WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Wake Forest University has renamed four roads on campus after “trailblazing professors,” in a move that has removed a road name associated with a former school president with ties to the institution of slavery.

The new names will honor two Black professors who were the first male and female tenure-track faculty members, along with a woman who was the first full-time female faculty member, and another woman who became the first female chair of the English Department.

“Each of these exceptional leaders made an indelible mark on the university,” Wake Forest President Susan R. Wente said in a statement released with the news. She went on to say that “honoring them and telling their stories will expand the narrative of leadership and excellence at Wake Forest.”

The four professors being honored are Herman Eure, Marjorie “Marge” Crisp, Dolly McPherson and Elizabeth Phillips. Eure is still alive, but the others have died.

The new names became official on Aug. 15, when they were approved by the Winston-Salem City Council.

During the same meeting, street names were also assigned to some roadways on the campus of Winston-Salem State University that were mostly unnamed.

At both schools, the new names will also help emergency workers get to locations by providing them with addresses for the buildings on the newly-designated streets.

Last spring, Wake Forest put together an Administrative Committee on Honorifics to rename two sections of Wingate Road, a principal road on the campus that was named for Washington Manly Wingate, who was the fourth president of the college.

Wingate was not only a slaveowner; he led the school when it established its first endowment with $10,718 in proceeds from the sale of 16 enslaved people.

The renaming is part of a larger university effort to acknowledge its ties to the institution of slavery. One part of that effort, renaming Wingate Hall, ran off the rails in 2021 when the new name — May 7, 1860 Hall — came under fire and lasted only 19 days.

The university had picked the new name to mark the date of that sale for the endowment. But Black students and alumni opposed the new name, saying it would enshrine a traumatic date in the school’s history. For now, the building is designated as the Divinity and Religious Studies Building.

Here are the roads that have new names, along with some information on the people honored:

Elizabeth Phillips Way is the new name for the portion of Wingate Road that connects Polo Road with Carroll Weathers Drive, one of the school’s internal roads. 

Phillips, who died in 2008, was one of the university’s first full-time female professors and the first female chair of the English Department. She started her career at Wake Forest in 1957. She published books on Emily Dickenson, Marianne Moore and Edgar Allen Poe, and helped create the Women’s Studies Committee, which laid the groundwork for establishing the department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. She received the university’s Medallion of Merit, its highest honor, in 1992.

McPherson Road is the new name for the section of Wingate Road that runs from Wake Forest Road beside the Sutton Center, passes Maya Angelou Hall and connects to Faculty Drive to the south.

McPherson, who died in 2011, was the first female, Black, tenure-track faculty member at Wake Forest, arriving in 1974 and teaching over a 27-year career. She taught courses on British literature and African American fiction and biography. She supported establishment of the Office of Minority Affairs, which has since become the Intercultural Center. She encouraged Angelou to join the faculty in 1982.

Crisp Lane leads from the newly named McPherson Road to Haddock House, where the golf teams practice.

Crisp, who died in 2005, became Wake Forest’s first full-time female faculty member in 1947 when she was hired in the physical education department. She founded intercollegiate women’s athletics at Wake Forest and became the first director of women’s athletics 50 years ago. She created the women’s intramural program, coached the women’s golf team and was one of the first two women inducted into the Wake Forest Athletics Hall of Fame.

The creation of Eure Drive is linked to the extension of Wake Forest Road now under construction. Wake Forest Road will cross directly over Davis Field when the work is done, basically re-creating the original entrance to that side of the campus that was in place until 1991, when the road was rerouted. Eure Drive will be the new name for that section of Wake Forest Road that was rerouted.

Eure, who was born in 1947, completed his doctorate at Wake Forest in 1974 and was appointed the university’s first male, Black, tenure-track faculty member a few months later. He taught in the biology department for almost 40 years and held administrative roles including associate dean. He established the Office of Minority Affairs in 1978 and paved the way for the office of diversity and inclusion. Currently vice chair of the board of trustees, he received the Medallion of Merit in 2017.

Winston-Salem State roadways

Meanwhile, at WSSU, Alumni Drive, Welcome Lane and Victory Circle are streets extending west from Cromartie Street.

Wilson Hall Drive and Rams Commons Lane extend east from Rams Commons Drive. Health Center Drive extends north from the newly-designated Rams Commons Lane.

Success Way extends northeast from Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, while Conference Circle extends north from Reynolds Park Road. Rams Pride Way extends west off Reynolds Park Road, while Rams Lane extends southeast from Rams Drive.