Racial segregation in public schools and the controversial
concept of "separate but equal" were unanimously declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court on this
day in history, May 17, 1954.

The high court ruled 9-0 in favor of the plaintiffs in the famous
landmark case of Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, 
Kansas.        

Linda Brown (far left) with parents Leola and Oliver and little sister Terry in front of their house in Kansas. The Browns
sued the Kansas Board of Education when young Linda
wasn’t allowed to go to an unsegregated school.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren oversaw the high court’s 9-0 decision in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case.

Topeka, Kansas is home to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.

On April 25, 1950, the Boston Celtics make Chuck Cooper, an
All-American forward from Duquesne University, the first
African American picked in NBA draft. With the selection,
the first pick in the second round, Cooper breaks the NBA’s
color barrier and changes the league for the better.

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, at age 28, became the first
African American player in Major League Baseball’s modern
era when he steps onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn to compete
for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson broke the color barrier
in a sport that had been segregated for more than 50 years.

Exactly 50 years later, in 1997, Robinson’s groundbreaking
career was honored and his uniform number, 42, was retired
from Major League Baseball by Commissioner Bud Selig in
a ceremony attended by over 50,000 fans at New York City’s
Shea Stadium. Robinson’s was the first-ever number retired
by all teams in the league.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson
(January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972)

An armed group of white supremacists attacked a courthouse
guarded by a mostly-Black militia in the town of Colfax,
Louisiana on April 13, 1873. A bloodbath ensued, as the
militia surrendered and the white supremacists carried out a
day-long campaign of terror that came to be known as the
Colfax Massacre.

The President’s National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders—known as the Kerner Commission—released
its report, condemning racism as the primary cause of
the recent surge of riots. Headed by Governor Otto
Kerner of Illinois, the 11-member commission was
appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in July
1967 to uncover the causes of urban riots and
recommend solutions.

Otto Kerner Jr. (August 15, 1908 – May 9, 1976)

The Kerner Commission with President Lyndon B. Johnson
seated center.