The woman who as a little girl inspired the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ended racial segregation in schools has died at the age of 76.
The Topeka woman died Sunday afternoon at the Peaceful Rest Funeral Chapel in Topeka. Her sister, Cheryl Brown Henderson, founding president of The Brown Foundation, confirmed the death to The Topeka Capital-Journal.
Linda Brown was 9-years-old when she was denied admission at Sumner Elementary School, an all-white school in 1951 because she is black causing her father Oliver Brown to sue the Topeka Board of Education. This led to the famous 1954 Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education. Oliver was lead plaintiff in the case that saw the Supreme Court end school segregation.
“Linda Brown, who was one of the young students at the heart of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, passed away today at age 76,” said a statement from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF).
Brown “is one of that special band of heroic young people who, along with her family, courageously fought to end the ultimate symbol of white supremacy — racial segregation in public schools,” the LDF’s president Sherrilyn Ifill said.
“She stands as an example of how ordinary schoolchildren took center stage in transforming this country,” she said. “It was not easy for her or her family, but her sacrifice broke barriers and changed the meaning of equality in this country.”
