Plaintiff’s daughter sets the record straight on landmark school desegregation case.
By Bobby Ross Jr. | Religion Unplugged
OKLAHOMA CITY — You may think you know the story of the Rev. Oliver Brown, the lead plaintiff in the landmark 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.
You probably don’t.
Nearly seven decades ago, the African Methodist Episcopal pastor’s name was etched in history when the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine. In the Brown v. Board decision, justices ruled state-imposed segregated schools were “inherently unequal” and must be abolished.
But much of what is reported about the lead plaintiff and his family is untrue, Cheryl Brown Henderson — the youngest of the late pastor’s three daughters — said this week at Oklahoma Christian University.
“Where Brown v. Board is concerned, the internet is not your friend,” Henderson said Monday night. “We’ve discovered that online, there are all these stories about Brown that don’t even resemble the truth.”
The founding president of the Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research shared behind-the-scenes details about her family during Oklahoma Christian’s ninth annual History Speaks event.
This story appears in the online magazine ReligionUnplugged.com.
Photo by Judson Copeland
The Ross News 