History program to address school desegregation May 11

The Milford Museum will continue its American History Series with a program about the 1977 New Castle County desegregation era at 1 p.m., Saturday, May 11, at Milford Public Library, 11 SE Front St., Milford.

Speaker Emily Green, Polytech High School teacher, will present “To Bus or Not To Bus: The 1977 School Desegregation of New Castle County, Delaware.”

In 1971 five Wilmington families made the decision to re-open the desegregation case Evans v. Buchanan and file suit against the Wilmington School Board. They contended that black children were being compelled to attend segregated schools and that the board was maintaining a dual school system in New Castle County and Wilmington. The court agreed and instituted a program designed to establish a unitary education system, bringing the county back in line with its desegregationist roots. Included in this program was the controversial policy of busing.

The program exploress the controversy over the Delaware decision in New Castle County to remedy school segregation by busing students for a portion of their schooling. The result of this policy was a complex system that shaped the educational landscape of Wilmington and evoked a variety of responses from the citizens affected by it. While opinions regarding busing widely varied, opposition to busing was not synonymous with support for segregation, making the controversy surrounding the policy intricately nuanced. The program will discuss the origins of school segregation, the concept of busing as a remedy, and the various opinions held by Delawareans about the issue at the time.

A 2008 Dover High School graduate, Green earned her undergraduate degree in history from West Chester University and her graduate degree in American history from Pace University. She began her teaching career at Caesar Rodney High School where she taught AP United States History and AP Human Geography. In 2016, Green was chosen as Delaware’s Gilder-Lehrman History Teacher of the Year. She now teaches Contemporary World History and AP United States History at Polytech.

Sponsored by the Milford Museum, these monthly programs focus on a variety of topics concerning local, state and national history.

For more information, contact the museum at 302-424-1080 or tom@milforddemuseum.org. These programs are offered through a generous grant from the Delaware Heritage Commission.