Memorial acknowledging Davidson College’s enslaved workers emerges from the ground

DAVIDSON, N.C. (WJZY) — “It is bold, it is unapologetic, it’s authentic,” Willie Deese said.  

He never thought he’d see something like this on Davidson College’s campus: a memorial recognizing the role enslaved people had in building the school.

“With these hands” features two hands coming from the ground, symbolizing the college’s unknown and buried history. Both his parents worked for the college for over three decades; his father was a janitor and grounds keeper and his mother worked in the president’s home.  

“For me, it’s connecting the past to the present and having the past speak to the present. Because when you know what your ancestors did and you understand the price they paid… It puts today in a whole different perspective,” he said.  

There are five buildings built by slaves nearly two centuries ago that are still standing; Phi and Eu halls, Elm and Oak Row and the president’s house. Workers left thumb prints along the bricks, leaving their mark in history. Several generations later, their work is still visible. 

“It gives us a sense of resolve for doing more collaborative work and partnership at a time where we see more division than unity in our in our culture. This is an opportunity for Davidson College to be a leader, not just in racial recognition, reconciliation, but also in just simply mutual respect and building a civic community here in Davidson,” said college President Doug Hicks.  

Slaves farmed on the college’s land, washed and cooked for faculty. Researchers say they used at least 250,000 bricks to build prominent buildings like the president’s house. 

Several families whose roots go back to those enslaved people sat in the audience at Thursday’s dedication ceremony along with other Davidson students, alumni and neighbors. 

Former Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx was Davidson’s first Black student body president. 

“There are people who’ve lived in west Davidson their entire lives who haven’t felt as welcome on this campus,” said Foxx, now a member of the Board of Trustees. “And the location of this of this the sculpture is deliberately placed in a in a very front facing location on main street as a way of inviting the community in and creating and restoring connections to the community.”  

Foxx says different leaders within the college started a race and slavery commission to look at the history of the school and its connection to slavery and to exploited people on campus.  

“And that led us down a number of roads. And one of the roads was the reality that there was a distinct connection between slavery and the campus,” he explained. “And in other words, we had enslaved people working on this campus. And it caused us to think about how to acknowledge that and how to engage the community in acknowledging that.” 

Organizers say it took about seven years of research but less than a year to construct the memorial.