Evans v. Buchanan records, 1965-1983 | Amistad Research Center

Physical Description: The records of the Evans v. Buchanan court case relate to segregation of schools in Wilmington, Delaware. The case argued that Wilmington's public schools were de jure segregated because of the 1968 Educational Advancement Act that specified  that the school system's boundaries must be the same as the city limits. The plaintiff was Brenda Evans and Madeline Buchanan was defendent; each side included other indvividuals as defendents and plaintiffs in the case that was a re-opening of one resolved initially in 1961.  Louis R. Lucas, a noted segregation fighter and Martin Luther King Jr's attorney in Memphis, was a lawyer for the plaintiffs. Others included Louis L. Redding, Delaware's first African American attorney; Irving Morris; his law partner, Joseph A. Rosenthal; L. Coleman Dorsey, attorney for the Urban Coalition of Wilmington that became a friend of the court; William Prickett, special counsel for the State Board of Education; John P. Sinclair, who represented the Delaware School Boards Association that consisted of nine suburban districts; Philip B. Kurland, special counse for the defense. The collection includes correspondence, news clippings, notes, financial records, legal and business journals, USCA Third Circuit Court documents; USDC for District of Delaware documents; memoranda; and desegregation plans.