White Philanthropy Won’t Save Black Education: Tracing an “Ordinary” Segregated School’s Life in Delaware

This essay suggests examining “ordinary,” segregated Black schools from the past helps explain persistent issues in Black education at present. To demonstrate this point, the essay focuses on the shortcomings of philanthropy in education from the 1920s to the present day in Wilmington, Delaware. It asserts for Black education to thrive, a combination of adequate resources and Black control over those resources is necessary. Utilizing School No. 5, a school heretofore undocumented in scholarship, as one specific case, the authors show how this elementary school was initially overlooked by white philanthropy, only to be pervaded with it decades later. Centrally, the authors argue in both instances, whites’ actions, either by oversight or interference, hindered the holistic quality of Black children’s education; these persistent impediments to Black education, however, transpired alongside the valiant efforts and self-determination of Black educators and Wilmington’s Black community.

Religious Capital of the Oppressed

Black advancement in Antebellum Philadelphia was not solely a byproduct of White philanthropy, but Black residents advocated for a more inclusive form of education. Scholars have considered the influence of the Black church in educational progress, but not the influence of religion on the educational advocates. This chapter analyzes religion as a form of capital on the antebellum Philadelphian Black Christian community. This chapter achieved this by conducting a socio-historical content analysis of primary sources such as sermon manuscripts and books, as well as secondary sources such as history books and journal articles. Ultimately, the chapter findings suggest that religion was a motivator of the educational advancement for the Black educational advocates and churches, whereas for the White Christian community Black education was informed by deficit-based perspectives. The author of this chapter suggest that Black Christian Education can serve as a useful educational alternative especially if it embraces a social justice orientation to empower Black students.