Page 11 - Delaware Lawyer - Issue 1 - 2024

segregation. Reflecting on the deci- sions later in life, now-Chancellor Seitz stated:
I first stated that I believed seg- regation was per se unconsti- tutional under the Equal Pro- tection Clause. I then wrestled with the profound issue as to whether, despite my affirmative finding as to the psychological harm suffered by Black children as a consequence of segregated schools, I was free to implement such a conclusion in view of Su- preme Court precedent, which, of course, was binding on me. As my opinion states, I finally decided that I was not free to so rule in light of certain Supreme Court precedent. However, I went on to say that the declara- tion of invalidity should come from the United States Supreme
Court. I never could see how the Equal Protection Clause could be read any other way.
With his hands tied once again by Plessy, Chancellor Seitz visited the segregated schools and compared the stark differences. He also considered the psychological harm that segrega- tion itself imposed on Black students. In his words, the conditions at both schools “left no room for doubt that separate was in all respects unequal.” Once again, he rejected the path cho- sen by other states to give Delaware time to equalize the facilities. Instead, he ordered the immediate integra- tion of Claymont High School and Hockessin School #29.
The combined Belton and Bulah cases were affirmed by the Delaware Supreme Court in 1952. In 1954, the cases became part of the cases ap- pealed in Brown v. Board of Education.
In Brown, the Supreme Court held unanimously that racially segregated public schools violate the Equal Pro- tection Clause of the 14th Amend- ment. The Court struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that had been the law of the land since 1896 in Plessy.
At the 70th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, it is fitting to remember the Delawareans who laid the groundwork for such an endur- ing decision. If not for the plaintiffs in the Delaware cases, their remarkable African American lawyer Louis Red- ding, and the willingness of Chancel- lor Seitz and the Court of Chancery to act contrary to popular opinion at the time, things might have been dif- ferent. The Delaware decisions were the only ones affirmed by the United States Supreme Court. Of that, Dela- ware can be truly proud.
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