Community fights to preserve black history marker
Community members with ties to the all-black Richard Allen School in Georgetown are upset that the closed school will not be preserved as a reminder of the region's rich African-American history.
The segregated black school, built in the early 1920s by philanthropist Pierre duPont, was closed after Delaware integrated its educational system in the 1960s. It was recently donated to the Georgetown Boys and Girls Club for conversion to a community center.
"The Richard Allen School is a very important historic marker for the black community," said Harry Crapper, who attended in the 1950s and is now involved in a campaign with the NAACP to raise money to return the school to the black community. A fundraising event is planned in Georgetown on Valentine's Day.
Even C. Daniel Parsons, Sussex County's historic preservation planner and records manager, understands the historic importance of the black school, although he is staying out of the controversy.
"I definitely think a big part of the story is that it meant so much to the people who attended, and they are so passionate about preserving it, " said Parsons, adding: "A lot has changed in and around the Richard Allen School. Not much remains of the neighborhood they all grew up in, so the school stands as a beacon for them, of something they have lost."
Jane Hovington, president of the Sussex County chapter of the NAACP, said: "As the last remnant of our educational history, we cannot allow it to just slip away and the history forgotten. This facility provides those members of this community who attended the school, whose parents attended this school, whose children attended this school to be able to look upon the school and share the stories and the history."