William W.M. Henry Comprehensive High School was a segregated public high school for African-Americans in Dover, Delaware. It was a part of William W. M. Henry Comprehensive High School District 133.[1] Its namesake was a doctor named William W. M. Henry.[2]
The school was created as there was an anticipated rise in the number of African-Americans in the state, and the purpose of this school was to provide education to students in the southernmost parts of the state.[4] In 1947, the Delaware General Assembly made the decision to create the school.[2]
In 1949, the authorities planning the school chose its location. The school began to be built in 1951, and began operations in September 1952.[2] The school had multiple tracks for different career paths. Brett Gadsden, author of Between North and South: Delaware, Desegregation, and the Myth of American Sectionalism, compared the philosophy of the school to those of Hampton University and Tuskeegee Institute.[3]
On June 30, 1966, the school ceased operations as the state was desegregating the school system. The Dover school district took possession of the building.[2] William Henry Middle School began operations in 1967. The Capital School District (now the school district of Dover) uses the property as the William Henry Campus.[5]
The State of Delaware installed a historical marker for the school in 2003.[2]
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