Monroe Elementary, completed in 1927, was one of four segregated black schools operating in Topeka. In 1951 a student of Monroe, Linda Brown, and her father, Oliver Brown, became plaintiffs in a legal battle over racial segregation. The case reached the Supreme Court, where it gained the name Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In 1954 the Supreme Court determined that the segregation of schools was unconstitutional. In 1992 the Monroe School was designated a National Historic Landmark. Now it is a National Parks Service site committed to educating the public about this landmark case in the struggle for civil rights.
