Biden To Meet With Brown v. Board of Education Participants And Families

President Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office

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President Biden will meet with participants and family members of the historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling on Thursday.

According to a White House official:

On Thursday, as part of a series of engagements marking the 70th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, President Biden will meet with plaintiffs and their family members at the White House. Among those the President will be meeting with include Adrienne Jennings Bennett, a plaintiff in one of the original cases, Boiling v. Sharpe, that was argued alongside Brown v. Board, and Cheryl Brown Henderson, one of the daughters of the lead plaintiff, Oliver L. Brown, in Brown v. Board. The delegation represents litigants from the five cases that were combined under Brown v. Board of Education and heard before the Supreme Court, as well as NAACP President Derrick Johnson and other leaders of the NAACP who were critical in fighting for these and other hard-won freedoms for Black Americans.

Here is the list of participants who will be at the White House:

Brown v. Board Family Members:

Cheryl Brown Henderson
Daughter of Named Plaintiff, Oliver Brown
Darl Everett, Jr.
Victoria Benson
Jeffrey Benson
Lusandra Everett

Briggs v. Elliott Family Members:

Ada Stukes Adderley
Ky Adderley
Dawn Lucas
Nathaniel Briggs
Son of Named Plaintiff, Briggs

Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward Family Members:

John Stokes
Joan Cobbs
Ernest Johns
Robert Johns
Roderick Johns

Gebhart v. Belton Family Members:

Joan Anderson
Original Plaintiff
Carol Anderson Neff
Tai Ingram
Christopher Michael Neff
Rene Ricks-Stamps

Bolling v. Sharpe Family Members:

Adrienne Jennings Bennett
Original Plaintiff
Curtis Bennet, Sr.
Kim Relaford
Letitia Alexander

It is impossible to overstate how historically significant the Brown decision is in American history. Brown said that segregating children in public schools was unconstitutional. It would still be nine more years of civil rights struggle before the Civil Rights Act would be signed into law.

The contrast between Biden and his 2024 opponent is obvious. President Biden honors civil rights history, while the ex-president ignores it or downplays it.

At a time when Republicans are trying to erase history and ban it from libraries, events like the one at the White House are vital.