1920
HCS #107 is built as a one-room schoolhouse to serve black children who were not allowed to attend school with white children.
Our History
Inspiring future outcomes
Hockessin Colored School #107 has a monumental history.
The school was the center of the 1952 Delaware court case known as Bulah v. Gebhart, which would be combined with four other cases to become the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. The case helped end segregation in education, and paved the way for eliminating separate-but-equal doctrine across America.
1950
Parents Fred and Sarah Bulah write Delaware Governor Carvel asking the state to provide their daughter Shirley with transportation to school. They are rejected.
1951
Mrs. Bulah seeks the advice of the lawyer, Louis Redding. Redding files the Delaware court case, Bulah v. Gebhart on behalf of Shirley Bulah.
1952
April
Delaware Chancellor Collins J. Seitz issues the declaration that the disparity between white and African-American students is in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
September
“Colored” students are admitted into Hockessin School #29, located 1 mile away from HCS #107.
October
Bulah v. Gebhart was the only case in which the lower court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, effectively causing Delaware to set the precedent for the Supreme Court's final ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
1954
US Supreme Court overturns Plessy v. Ferguson, declaring school segregation unconstitutional.
1959
Hockessin Colored School #107 officially closes.
2012
The Friends of Hockessin Colored School #107, Inc. (“FOHCS”) save the property from a sheriff’s sale.
2020
The children’s book “Ride, Shirley, Ride” by Dr. L Richelle is published, sharing Shirley’s story with the world.
August
Hockessin Colored School #107 enters into partnership with New Castle County (NCC) to become the 250th park in the NCC system.
So what’s next for HCS #107?
Learn about our vision for the future