Linda Brown Smith, 9, is shown in this 1952 photo. Via VOA News.
Full Name: Linda Carol Brown
Birth Date: February 20, 1943
Death Date: March 25, 2018
Linda Carol Brown was born on February 20, 1943, in Topeka, Kansas. She is the oldest of three daughters. Growing up, she lived in a diverse neighborhood for the most part. However, schools in her neighborhood were racially segregated. Even though there was a school only four blocks from her home, she was forced to walk across the railroad tracks and catch a bus to a school.
In 1950, a group of African American parents, including Brown’s, were asked to attempt to enroll their children in all-white schools. Brown’s dad tried to enroll her in an all-white school when she was in third grade and she was denied. The plan was to file a lawsuit on behalf of the thirteen families, who represented different states, where their children were banned from integrating schools. Since Brown’s name was at the top of the alphabet, the case we all came to know became Brown V. Board of Education and was taken to the Supreme Court. On May 17, 1954 while Brown was in middle school, the case was won stating schools who were refusing to integrate were breaking the law.
Brown attended Washburn and Kansas State universities and had a family. She worked on the speaker circuit and as an educational consultant. In 1979 she reopened the Brown V. Board of Education case stating the district’s schools still weren’t integrated. In 1993 the court ruled the schools were still racially divided. Throughout her life she continued to be an advocate for racial justice and inequality. She died on March 25, 2018, in her hometown of Topeka, Kansas.
Sources
https://www.biography.com/activist/linda-brown
https://www.edweek.org/education/linda-c-brown-key-figure-in-historic-u-s-desegregation-case-dies-at-75/2018/03