Monroe Elementary in Topeka, Kansas was at the center of desegregation of schools after thirteen families attempted to enroll their black students in all white schools. A district court ruled against the families in 1951 and the case was then combined with four others to be taken to the Supreme Court. In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment saying “Separate education facilities are inherently unequal.”

Fourteenth Amendment: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”