On February 17, a group of students in the Cultural Property, Rights and Museum course at Hollins University held a virtual discussion on the topic of the lasting effects slavery has had, and continues to have, on the university. The goal was to give a forum to those who were not given a voice, name, space or attention in the past.
“The students hope their work will highlight the need for a continuing dialogue on histories of enslavement at Hollins and the legacy still experienced today,” Dr. Ashleigh Breske, visiting assistant professor in the Department of Global Politics and Societies, says.
The discussion grew out of an exhibit, Unveiling the Past: Reckoning with Our History of Enslavement at Hollins, that students started working on in the spring of 2020 by examining objects and images held by the university archives in the Wyndham Robertson Library.
“The students decided what they wanted to explore,” she explains. “They came up with the title of the exhibit.”
The exhibit include a timeline of the university, a timeline of the United States in regard to slavery and Civil Rights and a photo gallery of relevant university artifacts, documents and maps. The students wrote brief histories of the items.
One of the items is the “Hollins Dining Bell,” a bell that was used to call students to the dining hall for meals. According to the exhibit, Lewis Hunt, who served as the head waiter, manned the bell for 47 years. His ancestors were enslaved at the institution prior to emancipation. Once they were granted their freedom, they stayed at Hollins as employees. Hunt worked at Hollins for 53, retiring in 1950.
Another item included is a daybook that the Hollins Institute used from 1847 to 1869. Information about the labor servants performed, including the laying of bricks, digging of dirt and laundress work, are detailed in the book. After 1865, details pertaining to compensation for servants is included, which signified the end of the Civil War.
It is noted in the exhibit that the terms “enslaved” or “slave” are not used in the university’s archival material. Instead, the term “servant” was used, which the exhibit says was “used as a tool of oppression.”
Following their completion of the exhibit, students in the class wrote reflection papers that interpreted their experiences working on the project.
Breske notes that roughly half of her students were aware of the university’s history of enslavement. Breske herself is an alumna of Hollins, having studied there for her master’s degree. She says she wasn’t aware of this history while she was a student.
Jenine Culligan, director and curator of the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at the university, explains, “The school goes back to 1842. It’s had various names since that time. When Lewis Cocke who has been considered the founder of Hollins came to Valley Union Seminary, he brought enslaved people with him.” She adds that Cocke grew up on a plantation that had enslaved people working on it.
The enslaved people at the university and many of their descendants were part of what is called the historic Hollins Community (formerly Oldfields), an area adjacent to the campus where they lived.
“We know some names of the enslaved people, but we don’t know all of them. This exhibit was really the first attempt to talk about the objects that live in the archives at Hollins that are affiliated with these enslaved people,” she says.
There is now a scholarship, which includes up to full tuition, the university offers to descendants of enslaved members of the Hollins Community.
Breske says that many of the students were interested in obtaining oral histories from alumnae about their experiences at Hollins through the years.
Hollins University’s efforts to reckon with its past regarding enslavement follows a nation-wide trend among colleges and universities. It is part of a consortium called Universities Studying Slavery, which works to share “best practices and principles about truth-telling projects addressing human bondage and racism in institutional histories.”
“This has become a huge issue. It’s timely. It’s time this other history is told,” Culligan explains. “A lot of southern universities are exploring this because there is this parallel history that no one really knows about.”
Ethel Morgan Smith, an alumna of the university, kicked off interest in the topic a little more than 20 years ago when she published the book From Whence Cometh My Help: The African American Community at Hollins College. Then, there was a student-driven push five years ago to continue to explore the university’s history related to the topic.
“When you think of the enslaved people who gave their free labor, helped build the buildings on campus, they helped the college to thrive. The reason Hollins is here today is due to all of the work that these enslaved people put into the campus,” Culligan says. “It’s a legacy that is finally getting explored.”
Breske stresses that the exhibit is only a start and that she and her students are both interested in continuing this work in the future.
Looking ahead, the university might start to examine how its past fits into the greater Roanoke Valley’s history of enslavement. “I think down the road there is a great opportunity to do work with other institutions in the area to look at this with a wider lens,” she says.
The class was aided in its efforts by the university’s Working Group on Slavery and Its Legacies, which is comprised of faculty, staff, students and members of the Hollins Community. The committee researches and educates the public about the institution’s historical connections to enslavement and the contemporary legacies of slavery on campus, within the neighboring historic Hollins Community and throughout the Roanoke Valley. Additional work was done by Beth Harris, the late archivist of the Wyndham Robertson Library and the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum.
The exhibit can be found here. Information about the Hollins University Working Group on Slavery and its Contemporary Legacies can be found at wgscl.press.hollins.edu.
About the Author:
Aila Boyd is an educator and journalist who resides in Roanoke. She holds an MFA in Writing from Lindenwood University.
