The Clarendon County School Segregation Case
[np]: [unknown], [1955-6]. Saddle-stapled octavo (6 x 8-3/4 inches) in photo-illustrated wraps, [6] pages.
Revered J.A. Delaine was a civil rights leader and minister at the Greater St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lake City, South Carolina after transferring from Pine Grove A.M.E. Church in Summerton, South Carolina where he worked on the Briggs v. Elliott desegregation case in 1950-1, and though ruled against in Charleston, it would be the first of five cases appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court that ultimately led to Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.
DeLaine was under constant harassment during his ministry work in Clarendon County and then Lake City following the Brown v. Board of Education case with abject neglect from local law enforcement given the documented threats and evidence to support his endangerment.
The cover photo of this pamphlet shows DeLaine and his family standing atop the remnants of their Summerton home that burned down while the fire department watched in 1950, an event that led to his transfer.
Following the landmark Supreme Court ruling, on October 6, 1955, The Greater St. James Church was burned to the ground. The following day shots were fired on DeLaine's home from a car, to which he responded with reciprocal gunfire, receiving a warrant for his arrest as the 4 white passengers and driver of the instigating car were declared innocent. DeLaine fled and was reported missing as of October 11, 1955 having fled the state's unjust assault and battery charges for which he wouldn't receive a federal fugitive warrant from Eisenhower in the following months of the same year and would continue to evade South Carolina extradition. Four decades later, he was pardoned in the year 2000.
After leaving Lake City in October 1955, DeLaine went to New York City and then onto Buffalo where he would establish a new A.M.E. Church.
This scarce pamphlet documents the work of DeLaine, Levi Pearsons, Harry Briggs, the NAACP, and others in the Clarendon County school case of 1950, and fellow cases which would support the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954.
(The State (Columbia, SC), 20 October 1955; The Item (Sumter, SC) 20 October 1955; The State (Columbia, SC) 14 October 1955). Very good condition, pages toned with light edge wear and some paper clip imprints and creasing to top edge. Item #3044
Price: $300.00