Participant Prods. will co-finance "The Crusaders," New Line's drama about the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education says Variety.

New Line's set "The West Wing" exec producer Alex Graves to helm the pic, replacing Brad Silberling. Terrence Howard and Topher Grace are in talks to co-star.

Story recounts the 1954 Supreme Court case in which Greenberg, a recent law school grad, and Thurgood Marshall, as head of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund, teamed to help end segregation in schools. Marshall eventually became the first African-American Supreme Court justice.

New Line has brought on John Romano to script based on Jack Greenberg's memoir "Crusaders in the Courts."