The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 70 years ago that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional in its landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. But the case may have played out differently if it hadn’t been for a tenacious group of women in Johnson County, Kansas, who led their own integration lawsuit five years earlier.

From the KCUR podcast A People’s History of Kansas City, Mackenzie Martin reports.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by David McKeel and KCUR Studios, and edited by Madeline Fox and Gabe Rosenberg.

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