Architect Willie Edward Jenkins (1923-1988) was born in Wake County to Willie and Emmaline Jenkins; his father died when he was small; and his mother worked as a seamstress.

Jenkins attended local public schools and graduated from Washington High School. After serving in the U. S. Army from 1943 to 1946, he like many other veterans strove to further his education and his prospects.

He studied architectural engineering at North Carolina A&T and graduated in 1949. He was part of the generation of Black Americans, especially veterans, who hoped for a new day in the nation following their experiences in World War II.

After graduation, Jenkins went to work for Edward Loewenstein at his firm Loewenstein-Atkinson Architects, but only after Loewenstein’s one African American employee William Gupple suggested Jenkins for the job, as he could not find one elsewhere.

Jenkins did well at the firm, and in 1953 he became North Carolina’s third officially registered Black architect, after Gaston Alonzo Edwards and William Streat. By 1962 Jenkins had established his own independent firm, the first in the state run by a registered Black architect.

Bio source: https://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/people/P000349

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Image description:
Top photograph: 1950's Photograph of the first White Rock Baptist Church - 602 Fayetteville Street, Durham, NC. Built in 1890 and demolished 1967 by urban renewal because it stood near the path of the Durham Freeway.

Durham’s first African American doctor, Dr. Aaron M. Moore, gave property to the church for a future Sunday school building. In 1913, he established a library in the church basement, which in 1916 moved to the corner of East Pettigrew and Fayetteville St., becoming the "Durham Colored Library" - the forerunner of what is now Stanford L. Warren Public Library.

Photograph source: Open Durham dot com

Bottom photograph: The new White Rock Church building was built in 1977 located at 3400 Fayetteville Street, on a six-acre tract of land at a cost of more than one $1 million. Designed by architect W. Edward Jenkins.
While the building was under construction, the congregation worshipped at B. N. Duke Auditorium, on the campus of North Carolina Central University and at St. Joseph’s A. M. E. Church.

The congregation occupied the new church on October 10, 1971.
[This post relies heavily on church history from the White Rock Baptist Church website]

Photograph source: Soul Of America