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StoryCorps: Legacy of Brown v. Board in Topeka (Bill Bunten & Jack Alexander)

Bill Bunten (left) and Jack Alexander talk about attending school, playing basketball and serving in the military during the time of legal segregation and after segregation legally ended.
Bill Bunten (left) and Jack Alexander talk about attending school, playing basketball and serving in the military during the time of legal segregation and after segregation legally ended.

Since early February, we've been sharing stories about growing up in Topeka, in the shadow of segregation. As part of the 60th anniversary of "Brown versus the Topeka Board of Education," the Kansas Humanities Council sponsored a local StoryCorps project last year, to record the memories of area residents. Today, we hear from former Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten as he talks to his friend Jack Alexander, a former Topeka city councilman.  


That’s Bill Bunten and Jack Alexander, two men who served in Topeka city government and who served their country; Bunten as a marine and Alexander as a sailor. The Topeka residents took part in a StoryCorps project last year, marking the 60th anniversary of Brown v. Board.  The project was sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council, the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library and the Brown v. Board National Historic Site

( Correction: In this episode, Jack Alexander mentions his election to the Topeka City Council in 1972 but he was actually elected as Topeka's first African American city councilman / city commissioner in 1973.)   

Click HERE to listen to the StoryCorps pieces that have aired so far.