“Unequal Justice in Delaware” is a multi-year project launched in fall 2019 by the Delaware Historical Society’s Jane and Littleton Mitchell Center for African American Heritage in partnership with the University of Delaware, Delaware State University and the Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition. This project will research, educate, and engage the public on the history of racial injustice and inequality against Delaware’s African American community, create a path for healing and uplift by exploring the ways communities fought injustice, and encourage community dialogue.
Inspired by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, the Unequal Justice in Delaware project began in 2019 with a series of conversations among leaders of the Delaware Historical Society’s Mitchell Center for African American Heritage, Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition, Delaware State University, and the University of Delaware’s Center for the Study of Diversity, for the need to know more about the history of legal and extralegal violence in Delaware and to prompt meaningful, facilitated dialogue about the effect of terror and violence before we may begin healing, reconciliation, and a collaborative effort to build a country where racial justice is a reality.
Latest from the Unequal Justice in Delaware project
Unequal Justice in Delaware Fellows Symposium
Wednesday June 16, 2021, 6–8 p.m.
The Unequal Justice Research and Public History Fellows share their research on how racial inequality has been perpetuated in Delaware. The Fellows explore incidents in the history of healthcare, housing, and voting rights, and highlight how Black activists combated racist policies and procedures.
Introduction of Fellows:
Danielle Bing
Graduate Student, University of Delaware
Presentation by Fellows:
Kya McIntyre
University of Delaware, Junior (May 2022)
“Access to Care: NAACP v. Wilmington Medical Center, Institutional Discrimination, and Late 20th-Century African American Health Disparities”
Marissa Pecoraio
University of Delaware, Senior (May 2021)
“African American Political Autonomy in Postbellum Delaware: The Consequence of the 1873 Poll Tax”
Sarina Simpson
University of Delaware, Sophomore (May 2023)
“Failures in Housing Equity: Black Delawareans and State Enforcement Following the Fair Housing Act of 1968”
Wrap Up:
Savannah Shepherd
Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition
Unequal Justice in Delaware Virtual Panel Discussion
The Unequal Justice in Delaware project launched its first public program. This is a video recording of the virtual panel which took place on Saturday, October, 17th.
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