The life and legacy of Oliver Brown, the first listed plaintiff of Brown vs. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas.

Abstract

His life and actions have left a somewhat bitter daughter, a Black Topeka community deeply divided over both his actions and the undue credit many feel he received for his part in the momentus Brown Case.

It was determined that Reverend Oliver S. Brown lived a rather obscure life until he was thrust into the limelight in the Brown case; but used the Topeka experience as a base for his activism in helping to desegregate Springfield Missouri's public facilities. A product of a poverty stricken environment and a broken home, a former boxer and welder for the Santa Fe shops in Topeka, the Rev. Brown overcame the odds that a poor Black man could not have a significant impact on his city, state and country.

This investigation was undertaken to study the life of Oliver L. Brown, for whom the famous Brown Decision of 1954 was named. Specifically, it sought to determine those life factors which might have motivated him to file the suit, his other contributions to his city, state and nation and any continuing influence based on his actions, particularly in Topeka.

His untimely death in 1961 at age 42, paralled the untimely death of Dr. Martin Luther King, who shared other similarities with Rev. Brown. The study concluded with a comparison of the two men from the standpoint of change agentry.

Using historical methods, this investigator interviewed residents of the city, other acquaintants and family members, using a structural format; located and retrieved written sources, including books, magazines, newspapers and letters, and an audio tape of one of Oliver Brown's Sunday church services. Several trips to Topeka were make in the accumulation of this data. These data were analyzed, using this writer's experience as a former resident of Topeka as a frame of reference.