A new history exhibit showcasing the Black men and women who built and designed some of North Carolina’s iconic buildings launched recently at N.C. Central University’s James E. Shepard Memorial Library.
The exhibit is part of the university’s Black History Month event series.
It was created by Preservation North Carolina and presented by the Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation and Preservation Durham. It’s the first time NCCU has hosted the exhibit, titled “We Built This”.
The self-guided exhibit will be on display through March.
It features the profiles of the Black architects and builders going back 200 years – from enslaved people whose African construction knowledge was preserved in the South, to post-Civil War men who braved adversity to build their communities, to Durham’s Black Wall Street and the present day.
NCCU students who visited the exhibit, like sophomore history student Whitaker Antoine, say it opened their eyes about who built the places they’ve seen.
“Seeing these small little facts, it’ll take you a long way so you can teach other people,” said Antoine, 19. “Go out there, educate yourself, grow more in your mind so you can see the great things people of our color are doing.”
For instance, he says he didn’t know about William H. Houser, a formerly enslaved man from South Carolina who would go on to build facilities like Carter Hall at Johnson C. Smith University, an HBCU in Charlotte.
“So, you know, I can go home and be like, ‘Mom, you know who Mr. William H. Houser is? You know that Carter Hall we saw at Johnson C. Smith? It was built by this man.’ Now, I’m glad that I know this,” Antoine said.
The exhibit features historic people such as John Winters, a home builder who was the first African American on Raleigh’s City Council; Bishop Henry Beard Delany, who oversaw the building of Saint Augustine’s University campus in Raleigh; John Merrick of Durham’s Black Wall Street, who created the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company; and Julian Francis Abele, the chief designer of Duke University’s West Campus and Duke Chapel.
Fredrick Davis, a Black architect and builder of Durham public school facilities, said this history is essential for the American public.
“It brings me great joy to see the pioneers who came before me and it encourage me to continue in that effort,” said Davis. “For centuries, as architects and builders, we have been responsible for highlighting and improving the built environment.”
Cheryl Brown, board chair of the Hayti Promise Community Development Corporation, said she grew up around Black history in North Carolina, but has already learned new details at the exhibit.
“It kind of gives me chill bumps to understand the gravity of what we contribute to this community and North Carolina,” Brown said.
“We Built This” is making sure history is not forgotten, she said.
“In this current environment, our history is trying to be rewritten and it's trying to be erased,” said Brown. “I encourage everybody to come by, learn from it, because this is how we keep this information moving forward.”
A calendar of other upcoming Black History Month events at NCCU is available on its website at this link.
