Built by Hand, Held by Community

Part 1: The Hands that Built the City — Honoring Black History Month

Winston-Salem did not rise on its own. It was built by people. And for generations, many of those people were Black workers whose labor powered the City’s industries, constructed its homes, maintained its streets, and sustained its households.

In the tobacco factories that made Winston-Salem known around the world, Black workers filled the production lines. They sorted, packed, and processed the products that fueled the City’s economy. On construction crews, Black workers laid brick, framed houses, poured foundations, and repaired roofs. In rail yards, warehouses, and service jobs, they kept the city moving. In private homes, they cleaned, cooked, and cared for families, often with little recognition and few protections.

Black labor built the economic foundation of the city. But for many of those same workers, the benefits of that growth were limited or denied altogether.

Segregated neighborhoods, discriminatory lending, and restrictive housing policies meant that many Black families could not buy homes in the areas they helped build. Wages were often lower, jobs were less secure, and housing options were limited to certain parts of the city. Even when families worked hard and saved, structural barriers stood in the way of stability and ownership.

And still, they built.

They built homes in East Winston and other historically Black neighborhoods. They built churches that became the heart of community life. They built small businesses, barber shops, beauty salons, restaurants, and corner stores. They built schools, civic groups, and mutual support networks. They built lives and communities with what they had, often without the support of the systems that were meant to serve them.

Housing stability was always closely tied to work. When jobs were steady, families could stay rooted. When work disappeared or wages dropped, housing became fragile. That connection between employment and housing shaped the lives of working families across generations.

Black workers were not just part of Winston-Salem’s story. They were central to it. They built the factories that defined the skyline. They constructed the neighborhoods where families still live today. They maintained the buildings, cleaned the offices, and kept the city functioning day after day.

Their labor was visible everywhere, even when their opportunities were not.

Black History Month is a time to recognize that history. It is a time to honor the workers whose hands built this city, often without fair wages, equal housing opportunities, or access to the same neighborhoods they helped create.

It is also a time to remember that the connection between work and housing is not just a piece of history. It is a reality that continues to shape lives today.

At ANCHOR, we see that connection every day in the residents we serve. We work with seniors living on fixed incomes, veterans rebuilding their lives after homelessness, and working families doing everything they can to stay stable. Many of them are part of the same long tradition of labor that helped build this community.

Our role is not to rewrite that history. It is to honor it by making sure that the people who work in this community today have access to safe, stable, and affordable homes.

Because the people who build a city should always have a place to live in it.