March 27, 2018
BALTIMORE, MD – The NAACP is saddened at the passing of civil rights activist Linda Brown at the age of 76. Ms. Brown was the child at the center of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education, the case that led to the outlawing of U.S. school segregation in 1954. The lead attorney on the historic case was NAACPs own Thurgood Marshall. Brown v. Board was one of the most high-profile cases brought by Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Education Fund in their decade-plus campaign to end the doctrine of “separate but equal.”
“Linda Brown was the named plaintiff in the historic Brown v. Board of Education; she was a civil rights icon who will never be forgotten. The NAACP extends our sincere condolences to her family and sends prayers of comfort and strength for the days to come,” said Leon W. Russell, NAACP National Board Chairman.
“As a young girl in Topeka, Kansas, Ms. Brown and her family stood strong to see that change would come for African American students, they did not give up until victory was won. We are thankful for the life of Ms. Linda Brown and for her relentlessness to bring equality to public schools in this country,” said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson.
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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. You can read more about the NAACP’s work and our six “Game Changer” issue areas by visiting NAACP.org.
