Brown v. Board of Education expert discussion set May 17

In celebration of the 70th anniversary of the seminal civil rights ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, the Lewes Public Library will host a discussion about the Delaware aspects of the case at 5 p.m., Friday, May 17, at the library, 111 Adams Ave., Lewes, and online via Zoom. 

Expert guests will be Professor Leland Ware and Judge Thomas Ambro. They will be introduced by organizers Chanta Howard Wilkinson, Esq., an expert on diversity, equity, inclusion and justice, and Ronald Collins, a renowned legal scholar and Lewes Public Library distinguished lecturer.

The landmark Brown Supreme Court case combined five cases, one of which was a consolidated case out of Delaware. Ware and Ambro will examine Brown v. Board through a Delaware lens – the schoolchildren plaintiffs, the lawyers, the trial judge, the Supreme Court opinion and the initial hostile response to it in Delaware.  

“In some important ways, the past both challenges and inspires us,” said Collins. “On the one hand, we must be mindful of our ancestors’ failings and wrongs. On the other hand, there are those whose creed and courage speak to the higher angels in us. The Delaware story of racial justice is an example of just that.” 

Reservations are required. To sign up, go to lewes.lib.de.us or call the library at 302-645-2733. Registrants will be asked to select in-person or virtual attendance.

Ware is the Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law and Public Policy at the University of Delaware. He has co-authored two books and written over 90 articles on various aspects of civil rights law. Ambro is on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was in private practice in Wilmington from 1976 to 2000 and was nominated to the Court of Appeals by President Bill Clinton in 1999.

“It is especially important that we not only revisit history, but learn from it. To do so, we must engage in meaningful discourse and an exchange of ideas,” said Howard Wilkinson. “It is a privilege to provide space for such a conversation between an esteemed legal scholar and a distinguished jurist.”

Participants are invited to purchase Ware’s book, “Brown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture and the Constitution,” from Browseabout Books, 133 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach. Books will also be available for purchase and signing at the event.