Historical Landmark Becomes Impactful Center for DEI

BY DAVID J. WILK, MAI, CRE, FRICS | Photo courtesy Office of Governor John Carney

Governor John Carney, Lieutenant Governor Bethany Hall-Long, New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer, the National Park Service, and other dignitaries joined the Friends of Hockessin Colored School #107 (”FOHCS”) to cut the ribbon on the newly completed HS #107c Center for Diversity, Inclusion & Social Equity (“CDISE”).

The one-room school building is more than 100 years old and sits on just over five acres of property at 4266 Mill Creek Road. The building was saved from a sheriff’s sale in 2012 by the FOHCS and underwent a $1.7 million redevelopment process in 2022.

The former school has a monumental history as the setting for one of the five cases (Bulah v. Gebhart) that became Brown v. Board in 1954. To make the ribbon cutting ceremony extra joyful, ten former students who attended the school between 1937 and 1952—including members of the Bulah family—realized their lifelong dream of “walking through the door again” with their families.

The property became the 250th park in the New Castle County system in 2020 and was designated as a Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park by President Biden on May 12, 2022.

The mission of the Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Equity is to be a place of community engagement around:

• Teaching the history of HS 107c’s role in history as part of the social studies and civics curriculum at public and private schools in Delaware and the region

• Presenting workshops and speaker series on building greater cultural competency that transform human relations

• Being a safe place for community dialogue around contemporary social issues challenging our society

• Developing innovative social infrastructure strategies (affordable housing, education, health care and wellness, food security, public safety, social justice, entrepreneurship, and public-private partnerships) that are catalysts for shared prosperity

The HS 107c Center for Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Equity is a public charity and welcomes community members to join in our mission by visiting www.hockessincoloredschool107.org.