Interviews with former students and teachers in the du Pont schools provide the source for a series of short films on African American history in Delaware. They feature recollections by four of the state’s African American leaders.
In the Conversation with Jane E. Mitchell: African American Nurse (2003, 25 min.), Mrs. Mitchell describes her experiences with segregation in Delaware’s hospital system and her successful efforts to secure equal medical treatment for blacks.
Through the Conversation with Rev. Maurice J. Moyer: Civil Rights Leader (2005, 20 min.), the former president of the Wilmington NAACP recounts the civil rights protests in the early 1960s that ended discriminatory practices in housing and employment.
In the Conversation with Dr. Eugene McGowan: African American School Psychologist and Community Leader (2008, 20 minutes) one of Delaware’s leading black educators reflects on the impact of segregation and desegregation on black children, and recounts African American political empowerment efforts in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the Conversation with Edward Loper: African American Painter (2012, 20 minutes), one of Delaware’s most prominent cultural leaders reflects on growing up in Wilmington in the 1930s, his education at Howard High School, early influences on his painting, and his painting philosophy.
Dr. Jeanne Nutter served as executive producer of the Conversation series films. They all were directed by Alonzo Crawford and edited by Kendrick Simmons, with funding from the Longwood Foundation, the Delaware Heritage Commission, Delaware Humanities Forum, Bloomfield College, the Gilliam Foundation, and the Hagley Museum and Library.