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Georgetown pillory now in the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park

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For a long time, a pillory on display in Georgetown was considered a symbol of barbarism and cruelty, especially towards black people.

Today, the pillory serves as an opportunity for people to confront the injustices of American history as part of the Equal Justice Initiative's Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery, Alabama, and is on loan from the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs.

“The (department) believes this is an important step for Delaware as we confront our past and seek to use this relic of suffering and intimidation as a tool to educate hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world,” said Deputy Department Director Amy Golden-Shepherd.

The history of the pillory

According to the department, whipping was used as a punishment in Delaware as early as colonial times and was used disproportionately against people of color. There was once a post in every county.

The Sussex County corporal yard was originally located on the grounds of the Sussex Correctional Institution, which opened outside Georgetown in 1931, but it is unknown when it was installed there. Delaware was the last state to abolish corporal punishment in 1952.

In 1992, the pillory was donated to the department and placed at the corner of 10 S. Bedford St. in Georgetown on the grounds of the state's Old Sussex County Court House. It remained there until the department finally voted to remove it on July 1, 2020.

More: As historic monuments fall across the country, Delaware grapples with the question of what these symbols represent

“It is appropriate to preserve an object such as this in the state's collections so that future generations can look at it and try to understand the full context of its historical significance,” then-department head Tim Slavin said at the time.

“It is quite another to leave a pillory on a busy street – a cold, expressionless sight that does not do justice to the traumatic legacy it represents and whose reverberations continue to reverberate in communities of color across our state.”

Freedom Monument Sculpture Park

Overlooking the Alabama River, the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park is one of three Equal Justice Initiative historic sites, all located in Montgomery.

The park, the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice are “dedicated to 400 years of American history, including slavery, racial terrorism, codified segregation, mass incarceration and the stories of courage, resistance and resilience demonstrated during those 400 years,” the initiative's website states.

The park's sculptures, exhibits and artifacts honor the lives of the 10 million black people who were enslaved in America.

Next to the pillory are authentic slave quarters and railroad cars like those once used in the slave trade. Visitors can listen to audio recordings of Muscogee family stories and read firsthand accounts of escaping slavery. Most of the sculptures were created by African-American, African or indigenous artists, the website says, such as “Strike” by Hank Willis Thomas, which depicts fighting arms, one holding a club.

Several employees of the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs visited the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in June.

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“The entire experience was life-changing, as I learned more about slavery and its legacy in three days than in any classroom or textbook in my entire life,” Golden-Shepherd said.

The pillory is not the park's only connection to Sussex County. The nonprofit Equal Justice Initiative was founded by Bryan Allen Stevenson of Milton, a renowned attorney and author.

For more information on the above points, please visit eji.org.

Shannon Marvel McNaught covers Southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @MarvelMcNaught.

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