Historian Syl Woolford will present a live, online lecture at 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2, discussing the fight to end racial segregation in American schools, presented by the Lewes Public Library. The landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
May 19, 2021
Syl Woolford
Historian Syl Woolford will present a live, online lecture discussing the 1917 East St. Louis Riot at 5 p.m., Tuesday, May 25, hosted by the Lewes Public Library.
In the early 1900s, East St. Louis, Illinois was a hub of industry and commerce. Meat packers, iron mills and railroads called East St. Louis home. African Americans poured into East St. Louis for the promise of jobs that paid wages unavailable in the South, only to be caught up in the turmoil of volatile race and labor relations of the time.
On July 1, 1917, tensions that had built up over crowded housing, low wages and racism culminated in a riot that killed more than 100 people and devastated the African American community in East St. Louis.
February 3, 2021
Syl Woolford will present a live online lecture Feb. 11 to discuss the 1921 Greenwood Massacre that took place in Oklahoma. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Historian Syl Woolford will present a live, online lecture discussing the 1921 Greenwood Massacre and the destruction of Black Wall Street at 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 11, hosted by the Lewes Public Library.
In the early 1900s, Tulsa, Okla., became the oil capital of the world. Within this boomtown, the African American neighborhood of Greenwood had a thriving business district known as Black Wall Street. On May 31, 1921, this prosperous Black community was destroyed by a violent white mob in one of the deadliest and most destructive race riots in American history. Hundreds of lives were lost, and entire city blocks were burned to the ground. On the 100-year anniversary of the Greenwood Massacre, Woolford reflects on the development of Black Wall Street, racial tensions leading to the riot, and attempts by city official