If I say the name “Linda Brown,” what are you thinking? Probably nothing. And that’s what I was thinking when I saw an article about her passing on Facebook. Considering I was bored in class, I clicked the article.

Linda Brown is the little girl that is the reason that I am able to sit in classes today with men and women of all races. Linda Brown is the reason that separate but equal is no longer applicable in today’s schools. Linda Brown is the Brown to Brown V Board of Education, the historic Supreme Court Case from 1954 that decided that separate educational systems were not equal and were deemed unconstitutional.

Linda Brown is someone that has affected every single educated person in America, whether they know it or not. When you sit in your classes and you look around and see faces of different shades and different backgrounds, that’s because of Linda Brown. When black and brown kids are going to schools minutes away from their homes, instead of miles, that’s because of Linda Brown. When I get to say that some of my best friends are Brazilian, White, or Indian, that’s because of Linda Brown. When I get to go to a phenomenal college and get a higher education, that’s because of Linda Brown. As a black person, I owe my right to an education to Linda Brown and her family, and I didn’t even know her name until today.

I encourage you to read about her life and her legacy. Her family risked it all so that she would have access to a better education, so that kid’s that looked like her, that look like me, would have access to better education. Black History Month is long over, but the legacy and lessons we have to gain from black men and women never stop.