The University of North Carolina at Charlotte celebrates
the life, work, and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2012 MLK Celebration: Activating the Dream with New Courage
McKnight Hall (Cone University Center) 3:30pm
Guest Speaker: Joseph A. De Laine, Jr.
A community reception immediately follows the program.
Activating the Dream with New Courage
About our speaker: Joseph Armstrong De Laine, Jr. was born on August 17, 1933 in Blackville, South Carolina to Mattie Lee Belton De Laine, a teacher, and Joseph Armstrong De Laine, Sr., a minister, teacher and community activist. De Laine attended Scott's Branch Public High School in Summerton, South Carolina and graduated from high school at Mather Academy in 1950. De Laine attended Johnson C. Smith University for a year until transferring to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania where he graduated in 1954. He served for the U.S. armed forces during the Korean Conflict.
De Laine's father was instrumental in the Clarendon County, South Carolina Civil Rights Movement that led to the Briggs v. Elliott case, the first of five cases that challenged the constitutionality of the "Separate but Equal" doctrine in public schools. The case was ultimately bundled by the U.S. Supreme Court with four other cases and became known as Brown v. Board, et al. Because of his father's activities, their home was destroyed by arsonists in 1951. In 1955, De Laine's father was given ten days to leave town or die. His father's church was then destroyed by arsonists and after an episode of life threatening gun fight, De Laine's father escaped, fleeing the State of South Carolina and ultimately securing refuge in the State of New York.
Upon De Laine's return from Korea, he joined his family in New York. Over a six year period, he was employed as a cancer research assistant at Roswell Park in Buffalo, Sloan Kettering Institute in New York, E. R. Squibb in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Joint Disease Hospital in New York. In 1964, De Laine joined Hoffmann La Roche, Inc. as a pharmaceutical sales representative. During the ensuing twenty years, he enjoyed positions at the management level in promotion, marketing and staff positions as Director of Marketing for Diagnostics Division and Corporate Director of Corporate EEO. Upon retirement, De Laine relocated from New Jersey to Charlotte, North Carolina where he owned and operated Joseph Imports, an outlet of unusual imported artifacts from Europe, Africa and Asia to enhance home/office decor.
De Laine presently serves on the Board of Directors for the Briggs-De Laine-Pearson Foundation in Summerton, South Carolina and for the International African American Museum, Charleston, South Carolina. Since retirement, he has also served as a Presidential Appointee on the "50th Anniversary Brown v. Board Presidential Commission" and for several years as a member and president of the Board for the North West Corridor CDC in Charlotte, North Carolina.
