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.” Bebe was born in Jacksonville, Florida and grew up under the Jim Crow laws. She attended HBCU Morgan State College and is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. Coker moved to Delaware in 1960 and became active in her community. 

Coker is an activist that has spent over half 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.” The 87-year-old Delaware civil rights leader, public housing advocate and education activist has had the ear of President Joe Biden since he was a freshman senator  and every governor for decades.  After a long career in public service she still has one goal left unaccomplished: readdressing the issues that led to Wilmington’s infamous 1978 busing campaign to desegregate its schools. 

Bebe “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 journalists and historians, provided missing context and ample evidence of her claims, corrected erroneous or one-sided accounts and been a champion of the truth.”

Dr. Jack Perry works as an educational consultant at TNTP, a national nonprofit committed to providing excellent teachers and leaders to students from historically resilient communities by advancing policies and practices that ensure effective teaching and leading in schools. At TNTP Jack supports leadership development and school improvement work, external and internal diversity, equity, and inclusion work, and TNTP’s teacher pipeline, diversity, and retention work both locally and nationally. Prior to joining TNTP, Jack served as Deputy Chief of Academic Enrichment for the School District of Philadelphia, where he oversaw the Arts, Physical Education, Athletics, Gifted and Black Male Initiatives. Jack was also the proud founder of Delaware’s first single gender charter school which he led for several years. Jack holds a B.S. in Sociology from Southern Connecticut State University, a Master of Social Work from the University of Connecticut, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Southern Connecticut State University. Jack lives in Newark, DE with his wife Tamara and son Jackson.