Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site, Topeka, Kansas

Monroe Elementary School houses the park visitor center. It was one of four segregated elementary schools for African Americans in Topeka.

---

The first things I noticed when I entered the building were two large overhead signs:

A Park Ranger greeted me and gave a brief history of Brown v Board of Education. He noted that the sign says “Colored” and not “Black.” Segregation included anyone who was not white.

There were displays that clearly illustrate separate, but not equal. The schools below are in Clarendon County, South Carolina. In 1949-1950, the Clarendon County school board spent $179 per white student and $43 per black student.

---

---

---

The Library of Congress has an online exhibit outlining the history of segregation,
Brown v. Board at Fifty: “With an Even Hand” A Century of Racial Segregation, 1849–1950. This exhibit contains many of the same items as in Monroe Elementary School. Click here to learn more.

---

The Clark Doll Test

Children’s toys rarely feature in decisions issued by the US Supreme Court of the United States. Yet a humble set of baby dolls – two black, two white – played a pivotal role in what many have termed the most important legal ruling of the 20th century. This year, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the US Supreme Court decision to legally end segregation in public schools, one of those dolls is on display here at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. This is the doll’s story.

https://www.nps.gov/brvb/learn/historyculture/clarkdoll.htm

---

---

Separate But Not Equal: The Stories Behind Brown v. Board of Education

---

This is a place that made me shake my head in disbelief so many times. You learn about segregation in school, but to see these videos and hear the stories is to see segregation in action. We have made great strides but still have so much work to do to ensure equality for all.