Liz Saville Roberts: “from Civil War to the war against racism, Kansas has been a battleground in the fight for equality. Oliver Brown was a…”

“from Civil War to the war against racism, Kansas has been a battleground in the fight for equality. Oliver Brown was a soldier in this struggle, as he courageously fought to prove that separate among the people of this great Nation is not equal. The watershed case that bears his name stands for all time as an important victory in the civil rights movement. On Monday, May 17, 2004, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of this momentous decision. And in Topeka, KS, we will gather to dedicate Monroe Elementary School as the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education National Historic site. This new addition to the National Park Service will afford us the proper setting to fully reflect on what this decision has meant to our Nation, and will provide future visitors with a more complete understanding of how Linda Brown's struggle changed the course of our Nation's history. The Monroe Elementary School, purchased in 1877 by the Topeka Board of Education, was one of the four segregated elementary schools for African American children in Topeka.”