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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
African American Programs

St. Philips Heritage Center
St. Philips Heritage Center

African American History
African American History

600 South Main St.

Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Phone: 336-721-7300

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