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Citizens recently met at St. Peter’s AME Zion Church in New Bern to express their desire to save the West Street School from being turned into housing this past Friday, and to begin plans to find a way to rescue and restore the historic building.
The gathering was called by Ken Harper of Harpco Benefits Alliance, who expresses a strong interest in preserving Black history in the city. Harper is a relative newcomer to the city, who has worked with the late Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition and was a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 2021.
“History matters,” Harper said, “because history teaches us how to behave, what to stand for, and what we must be willing to defend.”
The meeting was attended by several leaders of the black community in New Bern, all of whom expressed a desire to save the building. The former school, serving the Black community in segregation days, is being sold by Craven County Schools, and the city’s Housing Authority has bid $385,000 on it. The bid is considered final on March 13, if no changes are made.
Several speakers, including Harper, spoke on the subject of what kind of money has been sent on Black history: Vision Forward’s Victor Taylor charged that, “the city has always put a lot of money into the white neighborhood,” but hardly ever into the black neighborhood. He pointed out the numerous museums that emphasize the history of white community – including Tryon Palace and the Fireman’s Museum, while the Black community has had to settle for signs talking about its history.
“I brought to the city’s attention that we need an African American museum right in the (current) Stanley White area, before they had plans to put (the facility) there,” he said. “West Street is history.”
Harper outlined black history in New Bern—from the importance of spies and fighters in the Civil War to the 1922 fire, to the city’s importance in the rise of education for the race.
“To understand why West Street matters, we must go back 162 years,” he said. “In 1862, when enslaved people fled to Union-occupied New Bern, President Abraham Lincoln declared that no fugitive slave who reached Union lines would ever be returned. Thousands came—over 7,500 in New Bern alone. To support them, Union superintendent Vincent Colyer established churches and, critically, schools. Nearly 800 Black students—children and adults—attended evening classes, taught by volunteer soldiers and northern educators. Education was seen as essential to freedom.
By 1877, he noted, African Americans were a majority in the city, holding positions in local and even federal government—the last Black congressman before the Jim Crow Laws made it an impossibility – George Henry White—was a New Bern man.
The first public school for blacks in North Carolina was known as the Red School House and was established in 1872. “A fire destroyed in in 1905 and Principal John Thomas Barber led the effort to build the West Street Graded School which remained open until the end of segregation.
“The Red School House is not just a building. It represents the moment when formerly enslaved people claimed education, citizenship, and self-determination. It represents sacrifice, courage, and faith in the future,” he said. “This campaign is about preservation—but more importantly, it is about stewardship. It is about ensuring that the citizens of New Bern remain the narrators and guardians of their own history.”
Hazel Royal, a former New Bern alderman and currently the pastor at Abundant Life Church, noted that efforts to save the school are not from a lack of understanding the need for housing. “Housing is my passion,” she said. “When it comes to housing, no one understands the need better than I do. However, I do believe there are options.” She said there are two other options on the table: rebuilding at Trent Court and using the old Days Inn property at Five Points.
“The location at the West Street School should not be an alternative,” she says. “It should be preserved as history.”
Specifically, as a Black history museum.
She also noted the city’s investments, “I remember when downtown was no longer thriving and the investment that the city put into downtown because of its history. Now downtown is ‘the economic engine that drives our city.’ If we can invest our taxpayers dollars into downtown, then we should equally invest our dollars and see the value of the African American community.
Marshall Williams, former vice chairman of the Housing Authority, noted that the Housing Authority had offered the use of the cafeteria for a museum and wondered, if the Authority’s bid went through, whether the community would be willing to settle for that.
But most there emphasized their desire to preserve the whole building: the point, as Harper emphasized, is the building’s core importance to the city’s history and his belief that private individuals and organizations to whom it is most important should determine the school’s fate.
Several organizations, along with Harper, are meeting and strategizing for ways to save the school.