Black, Malloy houses part of city heritage

One man's skill with a scalpel earned him the gratitude and respect of people all over Winston-Salem.

The other man's talent for shaping clay into bricks built him an international reputation.

Dr. Rembert Malloy and George Black are dead. But hope that their stories, and their houses, may one day become museums or community institutions lives on.

"When we honor those who have built massive empires -- the J.P. Morgans, the R.J. Reynolds and the Hanes, we don't think about people like George Black. But I think it's time to rethink that, particularly in an age where we're looking for ways to create community," said Belinda Tate, the director of Diggs Gallery at Winston-Salem State University and a member of the African-American Cultural Initiative. The initiative was formed in 2006 to spotlight the cultural heritage of the black community, Tate said. Some of the city's shotgun houses and Black's house were mentioned as two priorities.

The initiative grew out of a project called "Pride and Dignity From the Hill" in 2005. That project documented the history and architecture of the Happy Hill Gardens Housing Community and the historic neighborhood of Happy Hill, Tate said.

Black's house is on Dellabrook Road. Evelyn Terry, his granddaughter, owns it. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

Black came to Winston-Salem as a child in 1889. He started making bricks by hand in the 1920s. His bricks were used in some of the city's most elegant houses as well as the restoration of Old Salem and such public buildings as Baptist Hospital and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco factories.

He gained national recognition in 1971 when Charles Kuralt featured him in a segment of On the Road.

Black died in 1980, when he was more than 100 years old. A statue of him was installed in front of the Forsyth County Government Center in 2003.

Terry, a member of the Winston-Salem City Council, said that there have been serious efforts off and on to preserve the house.

"I have never abandoned the thought and the idea," she said. "But there are so many pressing issues. And in these times, it's really crazy because of economics."

At one point, Terry said, she became so despondent about efforts to bring attention to her grandfather that she thought about tearing the house down.

"At every opportune time, I talk it up. I take people there," she said.

Tate said she thinks that part of the problem is that people find Black interesting, but they see him mainly as a local figure. Also, because he excelled in something that is viewed as a trade, people might not value his legacy.

"I think there are many wonderful and inspiring stories that can be told through the interpretation of George Black and his life," she said. "He took something that some people might consider nothing and built a renowned reputation."

Malloy came a generation later than Black and he became a major figure in medicine in the city.

Malloy's house is on New Walkertown Road and it is owned by the Rev. Donald Ray Jenkins, who is a former associate professor of English at Winston-Salem State University.

Jenkins bought the house in 2005 and said that he is fixing it up and preparing to sell it.

Malloy died at the age of 90 in 2004. He arrived in Winston-Salem in 1923 from Wadesboro when he was 10 years old.

His father was a doctor and Malloy received his medical training at Howard University. He began his practice in 1939 at Reynolds Memorial Hospital and he became the chief and president of staff there.

He was the first black doctor to practice at City Memorial Hospital, one of the first black surgeons to teach at what was then the Bowman Gray School of Medicine and the director of student health at Winston-Salem State University from 1953 to 1981, when he retired.

Rep. Larry Womble said that soon after Malloy died, he and some other people met with then Chancellor Harold Martin at Winston-Salem State about how the university might acquire and use the house.

"I said, ‘Well, he's dead. Wouldn't it be a nice tribute if we could preserve the house for some future use that would benefit the community?'" Womble said. "I've seen other cities where they had famous people's houses and they used them as training centers or museums or something for the university."

Martin was interested, Womble said, but the idea lost momentum when Martin left the university in 2006.

Jonathan Martin, the executive assistant to Chancellor Donald Reaves, and no relation to Harold Martin, said he attended some meetings about Malloy's house.

The effort to buy Malloy's house never came together, he said. But he is not certain that the idea of buying the house is dead.

He said that over the next few months, he would like to discuss the idea once more with Reaves and other administrators who have come to the university since 2004.

"He touched so many lives during his career," he said of Malloy. "And I think the idea of exploring something that would honor his life was certainly very interesting to us."

■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.