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Linda Brown, focus of landmark school segregation case Brown v. Board of Education, dies

By Shelby Lin Erdman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

 

This undated file photo, location unknown, shows Linda Brown. Brown, the Kansas girl at the center of the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck down racial segregation in schools, has died at age 76.

By Shelby Lin Erdman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

TOPEKA, Kan. — The woman at the center of the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education that struck down racial segregation in public schools, has died at the age of 76, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal.

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Linda Brown was a young girl in Topeka, Kansas, when her father, Oliver Brown, and other African-American families in the neighborhood protested when they were not allowed to enroll their children in the local all-white public school.

The NAACP sued, challenging segregation in public schools, and Oliver Brown became the lead plaintiff in the case, according to The Associated Press.

The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision ended school segregation across the country. The court issued a unanimous decision, finding that "separate but equal" was inherently unequal, which sparked the integration of public schools around the nation.

The president and director counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Sherrilyn Ifill, said Brown, who helped break down the color barrier in schools, is a hero.

“As a young girl, her courage in the face of one of the darkest forces in American history fundamentally changed our nation,” Ifill said on Twitter. “For that we owe her our eternal gratitude.”

"We are to be grateful for the family that stood up for what is right," Kansas state Rep. Annie Kuether of Topeka said. "That made a difference to the rest of the world."

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