Federal Court Order Initiating the Brown v. Board of Education School Segregation Case in Topeka, Kansas (1951)

Date: March 1, 1951

Created By: Oliver Brown et al

Original or Replica: Original

Era: The Presidency, Civil Rights

Collection: Eisenhower Presidential Library

Citations: U.S. District Court, District of Kansas, Brown v Board of Education, Box 1, Documents 1-23

This March 1, 1951 order from the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas concerns the opening stages of Oliver Brown, et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the case that would eventually become part of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The complaint, filed by Oliver Brown and other Topeka parents and children, challenged Kansas laws permitting racial segregation in public schools and sought federal protection of the plaintiffs’ civil rights.

The plaintiffs requested a permanent injunction preventing Kansas officials from enforcing the state’s school segregation law, a declaratory judgment concerning its constitutionality, and enforcement of their federal civil rights. Because the lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of a state statute, the order determined that the case should be heard by a special three-judge federal district court. The judge directed that copies of the complaint and order be sent to the governor and attorney general of Kansas and that the defendants be formally summoned. The accompanying page identifies the numerous parents and children who joined Brown as plaintiffs. This document captures an early procedural step in the legal challenge that ultimately reached the Supreme Court and resulted in the 1954 ruling that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.