Posted on July 22, 2021 at: 10:21 am
This year’s Callahan fellows research was sponsored by the History Department, in partnership with the UD Anti-Racism Initiative, and was funded by the Ray Callahan Experiential Learning Fund. Fellows were charged with investigating the history and legacy of racial inequality at the University of Delaware and its predecessor institutions. They presented draft versions of their work at the inaugural workshop of the Legacies of Enslavement and Dispossession at UD subcommittee on June 21, 2021. The blog posts are a further public presentation of this work – and part of an ongoing series of examinations of UD’s history.
Collin Willard, “Beyond Its Limits: A Case Study in University Expansion and Gentrification in Newark, DE,” University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative (blog), July 13, 2021.
Edward Redmond, “The Presbyterian & The Politician: Uncovering and Comparing the History of Reverend Eliphalet Wheeler and Andrew Gray,” University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative (blog), July 13, 2021.
Posted on July 13, 2021 at: 3:05 pm
By Edward Redmond, Ray Callahan Experiential Learning Fund Fellow, Spring 2021
Was someone an enslaver? This is a deceptively simple question that took me a little less than half a year to answer regarding Reverend Eliphalet Wheeler Gilbert and Andrew Gray, two key figures in the University of Delaware’s early history. The research process was difficult and long but led to the uncovering of interesting information and opened avenues for further research. But, this all leads us to a simpler question: who were these men?
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Posted on at: 1:59 pm
by Collin Willard
Ray Callahan Experiential Learning Fund Fellow, Spring 2021
Anyone who has ever set foot in Newark, Delaware could tell you that it is a college town. Positioned in the center of town, the University of Delaware’s vast campus dominates Newark’s built environment. Businesses along Newark’s Main Street cater to student tastes, and students make up a sizable portion of Newark’s population. Large real estate management companies offer a variety of off-campus housing options in just about every part of Newark, from apartment complexes to single family homes, and nearly everything in between.
However, Newark was not always like this. Prior to the 1970’s, University of Delaware students primarily either lived on campus or commuted to class. Newark had several distinctive neighborhoods within its core that housed working-class families. One such neighborhood was home to the New London Road community, where Newark’s Black population lived throughout the 20th century. This neighborhood, shown in the figure below, encompassed most of the northwest portion of Newark’s core, including New London Road and Avenue, West Cleveland Avenue, Ray Street, Church Street, Corbit Street, Rose Street, and Terry Manor. Today, however, this area of Newark is largely student housing and university property.
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Posted on March 8, 2021 at: 4:17 pm
Gelina Dames and Elisa Davila have been selected as the UD Antiracism Undergraduate Research Assistants for Spring 2021.
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