Brown v. Board of Education combined five cases [Belton (Bulah) v. Gebhart, Bolling v. Sharpe, Brown v. Board of Education, Briggs v. Elliott, and Davis v. County School Board] heard before the United States Supreme Court on May 17, 1954. The justices struck down the earlier Plessy v. Ferguson decision that legally sanctioned segregation through its “separate but equal” clause. The court determined that segregating schools created a fundamentally unequal situation. This decision ended legal segregation of schools.
Monroe Elementary School was one of four segregated elementary schools for Black children in Topeka. The restored school was purchased by the National Park Service and reopened in 2004 as a National Historic Site and civil rights interpretive center.
