Linda Brown of Brown v. Board of Education dies; symbolized struggle against segregation

Michael James | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Linda Brown: The girl who changed school segregation forever Linda Brown was the student at the center of the 1954 landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

Linda Brown, who at the age of 9 became the cornerstone figure in the landmark Supreme Court case that struck down segregation in the nation's schools, has died at age 76 in Kansas, according to published reports.

Topeka’s former Sumner School was all-white when Brown's father, Oliver, tried to enroll the family. He became lead plaintiff in the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision.

Peaceful Rest Funeral Chapel of Topeka confirmed that Linda Brown died Sunday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.

Her sister, Cheryl Brown Henderson, founding president of The Brown Foundation, confirmed the death to The Topeka Capital-Journal. She declined comment from the family.

Kansas Deputy Education Commissioner Dale Dennis says Brown's legacy is not only in Kansas but nationwide. He says the effect she had “on our society would be unbelievable and insurmountable.”

The Supreme Court eventually ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. It overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, an 1896 decision that held that segregated public facilities were constitutional as long as black and white facilities were equal.

The ruling constitutionally sanctioned laws barring African Americans from sharing the same buses, schools and other public facilities as whites — known as “Jim Crow” laws— and established the separate but equal doctrine that would stand for the next six decades, according to History.com.

In his lawsuit, Brown claimed that schools for black children were not equal to the white schools, and that segregation violated the so-called equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, which holds that no state can deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of law.

The case went before the U.S. District Court in Kansas, which agreed that public school segregation had a “detrimental effect upon the colored children” and contributed to “a sense of inferiority,” but still upheld the separate but equal doctrine.

In the Supreme Court decision, issued on May 17, 1954, Justice Earl Warren wrote that “in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” as segregated schools are “inherently unequal.” As a result, the Court ruled that the plaintiffs were being deprived of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

Carolyn Campbell, a lifelong friend of Brown and a former Kansas Board of Education member, recalled to The Capital-Journal on Monday of riding to Topeka High School with Brown. The two were teenagers at the time..

“Linda was quiet. It was difficult for Linda to be pushed into the spotlight at a young age,” she said.

Despite her quiet nature, Brown traveled the country talking about her experience, Campbell said.