When considering the desegregation of schools, it is generally believed that it started with the monumental Brown v Board of Education of Topeka decision in 1954. However, in 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court held that schools did not have the right to segregate based on race. This episode aims to spread knowledge on the girl that started it all—86 years before the Supreme Court of the United States—twelve-year-old Susan Clark from Muscatine, Iowa. Other topics in this episode include inequities in schools and the necessity of giving all students an equal education. In order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4, we have to ensure that the schools across our nation are fair and that we are giving each student access to the same resources and opportunities they need to succeed. The children are our future. We must allow them to make the most of theirs.

Hear more from Nikole Hannah-Jones by checking out her website here or reading her New York Times Magazine article on choosing a school for her own daughter. You can learn more about her most recent work, The 1619 Project, here.

To learn about the Chicago Public Schools strike, click here.

For more on Jennifer Chavez-Miller, check out her National Geographic Explorer biography.

To learn more about the legacy of the late Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice, Mark Cady, read The Des Moines Register story here.