Allies for Justice: How Louis Redding and Collins Seitz Changed the Complexion of America's Schools

By Kathleen Marie Doyle

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.

Almost two centuries after the Declaration of Independence affirmed that all men are created equal, the laws of the land - especially those governing America's sc

• Language: English
• Publisher: DelDove Publishing
• Release date: Nov 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9781734043266

Kathleen Marie Doyle

Extended Author Bio - Website Kathleen Marie Doyle is a writer and award-winning teacher committed to education, the environment, and democracy. Kathleen has been teaching teachers and teenagers in Delaware for over 30 years. She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary Social Studies at Brown University where she studied with renowned education reformer Theodore Sizer. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Social Thought and Political Economy at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where she grew to love history (her least favorite subject in high school), and where her interest in social and environmental justice was nurtured. She is also a graduate of The Institute of Children's Literature. She began her environmental activism in the fifth grade when she wrote a letter to her hometown newspaper asking people to stop polluting the local pond and stream. Her most recent book, Blue's River, began to germinate the day her children learned that, due to pollution, there would be no more swimming at their local lake. In addition to numerous letters to the editor, her other published works include Allies for Justice: How Louis Redding and Collins Seitz Changed the Complexion of America's Schools, a YA book about Delaware's role in the Brown versus Board of Education case. Look for a republished version in 2021. She has also published in Social Education, a magazine for social studies teachers. Like Andie in Blue's River, Kathleen used to be terrified of public speaking. Also like Andie, she overcame her fear, and now spends a lot of time speaking in front of people. She also sings, plays the piano, guitar, and ukulele in Celtic Harvest, an Irish band. Kathleen lives with her husband in Dover, Delaware, where they are empty nesters with seven goldfish. Their daughter is a social worker in Washington, D.C. and their son is an actor in New York City. Look for her online at KathleenMarieDoyle.com.

Book preview

Preface

In 1776, the U.S. Declaration of Independence asserted that all men are created equal. Eleven years later, the founders wrote the U.S. Constitution in order to create a more perfect union. Since that time, people have debated how best to make the young country’s reality match the words on the founding documents. 

The Civil Rights Movement is one of the most important examples of the struggle to move the U.S. closer to its ideals. When I first started teaching, I knew that Brown v. Board of Education was pivotal in helping launch the Civil Rights Movement. What I did not know was the critical role that Louis Redding and Collins Seitz played in the outcome of Brown. Understanding the contribution of these two extraordinary Delawareans is essential for a full appreciation of this profoundly important U.S Supreme Court decision.

The debates about how to achieve a more perfect union continue today. In my thirty years as a social studies teacher, I observed that when students learn about the struggles that have helped move the U.S. closer to its ideals, students more fully appreciate the founders’ vision and understand the role that every new generation of citizens has. It inspires them to do what they can in their own schools and communities to help create that more perfect union.

Author’s Note

The reader will notice that Black and White (when referring to race) are both capitalized throughout this book. This seemingly simple question of capitalization has been the subject of much debate in recent years. Language is constantly evolving, and this particular debate is complex and historically rooted. At this time numerous publications and organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists, capitalize Black and White. In addition, Allies for Justice follows the guidelines of The Chicago Manual of Style for all of its formatting, grammar, and punctuation ‒ which includes capitalizing Black and White.

Table of Contents

From Civil War to Civil Rights

Lawyer Redding

Delaware’s First Black Attorney

Collins Seitz

Vice-Chancellor Collins Seitz

Brooks Parker v. University of Delaware

Backlash from the Senate

The Youngest Heroes and Heroines

An Historic Decision

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka

A Unanimous Decision

Changed Lives

The Turning Point

Chapter 1

From Civil War to Civil Rights

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Declaration of Independence, 1776

Even though the Declaration of Independence says that it is an obvious truth that all people are created equal, the United States continues to strive to make this a reality. The year was 1951. In Delaware, as in much of the United States, Black children and White children did not attend the same schools. This policy was called segregation, and it had been the law for more than fifty years. Increasingly people and organizations were not only questioning the policy but also fighting it in court.

The young judge listened intently as Louis Redding presented the case. Collins Seitz recognized that any decision he made had the potential to radically change the lives of many communities and many more children. The question that ultimately needed an answer was one of the most consequential legal questions of America’s twentieth century: Did the law which required separate schools for Black and White children violate the United States Constitution?

If Louis Redding won this case, it would be the first real victory for Black children in the nation’s history. As Delaware’s only African-American attorney for over twenty-five years, he understood the humiliation of segregation. He knew he had to win.

Redding called his next witness to the stand, Dr. Fredric Wertham, a world-renowned psychiatrist. He asked Wertham to share his findings with the court. Wertham turned to the judge and explained that even if these children had a beautiful school with marble halls and Albert Einstein as their teacher, the fact that the law stated they were forbidden to learn alongside White children was by itself anti-educational. The children, according to Wertham, saw segregation as punishment.¹

Chancellor Seitz sat expressionless. Outside the courtroom, he smiled easily. His smile began with his eyes, gradually pulling his entire face into a cheerful grin. But inside the courtroom, no one could ever tell what he was thinking. He was called the Great Stone Face.² Behind that stony gaze his mind was busy weighing the evidence. His job required him to apply the law to all cases - but what if the law was unjust?

The psychiatrist testified persuasively that keeping children separated because of their race created lasting and harmful effects on all the children involved. Because of segregation, Black children believed they were inferior to White children, and White children also believed Black children were inferior. After all, White children had nicer schools, shorter distances to travel, and they even had school buses. Black children had none of these.

Seitz decided to visit the schools to do his own comparison. In 1951, there were only three high schools for African Americans in the entire state of Delaware, and most Black children had to provide their own transportation. At Howard High School in northern Delaware, most of the teachers were highly qualified, but they were paid much less than their White colleagues, and Howard’s classrooms were packed tightly with students. The children had outdated, used textbooks, and second-hand pencils, too worn down to fit into a pencil sharpener. The Black schools were not equal to the White schools.

The chancellor understood the injustice of segregation. In fact, for several years he had been making speeches against racism. He recognized that even in the rare circumstance that Black students had a nicer school than White students, segregation created lasting