pstrongOn May 17, 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of strongstrongemBrown v. Boardemstrongp pstrongemof Education of Topeka, Kansas emstrongstrongthat state-sanctioned segregation of publicstrongp pstrongschools is unconstitutional.strongp p p pstrongIn September 1954, in an Air Force base school near Salina, Kansas, youngstrongp pstrongAfrican American teacher Mrs. Johnnie Mitchell Nelson became the teacher ofstrongp pstronga second grade class of twenty white children. Mrs. Nelson knew, but did herstrongp pstrongpupils understand they were making history togetherstrongp p p pstrongThrough a class roster of persona poems by poets Doug Anderson, Marthastrongp pstrongCollins, Alfred Corn, Annie Finch, Helen Frost, Margaret Gibson, Jeaninestrongp pstrongHathaway, Andrew Hudgins, Mark Jarman, Peter Johnson, Meg Kearney, strongp pstrongRon Koertge, David Mason, Leslie Monsour, Dinty W. Moore, Marilyn Nelson, strongp pstrongLeslEa Newman, Michael Palma, Michael Waters, and Kat