Last week, we published a story about the Milford Seven, the seven African American students who quietly succeeded in integrating Milford High School. Upon reading the comments, we have decided to run a front-page story on the Milford Eleven. Although much has been written about the eleven African American students who were unsuccessful in attempting integration, we took the story in a new direction.
Our story will include accounts from Orlando Camp’s book, “The Milford Eleven” in order to give his perspective on what happened in Milford in 1954. However, we will also include details we have found from news reports during the events that unfolded. Some of the quotes we will use are difficult to read, but they are taken verbatim from the sources named in the article.
As the editor, I want to make it clear that writing this version of the events is not meant to shame anyone nor is it meant to disparage those who lived in a different time, in a different culture and had very different world views than we have today. The Civil Rights Movement was not a pretty time in the United States. Jim Crow laws were wrong and they were ugly, but they existed. They are part of our history that really cannot be ignored, nor should it be whitewashed.
There have been many comments that it is “shameful” and “wrong” that it took Milford another decade to attempt integration. This article sheds some light on why it took so long. As the article states, the State Board of Education took over the Milford School Board, and they disenrolled the eleven students. The Supreme Court of Delaware upheld that decision, stating that Milford “attempted too soon” to integrate after the Brown v Board of Education decision. A decision, by the way, which included a case from Delaware.
The upheaval in Milford was something no one wanted to repeat. There was simply no way that the school board or town leaders wanted to be accused of “jumping too soon” again. No one wanted to be national news in a negative way ever again. The delay in integration, when viewed through that lens, makes sense.
It cannot be explained why the courts made that decision as Claymont, Arden and Hockessin had already integrated schools as early as 1952, before the Supreme Court decision in 1954. But the segregation issue was not unique to Milford. As the article states, all schools in Delaware were grappling with the best way to do this. The same was happening in Maryland, Ohio and other states based on the research we did for this article.
There is evidence that many of the protesters in Milford were not from here, but make no mistake, there were locals at those protests and some of those we have quoted from the newspaper accounts were town residents. It is true that Bryant Bowles was invited to town by a businessperson in Milford once it was learned that black children were attending the high school. He did not simply “show up” in Milford. But he did bring followers with him when he came, increasing the size of the crowds and bringing national attention to a town with a population of under 6,000.
It is easy to paint the events of 1954 in today’s light. But that is a mistake. What we don’t know is how all of this would have unfolded had Bowles not been invited here. What would have happened had more townspeople stood up to those who felt the need to protest the integration of schools. What would have happened had the Milford School District Board of Education had not resigned in protest.
What we do know is that the Delaware State Board of Education did not order complete integration of public schools until 1965. We do know it was the Delaware Board of Education, not local officials, who unenrolled the Milford Eleven and sent them to historic black schools. We also know that all eleven were awarded diplomas from Milford High School in 2012. We know that what happened to these students was wrong and we should have known it was wrong then. Knowing it was wrong now and even thinking we should have known it was wrong then does not change the history.
History is not clean nor is it always pleasant. This era was a dark time in Milford, and the true story deserves to be told. The words used in 1954 are offensive, disturbing and frankly, ignorant. The story is written to tell that history and not for sensationalism or to point fingers. When the story is posted, please be kind in the comments. Extremely negative or attacking comments will be removed.
Please read the story and know that it is from the historical perspective of something that happened in Milford we cannot change but can learn from. Never again should we be fighting against a child’s right to education.
Thank you.
Terry Rogers
Editor and Reporter
Milford Times
