[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 146 (Wednesday, October 14, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12570-S12571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                IN MEMORY AND HONOR OF LOUIS L. REDDING

 Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I rise today to honor one of 
Delaware's, indeed this nation's, legal legends.
  Louis L. Redding was the first African-American admitted to the 
Delaware Bar in 1929. As one of the preeminent civil rights advocates 
in the country, Redding was sought after to

[[Page S12571]]

participate in the argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 
landmark Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954), which led to 
the end of legal segregation in our nation's public schools. Brown 
included a Delaware case Redding had won in the State Chancery Court 
holding that nine black children had the right to attend white public 
schools.
  Louis L. Redding died Monday, September 28, 1998, at the age of 96. 
His death is obviously a time of sadness, but also a time to celebrate 
his truly pioneering life and spirit.
  Time and time again, Redding not only overcame adversity--he excelled 
in the face of it. He pursued justice persistently and passionately--
standing up for equal rights in education, public accommodations and 
criminal law.
  Redding, a 1928 Harvard University Law School graduate, broke the 
color barrier in the Delaware Bar after 253 years of this all-Caucasian 
group. When he took the Delaware Bar Examination with eight other white 
law school graduates, he was given a different, harder test. He passed 
with the top grades. After he was admitted to the Delaware Bar in 1929, 
he remained the only minority attorney in Delaware for another twenty-
seven years.
  It even took twenty years for the Delaware State Bar Association to 
allow him to become a member--and again he excelled in the face of 
adversity--becoming Vice President of this once all-white Association.
  Redding earned national respect with a series of sweeping civil 
rights victories in the Delaware courts. In 1950, he successfully 
argued Parker v. University of Delaware, Del. Ch., 75 A.2d 225 (1950), 
which held that the University of Delaware's refusal to admit blacks 
was unconstitutional because the State's black institution, Delaware 
State College, was woefully inferior.
  He next filed the public school racial segregation case, Belton v. 
Gebhardt, Del. Ch., 87 A.2d 862 (1952), aff'd, Del. Supr., 91 A.2d 137 
(1952). This was the only case ultimately affirmed by the U.S. Supreme 
Court in Brown. Most Americans associate the name of Redding's 
distinguished fellow NAACP attorney, Thurgood Marshall, with this 
school desegregation case, since he achieved greatness as a U.S. 
Supreme Court Justice. And that's just how Redding preferred it. He 
preferred a lower profile, using his great skills to get the job done.
  After the U.S. Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, 
Redding dedicated his practice to implementing the desegregation order. 
In 1956, he filed a class action suit in the federal District Court in 
Delaware seeking to compel a school district to establish a 
desegregation plan. It took another twenty years for a court order 
forcing the implementation of this plan. Again, Redding persistently 
plodded along in the pursuit of justice.
  Redding also set precedent in ending discrimination in public 
accommodations. In 1961, he won another U.S. Supreme Court case, 
representing former Wilmington City Councilman William ``Dutch'' 
Burton, allowing blacks to eat at the same counter with whites at the 
Eagle Coffee Shoppe owned by the Wilmington Parking Authority.
  It is worth noting that Redding did not consider the U.S. Supreme 
Court victories to be his greatest legal achievements. Instead, he said 
his most significant accomplishment was desegregating Delaware's 
courtrooms. In an interview in 1990, Redding said:

       I suppose that really what I am most proud of . . . is my 
     undertaking years back to break up segregation in seating in 
     the courtrooms (of Delaware) . . . It was pretty horrible to 
     go into a courtroom and see blacks seated in one place and 
     whites in another. That's the way I found it when I came in.

  Ironically, Redding was not particularly proud of his distinction as 
the first African-American attorney in Delaware. In a 
characteristically, blunt, honest statement, Redding once said. ``How 
can you boast about being the first when you realize it was the result 
of racism and antipathy?''
  And Redding downplayed his role as a civil rights and civil liberties 
pioneer. In a 1974 speech at Notre Dame University, he said: ``I am 
just a pedestrian, journeyman lawyer who happens to have been 
practicing in a state where the necessities of the situation made me 
participate in civil rights activities.''
  The trails Redding blazed, however, set the course for those of us 
who are humbled to follow in his footsteps.
  On a very personal note, Louis Redding was one of my heroes. His 
leadership in the civil rights movement got me interested in politics. 
I first met him in 1969 when I was working as a young, public defender 
representing many in the black community in civil and criminal cases.
  And make no mistake about it--he commanded respect in the community 
and in the courtroom. In the black community, he respectfully was known 
as ``Lawyer Redding.'' Of course to me, it was never ``Lou,'' I always 
said ``Mr. Redding, Sir.'' Indeed, he was quite a presence in the 
courtroom, with his tailored, conservative suits and button-down 
shirts. His standard was excellence, as he fought for the poorest and 
most discriminated among us.
  Fortunately for us, Louis Redding's legacy and spirit live on in our 
community, and in his three daughters and five grandchildren. His name 
also appropriately graces a middle school and the New Castle County/
City of Wilmington public building. His bronze statute stands erect 
surrounded by young children in the pubic square as well.
  Louis L. Redding, noted civil rights attorney, teacher, loyal son, 
father, and grandfather--we will miss you greatly, and vow to keep your 
legacy alive.

                          ____________________