Noted Black educators to lead historical lecture Feb. 22 in Rehoboth

The Rehoboth Beach Historical Society and Museum will present a Black History Month lecture, “Those Who Led the Way,” at 5 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 22.

Featured speakers will be the Rev. Janet Maull-Martin, Rep. Esthelda Parker Selby, D-Milton, and Waynne Paskins, all former local teachers. They will lead a roundtable discussion about their illustrious careers as educators, experiences growing up during segregation, and continued service to their communities.

Maull-Martin is a celebrated educator, administrator, coach, counselor and board member in the Cape Henlopen School District. She accepted God’s call on her life to attend ministerial studies and was ordained a local deacon, then an itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. She now serves as pastor at Prospect AME Church in Georgetown. A 1970 graduate of Cape Henlopen High School, Maull-Martin witnessed firsthand the evolution of Lewes from a place where Black and white people lived side by side within racially segregated boundaries into a city that has lost its once-thriving African American community – at one point comprising 25% of the population – in the face of gentrification. 

Parker Selby was born in Milford, and raised in Lewes and Milton. As a child, she attended Milton School No. 196-C (the “C” in the school’s name designated colored students) and William C. Jason Comprehensive High School in Georgetown. A teacher and administrator for more than 30 years in the Cape Henlopen School District, Parker Selby has served as a Milton Town Council member and vice mayor. Today, Parker Selby champions education and healthcare issues in her legislative work. 

Paskins has lived her entire life in Rehoboth Beach, where she was a student at Rehoboth Elementary School No. 200-C and later taught at Rehoboth Elementary School after desegregation. Knowing education was her calling, Paskins became one of the first Black teachers at the school and built a decades-long career there. She is past president of the Sunshine Circle Club, and a leader of numerous social and educational organizations in Sussex County.   

This event will be held in the John N. & Jean K. Papajohn Lecture Hall at the Rehoboth Beach Museum, 511 Rehoboth Ave., Rehoboth Beach.

Seating is limited, so early registration is encouraged. Reservations may be made online at rbmuseum.org. The event will also be livestreamed; a link to sign in will be on the museum website. Call 302-227-7310 or email programs@rbmuseum.org with questions about the program. 

The Rehoboth Beach Museum, operated by the Rehoboth Beach Historical Society, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and showcasing for the public the history, culture, architecture and unique character of Rehoboth Beach.