Research

This page highlights student research into the history of enslavement, dispossession, segregation, and other forms of racial injustice and inequality at the University of Delaware, its precursor institutions, and surrounding communities. Each post summarizes key findings from an individual student’s research, though these projects were produced as part of a collaborative effort, organized in UD seminars, and in partnership with libraries, archives, and researchers both on and off-campus.

Legislating Black Bodies: How Judicial Punishment Extended the Violence of Enslavement in Delaware, 1865-77

Black and white photo of Georgetown whipping post

How did judicial punishments continue the violent legacies of slavery? By: Sarah Lacour | Posted: 02-10-2025 Delaware is well known as one of the last states to use whipping as a judicial punishment, outlawing it only in 1972 – and removing a whipping-post from public display in 2020, after public protest. But what happened to…… Continue Reading Legislating Black Bodies: How Judicial Punishment Extended the Violence of Enslavement in Delaware, 1865-77…