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Civil rights bus tours planned of historic Topeka sites

Brown vs Board National Historic site
Brown vs Board National Historic site

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A rolling tour of Topeka’s civil rights history is planned for next week.

Buses will depart at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on April 25 from the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, which is housed in a former all-black Topeka school. It tells the story of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned segregated education.

The tour route features the building that served as the first Kansas Capitol during most of the Civil War, the former segregated Buchanan School and the Ritchie House. John Ritchie was a passionate slavery opponent, and he’d hide runaways in a wooded area behind his home. Abolitionist John Brown visited the home in 1859 with escaped slaves.

Historic re-enactors will be at the sites.

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