Tag: Community

Breaking Barriers, Building Legacy Exhibition

Breaking Barriers, Building Legacy chronicles the journey to establishing the Mitchell Center for African American Heritage, which celebrates its 10-year anniversary in October 2026, and highlights the lives and impact of Center namesakes Jane and Littleton Mitchell. It also commemorates the 125th birthday of Louis Redding, Delaware’s first Black lawyer, who argued in the state cases that became part of the landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education that desegregated schools nationwide.

This temporary exhibition is on display in the Mitchell Center Theater through 2027 and is included with Delaware History Museum admission. The Museum, located at 504 N. Market Street in Wilmington, is open weekly Wednesday through Saturday, from 12-5 p.m.

Delaware Community Preservation Lab

Every Delawarean has a history worth preserving. Yet personal, community, and organizational collections filled with photographs, letters, quilts, scrapbooks, posters, and other keepsakes are often at risk from humidity, common pests, poor storage, and the passage of time.

The DCPL empowers people with simple, practical techniques to care for these items and, if they choose, to preserve them in digital form. Using everyday technology like smartphones, tablets, laptops, and scanners, participants will learn how to document and store physical objects in digital spaces.

We know digital processes can feel overwhelming, so the Lab offers step-by-step support and resources to make preservation easy, approachable, and accessible, ensuring these objects and stories can be shared for generations to come.

Free event, registration required. Register here.

Questions? Check out the FAQ page.

Ancestral Dream, Living Blueprint

An ancestor dreamed a church into being. That church dreamed a community into action. The dream continues. The blueprint lives in the people, not the walls.

Explore this temporary exhibition from Peter Spencer’s founding dream, through gathering and resilience, to the living congregation that carries the blueprint forward — even after the Mother African Union Church was damaged by a two-alarm fire.

On display in the Mitchell Center Theater at the Delaware History Museum through October 17, 2026. Exhibition is included with Museum admission fees.

August Quarterly Liberation Fest

Join the Mother African Union Church and the Delaware Historical Society for a Friday night block party to celebrate the arts during this year’s August Quarterly!

Incorporating the theme of the Harlem Renaissance, the evening will feature movement and dance by Pieces of a Dream Dance Group and music by Best Kept Soul Band, along with dialogue, food trucks, and other vendors. Guests are asked to wear all-white attire. 

This free community event is co-curated with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.

*CANCELLED* Delaware Community Preservation Lab

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER.

Every Delawarean has a history worth preserving. Yet personal, community, and organizational collections filled with photographs, letters, quilts, scrapbooks, posters, and other keepsakes are often at risk from humidity, common pests, poor storage, and the passage of time.

The Delaware Community Preservation Lab (DCPL) helps safeguard these materials by offering on-site scanning, photography, and video recording services. Visitors can bring in a wide range of items, including photographs, 35mm film and slides, yearbooks, scrapbooks, leaflets and other historic papers and documents to be carefully scanned and converted into high-quality digital files. In addition to flat materials, DCPL staff can photograph three-dimensional objects and record short video interviews, giving participants the opportunity to share the stories behind their items and preserve those memories alongside the images.

We’ve been bringing our technology and resources to sites around the First State, and this September, we’ll be in Sussex County at the Lewes Senior Activity Center!

Participants who schedule an appointment at one of our digitization booths will receive a USB drive with their newly digitized files, along with easy-to-follow preservation guides created by Delaware Historical Society collections care staff to help them continue their preservation efforts at home or in their churches and community organizations.

Visitors can also stop by our Build-Your-Own Preservation Kit Station to customize a kit with archival-quality materials like acid-free tissue paper, folders, Mylar sleeves, and more, ensuring their items are well-protected for the long term.

Free event, registration required. Register here.

Questions? Check out the FAQ page.

Restore & Remember: John Bell House

Pack your gardening gloves and lace up your sneakers for a walking tour with First State Heritage Park followed by community cleanup at the John Bell House.

The John Bell House is operated by First State Heritage Park. It includes three historic gardens representing the three main communities who existed in Dover in the 18th century – Indigenous, Enslaved, and English. The three historic gardens utilize heirloom seeds of each community group as well as their unique gardening practices.

During this Restore & Remember event, in addition to helping with the John Bell House site, we will clean up the general Dover Green area that bore witness to the American Revolution, ratification of the constitution, and enslavement.

Attendees will participate in a walking tour with First State Heritage Park interpreters to learn about the history of the Dover Green and the John Bell House site. After learning about the history and the significance of these spaces to Delaware’s Black history, we will use our remaining time to do gardening upkeep and trash pickup.

Free event. Registration required: https://dhs.givecloud.co/restore-remember-john-bell-house

Who Raised You? Community Open Mic Night

As the closing event of Black Storytelling Week, we invite community members, Wilmington Black Storytelling Residency alumni, and invited guests to take the mic and share the impactful, funny, emotional, and relatable personal stories that shaped their lives. 

Black Storytelling Week is an annual holiday for passing down family history. Each year, during the second week of September, we encourage every Black family to spend one hour sharing their family history. The purpose of the holiday is to rebuild a culture of sharing stories and history across generations – and in doing so, inspire connection and healing within Black families across the world.

Before books, films, and podcasts, our culture and history were passed down through oral tradition. From stories, and music, to recipes and remedies for wellness and survival, the spoken word was a format we revered and held sacred. This holiday reimagines oral tradition as a means to preserve our cultures, reclaim how we teach them, and ensure they live on for years to come.

Tickets $10. Purchase tickets: https://dhs.givecloud.co/who-raised-you

Please note: Your ticket purchase is for admission to the event. If you would also like to participate by sharing a story, be sure to register and arrive early on the day of the event to sign up for a speaking slot. Spaces will be available that day, on a first-come, first-served basis, and all stories will be limited to 5 minutes to allow us to accommodate more speakers.

Stories in Focus: A Photo-Telling Workshop

Join the Delaware Historical Society on September 14 at 6 p.m. for Stories in Focus: A Photo-Telling Workshop, part of Black Storytelling Week. Learn from historians and storytellers how photos and materials from family history collections can be used to weave stories that can be passed on to future generations.

Black Storytelling Week is an annual holiday for passing down family history. Each year, during the second week of September, we encourage every Black family to spend one hour sharing their family history. The purpose of the holiday is to rebuild a culture of sharing stories and history across generations – and in doing so, inspire connection and healing within Black families across the world.

Tickets $15. Purchase here: https://dhs.givecloud.co/stories-in-focus

Independence in Action!

A day full of adventure, discovery, and revolutionary spirit! No matter your age, experience history during this family-friendly celebration marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of Declaration of Independence.  

Start the afternoon at Old Town Hall with Delaware Shakespeare performing “Embers of Freedom: Independence through the Eyes of Many,” an expansive, performative reading of the Declaration of Independence that weaves in writings from voices that were underrepresented in the original creation of the Declaration.

Following the performance, join us for family-friendly, hands-on activities throughout our Wilmington campus.

  • Make paper and ink from scratch — Try crafting the same materials the Founders used to write and share their boldest ideas.
  • Write like a Revolutionary — Pick up a quill and see if you have what it takes to draft history.
  • Escape Old Town Hall and sign the Declaration — Can you break free and add your name to the most famous document in American history?
  • Revolutionary Espionage — Test your wits in a mission inspired by the secret world of colonial spies.
  • Uncover Revolutionary Artifacts — Go behind the scenes with the Delaware Historical Society to explore revolutionary-era documents from our collections.
  • Learn to protect your family’s treasures — Bring your own family artifacts to the Delaware Historical Society to learn preservation tips and receive assistance scanning them so they can be safely preserved in digital form.

The event is free. Registration is required for the Delaware Shakespeare performance in Old Town Hall at 12 p.m. Register here: https://dhs.givecloud.co/july3

In Conversation: Caribbean Heritage

The Delaware Historical Society is excited to host In Conversation: Caribbean Heritage on Saturday, June 6 from 3-4 p.m. This discussion will explore the relationship between the United States and the Caribbean, what Caribbean heritage means to our panelists, and how Caribbean history and culture has influenced Delaware’s Black history.

Our In Conversation series is a panel discussion featuring community leaders, officials, and scholars. This program is intended to bring community members and stakeholders together to share ideas and facilitate a conversations about issues relevant to Delawareans.

Tickets $5 or Free for Delaware Historical Society members. Register here: https://dhs.givecloud.co/caribbean-heritage