The Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site

Stephen E. Adams

In 1950 and 1951, five school desegregation cases advanced to the United States Supreme Court: Bulah (Belton) v. Gebhart, Delaware; Oliver L. Brown et al. v. Board of Education, Kansas; Briggs v. Elliott, South Carolina; Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia; and Bolling v. Sharpe, District of Columbia. The state cases were argued under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution; because Bolling was filed in the District, it was argued under the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. For administrative convenience, the combined cases were referred to as Oliver V. Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas et al. After hearing the arguments and researching the social and legislative history of segregation, the Court decided to overrule the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson which established segregation as the law of the land, and issued its unanimous opinion on May 17, 1954: “In the field of public education we find that the doctrine of ‘Separate but Equal’ has no place.”

In October 1992, Congress authorized the establishment of Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site at the former Monroe Elementary School, one of four segregated schools in Topeka, Kansas, in the early 1950s. May 17, 2004, marks the fiftieth anniversary of Brown and the grand opening of the national historic site.

The significance and impact of Brown have been poorly understood by the general public and many in the legal community, largely due to myths perpetrated by the news media over five decades. Interpreting the story to the public has three primary challenges. The first is presenting the historical, social, economic, and legal background of Brown within a relatively small amount of exhibit space. The second is to provide for the learning styles and preferences of different visitors. The third is to overcome the momentum of past and contemporary Brown mythology which completely distort and simplify a complex and profoundly compelling story.

For the past three years, building on the general interpretive concepts developed in the 1996 Visitor Experience Plan, the park and its professional partners crafted an exhibit design to meet those challenges. When visitors enter the school, they immediately will be confronted with a choice of which queue to enter to obtain their security hall pass—one side is labeled “White,” the other “Colored.” Following facility orientation, they will proceed to the auditorium. In this space, labeled “Race and the American Creed,” there is a highly active presentation involving actors, moving and still images, banners, wall graphics, large icons, and changing lighting. Here, the broad context of Brown from 1619 to today is explored: the introduction of enslavement to America; the rise of chattel slavery; the pre-Civil War politics and economy of slavery; slavery as the root cause of the Civil War; the “Civil War Amendments” to the Constitution; Reconstruction and its failure; virtual enslavement through “Black Codes” and Jim Crow; the legal history of school desegregation; the social impact of World War II and the Cold War; and post-Brown America. This background is presented in five short and different segments: how segregation came to be, resistance, education, national service and the Double V Campaign, and civil rights.

Next are two galleries which provide information through wall graphics and text, time lines, small theaters, interactive computers, discovery drawers, flipbooks, and mechanical interactives.

Gallery A, “Education and Justice,” offers greater detail on the five cases comprising Brown, the myths of Brown, the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund strategy on attacking all segregation by setting legal precedent in integrating education, the importance of education, and how desegregation cases made their way to and through the Supreme Court. The centerpiece of this gallery is “The Hall of Courage,” where visitors are surrounded by real sights and sounds of the ugliness and violence of the modern civil rights era.

Gallery B, “The Legacy of Brown v. Board of Education,” explores individual figures in the modern civil rights movement, economic and political segregation, segregation in housing, transportation, and employment, contemporary issues from the headlines of today and from everyday life, protest music of several generations, the impact of Brown on the women’s movement and rights for the disabled, and its impact on civil and human rights globally. This gallery also includes an inspiring and uplifting video, “Pass It On,” which encourages introspection and personal responsibility for acceptance and inclusion of diversity in our daily lives.

The final interpretive area is “Expressions and Reflections.” Visitors can access databases and some of the gallery exhibits, and provide electronic feedback to staff in writing, “finger art,” or short audio recordings. They can share their thoughts with other visitors using a magnetic board and pre-printed words. The space includes flipbooks, art representing African American and other oppressed groups, and a reproduction of the Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment. In the center of the room, there is a seating area for “civil discourse” between visitors. Park staff trained in the facilitation of civil discourse will be available to assist. To learn more about Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site and its grand opening, see our website at <http://www.nps.gov/brvb/>.

Stephen E. Adams is Superintendent of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site