East Dover Hundred in Kent County, Delaware — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Delaware Desegregation Monument
Photographed by Pete Skillman, November 26, 2025
1. Delaware Desegregation Monument Marker
"We are all Americans, and when the state sets up separate schools for certain people of a separate color, then I and others are made to feel ashamed and embarrassed."
Mother of Ethel Louise Belton
"They were courageous pioneers blazing trails through controversial and then uncharted territories of law and justice which ultimately brought to our state the true meaning of justice for all."
INRE Journal of the Delaware State Bar Association, November 1998
[Captions]:
Ethel Louise Belton
As a student at Howard High School
Shirley Barbara Bulah
As an elementary school student at Hockessin School No. 107 C(olored)
Delaware Chancellor Collins J. Seitz
Author of the two Delaware desegregation decisions, Gebhart v. Bulah and Gebhart v. Belton
Delaware Attorney Louis L. Redding and Thurgood Marshall, Lead Attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,
Among the respondents' attorneys in the Brown v. Board case
[Reverse Side]:
Mother and Daughter at the U.S. Supreme Court:
Nettie Hunt and her daughter, Nickie, sit on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in May 1954. Nettie explains to her daughter
this page online
Claymont High School was the first formerly all-White Delaware public high school to admit Black students, including the "Claymont Twelve," one of whom, Ethel Louise Belton of Belton v. Gebhart, ultimately chose to remain at Howard High School.
Hockessin Elementary School No. 107C, where Shirley Bulah was a student.
Howard High School, Wilmington, the first Black public high school in Delaware.
Milford High School, where in the fall of 1954, after the Brown v. Board decision was handed down, 11 Black students, "the Milford Eleven," were admitted, resulting in a school boycott by many angry White parents. The students were ultimately withdrawn from the school, unlike the "Claymont Twelve," most of whom remained in that high school.
In the two Delaware desegregation cases, Belton v. Gebhart (Claymont High School) and Bulah v. Gebhart (Hockessin Elementary School No. 107 C), Chancellor Collins J. Seitz struck down segregation, the only cases among those making up Brown v. Board nationally
Photographed by Pete Skillman, November 26, 2025
2. Delaware Desegregation Monument - reverse side
In tribute to those Delawareans - the children, their families, the attorneys, and the judge in their cases - through whose efforts Delaware became the first state to strike down public school segregation through judicial action, a decision upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark 1954 decision, Brown vs. Board of Education
Erected 2024.
Topics. This historical marker and monument is listed in these topic lists: African Americans • Civil Rights • Education. A significant historical month for this entry is May 1954.
Location. 39° 9.41′ N, 75° 31.209′ W. Marker is in Dover, Delaware, in Kent County. It is in East Dover Hundred. It is on Legislative Avenue, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 411 Legislative Ave, Dover DE 19901, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker and monument is in the American Mid-Atlantic, on the Delmarva Peninsula, and on the Eastern Seaboard. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere,
Photographed by Pete Skillman, November 26, 2025
3. Delaware Desegregation Monument - wide view
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: State of Delaware World War I Memorial (a few steps from this marker); Legislative Hall: Delaware's Capitol Building (a few steps from this marker); Delaware 9/11 Memorial (within shouting distance of this marker); The Compass Rose (within shouting distance of this marker); Delaware Women's Suffrage Memorial (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); Delaware Women's Service Monument (about 300 feet away); The Women of the Delaware Women's Military Service Monument (about 300 feet away); We hold in respectful memory (about 300 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Dover.
Another marker is no longer nearby. The First State Heritage Park of Dover (was a few steps from this marker but has been replaced with another marker now near it).
Also see . . . New monument commemorates Delaware's role in Brown v. Board of Education. A news article about the dedication ceremony for the monument in May of 2024.
The monument is near the corner of Legislative Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.(Submitted on November 27, 2025, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware.)
It commemorates Delawares role in Brown v Board of Education. Friday is the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark 1954 desegregation decision which included two Delaware cases.
Credits. This page was last revised on May 15, 2026. It was originally submitted on November 27, 2025, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware. This page has been viewed 70 times since then and 25 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on November 27, 2025, by Pete Skillman of Townsend, Delaware.
