Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, {{ussc|347|483|1954}} was a landmark case of the United States Supreme Court which explicitly outlawed de jure racial segregation of public education facilities (legal establishment of separate government-run schools for blacks and whites), ruling so on the grounds that the doctrine of "separate but equal" public education could never truly provide black Americans with facilities of the same standards available to white Americans. A companion case dealt with the constitutionality of segregation in the District of Columbia, (not a state and therefore not subject to the Fourteenth Amendment), Bolling v. Sharpe, {{ussc|347|497|1954}}.

Brown III

In 1978, Topeka attorneys Richard Jones, Joseph Johnson and Charles Scott Jr. (son of the original Brown team member) persuaded Linda Brown Smith—now with her own children in Topeka schools—to be a plaintiff in reopening Brown. They were concerned about a policy in Topeka Public Schools, which allowed open enrollment. Their fear was that this would lead to further segregation. They believed that with this type of choice, white parents would shift their children to other schools creating predominately African-American and predominately white schools. In 1989 a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit on 2-1 vote found that the vestiges of segregation remained with respect to student and staff assignment. In 1993 the Supreme Court denied to review the case, returning it to district court Judge Rodgers for implementation.

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After a 1994 plan was approved and a bond issue passed, additional elementary magnet schools were opened and district attendance plans redrawn which resulted in the Topeka schools meeting court standards of racial balance by 1998. United status was eventually granted to Topeka Unified School District #501 on July 27, 1999. One of the new magnet schools is named after the Scott family attorneys for their role in the Brown case and civil rights.https://www2.topeka.k12.ks.us/scott/history.htm

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