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Black history here shared in new film
by Staff
A documentary film on African-Americans in Wilkes County will be shown in the old Lincoln Heights School Auditorium beginning at 4 p.m. Sunday.
The event celebrates Black History Month, which is this month.
Refreshments will be provided by the Save Our Wilkes County History Committee, beginning at 3:30 p.m.
The film includes excerpts from interviews with local people throughout the years, part of a Lincoln Heights High School homecoming parade down Main Street in North Wilkesboro, May Day activities at the school and other annual celebrations at Lincoln Heights.
Other subjects include memories of early settlers, slavery, freedom, civil rights, early schools and academies, and local churches.
Local people in the film include Luther Parks, Dr. Alexander Erwin, Bessie Harris (Camp Jo Harris), Jay Anderson, the Rev. Montreal Howell, Willie R. Simmons, A.J. Allen, Betty Baker, Elnora Holbrook, William Henry Rousseau, Catherine Barber, Deneen Graham, Erie Harris, Camie Harris, Lillie Barber, the Rev. Elijah Barnes, Loree Anderson, Brenda Dobbins, L.Z. Walsh, Dr. Linda Veltzie, Judith Barber, Elizabeth Grinton, Jackson Brown, Pauline Whittington, Effley Howell, E.V. Dacons, Leroy Harris, Keith Devereaux, Dorothy Mitchell, Rosalind Gilreath, Robert Perkins and others.
Leaders of Beulah Presbyterian Church in Fairplains began education efforts for black citizens as early as 1885.
The documentary covers the struggle to build Lincoln Heights School in 1924. It was accomplished with funding from from Julius Rosenwald, president of Sears, Roebuck and Company and money raised by local citizens.
Lincoln Heights’ doors were closed in 1968 due to integration.
Lincoln Heights School was named from a suggestion made by Wilkesboro resident Reuben H. White in a speech entitled “Lincoln Heights.” The idea was to see children reach the heights of President Abraham Lincoln.
The original building was constructed of brick veneer and shaped as a capital H, having six classrooms and an auditorium.
Rosenwald established the Julius Rosenwald Fund in 1917 to assist local citizens who agreed to match his funds in building Black schools in the south.
The fund produced 4,977 schools, 217 teacher’s homes and 163 shop buildings constructed at a total cost of $28,408,520 to serve 663,615 students in 883 counties of 15 southern states.
Financial supporters for this film include the North Carolina Arts Council of Wilkes, Friends of the Lake, Ginn Corp., Lowe’s Home Improvement, Wilkes County Schools and Wilkes County commissioners. |
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