National Historical Parks · Kansas
Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park
National Park Service source material · single source. Source dates and reuse information are available beside each field.
Check the official park website for current access, conditions and visitor information.
Introduction
Background: 1
The path to equality has been anything but smooth. It's taken courage and dedication by everyday people coming together for a common goal to carry the country toward true equality. Parents, teachers, secretaries, welders, ministers, and students drove their communities, and the country along with them, toward justice in a series of often unsteady turns leading to the Brown v. Board decision.
Geography
Designation: 2
National Historical Park
State or territory: 3
Kansas
Park Map - Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site: 4
Map scope: Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park
Map showing the location of Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park in Topeka, Kansas. The park is a green square in a grid of city streets shown as gray lines. Surrounding areas are white, and highways are shown in red.
History and culture
The Five Cases: 5
The Brown v. Board decision didn't stem from a single case. The challenge to racial segregation in public schools arose several times from communities all across the country. Five of those communities, along with the NAACP, bravely sought the elimination of segregation in the United States in pursuit of true equality. They shared a common goal, and were bundled together by the Supreme Court. These cases led to a single ruling on a national issue that would transform American society forever. You can read more about the Brown story or the individual court cases in the links below.
When their petition for buses was ignored, 20 parents in South Carolina filed suit to challenge segregation itself.
John Phillip Sousa Junior High School in Washington D.C. refused to admit 11 African Americans despite having several empty classrooms.
Started by the NAACP, 13 parents in Topeka, KS. enrolled their children in white schools but were refused.
Following a 400-student strike in Farmville, VA, the NAACP agreed to help them file suit against segregation itself.
Two cases of inequality, Belton v. Gebhart, and Bulah v. Gebhart argued by Louis Redding, Delaware's first African American attorney.
History & Culture: 6
Explore a self-guided companion to the museum, tracing slavery, segregation, Brown v. Board, and the struggle for civil rights.
The decisions from the highest court in the land shaped the world we live in today.
Thurgood Marshall led a life in the pursuit of equality, and was on a path destined to lead him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Read More...
The Clark Doll test was instrumental to the Brown v. Board of Education case.
Houston developed a "Top-Down" integration strategy, and became known as "The Man Who Killed Jim Crow" for his desegregation work.
Rev. Oliver Leon Brown served as lead plaintiff, one of 13 plaintiffs, in the Board v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court case.
Brown v. Board was the bundling of 5 cases regarding segregation. Learn about the others here.
The mission of the African American Experience Fund of the National Park Foundation is to preserve African American history by supporting education programs in National Parks that celebrate African American history and culture. There are 26 National Parks identified by the African American Experience Fund:
Visitor centers and places
Visitor Center: 7
Located inside the Monroe School Building itself, the Brown v. Board of Educational National Historic Site Visitor Center houses most of the exhibits as well as the bookstore.
Visitor information
Visitation
Sources & field notes
Source records (11)
Select a numbered reference to open a source card. Retrieval dates describe this edition’s source capture, rather than an independent verification or the date of the underlying information.
Background · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Designation · National Park System directory. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
State or territory · National Park System directory. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.
Park Map - Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site · National Park Service, Harpers Ferry Center. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source scope
- Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park
- Download
- Official map PDF ↗
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Public domain; NPS map
- Rights
- Public domain; NPS map
The Five Cases · The Five Cases — National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Source page last updated
- March 5, 2026
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party content may have separate rights.
History & Culture · National Park Service. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-authored U.S. government material is generally public domain; third-party material may have separate rights. No images copied.
Visitor Center · National Park Service park structured data. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored U.S. government work is generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Physical Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Mailing Address · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Telephone · Official park structured information. Open source ↗
- Information date
- Not supplied by the source
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- NPS-supplied text; NPS-authored government work generally public domain, subject to third-party rights.
Recreation visits · National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics. Open source ↗
- Information date
- 2025
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-30
- Methodology
- NPS reporting unit; annual total is the sum of 12 monthly recreation visit estimates.
- Reporting unit
- Brown v. Board of Education NHP
- Evidence
- Single source; not independently corroborated.
- Reuse
- Factual reference data; source attribution retained.