After a night in Topeka at WM we decided to take the boys to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Site where they earned another Junior Ranger Badge! It's now history lesson time. In 1954 the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9-0) that separate educational facilities for black and white students were inherently unequal. This landmark decision essentially overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 which declared that each state could establish separate public schools. This ruling held that as long as the separate facilities for separate races were "equal," the segregation did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment ("no state shall... deny to any person... the equal protection of the laws"). I guess "equal" was in the eye of the beholder since many of the black schools were in shambles and separate is NOT equal. At the time of the Brown case there were still 17 states which required this "separate but equal" policy. Mr. Brown, a welder with the Sante Fe Railroad and Associate Pastor, was actually one of thirteen parents named on the law suit that took place in Topeka. The NAACP selected him because he was married, in an intact, complete family. His daughter Linda, a 3rd grader, had to walk 6 blocks to her bus stop then take a bus 1 mile to Monroe Elementary, a segregated black school, while the white children in her neighborhood walked to nearby Sumner Elementary, a white only school. The historical site (pictured below) is Monroe Elementary.
The US Supreme Court ruling was lead by Chief Justice Earl Warren. In addition to serving on the Supreme Court from 1953 to 1969, Warren was also governor of California from 1943 to 1953, and ran as Vice President with Dewey who lost to Truman in 1948 and may be best know for the Warren Commission which investigated the death of President John F. Kennedy.
While in the museum we were all reminded of the many uphill battles the Black Americans had to fight in order to begin to have equality. There was one light up trivia board that you had to pick all the ways in which the blacks were segregated. I think the boys were amazed to see how ridiculous us white people had and have been. We also watched a few video clips in which you can see the anger and the violence that our ancestors had when equality started to take place. It was sad to watch and hard to understand why they behaved in that manner.
I have to also mention that it wasn't all white people who were racist. There were many white people that made some really brave stands at that time. There were white kids that choose to be friends with their new black schoolmates even though they were persecuted when they choose to do so. There were white leaders who were voting and fighting for equality even though it may affect their popularity. There where whites and blacks peacefully marching together in order to produce change. It is important to me that our kids understood that even though doing the right thing is sometimes unpopular and it may take a lot of courage, a ton of inner strength and consistent determination. In the end it will ALWAYS be the way that has the highest reward, if not here... then in heaven.
After the museum we drove by the Capitol on our way to BOBO's drive-in diner. This was featured on the Food Network as one of the yummiest hamburger drive-in diners. It was packed when we arrived and for good reason. It was good. We had burgers, onion rings, shakes and root beer floats (and you wonder why we are getting chubby). After we rolled back into the RV we drove to Kansas City, Missouri. We had a harder time finding an RV park due to the 4th of July weekend. We choose the Worlds of Fun RV Park. It actually wasn't our first choice even though it was the nicest in town. You see it was connected to an amusement park and it wasn't a Six Flags so we knew we weren't going to pay to get in. So it was kinda like dangling carrots in front of hungry bunnies. The kids would look out of the front of the RV and watch the roller coasters race by but they couldn't go on it. They actually handled it better then we expected and we did have a great time swimming in the RV park pool.
Thought of the day: We all were again shocked that this "inequality" was only about 50 years ago. The fact that we all grew up (are growing up) in a diverse California has served us well. Actually the fact that we have all grown up in Christian environments where we were taught that all of us are God's equal children is thee most important. THANKS TO OUR PARENTS for bringing us up with great examples of how to be friends with all people, no matter their race! We hope that we can do as good as a job teaching this to our children. It is always much easier to say then to do.
Posted by a joint effort from Dave and Cindi
