DuPont Schools study to expand with story map
A project chronicling the history of Delaware’s DuPont “Colored” Schools will soon include a story map that allows people to explore the dozens of early 20th century schools built for African American and Native American students in Delaware.
The Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the statewide nonprofit Preservation Delaware Inc. and the University of Delaware’s Center for Historic Architecture and Design (CHAD) program, published findings in two reports during 2021 and 2022, respectively, capturing the oral history of student experiences and a study on the history and current condition of the buildings themselves.
The new digital feature will allow people to explore an online map and click on a specific school to bring up information that was gathered during the survey.
These DuPont Schools, found in all three of Delaware’s counties, were built during an era of segregation. Delaware philanthropist Pierre Samuel du Pont provided the funding needed for underfunded and poorly resourced schools for African American and Native American students in Delaware. While 90 schools were originally built, only 84 could be located through this comprehensive survey, which also collected the information needed to recommend some of the sites for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.
CHAD was contracted to build the map based on the information included in the survey. Check back for updates on this new feature’s availability! In the meantime, check out the recent blog about what researchers found at history.delaware.gov/2022/06/20/dupont-schools-reports-2022.