The widow of the lead plaintiff in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that led to school desegregation has turned 100.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Leola Brown Montgomery celebrated her birthday on Friday. Montgomery's husband, Oliver Brown, became the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit after attempting to enroll their daughter, Linda, in an all-white elementary school near the family's Topeka home in 1951. Oliver Brown was told she had to instead attend the all-Black Monroe School two miles away.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1954 that "separate but equal" schools violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
