Brown v. Board of Education NHS

Day Two of my Kansas weekend. I opened my National Parks Passport Book and found one more site within driving distance, and its a period of history that interests me. Double win. The Brown v. Board of Education site is in the former Colored Elementary School (Monroe Elementary) in Topeka, KS. What is to be noted is that Topeka had the "Separate but Equal" thing kinda down, with the exception that separate but equal was total crap. Anyway, kids that went to Monroe were getting about the same education as the child that went to the white school. But Civil Rights Activists thought they had a better chance of getting their agenda to the Supreme Court if they went to a more equal, less racist school district. They were less likely to win in a state like South Carolina where Jim Crow was strong. So, Brown v. Board of Education began. The auditorium is now an interactive film about civil rights with several stories screenwritten as a grandfather talking to his granddaughter. Along with the film, there are displays and a few statue type things. The Park Ranger will direct you to one exhibit first (Education and Justice), and that covers the time-line of civil rights with other assistive tools about what was segregated and civil rights leaders you may not have heard about. One thing that should have been very serious but ended up not being executed too great is a tunnel of insults that were recorded when the first students broke segregation barriers. It just didn't really flow. The second part of the exhibit is entitled The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education and it covers what came before and what has come after Brown. The time line really struck me because how many race related events have taken place not only since Brown, but even in my life time. This was a great exhibit. The one thing I would have done differently was I would have started later. Note for my future travelers: Nothing is really going on in Topeka before 1pm. After I finished at the site, it was about 11:30 and I wasn't about to just hang out, so I just drove the hour and a half back. Still, a great morning.