In recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, today we're sharing this 2008 interview by Dr. Jeanne Nutter with Dr. Eugene McGowan, one of Delaware's leading Black educators. In this film, McGowan reflects on the impact of segregation and desegregation on Black children and recounts Black political empowerment efforts in the 1960s and 1970s.
Dr. McGowan also discusses his life as the first Black school psychologist in the state of Delaware and his civil rights work as a member of the board of both state and Wilmington branches of the NAACP, where he was especially involved in voter registration efforts in the 1960s.
The video this clip is excerpted from is based on extended oral interviews with Dr. McGowan and includes period photographs and music. It is part of Hagley Library's Conversations on African American History series, a series of short films on Black history in Delaware featuring interviews with leaders in the city's Black Freedom Movement and with former students and teachers in Delaware's du Pont schools.
To view the website for this series, which includes the full interview with Dr. McGowan, click here.