Gebhart v. Belton

The unusual status of Gebhart arose in large part because of Delaware's unique legal and historical position.

Without substantial financial support provided by Wilmington's Du Pont family of chemical fame, segregated schools would likely have been in even worse shape.

At the same time, as a remnant of its days as one of the original thirteen former British colonies, Delaware had developed a judicial system which included a separate Court of Chancery, hearing matters arising in equity rather than in law.

As opposed to legal remedies, which usually involve awarding money as damages, equity— as expressed in the maxims of equity, "regards as done that which ought to be done."

Gebhart was filed in 1951 in the Delaware Court of Chancery by lawyers Jack Greenberg and Louis L. Redding under a strategy formulated by Robert L. Carter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Redding was the first black attorney in the history of Delaware and had developed a notable civil-rights practice in his years before the bar.

Over the years, Redding had developed a reputation as a skilled advocate for racial equality, most notably in Parker v. University of Delaware, 75 A.2d 225 (Del.

Presiding over the Gebhart trial was Chancellor Collins J. Seitz, who had issued the Parker opinion the prior year.

Just prior to the Gebhart litigation, Seitz had given a graduation speech at a local Catholic boys' high school, in which he discussed the courage that would be required to address "a subject that was one of Delaware's great taboos -- the subjugated state of its Negroes.

In addition, the plaintiffs offered expert testimony from psychologists, psychiatrists, anthropologists, and sociologists—none of which was rebutted by the defense—demonstrating that the inadequate educational facilities and curricula found in segregated schools were harmful to the mental health of black children.

Chancellor Seitz decried the unequal conditions of the plaintiffs' schools in strong terms: I now consider whether the facilities of the [Claymont and Howard] institutions are separate but equal, within the requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The answer to this question is often much more difficult than appears, because many of the factors to be compared are just not susceptible of mathematical evaluation, e. g., aesthetic considerations.

I reach this conclusion because I do not believe a court can say that the substantial factor as to which the Negro school is inferior will not adversely affect the educational progress of at least some of those concerned.

If this be a harsh test, then I answer that a State which divides its citizens should pay the price.With regard to the Hockessin schools at issue in Bulah, the Court noted similar disparities demonstrating a lack of equal treatment: Another factor connected with these two schools demands separate attention, because it is a consequence of segregation so outlandish that the Attorney General, with commendable candor, has in effect refused to defend it.

The Claymont High Board of Education met on September 3, 1952, and decided they would enroll the black students even without a mandate.

The State Attorney General appealed Chancellor Seitz' decision in Gebhart to the Delaware Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court affirmed the decision in a relatively short opinion, relying on Plessy to reject arguments that segregation per se was unconstitutional, while ordering integration and leaving open the possibility of resegregation in the future.

The state Department of Public Instruction agreed to integrate all Delaware schools in light of the Supreme Court's order.

In Northern and Central Delaware, most were willing to accept the Brown ruling, but there was much opposition from white residents in the southern portion of the state.

Bowles briefly attracted nationwide attention for leading a pro-segregation boycott of previously all-white Milford High School.

On September 27, 1954, as eleven black students were preparing to enroll at the school, unrest from angry townspeople was feared to be imminent.

In response, Louis Redding issued an urgent telegram to Delaware Governor J. Caleb Boggs requesting the presence of state police officers "adequate to assure personal safety of eleven children whose admittance to that school last night was confirmed by state board of education."

[2] Mass protests continued in Milford; the school board eventually ceded to the protestors, expelling the black students.

[2][4] Several weeks later, Bowles was arrested for "conspiring to violate the state education law by leading a boycott at Milford’s integrated high school".

[4][3] However, the ensuing unrest, which included cross burnings, rallies, and pro-segregation demonstrations, contributed to desegregation in most of Southern Delaware being delayed for another ten years.