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Linda Brown (Thompson), was the best known of the African-American children represented in the consolidated US Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, (1954) that challenged the constitutionality of segregation in the public schools.

Contrary to popular belief Linda's father, Oliver Brown, did not initiate the original case against the Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education. The NAACP recruited African-American parents from within the school district with the hope of bringing a test case before the US Supreme Court. Brown was one of thirteen named plaintiffs in the class action suit; his name was on the case because the NAACP legal team believed it would be strategically advantageous for the case.

The legal team advised the parents to attempt to enroll their children in the all-white elementary schools near their homes, knowing the children would be rejected due to their race. Linda lived within walking distance of a white school, and was friends with many of the children who attended the elementary, but had to be bused to a segregated school for African-American children several miles away.

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15y ago

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