Linda Brown, who as a young girl was the subject of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, died Monday at age 76, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.
Brown’s sister confirmed the death to the newspaper and had no further comment.
Brown was at the center of the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that deemed school segregation was unconstitutional.
Her father, Oliver Brown, brought a case against the Topeka, Kan., board of education because Linda was forced to walk several blocks to catch a bus to her elementary school, even though another school was only a few blocks away from her home. However, she was barred from attending the closer school because of segregation laws.
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Brown, deeming “separate but equal” was inherently unequal, and paving the way for school desegregation across the country.