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 ...
At Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site in Arkansas, exhibits tell the story of those times, and interactive oral history stations give you a chance to hear the people who were there tell the story in their own words.
A large two-story red brick house with a stone wall leading up to the front porch. Two doors are connected to the front porch with a patio covering that connects to a covered driveway on the southern end of the house. The home has a dark grey roof with two pointed roof spires.
A 2-stroy brick building with a wooden wheelchair accessible ramp at the fron of the building. White double doors can be seen at the entrance with two windows on either side of the doors. Three windows can be seen on the second story of the building.
A large 2-story building made of light tan bricks. The center of the building has a large clock tower on it. The other two parts of the building have rows of windows on both floors of the structure.
Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area shares the stories of 19th century Americans living in Kansas and Missouri who struggled to define the meaning of freedom during the Bleeding Kansas and Civil War years and how these historic struggles have shaped our nation’s concept of American democracy today as freedom for all continues to evolve.
In the 1840’s the Pappan brothers who were the first white citizens of Kansas created a ferry to help travelers cross the Kansas river. This area soon evolved into the Great Overland Station. This helped create over a 100 train depots connecting tracks through Kansas.
The Capitol measures 399 feet north and south and 386 feet east and west. It stands 306 feet from the ground to the top of Ad Astra's bow. The west wing is four feet wider and six feet longer than the east wing. The dome is 66.5 feet in diameter at the bottom of the copper dome and 54.5 feet from the beginning of the copper dome to the cupola floor. The cupola height is 23.5 feet.
On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka unanimously ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. This was a major turning point in the fight for public school desegregation.
Mamie Luella Williams was a lifelong educator in Topeka, Kansas. She was born in 1894 in Greenwood, South Carolina. Five years later she moved with her family to Topeka, where she would become an accomplished teacher and principal at some of the segregated schools. Miss Williams was the only African American in her graduating class at Washburn University, and went on to spend 4 summers at Columbia University in New York, where she earned advanced certificates. Miss Williams chose to be a career educator, as she taught at a time when women had to choose between their career as educators, or forfeiting teaching in order to have families. After retiring from teaching, Miss Williams continued to play an active role in her community. In addition, she served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1971. In 1976 she was featured in a documentary titled, "75 Years on Quincy Street," where she talked about her career and life in Topeka. Located two blocks from the former Monroe Elementary School is the Williams Science and Fine Arts Magnet School, named in honor of Miss Williams.
A large 3-story concrete building with three front entrances and four large pillars. There is a row of 5 windows on the third and fourth floors that are visible from the front entrance. The roof of the building has an American flag positioned on top of it.
A three-story stone building with large double doors at the front entrance. A row of windows can be seen on the first floor of the building, two flanking the doors on either side of the building. Another row of 5 windows can be seen on the second floor with a large stain glass window positioned just above the double doors at the front entrance. A bell tower can be seen on the left side of the front of the building with a cross positioned on the top of the bell tower.
The front of this two story square building is covered is made of red brick. There is a door on the right-hand side of the front of the building. Something odd above the door however, another door exiting the second floor without a landing or stairs. The doors are countered by large rectangular windows on the left side. The left face of the building is made of limestone rubble, and four equally large rectangular windows.
A one-story brick church building, that has a lower third of the building made of stone. A circular window can be seen near the top of the church's wall, with a larger rectangular window on the middle-left portion of the wall. A white door is visible on the bottom right-hand side of the building.
A large, brick school building that stands at approximately two-stories tall. The windows are boarded up with plywood. A short flight of stair leads to the boarded up front doors of the school.
A grey concrete wall that stands at 11 ft. tall and stretches 300 feet around three sides of a former water reservoir. A small patch of snow-covered grass is visible Infront of the wall that stretches the entire 300 ft. length of the wall. A sidewalk is visible on the left side of the grass. The wall itself is covered with colorful images that commemorate community leaders, events, and places. The design focuses on true and fictional stories that illustrate what the word Topeka means.
A large cemetery that is surrounded by a long stone wall with a black iron gate at the entrance. The gate is large enough to be accessible for motor vehicles.
The name Brown has been a symbol with different meanings throughout Topeka's history. To some, it meant assistance on their path to freedom For others it represents the legal brawl that led to racial integration. This tour will visit several historic sites, each with a slice of Topeka's civil rights story from abolitionist John Brown to Rev. Oliver Brown, lead plaintiff of the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board decision.
