St. Croix – Transfer day in the U.S. Virgin Islands is celebrated annually on March 31. It marks the formal transfer of the islands from Denmark to the United States in 1917. It commemorates the end of colonial rule, the lowering of the Danish flag, and the raising of the American flag. Over the last 109 years there have been many heroes and heroines who have graced the Territory stage in the name of freedom, in the name of resilience, in the name of advancement. The decades have been challenging.
The struggles, at times, have been monumental. There have been times when all hope seemed to be lost, when Mother Nature brought the Virgin Islands to its knees. During those times, some of our elected leaders, along with our unsung heroes and heroines, have not only been influential, but have reached an inspirational place in our hearts. Yet, it is fair to say, that few have been more influential and inspirational, few have left their indelible mark on so many, have touched the hearts, the minds, the souls of so many Virgin Islanders as educator, storyteller and preserver of the USVI cultural history as Delta Jackson Dorsch.
Delta Dorsch (1915-2011), born Delta Jackson, was a teacher with the Virgin Islands Department of Education for 38 years. She worked on the Commission on the Preservation of Virgin Islands Culture and was a tireless advocate for conserving native traditions of the Virgin Islands.
Ms. Dorsch was born in Frederiksted, on the island of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies, shortly before the Territory became the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1917. She was one of the first generation of women from St. Croix to earn a high school degree and then went on to obtain a Degree in Education from Central Michigan University.
She earned a Master’s Degree from New York University in 1951 and completed her doctorate at the famed Columbia University in NYC in School Administration. After finishing her PhD, Ms. Dorsch furthered her education in Europe, studying Education at the University of London and the University of Heidelberg as part of the NYU Graduate Program.
In the early 1950’s she returned to the Virgin Islands and began working as an elementary school teacher. In 1955, Delta M. Jackson married Frederick Delos Dorsch, who was the Superintendent of Schools in the Virgin Islands prior to his death in 1960.
Delta Dorsch went on to teach in the Virgin Islands school system for the next thirty-eight years. She taught both undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) on the St. Croix campus. Between 1977 and 1982, she served the Virgin Islands Department of Education as Deputy Commissioner of Curriculum, and worked as Chairman of the Board at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal School.
“It’s the teacher’s responsibility to know what every child’s level to learn is,” Claire Roker reminisced about her fond friend’s advice on teaching at a gathering presented by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR). “And once you know that level you’re in a much better position to guide that child along on their educational journey.”
Delta Dorsch is known far and wide in the Virgin Islands as being a person who is dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage, serving on the Commission on the Preservation of Virgin Islands Culture, using the art of storytelling and collected folk tales to generate a platform for cultural conservation and to keep longstanding Virgin Islands traditions alive, passing them down from one generation to the next.
After her retirement in 1988, Ms. Dorsch participated in many storytelling events, such as the Senegal Folklife festival at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Her particular interest was in saving stories of Bru Nansi and Jumbie, which are particular to the Virgin Islands and its African past. She wrote two books entitled, The Role of the Storyteller in the Preservation of Virgin Islands Culture (1999) and contributed to The Glory Days of Frederiksted (2004).
Over the years, Delta received many service awards and honors. In 2020, UVI named the Albert A. Sheen Campus residence halls in her honor, and Frederiksted’s famous Dorsch Beach bears the name of her and her husband.
DPNR’s Division of Libraries, Archives & Museums (DLAM) hosted a fond remembrance of Delta Dorsch at their recent VI History Month – Speaker Series, held at the Florence Williams Public Library and hosted by DLAM’s Director, Amypatrice Parker DeSorbo, and with the special guest speaker Claire Roker, one of Delta’s closest friends and caretaker of the grand lady in her final ailing years.
“There was no one like her, “said Ms. Roker. “She touched the hearts of everyone that crossed her path. She was brilliant in so many ways.”
When she died in 2015, USVI Gov. John deJongh Jr. noted: “She has seen our history unfold, and shaped it by shaping the minds of countless students. The contributions of someone like Delta Jackson Dorsch are immeasurable – they impact us at the core of our identity as a people.”
“The one thing I always admired about Mrs. Dorsch,” recalled Claire Roker, “was the love, the love that she gave to all of us.”
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