African American Heritage
In early 1779,
Moravian settlers in Salem found they needed a roof tiler so they sought Negro
George to make tile. George the tiler
was only one of hundreds of enslaved and free Black people whose
skill and labor helped build the Moravian Community. These enslaved people of African descent
worked beside white settlers on farms, in craft shops, in homes and in taverns,
sometimes rising to positions of high responsibility. They worked at
construction, chimney sweeping and road building. They planted and harvested crops and herded
cattle on Moravian farms. Blacks built
barrels, distilled beer, cultivated orchards, dressed skins, ground grain,
drove wagons, pumped church organ bellows, manned the paper mill and later in
the 19th century operated the Fries cotton mill and worked on farms
near Salem. Black women cooked, cleaned and spun thread as domestics in many
Moravian homes. Black
people labored on farms of Hope, Friedberg and Friedland. In Wachovia overall, Blacks numbered about a
tenth of the workforce by 1800. By 1860 Black people, both
enslaved and free, comprised 16% of the total population of Forsyth County
and 22% of the Salem District.
African American Programs |
St. Philips Heritage Center |
African American History
|
600 South Main St.
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
Phone: 336-721-7300


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