Abdullah Muhammad couldn’t believe some of the answers he got to simple questions about Delaware history.
“I asked people about the significance of December 7, 1787 on the state flag and more than half said it was when Delaware signed the Declaration of Independence,” he said. “They don’t even remember the Declaration of Independence was 1776.”
It was such responses to what he believes are quintessential facts about Delaware history that, in part, prompted him to write the book “The Making of Delaware One Day at a Time.”
“There are significant events that happened in this state and people don’t know them,” he said. “So whatever resources are out there in the schools aren’t working.”
Muhammad, a former teacher at William Penn, said he once tried to start a “This Day in Delaware History” segment in his history classes, and at that point realized there was nothing out there organized by date.
“I contacted a number of historians and they all said ‘there’s nothing out there, nobody’s done it,’” he said.
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The Making of Delaware One Day at a Time By Abdullah Muhammad Available at most Delaware book stores or at www.delawarehistorybook.com $24.99 |
After 22 months of research, with a short break in the middle in which he published a Delaware history calendar, Muhammad had completed his 180-page quick-reference guide to the state’s history.
The book goes day-by-day, month-by-month through the year, listing significant events that took place on each day, dating back to the “discovery” of the state by Captain John Smith in June of 1608 through July 26, 2007, when the WSFS Bank Center opened to help mark the bank’s 175th anniversary.
The middle of the book features 20 pages of color photos, most taken by Muhammad himself, of landmarks up and down the state.
To help promote the book, Muhammad, 57, distributed a survey last fall to 300 Delawareans with 11 questions about Delaware history. Respondents on average got fewer than three of the questions correct.
"They may know Delaware, but they may not,” he said. “A person can read just about what happened in February and know more about Delaware history than someone that’s been here 20 years. And once they read through my book, my hope is it will inspire them to want to find out more.”
Muhammad, who lives in Wilmington, said the spring months seemed to be the time when the most significant events happened in the state, perhaps because it’s when the General Assembly is in session, he conjectured. But he said he had a difficult time finding significant events in August.
“I think August has always been the vacation month throughout history,” he quipped.
