WS Chronicle

The Winston-Salem City Council has approved a resolution that will contribute $70,000 to Triad Cultural Arts’ Shotgun House Project. 

In the heart of Happy Hill, Winston-Salem’s first planned African American community, stands two shotgun houses.  They are symbols of what life was like in the early 20th century.

Around 1920, many shotgun houses began to pop up throughout communities in the South. Relatively inexpensive to construct, a shotgun house is rectangular, one room wide and up to three rooms deep, with a front porch. This architectural style originated from Yorubaland (West Africa) via Haiti to the American South. The word shotgun itself is derived from the Yoruba word “to-gun.”  In Yoruba, this word means ‘place of assembly’ or where people gather.

Following the Civil War, these dwellings became a symbol of Black American freedom. In 2017 Triad Cultural Arts, Inc. (TCA), a nonprofit, community-based, multi-disciplinary cultural arts organization, and the Happy Hill Neighborhood Association, launched the Shotgun House Project to preserve two shotgun houses that are still intact in the 700 block of Humphreys Street. After trying to acquire the shotgun houses for seven years, in 2022 the City of Winston-Salem sold the two homes to the organization for $1. 

Since 2022, TCA has been working to raise funding to repurpose the shotgun houses as a welcome center and facility to hold community activities and other programs. Total cost for the project is estimated at $241,000. TCA has also received funding from the Winston-Salem Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, NC Humanities Council, and individual donations.  

With funding from the City of Winston-Salem, TCA will be a step closer to bringing the Shotgun House Project to life. When discussing the project at the Community Development/Housing/General Government Committee meeting last month, Abrea Armstrong, TCA executive director, mentioned that later this year they will be launching a capital campaign to cover ongoing costs for the Shotgun House Project. She also mentioned other ways TCA will generate funds such as Black Heritage Tours and how having a central location will help increase revenue and visibility. 

“Right now we’re the only group in the city doing Black Heritage Tours and we’ve already exceeded our earned income expectations,” Abraham continued. “We’re very excited about the economic development aspect of this house because we already have the infrastructure, we’re already bringing people together to talk about Black heritage, now it’s a matter of creating a central place to house them.” 

For more information on Triad Cultural Arts and the Shotgun House Project visit triadculturalarts.org.