NEWS

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On Thursday, October 23, Davidson College and the surrounding community gathered for the dedication of With These Hands: A Memorial to the Enslaved and Exploited. The dedication of the eagerly awaited sculpture and reflective space situated alongside Oak Row in plain view of Main Street drew a crowd estimated to be nearly 1,000 people. The gathering took place on a perfect autumn day with just enough warmth and a gentle wind that rustled the leaves of the stately trees overhead.

For many, it was the first close look at the sculpture at the heart of the memorial. The enormous bronze sculpture of two open hands, lined and rippled and weathered, bears such realistic detail that the hands seem to lose their sculptural quality and begin to look familiar, evoking memories of friends and loved ones with the same strong, work-worn hands.

Mrs. Bernice Houston, a long-time college employee, who recently turned 100 years young, attended the ceremony. (News of Davidson photo)

The dedication ceremony, while meticulously planned and hosted by the College, was warmly invitational to the larger Davidson community. There were plentiful rows of chairs facing the sculpture and podium for those who wanted to sit. Many people stood and gathered in groups around the edges of the memorial space, and others found a comfortable spot on the grass. Wherever one stood or sat, the sound quality was clear and resonant.

The speakers who shared their experience and wisdom and poetry during the ceremony spoke from an unadorned podium cradled between the towering hands. Each speaker conveyed gratitude to all of those who had worked to move the project from a concept to a reality. Their voices were audibly filled with reverence for the toil and talent that had been stolen from the enslaved and exploited workers. The humanity of those workers, known and unknown, was consciously centered at all times during the ceremony.

Loria Houston opened the ceremony with her performance of "There Is a Balm in Gilead." (News of Davidson photo)

After a musical prelude by the Charlotte Strings Collective that provided a backdrop for conversations, group photos, and many happy reunions around the new memorial, the program formally began with local gospel legend, Loria Houston, performing a deep, rich rendition of “There Is a Balm in Gilead.”

Davidson College President Doug Hicks '90 (News of Davidson photo)

Davidson College President Doug Hicks welcomed the attendees. In recounting the history of the 190-year-old institution, Hicks addressed the glaring contradictions presented by the College’s visionary belief in enlightenment and education and its participation in the cruelties of enslavement and exploitation. Hicks acknowledged that many of the College’s early trustees had themselves been slaveowners and that the College paid local owners of enslaved people for the skills and labor of the men who shaped the bricks and built the original buildings that still stand on the campus.

The Honorable Anthony Foxx '93, Chair of the Davidson College Board of Trustees (News of Davidson photo)

“This college community includes far more human souls than we have heretofore acknowledged,” said Hicks. He vowed to continue the “archival and archeological research to properly acknowledge the lives of the enslaved and exploited individuals who are fundamental to this history.”

The Honorable Virgil Fludd '80 (News of Davidson photo)

The Hon. Virgil L. Fludd, former member of the Georgia House of Representatives and Chair of the Special Commission on Commemoration provided his perspective as a young man attending Davidson College in the 1970s. Fludd shared that looking back, he could “never have imagined standing here on this sacred ground before this extraordinary memorial, remembering what it felt like to be one of only seven Black students on the campus in 1976.”

Even five years ago, he said, when the Davidson College Commission on Race and Slavery first recommended that the College “create a physical and fitting tribute to the enslaved people whose labor and lives shaped this place, I couldn’t imagine the power and the beauty of this memorial.” But at a certain point, when the Committee walked this site, he began to feel it. “The weight of history beneath our feet, the proximity to Main Street, the visibility. The possibility that we could offer a welcome to those who felt unwelcome for so very long.”

Hank Willis Thomas is the artist who created the sculpted hands. Thomas greeted the audience to thunderous applause even before he began his remarks. In collaboration with the design firm, Perkins&Wills, the team envisioned and built the collective memorial space as a place of reflection and respite. Thomas’s statements made clear how much he had felt the weight of this work, how much was owed. “I am just so grateful to have been the conduit of all of these spirits,” said Thomas.

Artist Hank Willis Thomas (News of Davidson photo)

Thomas recognized and acknowledged the known descendants of the people who built and nurtured the College and asked them to raise their hands. “I think that in all likelihood, some of your blood is in these bricks,” he said.

He imagined the stories that had been told by the builders and brickmakers to their children after a long day’s work. In imagining their lives and their work, he focused his creative energy specifically on their hands. He was inspired by “the hands that carried and raised babies that weren’t theirs, the hands that couldn’t hold on to their own children as they were pried away from them and sold into slave markets, the hands that carried the bags, that made the beds, that washed the laundry, that did the dishes, carried people’s books, held people who were crying, who were struggling to get through here.”

In closing, Thomas asked everyone in the audience to turn to the person to their left and to their right and say to them, “Thank you for bearing witness and coming here today.”

Castella Conner provided the community response. (News of Davidson photo)

Castella L. Conner, a retired Davidson college employee and community leader, provided a deeply personal response from the community. “Davidson College has been shaped by countless individuals, and while I cannot possibly name them all, I feel compelled to highlight the invaluable contributions of my own family whose collective service to the college has spanned more than 250 years.” She spoke warmly of her father, mother, grandfather, aunts, uncle, great-aunt, and her great-grandparents who contributed their labors during the challenging Jim Crow and Reconstruction eras. Conner’s brother, Talmadge Conner, Jr., spent 21 years in building services before retiring in 2019. And Conner herself retired in 2022 after 17 years in the Admission and Financial Aid Office.

Conner said that “even as books may face censorship, the truth of our past cannot be erased from our memory.” She expressed gratitude to President Hicks and particularly to former President Carol Quillen who courageously acknowledged the injustice of Davidson’s history. Speaking for the West Davidson community, Conner said that she prayed that this memorial would provide an opportunity “to rise to the needs of our community, and not merely focus on performative measures, but execute in real time the faith and commitment of our ancestors who were enslaved and exploited for many decades on this very campus, on this very earth where we currently stand.”

Dr. Clint Smith '10 (News of Davidson photo)

Dr. Clint Smith, Davidson graduate and author of the award-winning bestseller, How the Word is Passed, and a new collection of poetry, Above Ground, presented an original poem for the occasion. The poem’s artistry was sharpened by the inclusion of historical realism, places, names, and dates gathered through careful questioning and research. He spoke aloud the names of local enslaved people whose identity was captured in scant records and found in the corners of archives, reviving their humanity. Watch Clint Smith performing his original poem here.

Rev. Julia Watkins '14 (News of Davidson photo)

The benediction at the close of the ceremony was offered by College Chaplain Rev. Julia W. Watkins. Rev. Watkins asked the attendees to be present in the moment by opening their hands gently in a posture of “hopeful anticipation,” a posture that mirrored the graceful shape of the sculpted hands at the center of the ceremony.

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Please click on this link to read quotes from people who were in attendance at the dedication. The event and sculpture had a profound effect on those who were fortunate enough to be witnesses to this meaningful occasion.