Topekans remember city’s segregated past

President Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, were the biggest names to come to Topeka on Monday to celebrate the Brown anniversary. But local residents, including some who attended Monroe School as a child, made up many of the thousands who came to the school for its dedication as a national historic site.

“This is really exciting for the city,” said Charita Warren, 56, who has lived in a house near Monroe School for more than three decades. “We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.”

Warren said her neighborhood had been rejuvenated in recent months, as a nearly $2 million communitywide effort paid for new sidewalks and trees.

Warren’s brother-in-law, Sonny Martin, 74, attended Monroe as a child. “We had black teachers, it was segregated, but we learned something,” Martin said. “We knew black history and we were taught history. We were well prepared by going to a segregated school.”

Magnet school attempts to integrate classrooms

Down the street from the all-black school where Linda Brown was a student is a tangible reminder of the legacy of the nation’s desegregation efforts — Williams Fine Arts and Sciences Magnet School.

After the Brown v. Board of Education decision, districts were no longer allowed to designate schools as black or white. But the decision did nothing to address the poverty, discrimination and real estate practices that ensured many black and white families continued to live in separate neighborhoods.

Many neighborhood schools remained segregated, prompting a second round of school cases in Topeka.

Under the Topeka district’s eventual desegregation effort, special programs were designed for two magnet schools — built in the mid-1990s in predominantly minority neighborhoods — in an attempt to lure white students.

NAACP recognizes Brown pioneers

The NAACP honored comedian Bill Cosby and former President Carter on Monday at a black-tie gala in Washington, D.C., commemorating the Brown v. Board of Education ruling 50 years ago.

The celebration included tributes to lawyers and plaintiffs who laid the groundwork for the landmark decision that desegregated schools. The event also honored Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who led the team of attorneys arguing the case.