Year Honored: 2013
Born in: Jacksonville, Florida
Biography
Beatrice “Bebe” Coker was described in a 2010 ‘News Journal’ profile as the “”Rosa Parks of education in Wilmington,” an agitator, encourager, rule breaker, and way maker.” She was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and grew up under the Jim Crow laws. After attending Morgan State College, she moved to Delaware in 1960.
Coker, an activist of over 50 years, “spent her life addressing problems wherever she found them, using poetry, theatre, her work in social services, street-level activism and service on commissions and civic organizations to shine light on inequities, negligence, and other evidence of systematic racism.” She was appointed by Governor Pierre S. du Pont to the Citizens Alliance for Public Education to ensure the peaceful desegregation of schools, and worked for years in social services, public and community relations, and diversity training. Coker “enjoys talking to people. Those conversations [about the often-invisible struggles of Black Americans] can make a difference and shed light on what has been painfully invisible to so many for so long… She has enlightened many a journalist and historian, provided missing context and ample evidence of her claims, corrected erroneous or one-sided accounts and been a champion of the truth.”
She is also a playwright, poet, and lyricist with her plays appearing locally and off-Broadway. As a retiree she has served as the co-director of the Delaware Black Heritage Educational Theatre Group and as the chair of the Stagehands of Christina Cultural Arts Center in Wilmington.
For her efforts, Coker has been awarded the Order of the First State, the Jefferson Award, the John Taylor Education Award (2019), the Delaware State University ‘Honoring Our Legacy Award’ (2019), and the University of Delaware Medal of Distinction (2021).
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Sources and Additional Readings
About. CHOICES DELAWARE/hearingCHOICESdelaware.com. (2018, April 24). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://hearingchoicesdelaware.com/about/
Beatrice "Bebe" Coker named 2019 John H. Taylor Jr.. education leadership award recipient. Delaware State Chamber of Commerce | Wilmington DE 19899. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://web.dscc.com/news/newsarticledisplay.aspx?ArticleID=3235
A champion of Education and racial justice. UDaily. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2021/april/bebe-coker-dennis-assanis-education-equality-distinction/
ECHS honoring our legacy dinner -- photos. Delaware State University. (2019, October 29). Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.desu.edu/news/2019/10/echs-honoring-our-legacy-dinner-photos
WHYY. (2013, February 21). Delaware Makers: Bebe Coker using theater to teach. WHYY. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://whyy.org/articles/delaware-makers-bebe-coker/
YouTube. (2013, September 9). Herman Holloway live W bebe coker & leonard young PT 1. YouTube. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewk7JlzSijQ
- Collections: 2013, Black History Month