Fannie S. Rowles presented herself for admission to the seventh grade at Emerson School in Wichita. School officials refused to admit her because of her race. They told her to enroll at Park, a segregated school for Black children. Fannie's mother, Sallie Rowles, sued the Board of Education to compel them to admit Fannie to Emerson School. The district court ruled against the Rowles, so they appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court. The Court found that Wichita was not authorized by law to maintain any grade of its public schools for the separate education of white and Black children. The Court ruled: "In the absence of an express grant thereof, no city or school district has any authority to discriminate or to deny any child admission to any public school on the account of color."  The Rowles family won the case.