A young Linda Brown (left) stands with her younger sister Cheryl and her parents. Her father, Reverend Oliver Brown, asked “Why should my child walk four miles when there is a school only four blocks away? Why should I… explain to my daughter that she can’t attend school with her neighborhood playmates because she is black?”

Linda Brown and her family in the 1950s

Today Linda Brown Thompson lives in Topeka, Kansas. She owns an educational consulting firm with her sister. Together, Linda and her sister have spoken about the court case and their experiences across the country. They have also appeared on television and were invited to the White House.

“We lived in the calm of the hurricane’s eye, looking out at the storm and wondering how it would end,” she recalled on the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to end segregation in public schools.

Linda Brown Thompson, left, signs autographs at the University of Michigan in 2004.

• 1. Main Idea and Details Thurgood Marshall fought hard for civil rights. Give two examples.

• 2. Problem and Solution Why did the Browns take the school district to court? What was the result?

• 3. Conclusions Why was the Browns’ case important? Explain.