Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site

The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site is a memorial of the type of a National Historic Site of the United States. It was established on 26 October 1992 in Topeka, Kansas by the Congress of the United States to commemorate the landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education of the Supreme Court. The decision ended racial segregation in the public school system of the United States. On 17 May 1954, the Supreme Court had declared the separate classes to be illegal and in particular the 14th Amendment to the Constitution hurtful. This addition guarantees all citizens the " equal protection before the law."

The area includes the Monroe Elementary School, one of four elementary schools for the black population in Topeka, as well as adjacent properties.

History of the site

The history of the Monroe Elementary begins in 1856, as the abolitionist John Ritchie bought an area of ​​about 65 ha in Topeka. After the Civil War some now freed former slaves came to town and built their houses on. Due to the growing black population the school board decided to build a school for black children. The reason was selected by Ritchie. Only after the death of Ritchie in 1877, his land was purchased by the school board.

The present building is the third street school building on the site at the junction between Finfteenth street and Monroe. The first school was located in a small rented building and was used until 1868. 1874 a permanent building was erected. In the year 1926, the present building was erected just south of the old building. Like many other schools, it was the greatest architect Thomas W. Williamson, planned. His company, Williamson and Co., was appointed by the school board with the establishment of a number of advanced schools. Monroe Elementary School is a two-story brick and limestone building in the style of the Italian Renaissance. When building the most advanced materials available at that time were used.

In a television interview in 2004 for PBS, Barbara Ross, a former teacher at the school remembers:

" I think there were good schools. They had qualified black teachers [ ... ] very qualified. Many people [ ... ] well, I say, some people [ ... ] thought that the facility, equipment and other materials in the school could not keep up with those in 'white' schools just because it was older buildings. They had the same books, and we heard about it a lot. But they had the same books as the other because many black teachers participated in the committees who selected the textbooks - the text books. Therefore, we knew that they had the same books. It's true - it was not all right, because the conditions in the community were not in order. We could go anywhere to eat out. We could not go into the theater and sit down somewhere. We could not live in an apartment or in a motel; we had to live with a black family when we came here forth to teach. "

Monroe was the newest of the schools for black students in Topeka. The other schools were Buchanan, McKinley and Washington. Washington no longer exists, the other buildings are not owned by the school board.

Use during the 1950s

Monroe had originally thirteen classrooms. From the time of its establishment until 1941, the building housed the classes from kindergarten to eighth grade. After that, the three upper classes were transferred to the junior high schools, which managed more space in the school building. The workout room was later used as a canteen, two of the classrooms have been adopted as classrooms for music and visual lessons.

A plot of land on the opposite side of the road was used as a playground and sports field. There about softball, baseball, track and football were taught. Playgrounds existed on the north and the south side of the building.

Changes in ownership

Due to declining student enrollment, the school was closed in 1975. The building was first used as a store, the parking lot was used for parking and maintenance of school buses. Finally, the school, together with the land were sold to private individuals and remained there for 15 years. Richard Appelhans and Richard L. Plush, Jr. planned to convert the building into an office building or a private school, but sold it in 1982., The new owner was the church of Nazarenen who used the building as a community center. In 1988 the building was sold to Mark A. Steuve and re-used as a warehouse. In 1990, he announced his intention to sell the building.

The Brown Foundation endeavors to ensure that the school would be sold. After a series of letter-writing campaigns and meetings with politicians and the Trust for Public Land, the school could be saved. The Trust bought the school in 1991 and it was filed for inclusion in the List of National Historic Landmarks. On October 26, 1992, then -President George HW Bush, the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site approved. In 1993, the National Park Service has been entrusted with the care of the site.