Telegram

Racial Tension

This telegram captures the danger that Delaware's students of color faced when attempting to integrate schools.

Louis L. Redding’s 1954 telegram to Governor Boggs reflects the turmoil that enveloped the town of Milford when it attempted to desegregate the high school.

Louis L. Redding was the first African American lawyer in Delaware being admitted to the bar in 1929. In 1952, Redding prevailed in two cases that compelled the desegregation of two school districts in New Castle County. Those proceedings were among the six cases of the 1954 landmark decision of Brown vs. Board of Education, which stated segregation in public schools, violated the 14th Amendment. Eleven African American teenagers choose to attend Milford High School in 1954, which at that time was all white. Many citizens were outraged and seventy percent of the student population boycotted the school in September of that year. Many religious groups urged their parishioners not to boycott the school, but to uphold the law and work for integration.

September 24, 1954

1950s

Wilmington, Delaware

African American lawyers
Civil rights
Desegregation
Law
Redding, Louis L.
School integration
Segregation
Telegram

Louis L. Redding

Physical dimensions: undetermined
Digital dimensions: 600 x 429px

Ink and paper

Delaware Public Archives

https://archives.delaware.gov/one-hundred-stories-exhibit/we-are-living-learning/racial-tension/

The copyright and related rights status of this item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available (noted above in Publisher and Identifier) for more information.

The copyright and related rights status of this item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available (noted above in Publisher and Identifier) for more information.

Artifacts of Education