WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - You won't see her name on every building, but you can see her fingerprints on absolutely everything in USD 259 and beyond.

Her name is Jo Brown, the first African-American woman elected to the Wichita School Board. But those who know her say she's much more than that one tagline. She has helped shape the city of Wichita and the state of Kansas.

Jo has a wit that cuts straight to the heart of the matter, and she takes no prisoners.

A simple search of newspaper archives will turn up hundreds of references, quotes, and entire articles about Josephine "Jo" Brown and her work, mostly on the Wichita school board. She also worked behind the scenes for decades with the NAACP and other organizations to bring change to what was then a segregated city.

"She always had a kind word, and she always had a smile, but she would also be very pointed on her points.  She was very forceful but very sweet about it," remarked Kansas Lieutenant Governor Lynn Rogers.

Now in her 90's, Brown is as sharp as ever! Her personality shines through everything she did, such as graduating cum laude from Wichita State with an elementary education degree, then turning down teaching jobs because someone else needed them more.

"I was a lot more outgoing," Brown admitted, "but I had a husband."

Brown explained that when she moved to Wichita, there were some crosses burned in her yard both at the home she lives in now and also at another address because she lived too close to the borderline.

Even as she was busy raising her kids in the 50s and 60s Brown was actively pushing for change, joining a group of doctor's wives in boycotts of dentists visits on Thursdays (the only time dentists would book black patients) and racking up huge bills at clothing stores that didn't let black women try on clothes or work as clerks, then calling the stores and demanding change. 

By the 1970s, she'd risen to leadership of the local NAACP chapter and was ready to take center stage. She decided to run for Wichita's school board, which at the time was embroiled in a battle with the federal government over integration. 

She didn't imagine when all of this was happening that she would be in the middle of a major point in history.

"I don't think anybody does," Brown said. "I knew that what we were doing was major."

Brown won the school board seat and ended up serving for eight years, breaking more barriers along the way. 

The federal government was threatening to pull 5 million dollars in funding if the district did not come up with an acceptable desegregation plan. The district's answer at the time was a controversial bussing plan. Jo found the plan unfair to minority children because they'd be bussed from kindergarten through high school, whereas white children would be on a lottery system.  After becoming a board member, Brown immediately began working to protect African-American students by voting against the plan.

Betty Arnold said that Jo Brown was "fearless" in terms of approaching the issues that mattered to the Black race.

"I watched that evolve," Arnold said.

Jo spent eight years on the board. At that time she promoted moving from a junior high system to a middle school system, revolutionizing the organization of the district. Additionally, she helped commission a district history in the form of the book titled, Our Common School Heritage by Sondra Van Meter.

"...and I said, 'if you're gonna pay her to do that job then let her do it, and she's going to have the good and the bad!'" Brown said.

She also took over leadership positions on the board, something the relationships she'd built made possible.

"We became good friends, 'cause I always try to be friendly even with people who I don't vote as they vote," Brown said.

"You had to have at least three other people agree to your position to get anything done," added Betty Arnold.

Brown's official public service career ended in 1979 when she ran for city commission, becoming the first Black woman to make it all the way to the general election out of a primary field of 61 candidates. She lost on election night, but that didn't stop her influence from seeping through the community, one person at a time.

One of those people was a columnist and activist Mark McCormick.

"She's really given me whatever steel that I have in my spine," McCormick said.

"They called him and bawled him out because he said when East High was built, they built that swimming pool - they let the black kids swim on Friday so they could clean the pool and drain it for Monday," Brown scoffed.

"People started calling in and writing letters and saying it wasn't just a lie, it was a damned lie, and that I was a liar," McCormick said, "so she called me in the middle of all this, and I'm under all this pressure. and she said, 'they're after you, ain't they baby?'"  

They pointed him to the section in Van Meter's book proving his point. 

Betty Arnold, who followed Jo's path to the Wichita School Board and now serves on the State Board of Education, said Brown made it look easy because she cared. Arnold says she bases her theories on public service on Jo Brown's example. 

"It wasn't about her. it was never about her. It was her being in a position to help," Arnold said,

"I would say of all public servants in Wichita, she has probably got to have the most impact," admitted Lynn Rogers. "I still think once in a while about it, 'ok, what would jo do? how would she implement that?'"

In 2000, Jo Brown put together a pictorial autobiography for her family. In it, she included this quote:

"You can't change your ancestors, but you can do something about your descendants."

Jo Brown has done that for both hers and ours.

"We've had an awful lot to overcome, and we're working on it," she said.