Brummell’s family lived in school district number 4 in Grundy County. His four children were the only school-age Black children in the area, so no separate school was ever established for their education. There was a separate school for Black children in the town of Trenton (in the same county), but that school was 3.5 miles from Brummell’s home. Brummell's children attended a closer school for white children for a short time. When they were removed from that school (due to their race), Brummel filed a suit in the Supreme Court of Missouri. The Court found that the state constitution allowed for separate public schools for Black and white children. If fifteen Black students were present in a district, the school board could establish a school for them. Smaller groups of students could attend a separate school in another district. The Court found that requiring Black children to attend a school made for them was not a denial of equal protection of the laws. State laws required Black students to learn in separate schools, but did not exclude them from educational opportunities. As long as Black children had educational advantages and privileges equal to those provided to white children, separation did not deprive them of their rights. This general idea later became known as the “separate but equal doctrine,” decided in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896.