold at auction, successfully petitioning local congressional leadership to secure the property as a National Historic Landmark and, in 1993, as a National Historic Site. In 2022, the Brown v. Board National Historic Site was expanded and redesignated as a national historical park, preserving more deeply the history of this most important court decision.