New exhibit sheds light on lost history of first teachers in Princeville

A new exhibit on campus at ECU is unearthing the history of the first teachers in Princeville, the first African-American community in the country.

The organizer says it’s an effort to give thanks to those who brought the gift of literacy to the town’s early residents.

In a gallery at ECU’s Joyner Library, names and faces line the walls.

It’s a timeline of trailblazers whose efforts had been lost to history.

“What I call the angels at the blackboard,” curator Saundra Stanley told WRAL News. “Because these are the people that brought literacy to Princeville.”

Stanley is a proud daughter of Princeville.

While researching the history of her high school for a reunion, she decided to try the same for her elementary, Princeville School – and couldn’t find anything at all.

“So that’s when I realized that a big chunk of our history for that school had been lost,” Stanley said.

In 2021, the retired nurse became a self-taught historian: combing through libraries, genealogy websites, and even graveyards, trying to track down the men and women who taught the first free people in Princeville.

“At the time the school was established, it was only 20 years after the Emancipation Proclamation,” Stanley said. “Literacy was a huge problem, so these angels here came in and changed the world for them.”

After nearly two years of work, this week Stanley’s project finally opened to the public.

She was able to track down every principal who served the school from 1883 to the 1960s, as well as more than 40 teachers.

Stanley even found school documents dating back to the 1940s.

Life in Princeville hasn’t been easy – a low-lying area, the town has severely flooded multiple times through the decades.

Stanley said she’s proud to honor those who helped her community build its spirit of resilience.

“And I’m hoping that wherever they are, they’re pleased that we’re representing them this way,” Stanley said.

The Angels at the Blackboard exhibit will stay open on ECU’s campus through July 15.