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George Henry Black (Feb 15, 1879 - Oct. 9, 1980, at the age of 101)

Born in Randolph County, North Carolina, George Henry Black was a well-known and respected brickmaker who supplied handmade bricks for “Old Main,” the original North Carolina Baptist Hospital built in 1923.

Where are George Black’s Bricks?

• Old Salem (specifically, the sidewalks, and Market Fire House)

• The Salem College Library

• The former Wells Fargo branch at 916 W. Fourth St.

• The former YWCA on Glade Street

• Latino Community Credit Union (658 Waughtown St.)

• Black-Phillips-Smith building (2301 N. Patterson Ave.)

• 235, 303, 700, and 1000 Arbor Road (private homes)

• 2560 and 2580 Warwick Road (private homes)

• 107 and 109 Dellabrook Road (private homes)

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From: Historic Marker Program- Forsyth County Historic Resources Commission

Excerpt


The property located at 111 Dellabrook Road was the home and brickyard of George H. Black from 1934 until his death in 1980 at the age of 101. Son of a former slave, George Black came to Winston-Salem as a boy, hauled bricks for a white brickmaker, and soon after started his own brickyard.


 He continued to make bricks in the traditional way, by hand, for many decades of his century-long life, and to teach others the dying craft even into his nineties. Black established an outstanding reputation for bricks of quality and durability as early as the 1920s. 


As a result, his bricks were used in WinstonSalem’s finest houses, in churches, banks, businesses, hospitals, restorations, in Colonial Williamsburg and Old Salem, in walls and walks in Winston-Salem, across the state, and the Southeast. 


In the 20th century, George Black was nationally and internationally recognized for his 18th and 19th century craft. Initially, handmade “soft-mud” bricks were produced in molds by hand. By the mid 19th century, however, machines were invented that duplicated the hand molding process, and by the 20th century, most brickmakers were using very efficient brick-making machines and hand molding had become uncommon.


 In spite of these advances, George Black continued to make bricks as they had been made in the preceding centuries. His traditional technique took him to Colonial Williamsburg in 1931 to work as a brickmaker in the early years of restoration there, and his continued success took him back to Williamsburg in the 1970s to serve as a consultant and instructor.


The George Black House and Brickyard is significant for several reasons, including its important association with the traditional industry of producing bricks by hand and its association with George Black, an individual whose bricks and brickmaking techniques were a specific contribution to the nation’s history. Black’s association with the site on Dellabrook Road began in 1934 when he moved there, continued into the 1940s when he opened his brickyard at the site, and ended at his death in 1980, representing a significant 46 year period.

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Image description: 

Top left: George Black standing by his truck. date not provided.

Right bottom: George Black in Brickyard Courtesy of Winston-Salem African American Survey, Langdon E. Oppermann

Left top: George Black at the Rededication of Salem Tavern, 1956 Courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection

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From: Wake Health dot EDU


Rising from the son of a former slave to international recognition for his brickmaking craftmanship, George Black made an impact on Winston-Salem and communities beyond. He made bricks for more than 80 years and taught the craft well into his 90s. Even at age 100, the inner spark that fired his long brickmaking career remained strong.


“Part of the legacy of George Black is in buildings,” Emily Herring Wilson says in the book, “George Henry Black: 100 Years,” published in 1979. Quoting from hours of conversations they shared, she writes:

“Today when George Black goes for a ride in Winston-Salem, he points out, ‘I made them bricks there’ or ‘My brick are in all them branch banks’ or ‘That chimney is my brick.’ Recently when one of the six-brick molds was borrowed from his house for an exhibit, he was reluctant to let it go: ‘You bring that back, hear, come warm weather. I’ll be making some brick when it’s warm weather.’”


After George Black died in 1980, at the age of 101, tributes began to establish his place in history. In 2003, the N.C. General Assembly approved a joint resolution honoring his life, and Forsyth County officials placed a bronze statue of him outside the Forsyth County Government Center.


His home and brickyard at 111 Dellabrook Road in Winston-Salem were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The city put up a streetside marker in 2007, and the property was designated a Forsyth County Local Historic Landmark in 2011.


Preserving the Handcrafted Tradition

George Black was born in Randolph County on February 15, 1879. At age 10, he walked 50 miles with his father and brother to Winston-Salem, where they got jobs hauling bricks for Hedgecock and Hines Brickyard. He later learned the craft of making bricks by hand in a wooden mold called a mud mill.

When his employer gave him an old mud mill for firewood, George Black refurbished it and began making his own bricks.


In 1910, he opened his first brickyard. Supporting his growing family may have fueled his ambition. He and his wife, Martha Jane Hampton, married in 1897 and had eight children. Everyone in the family eventually worked in the brick business.


By the 1920s, George Black had a reputation for making durable, high-quality bricks. Over the decades, they were used for homes, banks, churches, hospitals and sidewalks. As machine-made bricks became standard, his traditional handmade bricks became preferred for restoration work, and they were used in Old Salem, Colonial Williamsburg, Charleston and Savannah. Reader’s Digest dubbed him “The Last Brickmaker in America.”


In 1971, North Carolina native Charles Kuralt featured George Black in his folksy “On the Road” series on CBS Evening News. National exposure led to the U.S. State Department hiring him to teach brickmaking in Guyana, South America. President Richard M. Nixon honored George Black at a White House reception.


Each Brick a Piece of History

When Old Main was torn down in 1978, the historical significance was obvious. The 55-year-old brick building was outdated, surrounded by newer buildings, and set to be replaced with a steel and black glass-covered structure, which was dedicated as Watlington Hall in 1981 and remains today.


John Lynch and Richard Janeway, respective leaders of the hospital and the medical school at the time, encouraged Gary Fleming, then-assistant director of Development, to save some bricks for future generations. The demolition crew delivered the bricks to the Development office, located then in the basement of the Hanes Building.


“We didn’t have room to store the bricks, so I said, I’ll hold onto them and put them in my basement at home,” recalled Gary, who still lives at the same Buena Vista Road address.

The bricks remained there until Gary, who left his Development post in 1985, recently contacted medical center officials to return the bricks for use as mementos during the hospital’s Centennial celebration. One of the bricks will be included in a time capsule to be opened 100 years later.


Other medical center officials had also collected souvenir bricks in 1978, and one is mounted on a commemorative plaque that resides in the Coy C. Carpenter Library, along with photos and historical accounts of the original Baptist Hospital.


Today, that handmade mud brick remains as a symbol of deep community roots. As we mark the 100th birthday of Baptist Hospital, we recognize George Henry Black, a man who put as much care into making bricks as the care given to patients within the hospital’s walls.


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