Community works to identify and memorialize those buried in cemetery where many enslaved people and descendants were laid to rest
The Poplar Springs Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery was one of the few cemeteries in the area where Black residents could be laid to rest at the time. Author: Kendall Morris Updated: 6:08 PM EDT May 14, 2021
ANSON COUNTY, N.C. A group of people in Anson County are working to memorialize those buried in a cemetery where many enslaved people and their descendants were laid to rest.
The Poplar Springs Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery dates back to 1850.
According to a website detailing its history, “it acted as a cemetery for the attendees of the Poplar Springs Missionary Baptist Church and many others for 100 years. It was one of the few cemeteries in the area where Black residents could be laid to rest.”
Wingate University holds discussion after learning namesake has ties to slavery
Wingate University holds discussion on namesake By WBTV Web Staff | May 12, 2021 at 11:13 PM EDT - Updated May 12 at 11:38 PM
WINGATE, N.C. (WBTV) - School leaders at Wingate University organized the campus-wide virtual meeting after it found out the school’s namesake has ties to slavery.
The university put together a group of faculty and staff to look at the history of Washington Manly Wingate.
Just last week, Wake Forest said it would remove Wingate’s name from a campus hall.
It was found that slaves were sold to fund the school while Washington Wingate was president.
The council passed the resolution on a 7-1 vote
Wake Forest Universityâs announcement last week that it would rename a campus building that honored a slaveholding former president had some ripple effects.
Not only did this decision affect Wake Forest, it also has caused Wingate University near Charlotte to reconsider its own history.
Wake Forest on Friday said itâs changing the name of Wingate Hall, the building adjacent to Wait Chapel and home of its divinity school. The building will be called May 7, 1860 Hall to commemorate the date that Wake Forest College, as it was known then, sold 16 enslaved men, women and children. The college used the proceeds of the sale â nearly $11,000 â to establish its first endowment.
The quad and Wingate University
A special committee is being formed at Wingate University to consider next steps after it was discovered that the university is named after a slaveholder.
Wingate President Rhett Brown said in a statement that the Charlotte-area university investigated names around the campus in 2018 to see if anything was named after someone with “an egregious past.” During that investigation, nothing was uncovered to link Washington Manly Wingate to slavery.
Brown says he recently learned of Wingate’s past from the president of Wake Forest University. It was discovered when a Wake Forest sociology professor discovered that every president of Wake Forest up until the Civil War including Washington Wingate kept enslaved people. Wingate University was founded in 1896 as The Wingate School.
The council passed the resolution on a 7-1 vote
Wake Forest Universityâs announcement last week that it would rename a campus building that honored a slaveholding former president had some ripple effects.
Not only did this decision affect Wake Forest, it also has caused Wingate University near Charlotte to reconsider its own history.
Wake Forest on Friday said itâs changing the name of Wingate Hall, the building adjacent to Wait Chapel and home of its divinity school. The building will be called May 7, 1860 Hall to commemorate the date that Wake Forest College, as it was known then, sold 16 enslaved men, women and children. The college used the proceeds of the sale â nearly $11,000 â to establish its first endowment.