Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site
Location:	Kansas, USA
Nearest city:	Topeka, Kansas
Coordinates:	39°02′17″N, 95°40′35″W
Area:	2 acres (8,093 m²)
Established:	October 26, 1992
Total Visitation:	18,390 (in 2005)
Governing body:	National Park Service

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site was established in Topeka, Kansas on October 26, 1992 by the United States Congress to commemorate the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision aimed at ending racial segregation in public schools. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and, as such, to violate the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws." Image File history File links Locator_Dot. ... Image File history File links US_Locator_Blank. ... Official language(s) none Capital Topeka Largest city Wichita Area  Ranked 15th  - Total 82,277 sq mi (213,096 km²)  - Width 211 miles (340 km)  - Length 417 miles (645 km)  - % water 0. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ... Holding Segregation of students in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, because separate facilities are inherently unequal. ... National Historic Site is a designation for a protected area of historic significance. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... Type Bicameralism Houses Senate House of Representatives United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D, since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D, since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups (as of November 7, 2006 elections) Democratic Party Republican... A landmark decision is the outcome of a legal case (often thus referred to as a landmark case) that establishes a precedent that either substantially changes the interpretation of the law or that simply establishes new case law on a particular issue. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... The Rex Theatre for Colored People Racial segregation is characterized by separation of different races in daily life when both are doing equal tasks, such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a rest room, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or... May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (138th in leap years). ... 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... (Redirected from 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution) Amendment XIV (the Fourteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution is one of the post-Civil War amendments and includes the due process and equal protection clauses (Section 1). ...

The site consists of the Monroe Elementary School, one of the four segregated elementary schools for African American children in Topeka, and the adjacent grounds. An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ...

History of the site

The story of Monroe Elementary begins long before the Brown decision. In 1859, John Ritchie, an abolitionist, bought 160 acres (65 ha) from Jacob Chase in Topeka, Kansas. After the Civil War a number of newly freed African Americans came to Topeka and built homes on this land. Due to the sizable African American population, the school board decided to establish a school for black children in the neighborhood. "Ritchie's Addition" became the site of Monroe School . After Ritchie's death in 1877, the land was purchased by the Topeka Board of Education to build a school for African American children. Image File history File links Monroe Elementary School - Brown Vs the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas national historic site. ... 1859 (MDCCCLIX) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... John Ritchie (July 17, 1817 – August 31, 1887) was an abolitionist who moved from Franklin, Indiana to Topeka, Kansas Territory, in early spring of 1855 in search of cheap land and to help Kansas enter the country as a free state. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

The current building is actually the third Monroe school to sit on the corner of Fifteenth and Monroe streets. The first school was located in a small rented building used from 1868 until a permanent structure was erected in 1874. The current building was constructed in 1926 immediately south of the old school. It was one of many schools in Topeka designed by the prominent Topeka architect Thomas W. Williamson between 1920 and 1935. His firm, Williamson and Co., was hired by the Topeka Board of Education to design a series of progressive schools. Monroe Elementary School is a two-story brick and limestone building in the Italian nigger Renaissance Revival style. The building was made with some of the best materials and the most modern technology of the time.

In a 2004 interview for PBS station KTWU, one of the teachers from Monroe, Barbara Ross, recalled:

I feel they were good schools. They had qualified black teachers ... very qualified. Many people ... well, I'll say some people ... felt that the supplies and things that were furnished in the buildings were not comparable with those in the white schools only because they were probably older buildings. They had the same books and we've heard a lot of things about that. But they had the same books that the others had because so many of the black teachers were on the committees to select the books -- the textbooks. So we know we had the same books that they did. It's true -- everything wasn't just right because the things in the community weren't just right. We couldn't go eat any place. We couldn't go to the theater and sit any place. We couldn't live in an apartment or go to a motel; we had to stay with a black family when we came here to teach. [1]

Monroe was the newest of the four segregated schools serving Topeka's African American community. The other schools were Buchanan, McKinley, and Washington. Washington no longer stands and the Topeka Board of Education no longer owns the remaining schools.

Changing ownership

Monroe School was closed in 1975 due to declining enrollment. The school district utilized the school building as a warehouse and the grounds for parking buses and performing vehicle maintenance. Eventually the school and grounds were sold to private owners. Monroe Elementary remained in private ownership for more than fifteen years. Richard Appelhans and Richard L. Plush, Jr. intended to convert the school to offices or a private school, but they instead sold it in 1982. The new owner was the Church of the Nazarene which used the property as a community outreach program center and meeting place. The next owner, Mark A. Steuve, President of S/S Builders purchased the school from the church in 1988 for use as a warehouse. In 1990, Mr. Steuve announced his intention to auction the building off.

The Brown Foundation began a crusade to save Monroe Elementary School from being sold. After a series of letter writing campaigns and meetings with local Congressional leadership and the Trust for Public Land the school was secured. The Trust for Public Land purchased the property in 1991 and it was added to the National Historic Landmark nomination for the Sumner Elementary School, listed in 1987. On October 26, 1992, President George H. W. Bush signed legislation establishing Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. The title was transferred to the National Park Service in December of 1993. USS Constitution A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, site, structure, or object, almost always within the United States, officially recognized for its historical significance. ... October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ... George Herbert Walker Bush GCB (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States of America serving from 1989 to 1993. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ...

External links

• National Park Service: Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site

This article incorporates text from the Recreation.gov website([2]) that is a public domain work of the United States Government. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... A work of the United States Government is, as defined by United States copyright law, a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that persons official duties. ...

This article incorporates text from a National Park Service website([3]) that is a public domain work of the United States Government. Image File history File links Nps. ... The National Park Service (NPS) is the United States federal agency that manages all National Parks, many National Monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... A work of the United States Government is, as defined by United States copyright law, a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that persons official duties. ...