Call Number:

MSS 0732

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1.5 linear feet and oversize

Language:

English and Spanish; Castilian

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0734, Horacio D. Lewis papers, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

1960-2003 (inclusive)

Creator:

Lewis, Horacio D.

Form:

Articles, Awards, Clippings (information artifacts), Letters (correspondence), Lectures, and Speeches (documents)

Abstract:

The Horacio D. Lewis papers consist of Dr. Lewis’ letters, articles, and publications related to his personal and civic involvement and recognition of activities associated with the civil rights of the Latino and African-American communities in Delaware and the desegregation of Delaware’s public schools.

Born in Panama in 1944, Horacio D. Lewis earned a Harvard Education Certificate in 1989 in addition to five graduate and undergraduate degrees in the fields of Biology, Humanities, Urban Education, and Theology. He was educated at a number of schools, including the Colegio Abel Bravo, La Universidad Nacional de Panama, Northeastern Illinois University, the University of Delaware, and Delaware State University. Throughout his life, he has worked as a community organizer for the Chicago JOBS project (1967), as a YMCA High School counselor (1968-1971), Social Science Instructor at Chicago Central Community College (1971-1972) and Governor's State University (1971), Sociology Instructor at Aspira of Illinois (1971), Assistant Dean and Director of Latino Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington (1973-1976), Administrator at the Delaware Department of Public Instruction, Delaware Department of Education (1977-1996), in Adjunct Faculty positions in Spanish and Education including Temple University, University of Delaware, and Delaware State University (varying dates from 1990 to the present), Equity Specialist at Brown University (1997), High School Spanish Teacher in Delaware (1997-2008), Humanities Scholar at the Delaware Humanities Forum (2000-2009), Consultant at the Fairness Institute (1983-present), and Ordained Interfaith Minister (2011-present).

Dr. Lewis litigated a housing discrimination case in Evanston, Illinois, during the early 1970s, helped implement and enforce the desegregation of Wilmington, Delaware, public schools during the early 1980s, and won a racial/ethnic discrimination lawsuit against the Department of Public Instruction, Delaware Department of Education in the mid-1990s. He was the first Latino employed by the Delaware Department of Education, advised three governors on Hispanic affairs, serving on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Governor’s Council on Child Protective Services, the United Way Board or Directors, the Latin American Community Center Board of Directors, the board of the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and currently manages the Fairness Institute, a consulting and mediating agency aimed at effectuating change in lieu of legal action. He resides in Wilmington, Delaware.

The Horacio D. Lewis papers consist of Dr. Lewis’s letters, articles, and publications related to his personal and civic involvement in activities associated with the civil rights of the Latino community in Delaware and the desegregation of Delaware’s public schools. Included are legal documents including briefs, orders, and opinions related to a housing discrimination lawsuit filed against a real estate company in Illinois; a racial/ethnic discrimination lawsuit filed against the State of Delaware, Department of Public Instruction; and the transfer of legal ownership of the Panama Canal to Panama. Some restricted material relating to Dr. Lewis’s tenure as an Equal Employment Opportunity investigator also forms part of this collection.

The housing discrimination material includes legal documents pertaining to Lewis as plaintiff in a suit against Heil & Heil, Inc., for being rejected as a potential tenant in 1972. The school desegregation material includes legal documents regarding Lewis as an expert witness in his capacity as Delaware State Supervisor of Title IV projects in a suit against the Delaware Department of Education in 1981. The racial/ethnic discrimination lawsuit material includes legal documents concerning Dr. Lewis as plaintiff in a 1996 suit against the State of Delaware, Department of Public Instruction. Material pertaining to his role as Co-Founder of the Latino Task Force (Delaware) and as Chairman of the Governor’s Council on Hispanic Affairs (Delaware) also constitute part of Dr. Lewis’s papers, as well as publications and books directly related to these experiences.

A substantial portion of Dr. Lewis’s papers also include literature and publications concerning the transfer of legal ownership of the Panama Canal from the United States back to the Panamanian government during the 1970s. Copies of senators’ statements to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the eve of the Torrijos-Carter Treaty signing are included, as well as personal correspondence with Senator Joseph R. Biden (D-Del., 1973-2009) and Senator John Sparkman (D-Ala., 1946-1979) asking them to further evaluate the efficacy of said treaties. Other material includes clippings, magazines, photocopies, and an incomplete run of the Panama Chronicle from its inaugural issue in 1982 to 1991.

Series I. Personal, consists of a binder compiled by Dr. Lewis that includes news clippings, letters, and awards or certificates of acknowledgement recognizing his personal achievements and work both professionally and within the Latino community throughout the state of Delaware up to 1993.

Series II. Publications, includes photocopied articles written and compiled by Dr. Lewis on issues such as race and education, diversity, equity, and discrimination, accompanied by original journals and publications in which some of these articles appeared. Other material, arranged chronologically, consists of edited typescripts of his book,

I Might As Well Move to the Moon: A Case Study on Housing Discrimination and Legal Manual, Title IV reports prepared as State Supervisor of Human Relations for the Delaware State Department of Public Instruction, a newspaper article authored by Dr. Lewis in Unity & Purpose, a publication of the Friends of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as a review of an American history textbook written in his capacity as a multicultural consultant.

Series III. Litigation, contains the entirety of legal documents relating to the lawsuits Dr. Lewis was involved in throughout his personal life and professional career. Arranged chronologically, the subseries includes the housing discrimination lawsuit Dr. Lewis won during the 1970s in Evanston, Illinois; direct testimony given by Dr. Lewis in a case concerning the legality of a bilingual education program in Delaware during the 1980s; a copy of Dr. Lewis’s deposition concerning the desegregation of Delaware public schools in 1994, and legal documents and material relevant to his own racial discrimination lawsuit filed against the Department of Public Instruction, Delaware Department of Education, throughout 1995-1996.

Series IV, Correspondence, is composed of the different avenues comprising Dr. Lewis’s professional and personal endeavors. A small portion of the letters denote his advocacy for the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaty which returned control and legal transfer of ownership over the Panama Canal Zone back to the Panamanian government from the United States during the 1970s. The letters are addressed to Senator Joseph R. Biden (D-Del., 1973-2009) and Senator John Sparkman (D-Ala., 1946-1979) asking them to further evaluate the efficacy of said treaties. The majority of the material constitutes single letters written by members of the community, as well as past and current professional contacts, expressing support and used in evidence of Dr. Lewis’s commitment to equity and community outreach regarding multicultural education and diversity. The letters were addressed to either Governor Thomas Carper, the Delaware State Superintendent of Public Instruction, or Dr. Lewis himself as he brought forward an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the State of Delaware, Department of Public Instruction for not having been considered a qualified candidate for a multicultural education specialist position. Included are also letters from Governor Thomas Carper expressing his commitment to diversifying Delaware’s government workforce to accurately reflect the state of Delaware and a letter from Senator Harris B. McDowell (D-Del., 1971- ) encouraging Dr. Lewis to participate in the public hearings of the Governor’s Council on Hispanic Affairs meant to address faulty legislation serving abused, neglected, and dependent children in the state of Delaware.

Series V, Panama Canal Zone, consists of speeches, articles, brochures, postcards, and correspondence related to the legal transfer of ownership of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States to the Panamanian government during the 1970s. Copies of senators’ statements to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the eve of the Torrijos-Carter Treaty signing are included. Other material includes clippings, magazines, photocopies, as well as an incomplete run of the

Panama Chronicle from its inaugural issue in 1982 to 1991.

Series VI, Puerto Rico, is a collection of published materials, one in Spanish, the other in English, advocating for the autonomy of Puerto Rico, a U.S. held territory. The Spanish publication is a compilation of arguments presented before the United Nations by the Puerto Rican Anti-colonialist Congress, while the English publication is a collection of hearings before the United States-Puerto Rico commission on the status of Puerto Rico. Included is also a photocopied collection of culturally competent reading exercises on the history and culture of Puerto Rico, used in the aid of Dr. Lewis’s curriculum development.

Series VII, Clippings, is a collection of various news articles from Panamanian and United States news outlets including Chicago Sun Times, The News-Journal, Chicago Tribune, Washington Star, Panama Tribune, and Panamá América, among others that correspond to either the Panamanian coup, life before the signing of the Torrijos-Carter treaties, and the Panama Canal Zone. Other topics include efforts directly related to Dr. Lewis’s involvement in the desegregation of public schools in Delaware, the Governor’s Council on Hispanic Affairs, or his Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the State of Delaware, Department of Public Instruction.