Editing Delaware (section)

===World War II to present===
Like in World War I, the state enjoyed a big stimulus to its gunpowder and shipyard industries in World War II. New job opportunities during and after the war in the Wilmington area coaxed Black people from the southern counties to move to the city. The proportion of blacks constituting the city's population rose from 15% in 1950 to over 50% by 1980.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Munroe |date=2001 |title=History of Delaware |pages=219–223}}</ref> The surge of Black migrants to the north sparked [[white flight]], in which middle class whites moved from the city to suburban areas, leading to ''de facto'' segregation of Northern Delaware's society. In the 1940s and 1950s, Delaware attempted to integrate its schools, although the last segregated school in the state did not close until 1970.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://segregationinamerica.eji.org/report/beyond-brown.html | title=Beyond Brown: Opposition Intensifies}}</ref> The [[University of Delaware]] admitted its first black student in 1948, and local courts ruled that primary schools had to be integrated. Delaware's integration efforts partially inspired the US Supreme Court's decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', which found racial segregation in United States [[State school|public schools]] to be unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Munroe |date=2001 |title=History of Delaware |pages=225–227}}</ref> The result of the ''Brown'' ruling was that Delaware became fully integrated, albeit with time and much effort.

In October 1954, the city of [[Milford, Delaware|Milford]] became the scene of one of the country's first pro-segregation [[boycotts]] after eleven Black students were enrolled in the previously all-white [[Milford High School (Delaware)|Milford High School]]. Mass protests continued in Milford; the school board eventually ceded to the protestors, expelling the Black students.<ref>{{Cite news|date=16 October 1954|title=White Supremacy Leader Arrested|work=Indianapolis Recorder|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=INR19541016-01.1.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{cite magazine|date=11 October 1954|title=Education: Racial Flare-Up|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,936456,00.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Webb|first=Clive|title=Rabble Rousers: the American Far Right in the Civil Rights Era|publisher=University of Georgia Press|year=2010|location=Athens}}</ref> The ensuing unrest, which included [[cross burning]]s, rallies, and pro-segregation demonstrations, contributed to [[Desegregation in the United States|desegregation]] in most of Southern Delaware being delayed for another ten years. [[Sussex County, Delaware|Sussex County]] did not start closing or integrating its segregated schools until 1965, 11 years after the ''Brown'' ruling.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.delmarvanow.com/story/news/local/delaware/2015/02/05/historic-black-school-remains-fond-memory/22914463/ | title=Historic black school remains a fond memory}}</ref> Throughout the state, integration only encouraged more white flight, and poor economic conditions for the black population led to some violence during the 1960s. Riots broke out in Wilmington in 1967 and again in [[Wilmington riot of 1968|1968 in response to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr]], after which the National Guard occupied the city for nine months to prevent further violence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Munroe |date=2001 |title=History of Delaware |pages=228–230}}</ref>

Since WWII, the state has been generally economically prosperous and enjoyed relatively high per capita income because of its location between major cities like Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, DC.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Munroe |date=2001 |title=History of Delaware |page=230}}</ref> Its population grew rapidly, particularly in the suburbs in the north where New Castle county became an extension of the [[Delaware Valley|Philadelphia metropolitan area]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Munroe |date=2001 |title=History of Delaware |pages=242}}</ref> Americans, including migrants from Puerto Rico, and immigrants from Latin America flocked to the state. By 1990, only 50% of Delaware's population consisted of natives to the state.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Munroe |date=2001 |title=History of Delaware |pages=259}}</ref>