Today, I visited the World War I Museum in Kansas City. On my way to Abilene, I stopped at the Brown vs. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka.

The WWI Museum “started life” in 1926. Local Kansas Citians wanted to recognize their local war heroes along with all who served in “The War to End all Wars.”

I’m highly impressed with the museum. I didn’t have a lot of time today and hope to return soon. They provided the full story of how the Europeans were at war for three years before the United States entered the war. Until that time, the US was primarily isolationist, but it supported the British and other allies with supplies.

The US entry into the war solidified the US as a global power and set the stage for WWII. The terms of surrender put Germany in an (to them) untenable position. That led to the rise of Hitler just ten years later.

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Brown vs. Board of Education involved a black family filing suit against the board of education of Topeka because they refused entry to their daughter. The case began in 1949. After much deliberation and several interim decisions, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional and that schools must integrate with “all deliberate speed.”

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The building was closed since it was Sunday. I have a picture of a mural near the old school and of the building, and some poster boards explaining the story.

The interesting part is, a man who attended this black school and lived through the whole event, stopped and talked with me. He gave me an autographed picture of the black kids in his class. He’s now 82 years old and spends some of his time talking with people who show up to see the museum!

I had a 15-minute conversation with him, and he shared his story with me. I asked him if there were problems between black and white kids. He said many already played together, and the kids were OK. He told me that the parents were the cause of the issues.

It was great to get the perspective of someone who lived through the events of the 1950s.

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"Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.”

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Classic Rock song: "The Times They Are A’changin’” by Bob Dylan

Please email me with questions!

Miles Traveled: 210

States visited to date: Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

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Until next time.....

Stan

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Featured Post: Here’s a link to my post about the US National Parks.