Watch now: Annette Scippio recalls life in Winston-Salemâs Black business district before urban renewal in the 1960s
The Winston-Salem City Council is poised to apologize for its role in slavery and post-slavery discrimination against Black people.
Along with the apology, the city is expected to back passage of a bill in the U.S. Congress that would study and make recommendations for reparations that would be paid to the descendants of slaves.
The council will consider the apology and reparations resolution on Monday during its regular meeting, which will be held online starting at 7 p.m.
The proposal advances to the council after the cityâs general government committee last week approved the resolution with three votes in favor, none opposed and with one abstention.
Proposal goes before city council to rezone the area between Third and Fifth Streets east of U.S. 52 Walt Unks
A unanimous rezoning vote on the Winston-Salem City Council Monday night cleared the way for a major redevelopment project in East Winston that is expected to bring 325 new housing units east of U.S. 52 near the downtown Innovation Quarter.
Apartments, townhouses and retail and office development are now approved for a seven-acre site just east of United Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church and stretching from Third to Fifth Street.
Mayor Allen Joines is calling the project one that can achieve a long-stated goal of city leaders to extend the benefits of the Innovation Quarter to a nearby majority-Black neighborhood thatâs also in need of more decent yet affordable housing.
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A ceremony Monday marked 70 years since eight African American firefighters reported for duty in Winston-Salem. It was the first fire department in North Carolina to integrate, and only the second city south of the Mason-Dixon Line to do so following the Jim Crow era.
After the hires, the sounds of sirens signaled not only alarm, but also conjured up feelings of pride within the Black community. City Councilwoman Annette Scippio grew up near the station and said these men were respected.
“There was a reverence about walking in front of the fire station,” says Scippio. “You didn’t play. You didn’t goof off. You knew there was something special right there because those men were special. They were doing something that nobody else could do. They were the only Black firemen.”