The Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision happened 50 years ago this May. Brought by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Brown case ultimately dismantled the legal basis for racial segregation in schools and other public facilities. It ended the practice of "separate but equal" throughout every segment of society.

Cheryl Brown Henderson was three years old when the historic High Court decision was made. A former teacher, administrator, legislator and political activist, she is now the president of the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research. Her perspective on Brown centers on race relations and foreign policy. It also highlights Kansas as being one of the most progressive states in the Union. 

"Brown was truly about race relations, not simply about schools," she said. "Schools were the battlefront and society was the target. The NAACP was attempting to get the country to honor its promise," she said. "This was a way to bring about that challenge — to use a public target, a public school, something we could all support and had every right to have access to."

Ultimately, progress in society as a whole happened at a faster rate when schools did integrate, she added. 

"Using the 14 th Amendment as a pivot for Brown finally pulled us out of the era of state's rights," Brown Henderson said.  "Before 1954, states had autonomy over everything that happened ... because the decision used the 14th Amendment as the deciding point in the equal protection clause, the Supreme Court finally gave the country a definitive interpretation of the 14th Amendment and made it clear that U.S. citizens have sovereign power, sovereign rights, guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence."

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education also clarified that the Bill of Rights could not arbitrarily decide who got what because the Constitution had the ultimate authority, she added. Before that decision the Court had not given the country a definitive ruling.

"This decision was critical for everyone. It made a difference for everybody, regardless of race or gender. That's what makes Brown significant for all of us, not simply African Americans."

Why Kansas?

Because [they're] so progressive.

Kansas doesn't get the credit it deserves for being progressive in relation to civil rights and education, Brown Henderson said. "Kansas has always been a leader — from day one."

She noted that the westward expansion of the idea of slavery stopped at Kansas because of people like John Brown and the defeat of pro slavery factions.

"After the Civil War, Kansas had a more welcoming view of people of African American descent coming into the state; it offered certain promises of education and land. Freedoms that no other state offered," she said, adding that women voted and entered professions such as medicine and law before most other states.  "The pioneer spirit didn't create artificial barriers." 

Brown Henderson said Kansas needs to give itself credit. Although the first documented school integration case was Roberts v. the City of Boston in 1849, there were 11 other school segregation cases before Brown, including Tinnon v. Ottawa School Board in 1881.

"We were dealing with this before the NAACP was established in 1909. By then Kansas already had six or seven cases under its belt," she said.

Starting in 1879, Kansas law permitted only certain types of segregation and then, only in cities of 15,000 and larger and in elementary schools.  Brown Henderson said this was very different from other states.

While not specifically stated, it is presumed segregation was not allowed in junior high schools, high schools and in small towns because of economics and practicality. 

KNEA President Christy Levings noted that the NEA was the first to form a joint relationship with the American Congress of Colored People and KNEA (KSTA then) made a resolution in the 1800s that no child, regardless of color or income, should be excluded from school. "That was incredibly controversial," Levings said.

Prior to 1954 "in Kansas, African American teachers were paid the same as white teachers because many, if not most, held advanced degrees. There was often no other outlet for those advanced degrees," Brown Henderson said. 

"We didn't have the issue of quality education here in Kansas ? we had the issue of access. Kansas proved to be the best test case for segregation, per se, because the facilities were equal, the teacher salaries were equal and teacher qualifications were not in question," she said.  "It was simply a matter of not being afforded access to all public schools."

There were great disparities in the other states — facilities, school years shortened because of agriculture needs, not having buses to get to school.  In the South Carolina case the issue was transportation, in the Virginia case it was facilities, in the Delaware case it was transportation and in the DC case it was access, she said.  All were companion cases under heading of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education.

Impact on the quality of schools

The 1954 court ruling determined racial segregation in public education was unconstitutional. The greatest impact on schools was felt in the South.  "Finally tax dollars had to be used equitably. That would impact facilities, resources, teacher qualification and salaries," Brown Henderson said.

In Kansas, schools were integrated immediately. Topeka's Washington School, however, remained segregated for another year or two. "Some parents by choice kept their children there because they were afraid of unpleasantries," Brown Henderson said, adding that, "The sad consequence was that some African American teachers were displaced."

African American teachers who taught three years or less were not retained.

"Topeka Superintendent of Schools Wendell Godwin sent out a letter a year before the decision came down telling teachers they would be let go because he didn't believe there would be enough white parents wanting African American teachers teaching their children," she said.

When schools opened, some of the teaching force was integrated, but some lost their jobs.

Also during the 1954 school year, "USD 501 had a policy that required administrators to contact parents of white students for permission to have their child taught by an African American teacher," she said.  "That practice was abandoned after one year because it proved to be unnecessary."

Brown Henderson taught school from 1972-76.  She taught at Monroe Elementary School - "the school that my mother and sisters had been bused to ... and it was still predominantly African American."

In the 1970's, there seemed to be a wholesale lowering of educational expectations for African American students.  While that view has changed, teachers and public schools continue to struggle to meet every student's needs.

Brown impacted foreign policy

Brown Henderson said most people don't understand the connection between the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education decision and U.S. foreign policy.

"First President Harry Truman, and later President Eisenhower, used Brown to counter Cold War propaganda," she said.

"At the end of Truman's term, the State Department issued a friend of the court brief in Brown saying that it needed to be a unanimous decision in favor of the plaintiffs because the U.S. was starting to lose credibility on the world scene. We could not be the moral conscious of the world when we ourselves were engaged in human rights abuses."

Brown v Topeka Board of Education gave the country and the administration the power and authority to make major foreign policy changes, she said.

Continuing to work for adequate and equitable resources

"I believe education has always been the political football," Brown Henderson said.

If people are educated, they can participate in the process.  If they are not educated, they cannot.  Schools provide opportunities and access cannot be denied.

KNEA President Christy Levings echoed that sentiment in discussing the No Child Left Behind version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. "It keeps public schools a political football," she said.

"A real concern I have is NCLB opens up opportunities to create a bias against a subgroup, non English speaking children, for example. I'm afraid we'll hear 'if we weren't educating those children, we wouldn't have a problem making Annual Yearly Progress,'" Levings said.

"We must continue our commitment to educating every child. KNEA believes there are great public schools for every child," she added. "It is important to continue to talk about civil brighten one of the most vital civil rights for every child is an equal education."

NCLB and other federal legislation being introduced are posing problems for teachers because the bills add punitive consequences, like the loss of federal dollars, if benchmarks are not met, yet do not include resources. 

"We are committed to meeting the needs of our students and to helping teachers who are frustrated with new requirements that provide no new resources to meet those mandates,"

Levings said.

KNEA is still addressing adequate and equitable funding for:

• Quality public schools
• Adequate education funding
• Maintaining quality staff
• Staff resources

Without adequate funding, the school door is open but only certain students are allowed in.  In KNEA's view, adequate funding means appropriate benefits and salaries to provide for highly qualified, professional staff, but more importantly, it provides every school the resources to provide students with skills for the 21st Century.

It does not matter where a family lives, if they are rich or poor, every kid in Kansas deserves a quality education ... each has a right to be prepared for 21st Century skills.

Brown v. Topeka Board of Education established the right for all children to enter public schools. KNEA is working to establish that right in terms of acquiring 21st Century skills.

If President Bush's No Child Left Behind is providing a national threshold for accountability, KNEA believes that national threshold should include a demand that great public schools are in place for every child.

Brown family provides resources

Cheryl Brown Henderson has lived with the landmark Brown v. Topeka Board of Education all her life. After the decision, "life went on in Kansas," she said.

"Down South ? those families were still fighting the good fight," she added. "The families in Virginia, South Carolina, and Delaware have some distressful stories — people lost their jobs, some were run out of town. Nothing like that happened with the 13 families here in Topeka," Brown Henderson said.

It was not big news until the late 1960s. The change for the Brown family became more significant as the case became a focal point for civil rights.  They had to determine how to respond to media interests and scholarly interests.

The Brown Foundation was formed in 1988. Since then the Foundation has created teacher-friendly resources and has been working with various groups to commemorate the upcoming 50th anniversary of Brown.  In fact, the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education 50th Anniversary Coalition was formed in 2000 and Congress created the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education 50th Anniversary Commission in 2001.