Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park was established in Topeka, Kansas, on October 26, 1992, by the United States Congress to commemorate the landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Brown v. Board of Education aimed at ending racial segregation in public schools.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and, as such, violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws."

The National Park Service will not own these sites but will provide financial and technical assistance to exhibit their history.

After the Civil War a number of newly freed African Americans came to Topeka and built homes on this land.

After Ritchie's death in 1887, the land was purchased by the Topeka Board of Education to build a school for African American children.

Monroe Elementary School is a two-story brick and limestone building in the Italian Renaissance Revival style.

[5] In a 2004 interview for PBS station KTWU, one of the teachers from Monroe, Barbara Ross, recalled: I feel they were good schools.

In the Brown case, the legal opinion was not that the schools for black children in Kansas were qualitatively worse in construction, books, etc.

After a series of letter writing campaigns and meetings with local Congressional leadership and the Trust for Public Land the school was secured.

The Trust for Public Land purchased the property in 1991 and it was added to the National Historic Landmark nomination for the Sumner Elementary School, listed in 1987.

On October 26, 1992, President George H. W. Bush signed legislation establishing Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.