Addison Trail students participate in virtual learning experience with National Park Service to learn about Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka historic U.S. Supreme Court decision

On April 7, students in Addison Trail social studies teacher Mark Olson’s Advanced Placement (AP)/college-level U.S. History class had the opportunity to participate in a virtual learning experience with National Park Service.

During the event, Ranger Nicholas Murray spoke with students about the background and significance of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the court ruled in 1954 that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. The underlying case originated in 1951, when the public school system in Topeka, Kansas, refused to enroll local black resident Oliver Brown’s daughter (Linda) at the elementary school closest to their home, instead requiring her to ride a bus to a segregated black school farther away. After Linda was denied attendance at the all-white school, she went to Monroe Elementary School (which served black students during the segregation era).

Former U.S. President George Bush signed the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site Act of 1992, establishing a national park at the site of the former Monroe Elementary School. The site opened on May 17, 2004, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the historic U.S. Supreme Court decision.

For more information, go to https://www.nps.gov/brvb/index.htm or https://www.nps.gov/places/brown-v-board-of-education-national-historic-site.htm.