Cleaver, Davids, LaTurner Call on National Park Service to Incorporate History of Webb v. School District 90 into Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Park

"The Brown v. Board of Education NHP is a critical part of the National Park Service's efforts to tell our nation's history," wrote the lawmakers. "Thousands of visitors that come to the NHP each year would greatly benefit from better understanding more of the history and activism that led to the Brown decision."

Concerning segregation at South Park Elementary School in present day Merriam, Kansas, Webb was a groundbreaking decision delivered by the Supreme Court of Kansas in 1949, ruling that Black students were entitled to attend South Park Elementary School instead of being segregated to the two-room, dilapidated Walker School. The case, among others, played a critical role in laying the legal groundwork and paving the way to the Brown decision ending school segregation in the United States just five years later.

"Therefore, we respectfully ask you to incorporate the stories of Webb and other relevant cases that predate Brown into the NHP's permanent exhibits at the Monroe Elementary School site and any future NHP sites," the lawmakers continued. "We also request that you work to acquire any significant artifacts or collections from Webb and other relevant cases to permanently display in Topeka as appropriate."

A full copy of the official letter is available here.

Emanuel Cleaver, II is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's Fifth Congressional District, which includes Kansas City, Independence, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Grandview, Sugar Creek, Greenwood, Blue Springs, North Kansas City, Gladstone, and Claycomo. He is a member of the exclusive House Financial Services Committee and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance.