FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | June 18, 2019
Delaware State Senate Majority Caucus
Contact: Scott Goss (302) 744-4180, or
Dylan McDowell (302) 744-4282
Delaware State Senate Majority Caucus
Contact: Scott Goss (302) 744-4180, or
Dylan McDowell (302) 744-4282
Delaware Legislative Black Caucus to unveil historic marker commemorating Delaware lynching
PRICES CORNER – A violent and often-ignored chapter of Delaware history will finally receive the attention it deserves on Sunday when the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus (DLBC) and members of the community unveil a state historic marker commemorating the only documented lynching in the First State.
“Confronting a truly heinous act of racial terrorism like this is necessary if Delawareans of all ethnicities are ever going to accept our shared history and move forward together,” said DLBC Chair Sen. Darius Brown, D-Wilmington. “Public acknowledgement of this incident is long overdue and I’m thankful for the opportunity to recognize this horrible incident with the dignity and respect it deserves.”
Installed by the Delaware Public Archives at New Castle County’s Greenbank Park, the new historic marker memorializes the 1903 lynching of laborer George White at the hands of a white mob. White had been accused of killing the daughter of the Ferris Industrial School’s superintendent weeks earlier but denied any involvement in the attack.
Two attempts to carry White from prison had already failed when local pastor Robert Elwood delivered a sermon that sparked a violent confrontation between White’s jailers and an angry mob. White was eventually dragged off and burned alive while pieces of his charred body were taken by the mob as souvenirs.
No one was ever convicted of any crimes related to his murder.
Although a documentary has been made about White’s lynching and the story has been repeated over the years by various historians and journalists, the incident has been largely forgotten by the general public.
Savannah Shepherd, a rising senior at the Sanford School, first learned about White’s murder after visiting the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama – the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the roughly 4,300 documented racial terror lynchings of African Americans between the end of the Civil War and the end of World War II.
The memorial is operated by the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit founded by criminal justice reform pioneer and Milton, Delaware-native Bryan Stevenson, who is now the subject of the HBO documentary “True Justice,” slated to premiere on June 26.
After returning home, Shepherd founded the Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition and worked to get a historic marker placed in the area where White was killed. She approached Sen. Brown, who agreed to cover the cost of the marker and advance Shepherd’s efforts.
That marker will be officially unveiled to the public this Sunday, the 116th anniversary of White’s murder.
“The only way that we can learn from our past is by confronting it – especially our darkest chapters,” said U.S. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del. “The racist murder of George White is unquestionably one of our darkest as a state. I’m grateful to Savannah Shepherd and the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus for their work to document this heinous act so that we may all learn from it moving forward.”
Historic Marker Unveiling
WHO: State Senator Darius Brown
Members of the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus
U.S. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester
U.S. Senator Chris Coons
Savannah Shepherd
Stephen Marz, Director of the Delaware Public Archives
Vanessa Phillips, New Castle County Chief Administrative Officer
Jonathan Kubakundimana, program manager for the Equal Justice Initiative
Dr. Howard Stevenson, professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
Guests from the Milton Historical Society
Other state and county officials
WHEN: 2:30 p.m., Sunday, June 23
WHERE: Greenbank Park (north of the intersection of Kirkwood Highway and Route 41)
250 Greenbank Road
Wilmington, DE 19808
RSVP: Scott Goss, Communications Director for the Senate Democrats
(302) 744-4180
scott.goss@delaware.gov
“Confronting a truly heinous act of racial terrorism like this is necessary if Delawareans of all ethnicities are ever going to accept our shared history and move forward together,” said DLBC Chair Sen. Darius Brown, D-Wilmington. “Public acknowledgement of this incident is long overdue and I’m thankful for the opportunity to recognize this horrible incident with the dignity and respect it deserves.”
Installed by the Delaware Public Archives at New Castle County’s Greenbank Park, the new historic marker memorializes the 1903 lynching of laborer George White at the hands of a white mob. White had been accused of killing the daughter of the Ferris Industrial School’s superintendent weeks earlier but denied any involvement in the attack.
Two attempts to carry White from prison had already failed when local pastor Robert Elwood delivered a sermon that sparked a violent confrontation between White’s jailers and an angry mob. White was eventually dragged off and burned alive while pieces of his charred body were taken by the mob as souvenirs.
No one was ever convicted of any crimes related to his murder.
Although a documentary has been made about White’s lynching and the story has been repeated over the years by various historians and journalists, the incident has been largely forgotten by the general public.
Savannah Shepherd, a rising senior at the Sanford School, first learned about White’s murder after visiting the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama – the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the roughly 4,300 documented racial terror lynchings of African Americans between the end of the Civil War and the end of World War II.
The memorial is operated by the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit founded by criminal justice reform pioneer and Milton, Delaware-native Bryan Stevenson, who is now the subject of the HBO documentary “True Justice,” slated to premiere on June 26.
After returning home, Shepherd founded the Delaware Social Justice Remembrance Coalition and worked to get a historic marker placed in the area where White was killed. She approached Sen. Brown, who agreed to cover the cost of the marker and advance Shepherd’s efforts.
That marker will be officially unveiled to the public this Sunday, the 116th anniversary of White’s murder.
“The only way that we can learn from our past is by confronting it – especially our darkest chapters,” said U.S. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del. “The racist murder of George White is unquestionably one of our darkest as a state. I’m grateful to Savannah Shepherd and the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus for their work to document this heinous act so that we may all learn from it moving forward.”
Historic Marker Unveiling
WHO: State Senator Darius Brown
Members of the Delaware Legislative Black Caucus
U.S. Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester
U.S. Senator Chris Coons
Savannah Shepherd
Stephen Marz, Director of the Delaware Public Archives
Vanessa Phillips, New Castle County Chief Administrative Officer
Jonathan Kubakundimana, program manager for the Equal Justice Initiative
Dr. Howard Stevenson, professor of Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania
Guests from the Milton Historical Society
Other state and county officials
WHEN: 2:30 p.m., Sunday, June 23
WHERE: Greenbank Park (north of the intersection of Kirkwood Highway and Route 41)
250 Greenbank Road
Wilmington, DE 19808
RSVP: Scott Goss, Communications Director for the Senate Democrats
(302) 744-4180
scott.goss@delaware.gov
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- Press Contacts
Scott Goss
Communications Director
(302) 744-4180
scott.goss@delaware.gov
Dylan McDowell
Communications Assistant
(302) 744-4282
dylan.mcdowell@delaware.gov