Volume 4, No. 2 (Winter 2001) -- Black History Month Issue

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On October 26, 1992, the Brown v. the Board of Education National Historic Site Act was signed in to law. Public Law 102-525 established the context for a permanent commemorative site for this landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision. The national historic site includes the 1920s Monroe Elementary School building and its adjacent grounds. During the Brown era, this school was one of four segregated elementary schools attended by African American children in Topeka. In 1993 the National Park Service acquired the property adding this site to the more than 375 National Parks in the United States. Kansas now has five national parks: Ft. Scott, Ft. Larned, Tall Grass Prairie, Brown v. Board of Education and Nicodemus.

The purposes for this national historic site are: 1) To preserve, protect, and interpret for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations, the places that contributed materially to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that brought an end to segregation in public education. 2) To interpret the integral role of Brown v. Board of Education in the civil rights movement. 3) To assist in the preservation and interpretation of related resources in Topeka that further the understanding of the civil rights movement.

The national historic site is a place where concepts related to civil rights and equality will be effectively communicated to all people regardless of age, ethni-city or background; where people will be educated, inspired, provoked and challenged; and where people understand how the historic Supreme Court decision has affected their everyday lives.