“Image Ownership: Public Domain” Ezion-Mount Carmel United Methodist Church, formerly known as Ezion Methodist Episcopal Church and Mount Carmel Methodist Episcopal Church, has the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating black church in the state of Delaware. Ezion Methodist Episcopal Church was created by … Read MoreEzion-Mount Carmel United Methodist Church, Wilmington, Delaware (1789- )
Winning the Pulitzer Prize for Music is one of the multitude of richly deserved tributes to composer, pianist, and educator George Theophilus Walker. His prolific career continues into his 90s with his commissioned Sinfonia No. 4 (Strands), premiered in 2012 by the New Jersey Symphony … Read MoreGeorge Theophilus Walker (1922- )
The Underground Railroad which fugitive slaves followed from the antebellum South to Canada is now a well-known story. But what of those who returned? In his ongoing research, University of Texas at El Paso historian Adam Arenson explores this little-known aspect of nineteenth- century African … Read MoreAfter the Underground Railroad: Finding the African North Americans who Returned from Canada
Elwood Watson, a professor of history at East Tennessee State University, is one of the few African American cultural historians to focus his research on the Miss America pageant. In the article below he examines the success of eight black women in winning the pageant … Read MoreThe Racial Politics of Miss America
Delaware State University is a public historically black university with its main campus in Dover and two other campuses in Wilmington and Georgetown. The school was established in 1891 as State College for Colored Students after passage of the Morrill Act of 1890 which gave … Read MoreDelaware State University (1891- )
Abraham Doras Shadd, the first Afro-Canadian to hold public office, was born in free Wilmington, Delaware on March 2, 1801, to parents Jeremiah Schad and Amelia Siscoe. Shadd earned a respectable living as a shoemaker, supporting his wife and thirteen children. His passion, however, was … Read MoreAbraham Doras Shadd (1801-1882)
Samuel Cornish, an abolitionist and editor, was born in Sussex County, Delaware in 1795, although the specific day and month are unknown. He was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City, New York. Since both of his parents were free African Americans, Cornish was … Read MoreSamuel Eli Cornish (1795-1858)
Levi Coppin was an editor, educator, missionary and the 30th Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Coppin was born in Frederick Town, Maryland in 1848 to Jane Lily and John Coppin. He had six siblings. Coppin’s mother taught him to read and write … Read MoreLevi Jenkins Coppin (1848-1924)
Absalom Jones was born into slavery in Sussex, Delaware in 1746. He taught himself to read in his early teens from books he purchased by saving pennies given to him by visitors to his master’s home. At the age of sixteen, Jones’ family was separated … Read MoreAbsalom Jones (1746-1818)
Following the Union Army victory at Antietam, Maryland on September 17, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation. This document gave the states of the Confederacy until January 1, 1863 to lay down their arms and peaceably reenter the Union; if these states … Read MoreEmancipation Proclamation (1863)
