Memorial

Brings

the

Unacknowledged

into

Davidson

College’s

Story

n her 60 years at Davidson College, Lula Bell Houston washed students’ clothes, sheets and towels, carefully setting aside the money, pens and keys she’d find in their pockets to return to them with their clean laundry.

Fred Deese mowed lawns, planted trees and trimmed hedges as a groundskeeper. As a janitor, he mopped, vacuumed, washed windows and emptied trash cans. His wife, Janie, served as a maid to presidents and professors, carefully dusting family mementos and preparing guest rooms.

They’re among the many Black workers, unknown and known, whose contributions went unacknowledged across the college’s history, from enslavement during the college’s 1837 founding through Jim Crow laws that prohibited them from voting or owning property and kept their wages low.

On Thursday, the college will dedicate a memorial in their honor. With These Hands: A Memorial to the Enslaved and Exploited will serve as a place to remember and reflect upon those whose labor helped build the college and serve its students and faculty.

Renowned artist Hank Willis Thomas designed the large bronze sculpture of two work-worn hands in collaboration with the architectural firm Perkins&Will. It sits prominently near the original Oak and Elm Row buildings just off Main Street, two of the original six buildings still standing. Their bricks bear human thumbprints from the enslaved laborers whose hands formed them and served as an inspiration for the artwork.