Thelma Norwood, a 7th-grade student in Nassau, Delaware, wrote this letter in 1925. The school was segregated, or used only by African Americans, while separate schools were maintained for white students. The letter expresses appreciation on Du Pont Day, a celebration held each year to show gratitude to Pierre du Pont, founding member of DuPont Corporation, who spearheaded an effort to improve and modernize education for African Americans in Delaware. Du Pont worked to draw attention to the problem of inadequate education, donating over $6 million of his own money to fund studies, school construction, and to gain community support for improving African American children’s school access and attendance.

Thelma's letter illustrates the community's response to du Pont's gift, and indicates some ways in which the school administration showed gratitude toward du Pont through school activities and writing assignments. Her letter reflects both obstacles to education such as student absence due to the need for child labor to help support the family, and milestones of progress such as the recent graduates who went on to college (including Thelma's brother or cousin Charles). Her listing of the school's new equipment allows the inference that such items were lacking in her previous school, and the subjects listed indicate that both academic and vocational topics were taught. Many African Americans would have gone from the 8th grade directly into jobs, while few had the opportunity to attend high school, and even fewer to attend college.

These two photographs show before and after pictures of Blocksom's School in Sussex County in rural Delaware. The first photo (taken in 1917) shows the pupils standing outside the original one-room schoolhouse made of wood. In addition to an outhouse and heat provided by a pot-bellied stove, which the older boys had to start every morning and keep burning during the school day, there is no running water. All of the classes, from primary to 8th grade, shared the same teacher and the same space. The second photograph (taken in 1925) shows a new and much larger Blocksom's School, made of brick, with indoor toilet, multiple classrooms, and heating. The new school was built with funds donated by Pierre S. du Pont, President of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and General Motors in the 1920s, who spearheaded an effort to improve and modernize education in Delaware, particularly for African Americans. He found the state in 1911 spending only about $400 per year on education of white children, and half that for African Americans. To build public support for his cause, du Pont funded and published surveys of Delaware's schools through Columbia University's Bank Street Teacher's College that showed the poor state of the state public education system. After attempting to achieve his goals through state government, he decided to fund and oversee the construction himself, committing over $6 million to build modern schools, among which were 89 schools for African Americans.