After the U.S. Supreme Court's May 17, 1954, Brown v. Board of Education decision declared racially segregated public schools unconstitutional, a petition submitted in August 1954 to the Milford Board of Education requested integration, and the board adopted a plan for gradual desegregation. On September 8, eleven African-American 10th grade students were admitted to the district's high school at this location. On September 17, approximately 1500 persons met to discuss the situation, and many signed a petition opposing the action, in what became the first overt public resistance to integration since the Brown ruling. The school was closed the following Monday for a public meeting, a large crowd gathered to express opposition, and the closure was extended. After members of the Milford Board failed to receive support from the State Board of Education, they resigned. On September 26, several thousand people attended rallies organized by segregationist Bryant Bowles advocating a boycott of the schools. When the schools reopened, less than one third of the students attended, the boycott spread, and several Sussex County schools closed as a result. With national media focused on events in Delaware, two Milford Board members resumed their positions and appointed replacements for the others. When the board reconvened on September 30, it decided to remove the eleven students "in the interest of the welfare of the children and the community as a whole." Integration in Milford's schools did not resume for eight years.