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Atkins CDC hopes to bring residents to historic community
4
By T. KEVIN WALKER
ire CHRONICLE ?'
Simon Green Atkins had a
dream. - '
When he founded Slater
Industrial Academy. - a small
trade school for blacks - he envi
sioned that the school and the
surrounding community would
evolve together - physically,
socially and economically.
More than a hundred years
later, Atkins' dream has been
only partially realized. Slater has
become AVinston-Salem State
University, a school of over
2,500 students with a sprawling
campus and state-of-the-art
facilities.
The neighborhood around it,
though, is proliferated with
vacant lots, condemned houses,
scattered trash and other telltale
signs of urban squalor.
But officials at WSSU say
they are firm believers in the old
adage that dreams never die.
WSSU's S.G. Atkins Com
munity Development Corpora
tion held a ground breaking cer- ?
emony Monday morning on
Excelsior Street.
Located across the street
from the university in a histori
cal area - which was onCe known
as Columbian Heights - Excel
sior has close ties to the school.
"This means a great deal to
the CDC and our institution,"
said WSSU Chancellor Alvin
Schexnider. "We view these not
just as buildings and construc
tion projects, (but as a) gateway
to the university."
The S.G. Atkins CDC was
formed last fall with a $377,000
grant from the Department of
Housing and Urban Develop
ment. The grant was part of a
nationwide HUD program that
provides historically black col
leges and universities with funds
to help revitalize the communi
ties around them.
The CDC will use the HUD
money, as well as a $275,000
loan from the Winston-Salem
Housing & Neighborhood
Development Department, to
renovate houses on Excelsior.
CDC officials announced
plans to assist low income fami
lies with purchasing the
revamped properties through the
HomeSTART Grants Program.
The CDC will provide a
$5,000 grant to assist potential
homeowners with down pay
ments and closing costs. Those
who qualify will also receive
assistance from Tandem Reha
bilitation, a city-run program
which helps potential homeown
ers with financing.
; The CDC also plans to con
struct new homes on the street
and put them on the market as
well. In all, the group's goal is to
qualify at least 11 families for
either new or renovated homes
on the street.
CDC officials say the project
vfill give-low income people a
chance to own impressive homes
in an often ignored, but histori
cally-significant part of the city.
? "There are a lot of pluses to
Excelsior Street," said Preddy
Ray, the interim executive direc
tor of the CDC. "This is a com
munity of pride, There are peo
ple who have remained in this
community all of their lives."
But the many vacant lots and
houses on the short, narrow
street. indicate that those people
are the exception, not the norm.
Once upon a time, when
WSSLJ was in its infancy. Excel
sior and nearby Cromartie and
Atkins streets were home to
many of the faculty at the
school.
The old Davis Garage build
ing that sits at the top of Excel
sior. used to be a depot for
Southern Railways. The old,
rusty train tracks can still be
seen from the back doors by
those who live on one side of the
street.
Atkins' own home - an
immense structure at the corner
of Atkins and Cromartie streets
- has been added to the Nation
al Register of Historic Places.
But the property hasn't been a
stranger to the neighborhood's
dilapidation. The house is liter
ally falling apart, from its peel
ing white paint to its broken
windows.
The CDC has future plans to
move the building - known as
Atkins House - to one of the
vacant lots on Excelsior. The
building will then serve as the
administrative building for the
CDC, officials say.
"Winston-Salem State Uni
versity expanded, but the com
munity diminished," Ray said.
"We hope to save the last vestige
of that community."
The fight to save the historic
area began at 1207 Excelsior
Street, with a band of warriors
armed with hammers and hard
hats. The four bedroom, two
bath house is the first to get a
facelift, and a local family could
move in as early as June.
Although the house next
door still has boarded-up win
dows and doors, 25-year-old
Karen Young can't wait to call it
home. As the first person to
qualify for the Excelsior HomeS
TART program. Young donned
a shovel and a hardhat Monday
as she joined Schexnider, East
Ward Alderwoman Joycelyn
Johnson and other city officials
in breaking ground on the pro-'
ject.
Young said when she heard
about the program, she thought
that it was perfect for her and
her two children.
"I want to give my children a
little bit more," she said. "I real
ly think a lot of people can ben
efit from this-program."
Young's three bedroom, two
bath house, is the next property
scheduled for renovation. If all
goes as plans. Young and her
family could move in by August.
"Yes! 1 can't wait to turn the
key," Young said.
Carol Jones, a community
builder for HUD, said her
department is making a serious
effort to form alliances with
local govetyiments and CDCs in
order to make the dream of
* )
?
owning a home a reality for low
income people. '
"This is exactly what HUD is
looking for (in terms of) pro
grams and projects," Jones said.
"HUD is looking all across
America for these types of part
nerships."
Although the task that lies
ahead for the CDC seems daunt
ing, Johnson said that she is con
fident that the effort will suc
ceed.
"Finally, we are coming
together as a city to be support
ive," Johnson said. "We are all
going to pull this together...We
are all going to majce it work."
Just as the ground breaking
ceremony was wrapping up -
Marie Clyburn made the short
trek from her house to the edge
of the street.
Although she is 88-years-old
and uses a walker to get around,
Clyburn stood like a guard -
carefully watching all of those
who had made their way onto
her street for the ceremony.
Justifiably, Clyburn is protec
tive of Excelsior Street. It has
been her home for nearly 53
years. Over the years, she has
watched neighbors vanish and
seen houses demolished.
She remembers when the
street ran straight into the 25th
Street area. . She remembers
when the street's length was
greatly abbreviated when High
way 52 and Interstate 40 were
constructed. And without miss
ing a beat, she remembers who
lived where and when, even
though many of the houses don't
exist anymore.
Clyburn says Excelsior has
changed in many ways over the
years, but not always for the
good.
"It's better in a lot of ways,
but in a lot of ways it's worse,"
Clyburn said.
She says the paved street is a
definite improvement. Once, it
was a dirt road where a rain
storm would cause complete
havoc.
But she says the beer cans,
paper bags and other trash that
have been thrown onto the
street, are surely signs-of-the
times.
"People didn't do that back
then. (Parents) knew how to
make their children mind," she
Photo by T. Kevin Walker
Mario Ctyburn and Karon Young a sharo tow word* after Monday's ground brooking coromony.
Ctyburn has cattod Excelsior Stroot homo for 53 yoars and Young hopos to mow onto tho stroot by
August.
?
said.
Although Clyburn would like
the CDC to get more input from
the few residents that already
call Excelsior Street home, she
said she is pleased that someone
is finally doing something to sal
vage the community.
"It needs to be taken care of.
It has needed to be taken care
for a long time," she said.
As many of those involved in
the ground breaking ceremony
madQ a beeline to a reception on
the university's campus, Clyburn
was engaged in a lively conver
sion with Young, the woman
wh'o wants to be her new neigh
bor.
In between laughs, Clyburn
told Young a little bit about her
street, and Young told Clyburn a
little bit about her house.
When Young is finally settled
in her new home, it is a conver
sation that the two women will
undoubtedly have many, many
times in the future.
?? ? ? ? -
For more information on the
S.G. Atkins CDC or its HomeS
tart Program call 750-2088.
/
3 ?
Scholar
from page A2
er University, where he is a pro
fessor of political science. "I was
doing them a favor, and they
turned it down."
So while he has taught and
lectured in Africa, Europe, Aus
. tralia and even as close as Cana
da, King may not appear at the
college in his hometown.,
Up the road in Macon, the
gleaming white-marble court
house where King's file now
resides was named last year in
honor of Williarti A. Bootle, the
judge who presided over King's
case. At 96, Booties mind is still
sharp, and he stands by the ver
dict and sentence.
"He was a draft dodger," the
white-haired jurist says in a patri
cian Georgia drawl. "He had to
be convicted."
But while Bootle now con
cedes that the board might have
been discriminatory, in its corre
spondence with King, he says it
merely reflected the times.
"You see, that was a part of
our culture and custom, and this
draft board was made up of white
people in Albany, Ga ." he says.
"And the truth is that we white
1
people did not call black people
'Mr.' and 'Mrs.' in those days. Do
you understand that? We just did
n't do it. And we didn't shake
hands with them. We just didn't
do it."
Carol King says Bootle's com- >
ments speak volumes.
"That's the whole issue: 'At
that time," says the retired
teacher and school administrator.
"Would they prosecute-a runaway
slave if they found him at this
time? ... He's still suffering the
consequences, and they wish he
would die and blow away.
Because, quite frapkly, he's an
embarrassment to this country."
Mrs. King traveled to Wash
ington in early February to meet
with members of Attorney Gen
eral Janet Reno's staff.
Oona King says she is heart
ened by her discussions with U.S.
officials.
"It's astonishing that we have
the civil rights movement, and 40
years down the line we still have
people who are still suffering the
consequences," says Ms. King.
She has a U.S. passport and
says she will continue, as long as
she needs to, to serve as her
father's surrogate at funerals and
other family gatherings back in
Georgia.
?
The Chronicle's e-mail address is;
wschron@netunlimited.net
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