Leader of local NAACP reflects on past

Nearly everywhere she turns, Topeka native Darcella Goodman finds herself surrounded by civil rights history.

She was born April 1, 1954, in Topeka — a little more than a month before the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the Brown v. Board of Education case, which outlawed segregation in public schools.

That Supreme Court decision helped kickstart the larger civil rights movement in the United States.

The epicenter of the Brown v. Board case was Monroe Elementary School, 1515 S.E. Monroe. Goodman attended Monroe from kindergarten through sixth grade.

"I could look out my front door and see the school," Goodman said recently. "We just lived two blocks away, down 17th Street. It seemed like a long way at the time. It doesn't seem so far now."

Today, the Monroe Elementary School building houses the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site.

After her years at Monroe were over, Goodman attended Crane Junior High at S.W. 17th and Tyler, then Topeka High School, 800 S.W. 10th Ave., the latter school for two years.

Her mother and father divorced when she was a girl, and her father moved to California.

After her mother died when she was 17 in 1971, Goodman moved to San Bernardino, Calif., to live with her father for her last year of high school. When she got to California, she learned her father had converted to Judaism and was serving as a rabbi.

Goodman would later convert to Judaism.

When she was a young child, Goodman said, she remembered that both of her parents "believed in Jewish traditions," though her mother was a member of a Christian church.

After she became an adult, Goodman returned to Topeka, where for the past three decades she has attended Temple Beth Sholom, 4200 S.W. Munson, Topeka's Jewish congregation.

It was there that fellow Temple members encouraged her to get involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

"Actually," Goodman said, "it was one of the members of Temple Beth Sholom, Susan Zuber-Chall. She kept at me to join the NAACP."

Finally, in 2016, Goodman joined the NAACP's Topeka branch, serving as the organization's secretary for a couple of years.

Then, in February 2019, she was voted in as president of the local branch, taking the place of the Rev. Ben Scott.

Goodman's involvement with the NAACP may be fairly recent, but her family has a long history with the organization.

Her mother, Jerelene Massey, did secretary work for McKinley Burnett, who was instrumental in bringing about the Brown v. Board of Education case.

Goodman said she wanted to see changes in laws to ensure equal justice and opportunity for all citizens. She noted the closing lines of the Pledge of Allegiance, which include the words, "liberty and justice for all."

"That's a good ideal," Goodman said. "We need good ideals. But why isn't it a reality? I see in the law, in the Constitution we hold so dear, that there isn't equality built into our laws to protect everybody from discrimination and not having the justice that every American citizen deserves."

She said changes in laws are needed to give young people hope.

"They're our future," she said. "We ignore it and say that the next generation can tackle it. No, they need our help now."

Goodman said many laws are "inherently prejudicial" and that some have a "keep 'em down" mentality.

Goodman said she sees many correlations between Judaism and her work with the NAACP.

"Very much so," she said. "Justice is the name of the game. As one of the Scriptures says, 'Let justice roll down like a mighty stream.' That's what the NAACP has always been about — advocating for a level playing field for everyone. Not just for black folks, but everybody."

She said social justice is a main priority of Temple Beth Sholom, which she regularly attends.

Members of the synagogue were excited when she became president of the NAACP, she said.

As president of the Topeka branch of the NAACP, Goodman said she was looking forward to some new energy for the organization this year.

"We all agreed that this is a building year," she said, referring to local NAACP leadership. "We've needed to rebuild our membership and get a positive outlook for the youths. We're trying to build more of a presence in the city."