Joseph DeLaine | |
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| Born | (1898-07-02)July 2, 1898 |
| Died | August 3, 1974(1974-08-03) (aged 76) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Allen University(B.A. 1931) |
| Occupation | Methodist minister |
| Known for | Civil rights |
Joseph Armstrong DeLaine (July 2, 1898 – August 3, 1974) was aMethodist minister and civil rights leader fromClarendon County, South Carolina. He received a B.A. fromAllen University in 1931, working as a laborer and running a dry cleaning business to pay for his education. DeLaine worked withModjeska Simkins and the South CarolinaNAACP on the caseBriggs v. Elliott, which challenged segregation inSummerton, South Carolina.
DeLaine decided to leave South Carolina, and never returned, after a warrant was issued for his arrest for returning gunfire when his parsonage later came under hostile gunfire. He fled first to New York City and then to Buffalo, New York, where he founded another Methodist church. As a result of efforts begun in 1955, DeLaine was pardoned in 2000 by the South Carolina State Parole Board.
DeLaine also memorably taught school in South Carolina, and in 2006 was inducted into South Carolina's Educational Hall of Honor at the University of South Carolina.
Rev. DeLaine and three other plaintiffs in theBriggs v. Elliott case were posthumously awarded Congressional gold medals in 2004 for their courage and persistence despite repeated acts of domestic violence against them.
PlaywrightLoften Mitchell wrote a 1963 play based on DeLaine's story titledLand Beyond the River.
ActorOssie Davis also wrote a short play,The People of Clarendon County, which starred himself, his wife,Ruby Dee, andSidney Poitier. It was featured, as was the case predatingBrown v. Board of Education in which DeLaine played an important role, in Alice Bernstein's illustrated book with the same title.
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