Tennessee Town History: From Freedom to the Future
Pic: The former Colored Women's Clubhouse, located at 1149 SW Lincoln, recently has been renovated and reopened by Community First, Inc. and Faith Temple Church.
In the 1870s, after the Civil War had divided this country north and south, black and white, newly freed slaves began to leave the South to start new lives in the West. That migration became known as the Exoduster Movement. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton is credited with organizing that movement and led many of the freed men, women and families west to Topeka, Kansas.
They went west under the big, broad sky of hope. They crossed the Mississippi, mindful of its breadth and of the oppression its mighty waters would lead to as it meandered south. They arrived in this part of Kansas in the late 1870s. Some of them, who had left Tennessee behind, arrived in Topeka in 1879 and founded Tennessee Town on the southwestern edge of our city in what was known then as King's Addition. The Tennessee Town settlement was a result of the Compromise of 1877, which ended Reconstruction and led to the Exoduster Movement. That initial settlement included about 3,000 settlers.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, many Topekans weren't thrilled with their new neighbors of southern and African ancestry, with their tattered clothes, educations and finances. In fact, Topeka's Mayor at the time, Michael C. Case, said that, instead of providing assistance to the immigrants to facilitate their efforts to settle, the city should provide assistance through distributing road maps with the routes back to Tennessee highlighted! (He didn't quite put it that way, but that was his message.)
Relatively undaunted, the settlers built two- and three-room houses to deal with the cold Kansas winters. Help came later in 1879 when a conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church decided to address the settlers' situation. The First Congregational Church also assisted, including underwriting the construction of the Tennessee Town Congregational Church with the understanding that it would be a relief center as well as a church.
After the settlers built homes, other edifices that housed businesses, schools and churches began to dot the Tennessee Town landscape. In the 1880 Topeka census 880 blacks were found to comprise 31 percent of the city's population. Of course, lacking finances and city support for their efforts to settle here, living conditions were less than those of the rest of the city. However, during the 1890s Tennessee Town residents began to garden and trade produce they produced for clothes and other necessities.
Wherever there is new development there will be old problems. In the 1890s Jordan Hall was the center of gambling and other activities of an unsavory nature. Andrew Jordan founded the building, which also doubled as a dance hall. It was located at Lincoln and Munson Streets. Munson Street was then called King Street.
Also during the 1890s the first white man to show any real interest in Tennessee Town, Dr. Charles Sheldon, came into the settlement from his post as pastor of Central Congregational Church, which still stands at SW Huntoon and Buchanan Sts. He spent three weeks in Tennessee Town surveying the people and conditions. He found that there were about 800 people who had migrated here directly after leaving behind plantation life in the South, 100 children between the ages of three and seven who might be considered kindergarten age, and four black churches.
Sheldon thought that Jordan Hall would be a good place to start a kindergarten, and by the spring of 1893 the first black kindergarten west of the Mississippi River was opened. There were three teachers, a principal (Carrie Roberts), and two assistants (Jeanette Miller and Margaret Adams). Mrs. Jane Chapman was instrumental in helping in several projects, including organizing a PTA for the children's mothers.
Two years later new quarters were found for the kindergarten; it had been such a success that it had outgrown its confines at Jordan Hall. The new kindergarten was housed at the Tennessee Town Congregational Church. The kindergarten, at its new location, taught our children until 1910 when the city -- better late than never -- decided to support it and relocated it at the Buchanan School, now known as the Buchanan Center, at SW 12th and Buchanan Sts.
The most prominent graduate of the Tennessee Town kindergarten was the attorney Elisha Scott, who also lived in Tennessee Town on Lane St. Scott's two sons, John and Charles, both became attorneys also and argued the Kansas portion of the landmark Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case that outlawed segregation in public schools. One of the other graduates of the kindergarten was a long-time Tennessee Town resident, Minus Gentry. He lived at 1191 Lincoln until his death in 1991 at the age of 95.
After the success of the kindergarten a library was established in Tennessee Town; Rev. B.C. Duke was its first librarian.
By the first decade of the 1900s four churches had sank roots in Tennessee Town: Shiloh Baptist (still on the southwest corner of 12th and Buchanan Streets), Mt. Olive Episcopal (now Asbury-Mt. Olive United Methodist Church, on the northeast corner of 12th and Buchanan Streets), The Church of God (now Lane Chapel, at 12th and Lane Streets), and the Christian Church (now Dovetail, at 12th and Washburn Streets).
The Colored Women's Club was also founded at about that time. It occupied the house at 1149 SW Lincoln St. until a few years ago. The Topeka nonprofit Living the Dream, Inc.’s headquarters now occupy the clubhouse.
Many community leaders emerged in the early 1900s. Mother Emma Gaines, along with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gaines and Robert Baker, founded Gaines Funeral Home, which used to be located just north of Asbury-Mt. Olive church in the second 1100 block of SW Buchanan. Other community leaders included Betty Patterson, Sally Oglesvie, Annie Gentry, Henry Williams, Andrew Jordan, Rilda Preer, Mrs. Louis Knott, Mrs. Ed Link, Andrew Ferguson, Rev. and Mrs. B.C. Duke, H.I. Monroe and George Graham.
Throughout the next several decades businesses sprang up along Huntoon Street, including the Caravan Club, which was the favored watering hole for our state legislators for years. Silver's Furs occupied a storefront along Huntoon for years, too. The Brown v. Board case ended school segregation, but it also ended the existence of Topeka's historically black schools, including the Buchanan School. Bobo's Drive In, at SW Huntoon and Lincoln Sts., was an area restaurant and landmark for years. Dibble's Grocery Store was located in a Tudor-style building at SW Huntoon and Lane Sts. until the late 1970s; Dillon's is there now. However, the building that now houses WCW Property Management, at 1238 SW Lane, was built in the same style as Dibble’s, which was located across the street. The Topeka and Shawnee County Library, as it's now called, has been at Tennessee Town’s northwestern border since its inception, as has Stormont-Vail Hospital.
During the 1970s Tennessee Town experienced the first rumblings of a renaissance. The Community Development Block Grant Program, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, began in Topeka in 1974. CDBG funds began to come to Topeka as an entitlement to poor neighborhoods like ours. In 1976, Tennessee Town became the first Neighborhood Improvement Association in the city. Mrs. Lillian Bennett was its first president. She served in that capacity for 10 years.
A group of Kansas State University architecture students came into the neighborhood in about 1980 to conduct a semester-long inventory of housing. The results of their work were impressive, including recommendations for in-fill housing that included actual
prototypes. At about that same time the neighborhood began working with Topeka Metropolitan Planning on a comprehensive look at Tennessee Town, including housing, infrastructure and safety issues. A big manual was compiled, along with an executive summary. Those two efforts to ready the neighborhood for revitalization inspired hope.
The 1980s began the downward spiral of Tennessee Town. Once a proud, vibrant neighborhood inhabited by low- to middle-class folks who often worked two jobs to support their families, lived in modest but well-kept homes and interacted with their neighbors on a daily basis; Tennessee Town became older, less vibrant, more lower-class socioeconomically and less interactive.
As the neighborhood’s senior residents began to die, the neighborhood did, too. Homes that were formerly owned became rentals, and some of the landlords and renters weren't too concerned about maintaining their homes. Stable families were often replaced with people who tended to only live here for several months. Older homes were razed, creating vacant lots, but new homes were not built in their places.
The commercial strip along the 1300 block of SW Huntoon St. deteriorated even faster than the housing here did. Silver's Furs suffered a fire in the 1970s and closed. Bobo's closed in the 1980s, as did the Caravan Club. A number of businesses have been in and out of that strip since then. Tennessee Town residents began to lose faith in the proposition that, if they remained vigilant, the city would eventually get to them.
One of the brightest lights during the 1980s was the construction of the Tennessee Town Plaza Apartments through the Topeka Housing Authority. Tennessee Town Plaza’s units are geared to seniors and the physically challenged. Tennessee Town Plaza, since its inception, has been one of THA’s most successful complexes. The first phase of construction, completed in 1983, replaced aged housing in the second 1100 block of SW Buchanan St. and along the 1200 blocks of SW Munson and 12th Sts. The second phase, completed in 2010, replaced aged housing and vacant lots in the second 1100 block of SW Lincoln St.
Things began to change in the late 1990s because Tennessee Town’s residents, instead of waiting for the city to “get to them,” decided to chart and pursue their own futures. Beginning in 1998, Tennessee Town began revitalization efforts to halt the neighborhood's slide into disrepair. By 2001, the NIA's neighborhood plan was adopted by local government, setting new standards for stability and growth. At the time the neighborhood plan was adopted, the Topeka Planning Department rated Tennessee Town as an "intensive care" neighborhood, meaning that it was one of the city's neighborhoods "with the most seriously distressed conditions." All of the city's neighborhoods were rated, with the most distressed being rated "intensive care," those with fewer issues "at risk," those with fewer issues still "outpatient," and those with few or no issues "healthy." Planning said that while Tennessee Town had been declining, it had "high revitalization potential, and therefore is considered a high priority for reinvestment."
Three short years later, in 2004, the Planning Department reexamined the health of all of the city's neighborhoods, including Tennessee Town. With the addition of 61 new or rehabilitated single- and multi-family housing units created by public and private partners, increased property values and safety, and infrastructure improvements, among other upgrades, Tennessee Town went from being rated "intensive care" to "at risk." No other Topeka Neighborhood had moved up one whole rating rung in such a short period of time, let along doing it while starting out with the rating characterizing the most distressed neighborhoods in the city.
Now, in 2014, Tennessee Town begins a new journey to improve its "at risk" rating another rung to "outpatient" while building on the diversity that now characterizes it. Many challenges face the NIA as it seeks to meet that goal, but the determination of its residents, just as it has done for more than 100 years, will help to propel the neighborhood to its goal.
In the 1870s, after the Civil War had divided this country north and south, black and white, newly freed slaves began to leave the South to start new lives in the West. That migration became known as the Exoduster Movement. Benjamin “Pap” Singleton is credited with organizing that movement and led many of the freed men, women and families west to Topeka, Kansas.
They went west under the big, broad sky of hope. They crossed the Mississippi, mindful of its breadth and of the oppression its mighty waters would lead to as it meandered south. They arrived in this part of Kansas in the late 1870s. Some of them, who had left Tennessee behind, arrived in Topeka in 1879 and founded Tennessee Town on the southwestern edge of our city in what was known then as King's Addition. The Tennessee Town settlement was a result of the Compromise of 1877, which ended Reconstruction and led to the Exoduster Movement. That initial settlement included about 3,000 settlers.
Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, many Topekans weren't thrilled with their new neighbors of southern and African ancestry, with their tattered clothes, educations and finances. In fact, Topeka's Mayor at the time, Michael C. Case, said that, instead of providing assistance to the immigrants to facilitate their efforts to settle, the city should provide assistance through distributing road maps with the routes back to Tennessee highlighted! (He didn't quite put it that way, but that was his message.)
Relatively undaunted, the settlers built two- and three-room houses to deal with the cold Kansas winters. Help came later in 1879 when a conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church decided to address the settlers' situation. The First Congregational Church also assisted, including underwriting the construction of the Tennessee Town Congregational Church with the understanding that it would be a relief center as well as a church.
After the settlers built homes, other edifices that housed businesses, schools and churches began to dot the Tennessee Town landscape. In the 1880 Topeka census 880 blacks were found to comprise 31 percent of the city's population. Of course, lacking finances and city support for their efforts to settle here, living conditions were less than those of the rest of the city. However, during the 1890s Tennessee Town residents began to garden and trade produce they produced for clothes and other necessities.
Wherever there is new development there will be old problems. In the 1890s Jordan Hall was the center of gambling and other activities of an unsavory nature. Andrew Jordan founded the building, which also doubled as a dance hall. It was located at Lincoln and Munson Streets. Munson Street was then called King Street.
Also during the 1890s the first white man to show any real interest in Tennessee Town, Dr. Charles Sheldon, came into the settlement from his post as pastor of Central Congregational Church, which still stands at SW Huntoon and Buchanan Sts. He spent three weeks in Tennessee Town surveying the people and conditions. He found that there were about 800 people who had migrated here directly after leaving behind plantation life in the South, 100 children between the ages of three and seven who might be considered kindergarten age, and four black churches.
Sheldon thought that Jordan Hall would be a good place to start a kindergarten, and by the spring of 1893 the first black kindergarten west of the Mississippi River was opened. There were three teachers, a principal (Carrie Roberts), and two assistants (Jeanette Miller and Margaret Adams). Mrs. Jane Chapman was instrumental in helping in several projects, including organizing a PTA for the children's mothers.
Two years later new quarters were found for the kindergarten; it had been such a success that it had outgrown its confines at Jordan Hall. The new kindergarten was housed at the Tennessee Town Congregational Church. The kindergarten, at its new location, taught our children until 1910 when the city -- better late than never -- decided to support it and relocated it at the Buchanan School, now known as the Buchanan Center, at SW 12th and Buchanan Sts.
The most prominent graduate of the Tennessee Town kindergarten was the attorney Elisha Scott, who also lived in Tennessee Town on Lane St. Scott's two sons, John and Charles, both became attorneys also and argued the Kansas portion of the landmark Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case that outlawed segregation in public schools. One of the other graduates of the kindergarten was a long-time Tennessee Town resident, Minus Gentry. He lived at 1191 Lincoln until his death in 1991 at the age of 95.
After the success of the kindergarten a library was established in Tennessee Town; Rev. B.C. Duke was its first librarian.
By the first decade of the 1900s four churches had sank roots in Tennessee Town: Shiloh Baptist (still on the southwest corner of 12th and Buchanan Streets), Mt. Olive Episcopal (now Asbury-Mt. Olive United Methodist Church, on the northeast corner of 12th and Buchanan Streets), The Church of God (now Lane Chapel, at 12th and Lane Streets), and the Christian Church (now Dovetail, at 12th and Washburn Streets).
The Colored Women's Club was also founded at about that time. It occupied the house at 1149 SW Lincoln St. until a few years ago. The Topeka nonprofit Living the Dream, Inc.’s headquarters now occupy the clubhouse.
Many community leaders emerged in the early 1900s. Mother Emma Gaines, along with Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Gaines and Robert Baker, founded Gaines Funeral Home, which used to be located just north of Asbury-Mt. Olive church in the second 1100 block of SW Buchanan. Other community leaders included Betty Patterson, Sally Oglesvie, Annie Gentry, Henry Williams, Andrew Jordan, Rilda Preer, Mrs. Louis Knott, Mrs. Ed Link, Andrew Ferguson, Rev. and Mrs. B.C. Duke, H.I. Monroe and George Graham.
Throughout the next several decades businesses sprang up along Huntoon Street, including the Caravan Club, which was the favored watering hole for our state legislators for years. Silver's Furs occupied a storefront along Huntoon for years, too. The Brown v. Board case ended school segregation, but it also ended the existence of Topeka's historically black schools, including the Buchanan School. Bobo's Drive In, at SW Huntoon and Lincoln Sts., was an area restaurant and landmark for years. Dibble's Grocery Store was located in a Tudor-style building at SW Huntoon and Lane Sts. until the late 1970s; Dillon's is there now. However, the building that now houses WCW Property Management, at 1238 SW Lane, was built in the same style as Dibble’s, which was located across the street. The Topeka and Shawnee County Library, as it's now called, has been at Tennessee Town’s northwestern border since its inception, as has Stormont-Vail Hospital.
During the 1970s Tennessee Town experienced the first rumblings of a renaissance. The Community Development Block Grant Program, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, began in Topeka in 1974. CDBG funds began to come to Topeka as an entitlement to poor neighborhoods like ours. In 1976, Tennessee Town became the first Neighborhood Improvement Association in the city. Mrs. Lillian Bennett was its first president. She served in that capacity for 10 years.
A group of Kansas State University architecture students came into the neighborhood in about 1980 to conduct a semester-long inventory of housing. The results of their work were impressive, including recommendations for in-fill housing that included actual
prototypes. At about that same time the neighborhood began working with Topeka Metropolitan Planning on a comprehensive look at Tennessee Town, including housing, infrastructure and safety issues. A big manual was compiled, along with an executive summary. Those two efforts to ready the neighborhood for revitalization inspired hope.
The 1980s began the downward spiral of Tennessee Town. Once a proud, vibrant neighborhood inhabited by low- to middle-class folks who often worked two jobs to support their families, lived in modest but well-kept homes and interacted with their neighbors on a daily basis; Tennessee Town became older, less vibrant, more lower-class socioeconomically and less interactive.
As the neighborhood’s senior residents began to die, the neighborhood did, too. Homes that were formerly owned became rentals, and some of the landlords and renters weren't too concerned about maintaining their homes. Stable families were often replaced with people who tended to only live here for several months. Older homes were razed, creating vacant lots, but new homes were not built in their places.
The commercial strip along the 1300 block of SW Huntoon St. deteriorated even faster than the housing here did. Silver's Furs suffered a fire in the 1970s and closed. Bobo's closed in the 1980s, as did the Caravan Club. A number of businesses have been in and out of that strip since then. Tennessee Town residents began to lose faith in the proposition that, if they remained vigilant, the city would eventually get to them.
One of the brightest lights during the 1980s was the construction of the Tennessee Town Plaza Apartments through the Topeka Housing Authority. Tennessee Town Plaza’s units are geared to seniors and the physically challenged. Tennessee Town Plaza, since its inception, has been one of THA’s most successful complexes. The first phase of construction, completed in 1983, replaced aged housing in the second 1100 block of SW Buchanan St. and along the 1200 blocks of SW Munson and 12th Sts. The second phase, completed in 2010, replaced aged housing and vacant lots in the second 1100 block of SW Lincoln St.
Things began to change in the late 1990s because Tennessee Town’s residents, instead of waiting for the city to “get to them,” decided to chart and pursue their own futures. Beginning in 1998, Tennessee Town began revitalization efforts to halt the neighborhood's slide into disrepair. By 2001, the NIA's neighborhood plan was adopted by local government, setting new standards for stability and growth. At the time the neighborhood plan was adopted, the Topeka Planning Department rated Tennessee Town as an "intensive care" neighborhood, meaning that it was one of the city's neighborhoods "with the most seriously distressed conditions." All of the city's neighborhoods were rated, with the most distressed being rated "intensive care," those with fewer issues "at risk," those with fewer issues still "outpatient," and those with few or no issues "healthy." Planning said that while Tennessee Town had been declining, it had "high revitalization potential, and therefore is considered a high priority for reinvestment."
Three short years later, in 2004, the Planning Department reexamined the health of all of the city's neighborhoods, including Tennessee Town. With the addition of 61 new or rehabilitated single- and multi-family housing units created by public and private partners, increased property values and safety, and infrastructure improvements, among other upgrades, Tennessee Town went from being rated "intensive care" to "at risk." No other Topeka Neighborhood had moved up one whole rating rung in such a short period of time, let along doing it while starting out with the rating characterizing the most distressed neighborhoods in the city.
Now, in 2014, Tennessee Town begins a new journey to improve its "at risk" rating another rung to "outpatient" while building on the diversity that now characterizes it. Many challenges face the NIA as it seeks to meet that goal, but the determination of its residents, just as it has done for more than 100 years, will help to propel the neighborhood to its goal.
Note: The Topeka Room at the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library, 1515 SW 10th Ave., has archived copies of the Tennessee Town News, the NIA's newsletter from 1998 - 2004. Also, there are historical pictures of Tennessee Town and its residents in the vestibule of the Buchanan Center, 1195 SW Buchanan St.
Tennessee Town History in Pictures
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, who in 1879 led the migration of freed slaves from Tennessee to Topeka.
That migration was a part of the Exoduster Movement, which saw freed men, women and families
migrate west to find better lives outside the post-Civil War south
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
That migration was a part of the Exoduster Movement, which saw freed men, women and families
migrate west to find better lives outside the post-Civil War south
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
The back of the picture above, showing that Leonard and Martin Photographers of Topeka, Kansas took the picture
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
A depiction of the Exodusters who arrived at Topeka's Floral Hall
(located on what would become the Topeka Fair Grounds), from sketches by H. Worrall on July 5, 1879
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(located on what would become the Topeka Fair Grounds), from sketches by H. Worrall on July 5, 1879
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
A flier published by the Topeka Daily Capital Publishing Company announcing a celebration for
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton on August 15, 1882, at Topeka's Hartzell Park
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton on August 15, 1882, at Topeka's Hartzell Park
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
Charles Sheldon, Central Congregational Church pastor, who's time in Tennessee Town led to the Tennessee Town Kindergarten
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
The Tennessee Town Kindergarten, the first black kindergarten west of the Mississippi River, at its opening on April 3, 1893
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
The back of the Tennessee Town Kindergarten picture above
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
Tennessee Town Kindergarten Band, 1893 - 1900
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
Tennessee Town Kindergarten mother's meeting, 1893 - 1899
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
The Buchanan School, circa 1880s
(photo courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(photo courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
An artist's rendering of the new Buchanan School, circa 1920. This is the structure that still stands at 1195 SW Buchanan
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
Children entering the Buchanan School
Topeka's black teachers, 1949.
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
(courtesy Kansas State Historical Society)
Attorney and Tennessee Town resident Elisha Scott, who also was a president of the Topeka Chapter of the NAACP. His two sons, Charles and John, also became attorneys, joined their father's practice and argued the Kansas portion of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down segregation in the nation's schools
The Asbury-Mt. Olive Apartments, a tax-credit financed development initiated by
Asbury-Mt. Olive United Methodist Church in the second 1100 block of SW Buchanan St., opened in 2004
Asbury-Mt. Olive United Methodist Church in the second 1100 block of SW Buchanan St., opened in 2004
The second phase of the Tennessee Town Plaza Apartments, the apartments managed by the
Topeka Housing Authority, in the second 1100 block of SW Lincoln St., opened in 2010
Topeka Housing Authority, in the second 1100 block of SW Lincoln St., opened in 2010
(L to R) In-fill housing through the City of Topeka (the second house was acquired from Holy Name Church, moved into the NIA and rehabilitated) in the first 1200 block of SW Lincoln St. This new housing, which enabled the complete turnaround of the NIA's worst block, according to Topeka's Planning Department, was completed in 2004
Commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
History of the Kansas Portion of Brown v. Board of Education
(Congress of Racial Equality, http://www.core-online.org/History/brown_cases.htm)
History of the Kansas Portion of Brown v. Board of Education
(Congress of Racial Equality, http://www.core-online.org/History/brown_cases.htm)
Overview
In the fall of 1950, members of the Topeka, Kansas, Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) agreed to again challenge the "separate but equal" doctrine governing public education. The strategy was conceived by the chapter president McKinley Burnett, attorneys Charles Scott, John Scott, Charles Bledsoe, Elisha Scott and NAACP chapter secretary Lucinda Todd. (Note: The Scotts were Tennessee Town residents.) For a period of two years prior to legal action Burnett had attempted to persuade Topeka school officials to integrate their schools. This lawsuit was a final attempt.
Their plan involved enlisting the support of fellow NAACP members and personal friends as plaintiffs in what would be a class action suit filed against the Board of Education of Topeka Public Schools. A group of thirteen parents agreed to participate on behalf of twenty of their children. Each plaintiff was to watch the paper for enrollment dates and take their child to the elementary school for white children that was nearest to their home. Once they attempted enrollment and were denied, they were to report back to the NAACP. This provided attorneys with the documentation needed to file a lawsuit against the Topeka School Board.
Discussion
In Kansas there were eleven school integration cases from 1881 to 1949 prior to the 1950's Brown case. In many instances the schools for African American children were substandard facilities with out-of-date textbooks and often no basic school supplies. What was not in question was the dedication and qualifications of the African American teachers and principals assigned to these schools. [Note: Those black schools were McKinley, Monroe, Washington, and Buchanan (which is now the Buchanan Center, at 1195 SW Buchanan, in Tennessee Town).]
In response to numerous unsuccessful attempts to ensure equal opportunities for all children, African American community leaders and organizations stepped up efforts to change the education system. In the fall of 1950 members of the Topeka, Kansas, Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) agreed to again challenge the "separate but equal" doctrine governing public education.
The strategy was conceived by the chapter president, McKinley Burnett, the secretary Lucinda Todd and attorneys Charles Scott, John Scott, and Charles Bledsoe. For a period of two years Mr. Burnett had attempted to have Topeka Public School officials simply chose to integrate schools because the Kansas law did not require segregated public schools only at the elementary level in first class cities. Filing suit against the school district was a final attempt to secure integrated public schools.
Their plan involved enlisting the support of fellow NAACP members and personal friends as plaintiffs in what would be a class action suit filed against the Board of Education of Topeka Public Schools. A group of thirteen parents agreed to participate on behalf of twenty of their children.
Each plaintiff was to watch the paper for enrollment dates and take their child to the school for white children that was nearest to their home. Once they attempted enrollment and were denied, they were to report back to the NAACP. This provided attorneys with the documentation needed to file a lawsuit against the Topeka School Board. The African American schools appeared equal in facilities and teacher salaries but some programs were not offered and some textbooks were not available. In addition, there were only four elementary schools for African American children as compared to eighteen for white children. This made attending neighborhood schools impossible for African American children. Junior and Senior high schools were integrated.
Oliver Brown was assigned as lead plaintiff, principally because he was the only man among the plaintiffs. On February 28, 1951 the NAACP filed their case as Oliver L. Brown et. al. vs. The Board of Education of Topeka (KS). The District Court ruled in favor of the school board and the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Note: Copy and paste
http://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/SD-KS-0001-0002.pdf into your browser to view the 174-page transcript of the District Court hearing and decision.) When the Topeka case made its way to the United States Supreme Court, it was combined with the other NAACP cases from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The combined cases became known as Oliver L. Brown et. al. vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, et. al.
On May 17, 1954 at 12:52 p.m. the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that it was unconstitutional and violated the 14th amendment to separate children in public schools for no other reason than their race. Brown vs. Board of Education helped change American education forever.
[Note: In 1955, the Supreme Court considered arguments by the schools requesting relief concerning the task of desegregation. In its decision, which became known as Brown II, the court delegated the task of carrying out school desegregation to district courts with orders that desegregation occur "with all deliberate speed," a phrase traceable to Francis Thompson's poem, "The Hound of Heaven." Supporters of the earlier decision were displeased with this decision. The language “all deliberate speed” was seen by critics as too ambiguous to ensure reasonable haste for compliance with the court's instruction. Many Southern states and school districts interpreted Brown II as legal justification for resisting, delaying, and avoiding significant integration for years—and in some cases for a decade or more—using such tactics as closing down school systems, using state money to finance segregated "private" schools, and "token" integration where a few carefully selected black children were admitted to former white-only schools but the vast majority remained in underfunded, unequal black schools.
[For example, based on Brown II, the U.S. District Court ruled that Prince Edward County, Virginia did not have to desegregate immediately. When faced with a court order to finally begin desegregation in 1959, the county board of supervisors stopped appropriating money for public schools, which remained closed for five years, from 1959 to 1964. White students in the county were given assistance to attend white-only "private academies" that were taught by teachers formerly employed by the public school system, while black students had no education at all unless they moved out of the county (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education).]
(Note: The antics that occurred in Prince Edward County, Virginia and other places did not occur in Topeka, where the transition from segregated to integrated schools went relatively smoothly, although there was some local opposition to the change.)
In 1979 a group of young attorneys were concerned about a policy in Topeka Public Schools that allowed open enrollment. Their fear was that this would lead to resegregation. They believed that with this type of choice white parents would shift their children to other schools creating predominately African American or predominately white schools. As a result these attorneys petitioned the federal court to reopen the original Brown case to determine if Topeka Public Schools had in fact ever complied with the Court's 1954 ruling.
This case is commonly known as Brown III. These young attorneys were Richard Jones, Joseph Johnson and Charles Scott, Jr. (son of one of the attorneys in the original case, Charles Scott, Sr.) in association with Chris Hansen from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) in New York. In the late 1980s Topeka Public Schools were found to be out of compliance. On October 28, 1992, after several appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Topeka Public School's petition to once again hear the Brown case. As a result the school was directed to develop plans for compliance and have since built three magnet schools. These schools are excellent facilities and make every effort to be racially balanced. Ironically one of these new schools is named for the Scott family attorneys because of their role in the Brown case and civil rights. It is the Scott Computer and Mathematics Magnet School.
Epilogue: May 17, 2019, marked the 65th anniversary of the original Brown v. Board of Education case, perhaps the most important Supreme Court ruling of the 20th century and one of the most important rulings the nation’s high court has ever delivered. The changes that swept the nation in the 1950s and ‘60s, changes that finally and publicly rebuked the second-class citizenship of African-Americans and others, have continued since Brown. However, racism, from its immoral and despicable roots in slavery through the literacy tests, poll taxes, and lynchings of Jim Crow, has proven to be a tough beast to slay. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, in addition to other federal legislation in the 1960s and '70s that addressed discrimination, were necessary to carry out the promise of Brown. Today, with the weakening of the Voting Rights Act by the same institution that in 1954 unanimously ruled that institutional racism was wrong, in addition to other efforts to roll back the gains made since Brown, the fight for justice and equality continues. Brown v. Board is, then, our past, our present, and our future. As it was once said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
In the fall of 1950, members of the Topeka, Kansas, Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) agreed to again challenge the "separate but equal" doctrine governing public education. The strategy was conceived by the chapter president McKinley Burnett, attorneys Charles Scott, John Scott, Charles Bledsoe, Elisha Scott and NAACP chapter secretary Lucinda Todd. (Note: The Scotts were Tennessee Town residents.) For a period of two years prior to legal action Burnett had attempted to persuade Topeka school officials to integrate their schools. This lawsuit was a final attempt.
Their plan involved enlisting the support of fellow NAACP members and personal friends as plaintiffs in what would be a class action suit filed against the Board of Education of Topeka Public Schools. A group of thirteen parents agreed to participate on behalf of twenty of their children. Each plaintiff was to watch the paper for enrollment dates and take their child to the elementary school for white children that was nearest to their home. Once they attempted enrollment and were denied, they were to report back to the NAACP. This provided attorneys with the documentation needed to file a lawsuit against the Topeka School Board.
Discussion
In Kansas there were eleven school integration cases from 1881 to 1949 prior to the 1950's Brown case. In many instances the schools for African American children were substandard facilities with out-of-date textbooks and often no basic school supplies. What was not in question was the dedication and qualifications of the African American teachers and principals assigned to these schools. [Note: Those black schools were McKinley, Monroe, Washington, and Buchanan (which is now the Buchanan Center, at 1195 SW Buchanan, in Tennessee Town).]
In response to numerous unsuccessful attempts to ensure equal opportunities for all children, African American community leaders and organizations stepped up efforts to change the education system. In the fall of 1950 members of the Topeka, Kansas, Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) agreed to again challenge the "separate but equal" doctrine governing public education.
The strategy was conceived by the chapter president, McKinley Burnett, the secretary Lucinda Todd and attorneys Charles Scott, John Scott, and Charles Bledsoe. For a period of two years Mr. Burnett had attempted to have Topeka Public School officials simply chose to integrate schools because the Kansas law did not require segregated public schools only at the elementary level in first class cities. Filing suit against the school district was a final attempt to secure integrated public schools.
Their plan involved enlisting the support of fellow NAACP members and personal friends as plaintiffs in what would be a class action suit filed against the Board of Education of Topeka Public Schools. A group of thirteen parents agreed to participate on behalf of twenty of their children.
Each plaintiff was to watch the paper for enrollment dates and take their child to the school for white children that was nearest to their home. Once they attempted enrollment and were denied, they were to report back to the NAACP. This provided attorneys with the documentation needed to file a lawsuit against the Topeka School Board. The African American schools appeared equal in facilities and teacher salaries but some programs were not offered and some textbooks were not available. In addition, there were only four elementary schools for African American children as compared to eighteen for white children. This made attending neighborhood schools impossible for African American children. Junior and Senior high schools were integrated.
Oliver Brown was assigned as lead plaintiff, principally because he was the only man among the plaintiffs. On February 28, 1951 the NAACP filed their case as Oliver L. Brown et. al. vs. The Board of Education of Topeka (KS). The District Court ruled in favor of the school board and the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. (Note: Copy and paste
http://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/SD-KS-0001-0002.pdf into your browser to view the 174-page transcript of the District Court hearing and decision.) When the Topeka case made its way to the United States Supreme Court, it was combined with the other NAACP cases from Delaware, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The combined cases became known as Oliver L. Brown et. al. vs. The Board of Education of Topeka, et. al.
On May 17, 1954 at 12:52 p.m. the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision that it was unconstitutional and violated the 14th amendment to separate children in public schools for no other reason than their race. Brown vs. Board of Education helped change American education forever.
[Note: In 1955, the Supreme Court considered arguments by the schools requesting relief concerning the task of desegregation. In its decision, which became known as Brown II, the court delegated the task of carrying out school desegregation to district courts with orders that desegregation occur "with all deliberate speed," a phrase traceable to Francis Thompson's poem, "The Hound of Heaven." Supporters of the earlier decision were displeased with this decision. The language “all deliberate speed” was seen by critics as too ambiguous to ensure reasonable haste for compliance with the court's instruction. Many Southern states and school districts interpreted Brown II as legal justification for resisting, delaying, and avoiding significant integration for years—and in some cases for a decade or more—using such tactics as closing down school systems, using state money to finance segregated "private" schools, and "token" integration where a few carefully selected black children were admitted to former white-only schools but the vast majority remained in underfunded, unequal black schools.
[For example, based on Brown II, the U.S. District Court ruled that Prince Edward County, Virginia did not have to desegregate immediately. When faced with a court order to finally begin desegregation in 1959, the county board of supervisors stopped appropriating money for public schools, which remained closed for five years, from 1959 to 1964. White students in the county were given assistance to attend white-only "private academies" that were taught by teachers formerly employed by the public school system, while black students had no education at all unless they moved out of the county (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education).]
(Note: The antics that occurred in Prince Edward County, Virginia and other places did not occur in Topeka, where the transition from segregated to integrated schools went relatively smoothly, although there was some local opposition to the change.)
In 1979 a group of young attorneys were concerned about a policy in Topeka Public Schools that allowed open enrollment. Their fear was that this would lead to resegregation. They believed that with this type of choice white parents would shift their children to other schools creating predominately African American or predominately white schools. As a result these attorneys petitioned the federal court to reopen the original Brown case to determine if Topeka Public Schools had in fact ever complied with the Court's 1954 ruling.
This case is commonly known as Brown III. These young attorneys were Richard Jones, Joseph Johnson and Charles Scott, Jr. (son of one of the attorneys in the original case, Charles Scott, Sr.) in association with Chris Hansen from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) in New York. In the late 1980s Topeka Public Schools were found to be out of compliance. On October 28, 1992, after several appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Topeka Public School's petition to once again hear the Brown case. As a result the school was directed to develop plans for compliance and have since built three magnet schools. These schools are excellent facilities and make every effort to be racially balanced. Ironically one of these new schools is named for the Scott family attorneys because of their role in the Brown case and civil rights. It is the Scott Computer and Mathematics Magnet School.
Epilogue: May 17, 2019, marked the 65th anniversary of the original Brown v. Board of Education case, perhaps the most important Supreme Court ruling of the 20th century and one of the most important rulings the nation’s high court has ever delivered. The changes that swept the nation in the 1950s and ‘60s, changes that finally and publicly rebuked the second-class citizenship of African-Americans and others, have continued since Brown. However, racism, from its immoral and despicable roots in slavery through the literacy tests, poll taxes, and lynchings of Jim Crow, has proven to be a tough beast to slay. The 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, in addition to other federal legislation in the 1960s and '70s that addressed discrimination, were necessary to carry out the promise of Brown. Today, with the weakening of the Voting Rights Act by the same institution that in 1954 unanimously ruled that institutional racism was wrong, in addition to other efforts to roll back the gains made since Brown, the fight for justice and equality continues. Brown v. Board is, then, our past, our present, and our future. As it was once said, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Brown v. Board of Education in Pictures
The Brown family, (L to R) Linda, Terry, Leola and Rev. Oliver Brown.
(courtesy Life Magazine)
(courtesy Life Magazine)
Topeka NAACP President McKinley Burnett.
Topeka NAACP Secretary-Treasurer Lucinda Todd with her husband, Alvin, and their daughter, Nancy, circa 1952.
(courtesy Ramon and Nancy Todd Noches)
(courtesy Ramon and Nancy Todd Noches)
NAACP Legal Defense Fund attorneys who presented the plaintiff's case to the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education.
The headline of the May 17, 2014, Topeka State Journal and an excerpt from the
U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation in the nation's public schools.
U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregation in the nation's public schools.
A photo of Linda Brown taken in front of Sumner School in 1964, 10 years after the decision in Brown v. Board.
(courtesy Associated Press)
(courtesy Associated Press)
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History page last updated on March 14, 2019