Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas is arguably the most monumental decision ever handed down by the United States Supreme Court.  In recognition of Brown’s importance to the fabric of our nation the Congress of the United States, by a vote of 414-2, established a Commission to plan a proper 50-year Anniversary celebration of the occasion.  That legislation, PL 107-41, which became law on September 18, 2001 stipulates that five of the 23 Commission members, should be appointed from the states involved by the Speaker of the House in consultation with the Minority Leader.

            Brown started out in South Carolina as Briggs v. Elliott.  Harry and Eliza Briggs the first two names on the petition that led to the lawsuit were citizens of Clarendon County, which is in the heart of the 6^th Congressional District.   Their efforts were in response to the organizing activities of Rev. J. Armstrong Delaine, Sr. Because of his activities; Rev. Delaine’s home and church were fire bombed.  When he attempted to defend his home and family a warrant was issued for his arrest, and he and his family were eventually chased out of the State.

            Among the first tasks given to me by newly elected Governor John West when I joined his staff in January 1971, was to appropriately respond to a letter from Rev. Delaine asking permission to return home to South Carolina.  I could not successfully complete the task because one of the signers of the arrest warrant would not agree to let it drop.  Consequently Rev. Delaine died in Charlotte, NC, and both he and his wife are buried there.  The State of South Carolina quashed the warrant in 2000, 26 years after he died.

            When all of this started in 1948, Rev. Delaine’s son J.A. Delaine, Jr. was a student at Scotts Branch, the “Negro” school.  Fearing for his safety and seeking a proper education, he was sent away to finish high school.  He graduated from Mather Academy in 1950.  He graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, in 1954, the same year of the Brown decision.  He enlisted in the United States Army and, ironically, was in Korea defending this country’s freedoms, when his parents’ home and church were burned.

            J.A. Delaine, Jr. retired from Hoffman La Roche the pharmaceutical company in 1992.  He devotes considerable time and efforts to lecturing on the Brown case and his family’s experiences.  He currently serves as Chairman of the Briggs Descendants Foundation.

             Although Clarendon County is in my District, and Congressional courtesies are certainly in order, these are not the reasons I recommended Delaine, Jr. for membership on the Brown Commission.  I recommended him because there is no one alive more qualified and deserving of this honor and responsibility. 

            I have a long history with the Brown case.  When the Supreme Court handed down its decision on May 17, 1954, I was a 13 year-old ninth grade student at Lincoln High School in Sumter, 23 miles from Summerton.  I was also President of Sumter’s NAACP Youth Council.   Today, the first thing anyone sees when they visit my Washington office are nine large black and white photos of Mrs. Briggs, Mrs. Annie Gibson, Dr. Kenneth Clark and six other principles in the case. 

I enjoy the give and take of partisan politics as much as anyone, but there are a few things that should rise above such sport.  Our State’s image and Congressional courtesies are two of them.  And the recent attempt by half of our small State’s Congressional delegation to politicize the House’s appointments to this Commission violates both of them. 

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