Topeka, Kansas

Thurgood Marshall

The city of Topeka, Kansas was the defendant in one of the most important Supreme Court cases in the nation’s history (Brown vs the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas). In 1951, a law-suit was filed against the schoolboard of Topeka, Kansas by 13 families on behalf of their children. The suit called for the integration of the city’s high schools that were segregated by race (African-Americans were forced to attend different schools than Whites). Federal law permitted racial segregation as long as the schools were "equal" in what they provided students. Segregated schools, however, were never equal. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional, and by 1955 demanded integration of all American schools "with all deliberate speed".

United States Landmarks