Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and others remembered the Brown v. Board of Education ruling Friday in Topeka.
The event comes on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ordered an end to segregation in public schools.
The governor spoke at the former Monroe Elementary School in Topeka, which is now a national historic site dedicated to the ruling.
Brownback says it’s important to remember the controversy surrounding the Brown v. Board ruling and the struggles of the civil rights movement.
“And (there’s) going to be a lot of tears of sadness, saying that happened here. This happened in the United States, but tears can be cleansing, too,” Brownback says. “And it can be time for people to say yes it did, but never again. And we want this country to move on forward together.”
The facility dedicated a new classroom as part of the event. It’s modeled after a 1950s classroom and is aimed at giving young children a hands-on experience of what schools were like at that time.
