A century in the making: George White still points the way

The long-lived legacy of Bladen County's native son

I had the good fortune earlier this month to help celebrate the ongoing efforts of a favorite nonprofit organization of mine in North Carolina’s Bladen County: the George Henry White Memorial Health and Education Center. Many of you may already know of my years of academic research into the former congressman’s life—he served two terms in the late nineteenth century as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from my home state’s Second District, the last African American elected to that body in the post-Reconstruction era—and has been the subject of four of my published books.

George White was an accomplished man, a schoolteacherrising from an unlikely background to the height of political power in the Republican party—a rare success story at the turn of the 20th century, when almost all African Americans had lost the chance to vote, in the South, at least—and argued loudly for political equality for members of his race, even in the face of violent suppression. By the time of his death in 1918, he had begun to fade from the larger public memory, ridiculed by white supremacists and historians alike, lost in the gathering shadows of Jim Crow-era discrimination.

Former North Carolina congressman George H. White (1852-1918). Public domain photo

I was among those fortunate enough to be invited to speak in Bladen County on George Henry White Day on May 18, along with a distinguished group of men and women who have helped turn his nearly-forgotten life back into a living example of public service against the odds. But as I told my audience in a keynote address, his political successes were only one part of his story. More important, I think—and certainly more meaningful today—came after his political career ended, and he devoted himself to business pursuits and civic affairs. It was his inspiring message of hope and self-help, of community betterment at the grass roots—largely through his new community of Whitesboro, which drew many black pioneers from North Carolina.

The century-old farmhouse near Clarkton which now houses his health and education center has been transformed over the past decade into a living monument, where members of an under-served rural community can gather for a wide variety of useful services—from job training to health care, good food, a small library and high-tech media center, but above all, a feeling of community support.

The George Henry White Memorial Health & Education Center, near Clarkton. Courtesy www.ghwmemorialcenter.com

The center is a project of the Benjamin and Edith Spaulding Descendants Foundation (BESDF), a nonprofit organization established for educational, literary, and charitable purposes, and the catalyst for prodigious fund-raising over the past decade. You can visit the website ( https://www.ghwmemorialcenter.com/ ) for a self-guided tour—strongly suggested by the author!

Restoring the farmhouse has was the brainchild of retired architect Vincent Spaulding, project leader and former CEO, and Dr. Milton Campbell, current BESDF president, whose family donated his grandmother’s farmhouse. Abandoned for years, the reconstructed structure has now emerged as a new center of local empowerment for citizens of the Farmer’s Union community in Bladen and Columbus counties. It is the kind of active self-help strategy White himself promoted in Whitesboro, which he founded in southern New Jersey in 1902.

Born in nearby Rosindale in 1852, George White had spent most of his formative years in Columbus County’s Welches Creek township, after his father married Mary Anna Spaulding, who became his stepmother, in 1857. He grew up in a hardworking family of free, mixed-race turpentine farmers, and attributed his success to his stepmother’s enduring teachings—her relentless push to obtain an education for him, her gentle reminder that he must always think of others.

His philosophy was profoundly simple: no man can be complete, until he first helps his neighbor become more complete. For everything you have obtained, give at least that much back to the community which nurtured you.

* * * * *

While I have never lived in Bladen County, I did spend a year and more in neighboring Columbus County, while working as a journalist for the semi-weekly Whiteville News Reporter. I spend much of my free time in the Lake Waccamaw area, near the Hallsboro-Farmers Union area where George White grew up a century earlier. But I never heard his name back then.

It was only after I moved on to a larger daily in Fayetteville that I learned about him. In 1975, while working for the Fayetteville Observer, which also circulated in Bladen and Columbus Counties, I was assigned to redraft a N.C. Museum of History press release on 19th-century African American members of Congress—and to play up the local angle, since White had been born in Rosindale and grew up in Columbus County’s Welches Creek Township, both in our circulation area. It was a quick introduction to the man who became my focus over the next quarter of a century, both in graduate school and afterward.

He stuck with me, plain and simple. After I left the U.S. State Department in 1997, I decided to write my first book, his biography—which was published by LSU Press in 2001. But my research into his life continued through three more books, and indeed, continues even today. It has been a real adventure, of sorts. Writers of small-market niche nonfiction books rarely get rich, but they often find a great deal of satisfaction. Much of mine lay in the friendships I developed along the way, including a new extended family — the Spauldings of Columbus County, who virtually adopted me, much as they had done George White in the mid-1850s, when George’s father married Mary Anna Spaulding, his stepmother; the Phoenix Historical Society of Tarboro, White’s adopted hometown; and the townspeople of Whitesboro, New Jersey.

Those new friends have since become my favorite audiences, and I regularly attend any function they invite me to. Thank goodness they have even taken a liking to my favorite traveling companion—Benji, a 13-year-old poodle who hangs on his partner’s every word (well, almost).

Benji guards the speaker at George Henry White Day. Photo courtesy ghwcenter.com

Their names are too numerous for me to list them all here, but here are just a sampling of the dedicated leaders who turned out for this wonderful afternoon, which was open to the public.

They included Vince Spaulding and wife Paula, who conducts special projects for the Center; nationally-known author, speaker, and educator Stedman Graham (a Spaulding descendant); documentarian Mike O’Connell (whose film George Henry White, Searching for Freedom — recently appeared on PBS-TV (available at https://www.pbs.org/video/george-h-white-searching-for-freedom-ukfdy8/ ) — ; Phoenix Historical Society co-founders Jim Wrenn and Mavis Stith of Tarboro, N.C.; Robert Egleston, director of the Twin City Development Foundation in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Earl Ijames, curator of African American and Community History at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh; and attorney Finesse Couch, president of the George H. White Bar Association in Durham, N.C.

Earl Ijames, Finesse Couch, and Vince Spaulding. Photos courtesy www.ghwcenter.com

Documentary filmmaker Mike O’Connell.

Jim Wrenn, vice president of Phoenix Historical Society, shares lunch with Robert Egleston of Winston-Salem.

But the real stars of the day, in my humble opinion, were the staff and volunteers of the center, including center superintendent Ocie Jones, program coordinator Carol Caldwell; writer-producer Kate Tsubata, the center’s tireless communications coordinator; and Paula Spaulding, who handles special projects. They don’t often get the credit they deserve. But like their example—George Henry White—they sing from the same page in the hymnal. It’s all about service …

Stedman Graham, Paula Spaulding, and Carol Carter.

Center’s tireless communications director, Kate Tsubata.

Volunteers and visitors gather outside the GHW Center for food and fellowship.

Outside TV screens displayed the events to overflow audiences.

The press even turned up on a rainy day to chronicle the Center’s efforts. (See TV story at their website on Wilmington’s WWAYTV3 — at https://www.wwaytv3.com/historians-advocates-gather-to-celebrate-the-forgotten-legacy-of-george-henry-white/ ).

Long live the legacy of George Henry White—to new generations!

Next time: Dealer’s choice—a potpourri of presidential encounters and near misses