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Some
town commissioners want to help fund the
annex for the Wake Forest College
Birthplace museum but with restrictions,
Commissioner Margaret Stinnett said she
has “been sitting on the fence on this
one since day one,” Town Manager Mark
Williams said donating money for the
Birthplace would mean having less for
some other project and no one was sure
Friday whether the DuBois alumni would
pursue establishing the national
Rosenwald school museum on their campus.
Commissioner Velma
Boyd-Lawson was vehement about one
point, though. Whichever museum is built
has to include the history of the black
residents of Wake Forest. “I wouldn’t
feel represented with my tax dollars if
my people are not represented.” Later,
she said, “It was our blood, sweat and
tears that built [the town]. We’ve got
to be represented.”
The town board has not acted
on the Birthplace request for $550,000
for the annex, but the members are, as
Commissioner David Camacho said during
Friday’s board retreat, being lobbied by
those for and those against the request.
“I am very much in support
of this,” Commissioner Stephen
Barrington said, and in favor of the
entire request, though he does want to
see some form of matching. “How many
communities actually have a town
museum?”
Commissioner Frank Drake
suggested the town give $110,000 a year
for five years if the Birthplace
Society, which owns the Calvin Jones
house where the museum is located, can
show $220,000 from the two other
sources, Wake Forest University and the
alumni. “It’s like a challenge grant.”
What happens, Boyd-Lawson
asked, when the DuBois alumni come to
the town asking for the same amount? She
said she questioned how easily the
Birthplace can reach the artifacts and
the memories of the town’s black
residents, who may be saving them for
the museum on the DuBois campus. And she
was disappointed in what she recently
saw at the Birthplace. “The display they
have for the African-American community
is inadequate.”
It would be better to have
one museum, Boyd-Lawson said. “The town
can’t afford to support two.”
Mayor Vivian Jones said the
local community has not supported the
Rosenwald museum. “If I (a black person)
walked by the DuBois School tomorrow and
saw the walls falling down in that (McElrath)
building, then turned on the TV and saw
the board giving $500,000 to the
Birthplace, I would be upset because the
town has not supported that. That is the
attitude you’re going to get.”
“Both would be good, both
would be great to have in our town,”
Williams said. “Should the town of Wake
Forest put money into this? Do we have
the discretionary money?”
“If the answer is we don’t
have the money, that ends it,” Drake
said.
“Yes, you have the money but
you’re going to have to give something
else up,” Williams said. Those projects
include the new town hall, street
improvements and improvements at
Flaherty and Joyner parks.
“The museum is not our
responsibility,” Williams said, adding
he was afraid the board would “paint
yourself into a corner where you don’t
have the money to do other things.”
Williams has also told the board Wake
Forest-Rolesville High School wants to
ask the town for $500,000 to put
artificial turf in Trentini Stadium.
Williams reiterated the town
does help both the Birthplace and DuBois
by paying all the utilities. Because the
town is out of the water and sewer
business since Raleigh took over those
utilities and because there is no
incentive to conserve, Williams said he
would rather see the town give both
organizations an amount to cover the
utilities’ cost each year.
“I don’t think any of us
don’t want to help the birthplace in
some regard,” Jones said, but added
there is no reason for the Birthplace to
build meeting rooms for the community.
She said she was willing to respond to a
reasonable request such as $100,000 or
$150,000. “Asking for $550,000 is over
the top.”
“It is our responsibility to
preserve the whole town’s culture and
history and do what we can afford to do
right now,” Boyd-Lawson said. “If they
had asked for a smaller amount, it would
be much easier.”
She – and she was joined by
other commissioners – said she wanted to
wait to make a decision after hearing
Finance Director Aileen Staples’
financial forecast.
Barrington said he could not
speak to the sources or amount, but
assured the board the Birthplace had
received pledges, “a pretty good sum
right now that would more than cover the
first year.”
Williams pointed out Edward
Morris, the new Birthplace director,
said in the last presentation to the
board that the goal is to raise $3
million, enough for the building and the
operating endowment.
“If they don’t get that $3
million, they will be back to ask for
operating funds,” Jones said.
“I think I heard a consensus
with conditions to support the
birthplace in some form or fashion, but
I didn’t hear a consensus on the amount
or the conditions,” Camacho said. “I
think that both of the museums are
important to preserve the history of the
town.”
(The Aug. 2 issue of the
Gazette included an article about the
Rosenwald museum that detailed the steps
the National DuBois School Alumni
Association had taken to end the project
and the plans Bettie Murchison and
Marshall Harvey with the W.E.B. DuBois
Community Development Corporation are
taking to establish the museum in
Princeton.) |
