The first bill in the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus’s Justice for All Agenda enacted into law by the General Assembly, the Equal Rights Amendment to the Delaware Constitution marked a meaningful step on the long road toward addressing the original sin of our nation and our state.
Sponsored by Senator Brown, the DLBC’s founding chairman, the Equal Rights Amendment specifically added race, color and national origin to the equal rights clause of Delaware’s Constitution.
Equal protections under the law were long guaranteed in Delaware under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but their absence from the state Constitution remained a glaring omission, particularly given the First State’s marred history on the issue of equal rights.
While the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed slavery, the 14th Amendment guaranteed all people – including former slaves – equal protection and due process under the law. Delaware rejected the 14th Amendment in 1867, just as it had to the 13th Amendment two years prior. Delaware also rejected the 15th Amendment in 1869.
Delaware finally ratified all three Reconstruction Amendments in 1901 – more than 30 years after they became the law of the United States.
Until Senate Bill 31 was passed unanimously by the General Assembly, Delaware was one of more than 30 other states that still lacked provisions in their constitutions to prohibit the denial or abridgement of equal rights under law on the basis of race, color or national origin.
