Statement From The Brown Family
Concerning Brown v. Board of Education
50th Anniversary Coverage

Our nation is in a watershed year. In 2004, we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case of Oliver L. Brown et. al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka, (KS), et. al.

As the family of Oliver Brown, we view this as an exceptional opportunity for public awareness, public education and a chance to pay our respects to those who sacrificed to ensure the rights we now enjoy. The Foundation we established in 1988, the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research, has been striving to get the word out about the complex facts and history behind this momentous decision.

For nearly five decades most people have misunderstood the background and impact of the Brown case. At the time of the court's decision, in 1954, for most places this was not "big news" and received minor mention in the press. As a result myths replaced facts and over the years have come to eclipse what really occurred.

Although Brown is named for our family patriarch, that is where our uniqueness to this history ends. Like the companion cases combined under Brown by the Supreme Court, the Topeka case was conceived of and organized by the NAACP. In addition, for Kansas this was the twelfth court case challenging racially segregated public elementary schools in the state.

Contrary to the myth, Oliver Brown did not initiate this case on behalf of his eldest daughter Linda. The NAACP in Topeka and elsewhere recruited families with school aged children to become their roster of plaintiffs. In Topeka that plaintiff list numbered thirteen families with parents taking a stand on behalf of their children's education. A few of these parents are still living. Oliver Brown died in 1961. All total the five cases under the heading of Brown represent over 200 plaintiffs, a dozen attorneys and community activists who helped organize people in each of the locations from Delaware, Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

We appreciate your visit to this website and have tried to provide information that will help you reach the broadest audience possible. Your efforts can ensure that this 50th anniversary of Brown finally puts to rest the mythology. Since legal scholars and historians agree that the Brown decision is among the most significant judicial turning points in the development of our country it is time for it to be clearly understood.

For our family it is always refreshing when a media interview is conducted by someone who wishes to base their article on research and understanding of the facts not the fiction of Brown.

[Please see Media Contacts for articles about the Brown case by Cheryl Brown Henderson.]