A historic Black church in Iron Hill was vandalized over the Easter weekend

St. Daniel's Community Church of Iron Hill, a historic Black church that dates back to the mid-1800s, was vandalized with racial slurs over Easter weekend.

The slurs, which appear to be scratched onto the side of the church, were discovered Saturday. There was also a window broken and a smell of propane inside the building, forcing Easter services to be relocated to another church for safety issues, Pastor Joseph E. Field III said.

Field, who has been at the church for about 12 years, said they will not be intimidated.

"In spite of what was done ... we're not going to be intimidated; we're not going to be scared," he said. "We're still going to have services, and we're gonna be right back at that church this Sunday coming having services."

New Castle County police are investigating the incident.

"Our patrol officers went out this past weekend for a criminal mischief and found the racial slurs on the building," said Sgt. Andrea Botterbusch, a police spokesperson. "Our Criminal Investigations Unit are following up on this and working with the church."

Anyone with information on the vandalism should contact the unit at (302) 395-8110.

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Rich history

The church has been listed in the National Registry of Historic Places since September 2021, according to the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs.

Located on the slopes of Iron Hill, the church was first known as the African Union Church and Cemetery of Iron Hill. It later became known as St. Daniel’s Community Church of Iron Hill.

The church was constructed between 1852 and 1856, according to the state's historical division, and is the oldest known surviving free Black church in northern Delaware that was built as part of Peter Spencer’s African Union Church movement.

Spencer, a free African American resident of Wilmington, became dissatisfied with the Methodist denomination in 1805. Through an act of incorporation in Delaware in 1813, he legally established a free and independent church called the Union Church of Africans.

His church was reorganized under the name of the Union American Methodist Episcopal (U.A.M.E.) Church in 1852, about 10 years after his death.

As a Spencer church, the structure is representative of the religious practices and culture of rural Black communities in New Castle County, according to the historical division. Built on land given to the church by freeman William Walker in 1852, the present church building functioned as one of the community’s most important institutions and now stands as the only known extant building of the antebellum era — a period that extended from the end of the War of 1812, in which England acknowledged America's independence, to the start of the American Civil War in 1861.

This church is credited by the state historical division as playing a key role in forming and sustaining the community at Iron Hill from the antebellum period through desegregation during the late 1960s.

Vandalism

Field said he was contacted by his aide on Saturday telling him someone had scrawled racial slurs on the side of the building. This included repeatedly, among other things, etching "KKK" and "die" into the brick-colored shingles.

Because there was a smell of propane inside the church and the building was cold to be inside, Field said they decided not to have Easter services there. Fortunately the congregation was welcomed at New Jubilee Church, located at 2540 Glasgow Ave.

Freeman Williams, president of the Newark NAACP, said they are angry and upset about the incident.

"It's really a commentary on our society that in 2024 we're still dealing with this," he said. "We're better than this as a county and as a nation."

The church pastor said he'd like to speak to the people who did this.

"If it really is something that they want to talk about, we're open to talk," Fields said. "They can come visit us Sunday. Sunday is Communion day. Have Communion with us and worship and we can talk about those things."

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He added that while churches don't change people's hearts, God is able to do that and said the person should pray about that and whatever is troubling them.

"They need to take it to God," he said.

Send tips or story ideas to Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Vandal etched racial slurs onto historic Black church in Iron Hill