Oliver Brown

Oliver L. Brown (August 2, 1918 Springfield, Mo. – 1961) was the plaintiff in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education of 1954. The Court overturned the doctrine of separate but equal for public schools.

Brown was a welder in the shops of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, an assistant pastor at his local church, and an African American.^[1] He was convinced to join the lawsuit by Scott, a childhood friend. Brown's daughter Linda, a third grader, had to walk six blocks to her school bus stop to ride to Monroe Elementary, her segregated black school one mile (1.6 km) away, while Sumner Elementary, a white school, was seven blocks from her house.^[2][3]

Brown died of a heart-attack in Springfield, Missouri. His daughter Cheryl Brown Henderson works with the nonprofit Brown Foundation. People all across the world are still building foundations in honor of Oliver Brown.^[4]

References

1. ^ Black, White, and Brown, PBS NewsHour (2004-05-12).
2. ^ http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761588641/brown_v_board_of_education_of_topeka.html Encarta entry on Brown. Archived 2009-10-31.
3. ^ http://www.cjonline.com/indepth/brown/historic-spots-map.shtml Interactive map of locations in Topeka important to the Brown case – Topeka Capital Journal online.
4. ^ Newsday: 2004

http://www.manta.com/c/mm3mstb/brown-foundation

External links

• Brown v. Board at 50 - providing opportunity
• The Road to Brown

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