WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Winston-Salem is accepting artifacts for its African American archive.

What You Need To Know

  • The African American Heritage Initiative Committee was established in 2019 to preserve local African American history

  • It includes recordings of oral storytelling, photographs, signs and newspapers donated by community members

  • The archive is working to collect more items to add to the collection

The African American Heritage Initiative Committee was established by a resolution adopted by the city council on April 15, 2019.

Since then, it has been collecting historic African American photographs, newspapers and other items. 

Member Linda Dark said the items have come from community members, churches, businesses and other committee members. 

“We wanted to make sure it's not just in a book. We wanted to make sure it was somewhat of a living history,” Dark said. 

The archives include recordings of oral storytelling, photographs, signs and newspapers.

Dark said it has become an educational resource for people in the community. 

"Sometimes history automatically gets lost, but today, there is in some quarters, a concerted effort to try to lose it on purpose, and history is history. It is important. The old saying goes if you don't know your history, you are bound to repeat it," Dark said.

Click here to submit artifacts to the archive.