When you think of the 1954 landmark case Brown v. Board, lead plaintiff Oliver Brown may come to mind. But there were also 12 Black women alongside him in Topeka, who were also behind the school desegregation movement. For the 70th anniversary of the ruling, a new traveling exhibit highlights these women and the contributions they made.
Donna Rae Pearson is a curator at the Kansas Historic Society in Topeka who created the "Women of Brown" exhibit. She says there are different stories about how the order of the roster featuring the 13 Topeka plaintiffs came about, including Oliver Brown, whose name was at the top of that list.
"Some say it was just because his last name was Brown. But there are actually two Brown plaintiffs, and he [could] have been the second [one] on the list. Others say it's just the way that the person wrote it when they wrote up the plaintiff's list. But another more compelling, interesting reason is because he was a man that he got put before the other 12 plaintiffs ... that's [maybe] why he's on the list first."
When it comes to the case, the name Oliver Brown, an AME minister in Topeka, may seem familiar along with the famous image of his then elementary-aged daughter, Linda Brown, wearing a winter coat while standing outside a school.
Pearson says people also may recall the lawyers who won the case, including Thurgood Marshall — who eventually became the first Black Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. But the 12 Black women plaintiffs in Kansas are lesser known.
Pearson began her research after reading the legal title of the Brown v. Board case.
"I came across the words 'et al.' and it really dawned on me at that point in time, 'who is et al.? What does it all mean?' And I looked it up, and it's the others. Seeing ... those two words together prompted me to, of course, realize that there were other people involved in this case.
"I decided I wanted to investigate a little bit more and figure out who those other plaintiffs actually were."
The female plaintiffs in Kansas were Darlene Brown, Lena M. Carper, Sadie Emmanuel, Marguerite Emmerson, Shirla Fleming, Zelma Henderson, Shirley Hodison, Maude Lawton, Alma Lewis, Iona Richardson, Vivian Scales and Lucinda Todd — 12 Black mothers in Topeka that got involved on behalf of their children.
Pearson says the 1950s was a time of change, especially in Topeka.
"Remember, women are starting to come into their own where they were being more active," she says. "They're starting to go into the workforce a little bit more heavily. Well, actually, Black women have always been in the workforce, but some of these women also had opportunities to stay home. These were 1950s women, so they were still in charge of taking care of their children as well. But they're also involved in different social activities, either with the church or different colored women's clubs that were available to them. So, they were learning how to create their own voice during [that] time period."
Oftentimes, Pearson says, people who reflect on the Brown case mainly think it was mainly about integration.
"But really, that strategy didn't happen until the Supreme Court. At the local level, it really was about gaining access to the same resources that their taxes paid for. The Black students should have the same access as the white students to whatever it was in the school system," Pearson said.
The same access ... that's why the women signed on to the case after attempting to enroll their children in all-white schools and being denied.
"The youngest [of the women] was Darlene Brown and I just ... I [figuratively] high five Darlene all the time because she [was] about 24 years old," Pearson says. "She had a couple of children. I think she had just been widowed from what we can tell. So, she [was] willing to take a stand, you know, as a woman in the 1950s."
Another plaintiff, Lucinda Todd was 50 when the landmark case was decided. She was an educator and secretary in the Topeka Branch NAACP. Currently, plans are underway for her home in Topeka to be refurbished and added to the National Register. In the early 50s, Pearson says Todd wrote a letter to the school board.
"She found out there was a musical program available to white children that was not available to African American children, and she lobbied for her daughter, Nancy, to be involved in [the] ... program. People at the school board told her black children were not interested in such things and I understand she was livid. That's when she started contacting and talking about what would become the case at the local level."
Some of the plaintiffs like Todd, were born in rural Kansas and moved to Topeka and a couple of them were related. Zelma Henderson was the last surviving plaintiff who died in 2008. Pearson and her team used varied research strategies to find the women.
"African American women are not documented the same way that the white population is," she says. "So, there was no 'Who's Who' book we could go to and find out at least the basic details of their life. We had to go find those ourselves."
The women were occasionally mentioned in the media, but Pearson says what she found interesting was that it came in spurts. Pearson remembers coming across a 1980s article that listed the names of the women plaintiffs.
"...and then it said unavailable. We later discovered through our research that these women were actually still alive at the time. Some of them were actually still alive in Topeka. So, we wondered how their voice got left out of the conversation, to the point where no one even looked for them."
Not pictured: Darlene Brown, Shirla Fleming, Iona Richardson, Sadie Emmanuel and Alma Lewis
Pearson wants the women to be recognized for their achievements. She says the exhibit is twofold in nature.
"The exhibit introduces you to the women and the case as well from a from a Black women's history perspective. But we also will talk about making those connections and how activism happens. So, we did have to ... plot out ... a map ... where they [possibly] could have interacted ... across the city of Topeka.
"I am just trying to elevate their presence again."
Pearson says there has never been full documentation of them and that not much of an effort has been made to gather that information. One of the goals of the project is to change that by getting these women in historical records.
"The project was funded by Humanities, Kansas. What the research team will do is ... take all their research and put it into different repositories — [the] Topeka Shawnee County Public Library [and the] local history repository in the state archives at the Kansas Historical Society — so they won't be lost again.
"Someone hopefully will be able to either click on a website or go to an archive and be able to find their names, as well as their stories and background."
A six-panel pop-up version of the exhibit can also be reserved by contacting Pearson. It will travel across the state and be in Wichita this fall.
While prepping the exhibit, she says her team referred to the plaintiffs who stood up for justice as "ordinary women."
"...These ordinary women created a pivotal moment in history. That means that you or I could do the same thing, right? We could both take up a cause that we feel passionate about, sign our name on a line, maybe [even] pass out a petition.
"I think they are inspirational enough to us and they can teach us lessons in that regard that we all can make a difference. I think we need to know that these ordinary women decided to take a stand."
