How Black Students From Delaware Helped Propel Brown v. Board Of Education To Supreme Court
HOCKESSIN, Del. (CBS) -- The nation is observing the 67th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education Monday. It's the case that said school segregation was unconstitutional.
Among those who propelled the case to the Supreme Court were Black students from the State of Delaware.
Celebrating the Supreme Court case that proclaimed separate is not equal, leaders from Delaware gathered in Hockessin to commemorate the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
But Topeka, Kansas, was not the only city at the forefront of this landmark case.
In 1950, Shirley Bulah was forced to walk two miles to and from Hockessin Colored School No. 107.
Her parents wrote to Delaware's Gov. asking for transportation. Their request was rejected.
Two years later, Chancellor Collins Seitz declared that separate African American schools offered inferior educational opportunities when compared to white schools.
He ordered the desegregation of schools in Hockessin. This decision made in Delaware set the stage for a nationwide change.
Bulah from Hockessin, plus eight students from Claymont, Delaware, combined with four other cases to become the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case.
Hockessin Colored School No. 107 is now becoming a permanent part of Black history. It's being transformed into a center for diversity, inclusion and social equity.
Those who attended the school when it was still segregated, were emotional at how far we've come and how much further we need to go.
Gov. John Carney also made a proclamation today making May 17 Brown v. Board of Education Day in the state.
