Delaware Officials To Remove Whipping Post From Public Display At Old Sussex County Courthouse Due to Violence, Racial Discrimination It Displays
GEORGETOWN, Del. (CBS) -- Delaware officials will remove a whipping post from public display at the Old Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown. Officials are removing the whipping post in response to calls from the community and in recognition to the violence and racial discrimination that it displays.
The post will be moved to a Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs storage facility with other historical items.
"Finally, Delaware is removing its last 'Red Hannah,' the whipping post, from the public's view," Vice-Chair of the Delaware Heritage Commission Dr. Reba Hollingsworth said. "Such relics of the past should be placed in museums to be preserved and protected for those who want to remember the cruel, inhuman, barbarous acts perpetrated on our citizens."
HAC Director Tim Slavin says it is appropriate for items like this to be "preserved in the state's collections, so that future generations may view it and attempt to understand the full context of its historical guidance."
Officials plan to work with historians, educators and leaders of the African American community in Delaware to find a place to display the artifact in a museum. Where it can be properly contextualized and examined.
The post was initially located at the Sussex Correctional Institution south of Georgetown. In 1992, it was donated to the HAC and in 1993 it was placed on public display at the courthouse.
The last use of the whipping post in Delaware took place in 1952. Delaware was the last state to abolish the whipping post, removing the penalty from state law in 1972.