News Release

NEA Honors Cheryl Brown Henderson
for Desegregation Legacy

Historian Vows to Continue Fight Started
by Her Family in Landmark Court Case

LOS ANGELES -- The 2.7 million-member National Education Association (NEA) today gave its highest honor—the Friend of Education Award—to educator and historian Cheryl Brown Henderson of Topeka, Kan.

Henderson vowed to live up to the honor of the award by preserving the proud legacy of the landmark desegregation of public schools in the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.  Henderson's family became the lead plaintiff, suing on behalf of Black children denied access to all-white schools.

Last year, on the 50th anniversary of the decision, Henderson celebrated the transformation of the formerly segregated Monroe Elementary School in Topeka into the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.

Henderson, a former teacher, administrator, legislator and political activist, is now the president of the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research.  The foundation provides scholarships, traveling exhibits of photos and text, and other materials designed to examine the history of school integration.

"Cheryl Brown Henderson, in her own right, has greatly advanced the cause of educational opportunity for all," said NEA President Reg Weaver.  "Telling the Brown v. Board story is her passion and her legacy.  Her leadership upholds the changes that began more than 50 years ago and fosters continuing improvements in student achievement."

The award recognizes individuals whose leadership, acts and support have raised the level of excellence in American public education.  Henderson was nominated by Kansas NEA, which cited a lengthy list of her achievements, including the foundation, the historic site and the Brown Quarterly.

NEA's Friend of Education Award has been given annually since 1972.  Recipients include President Lyndon B. Johnson (1972); former NAACP Executive Secretary Roy Wilkins (1976); U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (1979); the late Christa McAuliffe (1986); and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund (2004).

July 6, 2005

Contact:

Melinda Anderson
NEA Public Relations     (202) 822-7200

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.