Historical marker for Industrial School for Colored Girls unveiled

A historical marker for the Industrial School for Colored Girls was unveiled Thursday. (All photos by Jarek Rutz/Delaware LIVE News)

More than 50 people read in unison for 30 seconds the story of the Industrial School for Colored Girls Thursday morning in Wilmington.

It’s a tradition the Delaware Public Archives keeps whenever it unveils a new historical marker.

“We walk through history every day…and very few of us have an idea of what was once here,” said David Battafarano, a social studies teacher at New Castle County Vocational Technical School District ’s Delcastle Technical High School .

Delcastle Tech is located on the same grounds as the Industrial School for Colored Girls – also called the Edwina Kruse School in honor of its eventual principal and former principal of Howard High School of Technology , also in the district.

The school was founded in 1919 by the Federation of Colored Women’s Club of Delawar e, and dedicated in 1920 as the first educational institution in Delaware for the care and rehabilitation of girls of color.

At the time, minors were redirected to industrial schools instead of prison in order to be educated, reformed and reintroduced as productive adults.

Young men, both Black and white, were remanded to the Ferris Industrial School, and young white females attended the Industrial School for Girls in Claymont.

But, until the purchase of the land on Newport Gap Pike, there was no location set aside for the care of girls of color.

Donations from T. Coleman du Pont and others helped the state purchase the former Grier and Woodward Farms next to the predominantly Black neighborhoods of Liberty and Belvedere, which is the current site of Delcastle High.

The historical school remained in operation until 1960.

“There is history here before the cougars came,” said Donato Rufo, another social studies teacher at the school.

He noted that Delaware is “kind of quirky” in that it was a slave state, but it was loyal to the Union and the education of students of color was not considered for a very long time.

“It’s important to remember and recognize how these individuals and schools have shaped our communities and not forget about history,” said Rep. Kim Williams, D-Marshallton and chair of the House Education Committee. “It’s so important for our children to learn about the rich history in our area.”