As some try to rename Supreme Court case, Topeka looks to cement Brown v. Board legacy with art

It’s not that Cheryl Brown Henderson agrees or disagrees with a South Carolina effort to rename the seminal U.S. Supreme Court case named after plaintiff Oliver Brown.

As a matter of fact, she understands that concern — South Carolina’s Briggs v. Elliot case was, in fact, the first of five school segregation cases to reach the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal with the hopes of overturning the infamous “separate but equal” doctrine that legalized discrimination on the basis of race.

But Brown Henderson, a daughter of Brown and one of several people who keep the case’s history alive, sees the name of the case as secondary to its actual legacy of ending segregation.

And as she and others prepare to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the monumental Supreme Court decision in 2024, she wants those in Topeka to understand and appreciate their local history and connection to the case while also celebrating the efforts other communities around the country made toward the same end.

More: 'Celebrate each other in the journey': Topekans mark Brown v. Board anniversary with videos

South Carolina civil rights groups hoping to get Brown v. Board case renamed

While the Brown v. Board case was ultimately named after plaintiff Oliver Brown of Topeka, national efforts to overturn segregation actually began in South Carolina.

A case there, argued by Thurgood Marshall on behalf of Harry Briggs and 19 other parents in Summerton, South Carolina, had challenged the school district’s failure to provide “equal” busing.

But at the recommendation of U.S. District Court Judge Julius Waring, who oversaw that case, Marshall expanded the case to challenge the entire doctrine of “separate but equal,” with the expectation of appealing the case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

More: Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park marks 30-year anniversary with symposium

That legal argument ended up being the basis for lawsuits in four other states, including Kansas’ Brown v. Board case. When the Supreme Court took up and consolidated all five cases, it ended up naming the case after Brown after the Briggs case had been already been sent back to South Carolina for further proceedings.

That, however, may have been a way to deliberately name what was shaping up to be a monumental Supreme Court case after a less controversial state.

“We believe — and we can only engage in conjecture — that the court made that decision because Kansas had not been a slave state, and that would take the decision out of the context of refighting the Civil War, if you would,” Brown Henderson said.

Kansas’ Brown v. Board case would also be a better way to get at the legal question of segregation, by itself, being inherently unequal, Brown Henderson said. Black and white schools in Topeka were ostensibly equal, while that wasn't the case in South Carolina.

But over the years, civil rights groups in South Carolina have taken issue with the naming choice, as the Briggs v. Elliott case hasn't gotten the same recognition as Brown v. Board, despite setting the framework for the latter to happen.

This summer, South Carolina civil rights leaders plan to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to rename the case and recognize that history.

More: Topeka's Brown v. Board Historic Site gets new name and becomes part of multilocation national park

“I understand completely why they are giving thought to maybe reordering those cases, and I don’t have any ill will toward them,” Brown Henderson said.

Cecil Williams, a prominent civil rights photographer in South Carolina who has helped lead the effort, told The Post and Courier in South Carolina that he realizes they might meet resistance, or maybe even be “laughed out of court.”

But he thinks the effort is worth the work to rightfully recognize the 20 families who signed onto the Briggs case.

"If this country is going to ever reconcile with its history, this is a good place, upon the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education," Williams told The Post and Courier.

ArtsConnect receives prestigious NEA grant to tell Brown v. Board story

Even a year out from the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, leaders in Topeka are already preparing to celebrate and commemorate the milestone year.

In late May, ArtsConnect, with the support of Visit Topeka, was awarded a prestigious $100,000 “Our Town” grant by the National Endowment for the Arts to design and prepare a multidisciplinary, community-based artwork series to commemorate the Brown v. Board 70th anniversary.

“It’s an honor and privilege to work on this,” said Sean Dixon, president of Visit Topeka. “We caught the ear of the NEA and other organizations, and we still have a year ago (before the 70th). There’s going to be more exciting announcements, but with us getting to work with our partners here and in other states and to get national attention — all of our work has led up to this.”

The series will be led by vanessa german, a citizen artist whose works have appeared in museums across the country, including pieces in an installation later this year on the National Mall.

Sarah Fizell, executive director for ArtsConnect, said the NEA grant is the most significant in her organization’s history, and that german was a perfect choice to help Topeka tell its Brown v. Board story.

More: How effectively is Topeka sharing its Black history? Educators, historians share contrasting views.

“It really is centered around the idea that there are parts of the Brown v. Board story that have not been told as broadly as the history book version,” Fizell said. “The version that appears in a newspaper or in a history book is not necessarily the whole story, and we have a lot of that story here in Topeka, through the people who were a part of the work it took to get to the Supreme Court decision on segregation and integration in the United States.

“It's important to tell those stories, and it’s important to hear them,” Fizell continued. “That’s the first step, to hear them, and the second step is to make sure more people hear them, and then do them justice in a way that those stories can push forward and be kept.”

german will arrive in Topeka later this summer and will spend several weeks in the community over the next year, helping put together sculptures and community contributions in the multidisciplinary art series.

While the four other plaintiff sites were just as important in achieving the Supreme Court decision Topeka is the only place that can adequately tell its local history and experiences with the case, particularly through art, Fizell said.

“Those stories are not yet a part of the air we breath here in Topeka, and they should be,” Fizell said.

Topeka groups plan events leading to Brown v. Board's 70th anniversary in 2024

Several organizations are working together over the next year to lead and plan programming and activities for the 70th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, which occurs on May 17, 1954.

Collectively named the Brown Coalition, the organizations include the following:

• ArtsConnect.

• The Brown Foundations for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research.

• Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park.

• Brown v. Board Sumner Legacy Trust.

• Freedoms Frontier National Heritage Area.

• Greater Topeka Partnership.

• Humanities Kansas.

• Kansas Historical Society.

• Lui Family Fund.

• Shawnee County Historical Society.

• Topeka NAACP.

• Topeka Public Schools.

• Visit Topeka.

• Washburn University.

Brown Henderson said she was excited to give more people the opportunity to share their experiences and feelings on the legacy of the case.

Mainly, she wants everyone to feel like they are a part of Brown v. Board.

“They may have been on the perimeter, but they were here, and they lived through it,” she said. “This will give them a chance to share in this narrative and the changes Brown brought about. Everyone’s life was impacted — whether you were Latino, African-American or of European descent.

"Everybody’s life was impacted, so this gives people a chance to give voice to how they felt and how they viewed this.”

Brown Henderson, her family and other Brown v. Board stakeholders already have their sights set on the 75th anniversary as well, which should be another significant milestone that will be celebrated not just at the five plaintiff sites but across the country.

As fewer and fewer people remain who lived through the original case, Brown Henderson emphasized the fact that the legacy of the case lives on.

“I want Kansas to be proud of the fact that Kansas was historically known as a progressive state, and post Civil War, Kansas was considered a place of promise,” she said. “We want to make sure that somehow, we can get back to that place where we're considered a significant civil rights location.

“People don't think about Kansas, but it is a very consequential state in terms of the civil rights history of this nation.”

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka prepares for Brown v. Board 70th anniversary