The 2004 book, Sarah's Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America, co-authored by Stephen and Paul Kendrick, explores this case, along with its social and political context.
After Sarah Roberts was denied on the basis of her race, and was physically removed from one school, her father wrote to the state legislature to seek a solution.
Eventually, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts heard the case, in which Benjamin Roberts listed his daughter Sarah as the Plaintiff and the City of Boston as the Defendant.
Not all African-Americans supported Roberts; most believed in "separate but equal" schooling and questioned the kind of education their children would receive from a white teacher.
Sumner noted the distance that Sarah had to travel and the psychological trauma the girl would experience having to go to an all-black, sub-standard school.