Benton Avenue AME Church, Springfield, Missouri, and Brown v. Board of Education

Benton Avenue African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church in Springfield, Missouri, has an indirect link to one of the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark civil rights cases, Brown v. Board of Education.

The pastor from Topeka

Springfield's public schools were integrated in 1955. In 1959, Rev. Oliver L. Brown — the lead plaintiff in Oliver Brown et al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka — was transferred from Topeka, Kansas, to Benton Avenue A.M.E. The NPS account suggests he must have been a great inspiration to the congregation, and to Springfield's whole African American community, as they crossed the old boundaries of segregation.

How the case began

In the summer of 1950, Rev. Brown was one of thirteen Topeka parents who volunteered for a local NAACP effort to challenge school segregation. The parents took their children to the all-white schools in their neighbourhoods to enrol them for the autumn. Turned away, the children had to attend one of Topeka's four segregated schools, which for most meant travelling a long way from home. The Browns' daughter, Linda, was refused a place at nearby Sumner Elementary School and had to attend segregated Monroe Elementary.

The parents sued the Topeka Board of Education on behalf of their 20 children. Rev. Brown was the first parent named, so the case bore his name as it moved through the courts — becoming Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court case that ended segregation in U.S. public schools.

The church joined the African American Civil Rights Network in 2023.

The African American Civil Rights Network

The Network recognises the African American civil rights movement in the United States and the sacrifices of those who fought discrimination and segregation. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017 and coordinated by the National Park Service, it tells the stories of the movement's people, places and events through a collection of public and private resources.

Sources

• National Park Service, African American Civil Rights Network, "Benton Ave. AME Church (Springfield, Missouri)." https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/benton-ave-ame-church.htm