Richard Allen Coalition seeks supporters for gala Feb. 2

A Proud Legacy...A Promising Future – The Richard Allen Coalition fourth annual gala is set for 5 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Georgetown CHEER Center.

The keynote speaker will be the renowned Dr. Reba Ross Hollingsworth. This year’s theme is Celebrating Our Rich Heritage. The 2019 honorees include Patsy Young, Dorothy Sturgis, Winnie Mann, Harry Crapper and Calvin Abbott.

The Richard Allen School in Georgetown opened its doors in the 1920s as one of 80 schools built for African-American children in Delaware by philanthropist Pierre S. du Pont. It continued to serve as the heart of the African-American community for over half a century. When desegregation was implemented, it became part of the Indian River School District, which decided to close the school 12 years ago.

In 2014, a diverse group of men and women came together to form the Richard Allen Coalition with the goal to restore the school so it can once again be a cultural, civic and educational center.

In 2015, the Delaware General Assembly passed a bill which deeded the building to the Richard Allen Coalition. At the bill signing in front of the school Aug.12, 2015, Gov. Jack Markell said, “In the end, it came down to members of the community who had a vision that they wanted to keep alive.”

The coalition continues its work to make the vision a reality. Throughout the year, programs have been held on the grounds of the school. With the help of volunteers, the school has been scrubbed, sanded and painted, making the classrooms available to host programs, classes, and meetings inside. Community children have spent many hours during the year utilizing the courts and playground equipment, and a Legobotics class was held during the summer.

The U.S. Postal Service issued a Forever Stamp Feb. 2, 2016, to commemorate Richard Allen, an important figure in the U.S. abolitionist movement, and the founder and first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Hollingsworth, age 92, a native of Milford and a longtime resident of Dover, has been recognized many times for her life spent overcoming the years of segregation in Delaware – which included her time as a student at Booker T. Washington Middle School, the Delaware State College Laboratory School and Delaware State College, from which she earned a bachelor of science degree in home economics. She earned a 1970 master’s degree in education guidance from the University of Delaware and a 2001 doctorate in counseling from Pacific Western University. Hollingsworth exemplifies the African-American legacy by being a vivid reminder of what it took to be successful in the past and what it takes to be successful now.

Reba Ross Hollingsworth enjoyed 69 years of marriage to Berlin Hollingsworth. She always acknowledges the joy they shared working hand in hand together enhancing the lives of many, many people.

Hollingsworth was nominated recently to the Delaware Women’s Hall of Fame in Dover. She is noted not only for her work as a vice chair of the Heritage Commission, but her service as a life member of the NACCP and a past president of the African American Historical Society, and her involvement in the civil rights movement. She is one of the foremost authorities in the state on parliamentary law.

Hollingsworth shared the award with her late parents, Solomon and Rachel Ross, whose ancestry in Delaware stretches back beyond 1790. She and her six siblings were taught to do something positive with their lives while they had breath. They were expected to help others, to share their gifts and talents, and to treat everyone with love and respect. She grew up in a three-room house with no running water, no electricity and no indoor toilet. As a young girl, she learned that being poor and black was no excuse for being ignorant and uneducated. She said, “Ignorance breeds poverty. The brain is neither black nor white. It is gray.”

Hollingsworth began her teaching career in 1954 at William C. Jason Comprehensive High School in Georgetown, now a part of Delaware Technical Community College. After teaching home economics and science for 12 years at  Jason, Hollingsworth became a guidance counselor at Dover High School.

Among her diverse pursuits, Hollingsworth has been an overseas travel study counselor, an adjunct professor and a counseling practicum supervisor. With her late husband Dr. Berlin Hollingsworth, she was co-owner of Hollingsworth & Hollingsworth Consultant Services, which specialized in pre-marriage counseling, and parliamentary procedures workshops and training sessions.

The coaliton seeks assistance to help keep the doors open at the Richard Allen School and make sure the progress continues in 2019. Supporters can purchase an ad, become a sponsor, or purchase a ticket.

Gala tickets cost $40 per person or $400 for a table of eight. To purchase tickets, go to www.eventbrite.com. Table sponsors will be recognized in the program and with a table plaque. Those who wish to make a year-end contribution can make check payable to Richard Allen Coalition and mail to P.O. Box 624, Georgetown, DE 19947. For more information, contact Betty Deacon at 302-644-4303 or email betty.deacon@gmail.com.