Professor Leland
Ware, who holds the Louis L. Redding Chair for the Study of Law and
Public Policy at the University of Delaware, is honored to carry the
torch of Redding’s inspiring legacy as the first Black man admitted to
the Delaware bar and a civil rights advocate.
A former trial attorney, Ware’s research and coursework focus on
civil rights and civil liberties law, employment law and constitutional
law. The establishment of the Louis L. Redding Chair brought him to UD
in 2000.
“I thought the description of the chair position fit me and my career
goals perfectly as someone who is an academic and involved in public
service,” Ware said. “It’s a very significant honor to occupy the role.
Louis Redding was a great man and a civil rights pioneer who argued two
cases that were behind the Brown v. Board of Education decision.”
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, Louis Redding was instrumental in
the desegregation of UD in 1949. He also argued a case on behalf of
Black school children in Delaware that led to the Supreme Court's
landmark decision in 1954 to desegregate U.S. public schools.
After Redding’s death in 1998, the Delaware law community and other
civic and business leaders came together to raise more than $1 million
to endow a professorship at UD to memorialize his life and work.
Notably, the effort attracted small gifts from around the country,
including a woman who sent in $6 with a note that she wished she could
do more and a $10 money order from a prisoner in the Delaware
Correctional Center.
Redding’s far-reaching legacy humbles Ware, who said he recognizes
the esteemed scholarship and academic opportunities created by the
endowed chair.
“The chair distinction gives me much more of a foundation, draws
interest to my work and enhances my reputation in legal circles as a
civil rights lawyer and professor,” Ware said. “It’s given me a lot of
visibility and allowed me to engage in research, write for publications
and organize lectures and symposiums both domestically and
internationally.”
Reflecting on Black History Month
as a time to recognize the contribution of African Americans to
American society, Ware said he hopes that his body of work speaks for
itself to advance racial equity and further discourse in civil rights
law.
“I would like to be remembered as a civil rights teacher and scholar,
and for all the writing and publications I’ve engaged in over the
years,” he said.
As Ware continues Redding’s legacy to light the path forward on the
long road to freedom, he will pass the torch to the next generation of
leaders to do the same. To learn more about Ware’s work, please visit
his page on the UD experts’ website.
