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Georgetown: An African American Community Lost in Time

Credit Don Rush
Charles H. Chipman Cultural Center (Inside Auditorium)

Most people on Delmarva have heard of Georgetown, Delaware. However, there was another Georgetown.

It was an African American community tucked away just north and east of downtown Salisbury. It arose from the plantation that is now the site of the Poplar Hill Mansion and reaches back to the days of slavery.

With the opening up of Routes 13 and 50, the old neighborhood disappeared. Not even a sign indicates that this was once a thriving African American community.

Series

In Delmarva Public Radio's two part series we look back on this community beginning with the Chipman Cultural Center, where once stood, the first African American church in the neighborhood.

By the 1930's, events began to unfold that would undo the integrity of Georgetown ending with the major highways that cut through the heart of the community.

georgetown_2_.mp3
Delmarva Public Radio's Don Rush looks at the 1931 lynching and the eventual demise of the Georgetown neighborhood.

Don Rush is the News Director at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.