06/01/2026
✨It’s American History Monday ✨
This Monday is the third and final part of how public schools in Delaware were desegregated. This post’s information was taken from Spotlight Delaware’s article, ‘We were bulldozed’: The history of Wilmington’s school system by Julia Merola.
On April 4th, 1968 Civil rights leader and reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. After the news of his death reached the media, communities around the country reacted by protesting which erupted to a point of chaos.
Governor Charles L. Terry Jr. deployed the Delaware National Guard to Wilmington in hopes of calming the protests. Terry kept the national guard in the east and central westside neighborhoods of Wilmington for nine months, the longest national guard occupation in American History.
Predominantly Black neighborhoods were under strict curfews and check points to enter various parts of the city. The occupation of the national guard strengthened the divide between residents based on race and class.
Due to the long-lasting effects of the occupation from the national guard, many neighborhoods in Wilmington have been neglected infrastructurally, educationally, and economically.
In 1968, Delaware 49 school districts were condensed into 26 with the exclusion of Wilmington Schools. Parents of children within the city believed this was an act of segregation from white suburban schools. In 1974, a federal court declared the Educational Advancement Act unconstitutional, requiring New Castle County to once again integrate its schools.
In January 1978, Federal Judge Murray Schwartz introduced a desegregation plan that impacted nearly all students in Wilmington. The plan mandated that Wilmington students be bused to suburban schools for nine years, while suburban white students were bused into Wilmington for three years. Some students faced commutes of over an hour each way.
During this period, enrollment in private schools rose significantly.
In 1981, Delaware divided New Castle County into four school districts: Red Clay, Brandywine, Colonial, and Christina. The goal was to distribute Wilmington’s students evenly and ensure equitable access to quality education and resources.
The desegregation order was finally lifted in 2000, and the state passed the Neighborhood Schools Act. This law aimed to reduce travel time by assigning students to nearby public schools but failed to address the underlying issue of housing segregation in New Castle County.
Please look at our series of redistricting in Wilmington to know the current process!
