Students from Dover’s William Henry Middle School visited the Delaware State Archives Wednesday as state officials read the proclamation officially recognizing February as African American History Month.
Lt. Governor Matt Denn and others used the opportunity to recall the contributions of African Americans throughout Delaware history.
Among the figures noted were Louis Redding, Delaware’s first African American lawyer, Herman Holloway, Delaware’s first African American state legislator, Littleton Mitchell, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen and President of the Delaware NAACP, and his wife Jane Mitchell, the state’s first African American nurse.
The ceremony also commemorated the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education, a combination of 5 cases, including one from Claymont, that ruled racial segregation in public education unconstitutional.
Denn said that while Brown v. Board of Education was a major step forward towards equality, housing and economic barriers still prevent true educational equality.
"Brown v. Board of Education realized that separate is inherently unequal," said Denn. "But what we have seen over the past six decades is two more subtle truths; that integration is neither a guarantee of equality nor even something that government can necessarily sustain over time."
Denn says that income gaps and housing choices have lead to the persistence of a racial gap in education.
“The racial gap test scores has narrowed dramatically since the 1970s and over the last 15 years it has narrowed more quickly in Delaware than in any other state, and that is good news," said Denn. "But a gap persists and that promise of Brown also remains unfulfilled.”
However, Denn sees light on the horizon.
“I believe that this generation of young people is better able to finish that work than any generation that has come before it," said Denn. "More tolerant, more curious, more savvy, and more wise than any group of students who have come before.”
Wednesday's event was also attended was Dr. Homer Minus, a plaintiff in Parker v. University of Delaware, the case that made UD the first state university to desegregate.
