Journal of Curriculum and Supervision Fall 2004, Vol. 20, No. 1, 5-1.^ THEIR CRIES WENT UP TOGETHER: BROWN ETAL V. BOARD OF EDUCATION THEN AND NOW LA VONNE I. NEAL, Southwestern University ALICIA L. MOORE, Southwestern University ABSTRACT: This article speaks to the fragmentary information availabit? about the 12 plaintiffs other than Oliver L. Brown who also were participants in the Brown v. Board of Education case. In particular, it highlights the experiences of Lucinda Todd, the first plaintiff in the case. It uses this case in a discussion of the impor- tance of illuminating experiences of African Americans in U.S. history. It underlines the significance of oral narrative as a method to expand historical scholarship. "The wind was young and the sea was old, but their cries went up together."' —Pant Laurence Dunhar I n addition to Oliver L. Brown, 12 individuals and their cries went up together. Poet Dunbar's verse shines a spotlight on the picas for educational equity voiced by all parents and children affected by racial segregation. The Brown case was not an effort undertaken by a single individual, but rather a collaborative effort of concerned parents who sought social justice. This fact, for the most part, has been consigned to historical obscurity. Consequently, Brown has be- come the central figure in the historic communal fight for educational equality in Topeka, Kansas, and the entire nation. Still, the other plaintiffs were just as committed and steadfast as was Brown in their views about the opportunity for their children to be released from the Jim Crow tyranny of a "separate but equal" educational system. Authors' note: The themes presented here are derived from a videotaped in- terview that we conducted with Mrs. Nancy Todd-Noches on April 13. 2004. at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and artifacts (e.g., letters, newslet- ters, pictures) from her personal collection, 'Paul Laurence Dunbar. Lyrics of Lowly Life: The Poetry of Paul Laurence Dun- iiar(Secaucus, NJ: Citadel Press, 1984), p. l62.