Yellow brick road
The actual road is believed to be one in Peekskill, New York, where L. Frank Baum attended Peekskill Military Academy. According to a local legend, the Yellow Brick Road was derived from a road paved with yellow bricks near Holland, Michigan, where Baum spent summers. Ithaca, New York, also makes a claim for being Frank Baum's inspiration. He opened a road tour of his musical, The Maid of Arran, in Ithaca, and he met his future wife Maud Gage Baum while she was attending Cornell University. At the time, yellow bricks paved local roads. Yellow brick roads can also be found in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Albany, New York; Rossville (Baltimore County), Maryland; Montclair, New Jersey (Parkhurst Place and Afterglow Way); Bronxville, New York (on Prescott and Valley roads); Chicago, Illinois; Liberal, Kansas; Sedan, Kansas and Chittenango, New York, as well as a school in Abington, Pennsylvania, and abroad in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Cornell William Brooks
In October 2014, Brooks began a Justice Tour, starting in his birthplace, El Paso, TX. The bus tour had a goal to encourage people to vote and discuss social justice issues in their community. He also led a 7-day "Journey for Justice" through Missouri from the Canfield Green Apartments, where unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer, to Jefferson City in 2014. The march met ice storms, bitter cold, and racist taunts. Brooks was heckled down by St. Louis activists about the organization lack of youth participation at a major 'Ferguson October' rally. One woman is quoted as saying, "I had my back turned while that NAACP guy was speaking," explaining the divide between historic black civil rights organizations and the new #BlackLivesMatter Movement taking shape. In Rosebud, MO, a "display of fried chicken, a melon and a 40-ounce beer bottle had been placed in the street." The 134-mile march culminated with a protest at the state Capitol Building. The agitation and advocacy in Missouri contributed to the Ferguson Police Department being held accountable by the Department of Justice using the Racial Profiling Law that the NAACP passed.