News Flash

A local historic marker commemorating the Waughtown Freedman’s School will be unveiled at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at the corner of Waughtown and Colony streets in Winston-Salem.

The Freedman’s School was established in the Waughtown community in November 1866 and offered day, night and Sabbath classes to African Americans in Forsyth County. It was one of the more than 400 such schools throughout the South created by the Freedman’s Bureau after the Civil War. 

Speakers at the unveiling will include Mayor Allen Joines, Mayor Pro Tempore Denise D. Adams, Council Member James Taylor, Tina M. Thacker with the Historic Resources Commission, and descendants of students who attended the school. 

MARKER TEXT:

During Reconstruction, the Freedmen’s Bureau helped establish 431 schools across the South to educate over 20,000 African American men, women, and children. Education was widely seen as the way for African Americans to achieve social, economic, and political equality. Founded in November 1866, the Freedmen’s School in Waughtown was the first established in Forsyth County. It offered day, night, and Sabbath classes. Local freedmen organized the school without any charitable support, owned the school building, and hired William G. Kerner to teach. The school was located on the “Church and School House lot” near the homeplace of Harris Fries off Waughtown Street.