Former students, nearby residents, community leaders, and members of the media were all invited to the former site of Brown Elementary School on Thursday morning to celebrate the unveiling of a plaque commemorating the school’s history.
Founded as Woodland Avenue Elementary School in 1910 as a school for African American students, Brown Elementary was renamed in 1941 for Principal Robert Washington Brown, who gave the school three decades of dedicated service. Brown was also a beloved civic and religious leader, as well as the co-founder of Winston Mutual Life Insurance Company. His successes in public life were varied and plentiful, but his love for his students has defined his legacy.
“He didn’t choose to come educate because he needed a side hustle,” said Kevin Cheshire, the executive director of the Winston-Salem Housing Authority, in his remarks at the unveiling. “He invested in his community, and that’s what we need to do… and that’s what we’re committed to doing as part of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative.”
The school building was demolished after a major fire in 2016, although it had already been closed since 1984. The grounds had been sold to the Winston-Salem Housing Authority shortly beforehand, and since then, the Brown School Lofts apartment complex has been constructed in the school’s place. The development is part of the Choice Neighborhood Initiative Project and its efforts to build more affordable housing in the city.
Community leaders present at the unveiling emphasized the importance of keeping memories alive from cultural touchstones like Brown Elementary, even as the areas around them change. That’s especially true for the African American community, who Mayor Pro Tempore D.D. Adams said are too often underrepresented when the history of the area is retold.
“Somehow or another, a lot of our history has been torn down or taken away,” Adams said. “We don’t have much, even though we know we built or helped to build a lot of this city and this county.”
Also present at the meeting were several former students at Brown Elementary who were able to share fond memories from their time there. They recalled what it was like walking through the snow to get to school in the winter, the stresses that came with public unrest in 1968, and the relationships they had with their teachers that inspired them for years. They were proud to be a part of the school’s history, and they were grateful that people were still making their home in the same spot so many decades later, albeit in a different way.
“I saw when they broke ground here. I have a grandson who used to go over here to the Career Center, so I used to sit in the car every day and look at the progress they made,” said Daniel Jenkins, who attended the school from 1963-1970, said of the Brown School Lofts. “This is a beautiful place.”
Superintendent Tricia McManus lauded the historic marker as complementary to Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ commitment to a strong civic education. Schools throughout the district are embarking on local field trips this year with help from grant funding to maximize student awareness of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County heritage. It’s encouraging to know that one of the district’s most storied former campuses will be immortalized through this plaque.
“For our students today, understanding their history and the history of their city is a priority for the school district,” McManus said. “Historic markers like this keep the history alive.”
Winston-Salem’s African American Heritage Initiative is seeking submissions from the community to help preserve African American stories from the area, including photos, documents, written testimonies, oral histories, and more. For more information, go online to https://www.cityofws.org/2642/African-American-Heritage-Initiative.