WS Chronicle

New Winston Museum’s Fall 2017 Salon Series, “Lost, Found, and Transformed: Our Storied Places in African-American History” concludes this month with “Envisioning Columbian Heights.”

This three-program series, co-curated with the Winston-Salem African-American Archive, has explored stories of distinct African-American landscapes in Winston-Salem and the people who made them, and contribute to ongoing efforts to rediscover, preserve, and renew African-American places in our contemporary era of urban transformation.

“Envisioning Columbian Heights” will take place at Mars Hill Baptist Church, 1331 E. Fourth St., on Thursday, Nov. 16, at 5:30 p.m. 

This panel discussion will focus on overlapping histories of two master-planned developments: the Columbian Heights neighborhood and Winston-Salem State University (WSSU).  Panelists will explore the complicated relationship between the neighborhood and the growing institution, how the residential area was both corroded by and lifted up by WSSU.

Moderator Rosemary Millar, assistant professor, Division of Liberal Arts at UNC School of the Arts, will lead the panel discussion. Panelists will include Gloria Diggs Banks, former volunteer with the Society for the Study of Afro American History, former board member of the Historic Preservation Committee, and sister of James Thackery Diggs Jr., (the namesake of Diggs Gallery at WSSU); and Sandra Jenkins Armstrong; and Dr. James Lewis Jr., longtime residents of the Columbian Heights and Columbian Heights Extension neighborhoods.

This event is free to attend. Light refreshments will be served.