Title
Recognizing and honoring the life and legacy of Linda Brown, symbol of the landmark desegregation case.
Body
WHEREAS, Linda Brown was born on February 20, 1943, in Topeka, Kansas to Leola and Oliver Brown; and
WHEREAS, When Linda was a third grader, she had to walk six blocks to her school bus stop to ride to Monroe Elementary, her segregated black school, one mile away, while Sumner Elementary, a white school, was just seven blocks from her house; and
WHEREAS, Linda's family lived in an integrated neighborhood, and she and her sister attended a black school with which her parents were satisfied. However, Linda's father Oliver was dissatisfied with the distance Linda had to travel to get to school; and
WHEREAS, Linda said, "When I first started the walk it was very frightening to me. And then when wintertime came, it was a very cold walk. I remember that. I remember walking, tears freezing up on my face, because I began to cry": and
WHEREAS, The NAACP recruited several parents, including Oliver Brown, to attempt to enroll their children in the nearest neighborhood school. When Linda was 9 years old, in 1951, her father took her to Sumner Elementary and tried to enroll her; they were denied; and
WHEREAS, In 1951, a class action suit was filed against the Board of Education of the City of Topeka, Kansas in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas. The plaintiffs were thirteen Topeka parents on behalf of their 20 children; and
WHEREAS, The case "Oliver Brown et al. v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas" was named after Oliver Brown as a legal strategy to have a man at the head of the roster. The lawyers, and the National Chapter of the NAACP, also felt that having Mr. Brown at the head of the roster would be better received by the U.S. Supreme Court Justices, should they have to appeal the District Court decision. The 13 plaintiffs were: Oliver Brown, Darlene Brown, Lena Carper, Sadie Emmanuel, Marguerite Emerso...
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