The implementation of Brown vs. the Board of Education was discussed as a part of the lecture series, “Brown at 50: The Legacy of Brown vs. The Board of Education” sponsored by the Southern University Department of Political Science.
In the early 1950’s, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America.
Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.
In Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grader named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away.
Linda’s father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal of the school refused. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka’s branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for help.
The NAACP was eager to assist the Browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. With Brown’s complaint, it had “the right plaintiff at the right time.” Other black parents joined Brown, and, in 1951, the NAACP requested an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka’s public schools.
“This is a subject that I have been dealing with for quite some time,” said Albert Samuels, lecturer and political science professor. “I am also concerned with how do we protect ourselves from it (school segregation) and how do we prevent this from happening again.”
The last lecture of the three part series, “Look Back Forward: Brown at 50,” will be held Thursday, February 26 at 2 p.m.–Higgins Hall Room 113.
