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Juniors, Topeka High School 1892.

McKinley Burnett (1897-1968), President of the Topeka Chapter of the NAACP. For two years, Mr. McKinley lobbied the Topeka School Board, convened community meetings, wrote letters and helped recruit litigants for the Topeka case in the 1954 Brown v.…

In 1954, when Mr. Jesse Milan began his professional career in Education as a physical education teacher and counselor in the Lawrence, Kansas public schools, he became the first African American teacher in the Kansas #497 Unified School District.…

Once designated as one of the city’s white-only elementary schools, Parkdale began including African American students in 1955.

Mr. Robert Caldwell, teaching Graphic Arts class at Salina High School Central, 1960s. Later, Mr. Caldwell served as Mayor of Salina, an elected representative in Kansas State Legislature, and a member of the Kansas Board of Regents.

This letter, sent to the Topeka Board of Education members in May of 1953, lists reasons why all teachers are needed and how it is unfair to exclude African American teachers, regardless of the then upcoming Supreme Court decision.