Biography

Linda Brown

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A candid black and white photograph of a Black woman with a short straight bob, large round earrings, and a light-colored jacket with a wide collar.
Linda Brown Smith, Ethel Louise Belton Brown, Harry Briggs Jr., and Spottswood Bolling, 1964.
Source: Al Ravenna, Library of Congress.

Linda Carol Brown Thompson was born in Topeka, Kansas as the oldest of three daughters to Leola and Oliver Brown. When Linda was in third grade, her parents tried to enroll her in their neighborhood, all-white school, Sumner Elementary, but were denied. Linda became the face of this landmark case because her father was assigned the lead plaintiff in the class action suit out of Kansas. Even as a child, Linda Brown knew the responsibility she carried for being the representative of this monumental case. As an adult, she continued to advocate for equal educational access in Kansas, working as a Head Start teacher, public speaker, and educational consultant. When her own children entered school in Kansas, Brown reopened her namesake case and argued that segregation continued to divide the children of Topeka. After 14 years, the courts ultimately ruled in her favor in 1993.

Featured in

  • Black‑and‑white photograph of a classroom filled with young students seated at wooden desks. Many students have one arm raised, as if responding to a question. In the foreground, one student sits at a desk facing the camera while others behind and to the sides raise their hands. The room includes a chalkboard or bulletin board along the back wall with several papers pinned up, a doorway at center-right, and large windows on the right side letting in light. Books and classroom materials are stacked near some desks, and the overall setting suggests an older, traditional schoolroom.

    Lesson Plan

    Separate & Unequal: Investigating the Road to Brown v. Board

    Students explore Investigation Stations to better understand the pivotal Brown v. Board of Education case that recognized the human and civil rights of all students by declaring school segregation unconstitutional.

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