Donald Henderson
Son of plaintiff in the case

By Nikki Overfelt, class of 2004

Donald Henderson played a part in changing the course of American history, but he doesn’t remember much.

“I was too busy playing,” Henderson said. “I didn’t understand what was going on.”

Henderson’s mom, Zelma, was a plaintiff in the Oliver Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case. Henderson was only in first grade at the time, so he was unaware of the significance of his family’s actions.

Henderson was born and raised in Topeka. He attended McKinley Elementary School in north Topeka before integration. After McKinley was closed, he went to Monroe and then Lowman Hill Elementary Schools.

For Henderson and his sister, Vicki, who was in kindergarten at the time, the switch to integrated schools was not a big change. During the summer, Henderson would stay with his grandparents in western Kansas. Their town had few African Americans, and nothing was segregated. For instance, Henderson said he was allowed to swim in the same pool as the white kids. Plus his mom put him in an integrated nursery school in Topeka.

Henderson just saw the switch as a way to make new friends. He was young enough that he didn’t suffer any threats once the schools were integrated.

“At that young of an age, you don’t know any different,” he said. “Only the ones that were taught to hate it, hated it.”

Henderson said it was probably the older kids who saw more of the adverse effects of integration.

Even though Henderson didn’t realize the importance of the case as it was happening, he knows it opened many doors in his life and the lives of so many others. This is something younger generations often take for granted.

“You didn’t have a choice of what side of town you wanted to live on,“ he said. “These generations have no idea what went on 40 to 50 years ago. They don’t realize the world’s wide open to them.”

Henderson, now 59 years old, still lives in Topeka. He has a wife, four children and 14 grandchildren. After 38 years, he retired from Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and is now helping his wife run a daycare.