Deborah Dandridge on How the Landmark Supreme Court Ruling Showed ‘It’s the Youth That Will Make Progress in Our Democracy’

Deborah Dandridge started kindergarten in Topeka, Kansas, in 1951. She is now curator of the African American Experience Collections in Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries.

In this interview, Dandridge contextualizes the history and effects of Brown v. Board with her personal experiences in Topeka at the time.

Dandridge also served as a researcher and writer for the national traveling exhibit “In Pursuit of Freedom and Equality: Kansas and the African American Public School Experience, 1855-1955,” sponsored by the Brown Foundation for Educational Excellence, Equity and Research.

Learn more about the five cases that were ultimately merged into Brown v. Board and see more testimonials from the families who changed America’s schools at our new site: The74Million.org/Brown65.

Disclosure: The Walton Family Foundation provides financial support to The 74 and funded The Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research in producing the new book Recovering Untold Stories: An Enduring Legacy of the Brown v. Board of Education Decision.