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Civil Rights Landmark Saved in Delaware

 

      HOCKESSIN, Del. (AP) - A Delaware school that educated black children in the days of racial segregation has been saved from the auction block.

     The Friends of Hockessin Colored School Number 107 paid Petrucon Construction $213,000 for the lien it held against the Hockessin Community Center, which owns the property, on Wednesday. It received a $100,000 matching loan from the Delaware Community Foundation's African American Empowerment Fund.

     The center's five-acre site had been headed for a sheriff's sale in January because it couldn't pay off a construction debt. It was taken off the list after the Friends group promised to pay Petrucon by March 31.

     The Hockessin school educated black students before a landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education, struck down racial segregation.

 

    

 

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.