By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – Linda Brown Thompson and Cheryl Brown Henderson are the daughters of the late Rev. Oliver Brown, the lead plaintiff in the case of Brown vs. the Board of Education, the 1954 Supreme Court decision that struck down public school segregation.
Thompson said the prospect of having their children walk great distances to all-black schools angered many families:
"My father pondered...why must I have to spend time trying to explain to my child that she cannot go to school with her playmates that are predominantly white, Native American and Hispanic because her skin is black? Thompson said.
Henderson says the case raises the issue of multicultural awareness:
"If we're talking about leveling the playing field, then our white students need to know that their ancestors when they came here experienced stereotyping and having to live in ghettos," Henderson said. "And because we don't teach those lessons, all we're doing is guaranteeing that we'll continue this false sense of historic superiority.
About 300 people attended the Brown Sisters' lecture, one in a series of events in St. Louis recognizing Black History Month.