Terrence Franklin Presents “Bending the Arc of History Towards Justice” at Delaware Trust Conference 2022

Partner Terrence Franklin had been a trusts and estates litigator, handling disputes including will contests for a quarter century, when he discovered a will contest from the 1840s that challenged the will done by his white fourth great-grandfather that emancipated Franklin’s fourth great-grandmother and her children and grandchildren from slavery. This discovery led Franklin to share the story of his ancestors and other stories like them.

In his presentation at the 17th Annual Delaware Trust Conference, Franklin recounted the riveting story of his ancestor Lucy Sutton and the fight in the courts to uphold the last will and testament. He also profiled several other black women, contemporaries of Lucy, who just may have helped Lucy and her family make it to freedom.

The conference was hosted by the Delaware Bankers Association and the Delaware Financial Education Alliance and held October 18-19, 2022, in Wilmington, DE.