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Advertise With UsNEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) – Religion, native leaders and neighborhood members gathered Thursday to debate an motion plan to protect West Road Graded Faculty, a historic web site advocates say as soon as educated the kids of previously enslaved households, weeks earlier than Craven County Colleges is predicted to resolve whether or not to promote the property.
The assembly was held at St. Peters AME Zion Church in New Bern, the place attendees sang “We Shall Overcome” as neighborhood members convened to guard what they described as a bit of New Bern’s historical past.
West Road Graded Faculty is positioned simply blocks from the church, on a road already lined with historic markers tied to the Black neighborhood throughout segregation.
These markers embody Good Shepherd Hospital, the house of J.T. Barber and the primary Black library within the space.
“New Bern has preserved a lot historical past right here, however African American historical past has not been given the museum and actually the edifice that it must personify the sacrifices that have been made and the triumphs which have been established and what it took to construct this neighborhood,” mentioned Ken Harper, an advocate with the Coalition to Save, Restore and Protect West Road Faculty.
Craven County Colleges plans to promote the property.
The Metropolis of New Bern’s Housing Authority has submitted a bid of $385,000 to buy it, with plans to reinforce the constructing for a attainable mixed-income housing growth.
“Whereas we definitely acknowledge that inexpensive housing is required in lots of communities, we imagine it shouldn’t come on the expense of traditionally important land establishments that symbolize the heritage of the African-American neighborhood,” Harper mentioned.
Neighborhood members are actually looking for to work with elected officers together with county commissioners to assist the preservation of the positioning underneath state normal statute.
Their formal requests embody:
- The rapid reconsideration of the sale or switch of West Road Faculty
- A short lived moratorium on the transaction to permit correct overview
- A clear public course of that features neighborhood enter
- Collaboration with the Metropolis of New Bern and preservation organizations to judge historic designation choices
- Exploration of a preservation and redevelopment plan that protects West Road Faculty and its surrounding historic hall
“To work immediately with the mayor, the Board of Aldermen, talk messages with the New Bern Housing Authority, our county commissioners and actually be an advocate for the African American neighborhood because it pertains to the preservation of this historical past. And allow them to know this isn’t about divisiveness, it’s actually about preservation for one thing we actually really feel is sacred,” Harper mentioned.
Pastor Robert Johnson, additionally an advocate for the varsity, mentioned, “Our future generations they should know in regards to the previous, the current and the long run.”
Advocates are encouraging neighborhood members and leaders to attend the following Metropolis of New Bern Board of Aldermen assembly, scheduled for Tuesday, March 10, to voice assist for saving the varsity.
New Bern Mayor Jeffrey Odham didn’t present a remark.
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