This is the Monroe School in Topeka KS. It was one of four schools that were involved in lawsuits beginning in 1951 to fight against segregation in public schools (one of the schools was in Farmville VA, also on this blog). When the cases reached the Supreme Court, this one in Topeka was the one that was chosen to rule on. The landmark decision in 1954 declared that segregation was unconstitutional and that public schools must be integrated.Front door of Monroe School. The site was closed to the public because of COVID fear.Kansas was a crucial state in the anti-slavery cause in the 1850s as well. The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed into law in 1854 may have been the most significant event that led to the Civil War. The Act made Kansas and the Nebraska Territory “popular sovereignty” territories, which enraged Northerner and abolitionists, because at the time Kansas was considered pro-slavery. “Bleeding Kansas” was a time of brutal massacres and battles in eastern Kansas in the late 1850s.
This building is the Historic Ritchie House, the home of John and Mary Ritchie in the 1850s and 1860s. They were instrumental in assisting many slaves escape from the south via the Underground Railroad. John Ritchie was considered an “ultra abolitionist”. After the Civil War, he sold and gave away land to former slaves in Topeka.
