Brown vs. the Board of Education
By: Corey, Michaela, Kevin, and Cupcake (Jessica)
Background
In 1954, 20 states in the United States were segregated. In Topeka, Kansas, a seven year old African American girl named Linda Brown who was forced to walk 20 blocks to her elementary school, even though there was a school for white children only two blocks away. Her dad, Oliver Brown, approached the principle of the white school and asked that Linda be enrolled in the closer school. When Linda was denied entry to the school, Brown, with help from the NAACP, took the Topeka Board of Education to court. The case later ended up at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Cheif Justice Earl Warren decided that all schools were to be desegregated. This case, along with others, gave all children equal opportunuties and an equal education. Not only did it help African Americans, it helped Mexican Americans and other minorities, too.