Linda Brown, whose name at the top of the alphabet helped secure her place in history, was 76 years old when she died. The 1954 Topeka, Kansas lawsuit led to the desegregation of schools.
Brown was nine years old when a public school denied her enrollment because she was black. The lead attorney on the case was Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He later became the first black person chosen to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.