Linda Brown and Brown v. Board of Education

Vocabulary terms, key figures, historical dates, and legal concepts related to Linda Brown and the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

Linda Brown

An African American girl from Topeka, Kansas, born in 1943, whose family's challenge against segregated schools placed her at the center of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas

The landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously declared that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional and violates the 14th Amendment.

Oliver Brown

Linda Brown's father who challenged school segregation with the help of the NAACP after Linda was refused enrollment at an all-white elementary school near her home.

Thurgood Marshall

The NAACP attorney who tested the Kansas segregation law and argued the case against public school segregation.

Earl Warren

The Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court who stated that segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.

NAACP

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; the organization that helped the Brown family and other families legally challenge racial segregation in schools.

Sumner Elementary School

An all-white elementary school located about four blocks from Linda Brown's home that refused to enroll her because of her race.

Monroe Elementary School

The school for Black children that Linda Brown was required to travel farther to attend due to racial segregation laws.

14th Amendment

The constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal protection under the law, which the Supreme Court relied upon to rule that separate public schools for Black and white students were unequal.

May 17, 1954

The date the U.S. Supreme Court delivered its unanimous ruling in Brown v. Board of Education declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Separate educational facilities inherently unequal

The key principle declared in the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education that mandated public school desegregation across the nation.

"Separate but equal"

An argument historically used by supporters of segregation claiming that separate schools could provide equal education, an idea ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court.

1951

The year the legal case began when Linda Brown's parents sued the Board of Education to force them to allow Linda to attend the nearby white elementary school.