The Delaware Public Archives unveiled a new historical marker Wednesday recognizing the Bulah family’s contribution to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case and racial justice in the U.S.
The marker stands beside a walking trail at Tweed’s Park in Hockessin, right across the street where the Bulah family home once stood.
Shirley Bulah had to walk two miles to get to School #107C – even though a school bus passed right by her house and the school for Black students on its way to a whites-only school.
Her mother’s requests for Shirley to take the bus were denied, eventually leading to the 1952 Supreme Court case Bulah v. Gebhart. That case joined several others to become the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed school segregation.
René Michelle Ricks-Stamps is Shirley Bulah’s daughter. She attended the unveiling and said it’s important stories like her family’s be accessible.
“Your family, your history can make a difference, whether your family has doctors in them, or attorneys in them or nurses in them, teachers in them,” Ricks-Stamps said. “Know, everybody has a story. It might not even be the best story, but you learn something.”
New Castle County Council member Janet Kilpatrick added another marker addressed the school, but it was time to address the Bulah family directly..
“I think it ties together a lot of the history of what Hockessin was and hopefully will never be again,” Kilpatrick said. “Very few places within the United States can say that they are part of a federal lawsuit, and we were. And I think this is obviously one of the big things that brought desegregation about.”
Bulah v. Gebhart was the only case included in Brown v. Board of Education that experienced a victory in the lower courts, according to the National Park Service.
Wilmington’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People worked with Louis Redding, Delaware’s only African American attorney at the time.
Delaware Public Archives director and state archivist Stephen Marz said it’s important people know that Sarah Bulah wrote several letters advocating for her daughter and against discriminatory practices.
“Didn't get the type of response she wanted, and she got hot and mad about it,” Marz said. “Why should she have her daughter walk almost two miles when the bus goes right past her house, just because she's a Black child?… So when people come past here, they can see it, and they can realize that something as small as a letter started the ball rolling.”
Ricks-Stamps concurred and said people need to address the taboo. One way to do that is through education.
“We have to address these issues because our youth know better. They know better. They read right through it. They see everything. They hear everything. So, it's just not in our [...] best favor to keep lying about history.”
Delaware Public Archives updated its historical marker design in May, and the new marker in Hockessin followed suit. Marz said Delawareans are pleased to celebrate diversity and inclusion.
“This started inclusion and why it was not being done back in the 50s, and why it's being done now, and how it needs to be maintained,” Marz said. “You have to look at the roots from where people come from and build upon that so that we can ensure that the future is reflective of what is correct and what is right, and not to let any other institution knock that down.”
The marker is easily accessible and visible along the walking trail, approximately a seven-minute walk from the parking lot.
