Zelma Henderson, The Last Surviving Brown Topeka Plaintiff

Zelma Henderson passed away last week after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Ms. Henderson was the last surviving plaintiff from the Topeka, Kansas litigation that was part of the Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. As noted by Barbara Hollingsworth in the Topeka Capital-Journal, "Finally, she saw a black man running for president. And while she welcomed the chance to talk about her place in history, she wasn't one to constantly tout her role as one of Topeka's 13 plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education."