The Historic Smithfield Foundation will hold a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Freedmen’s Schoolhouse on Friday, June 19, 2026. The ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. in the sanctuary of First Missionary Baptist Church, 403 Caswell Street, Smithfield, North Carolina.
A ribbon cutting and tours of the schoolhouse, at 308 N Fourth Street, will follow.
Dr. Crystal R. Sanders, a Johnston County native and descendant of freedmen who attended the school, will be the keynote speaker. She is an award-winning American historian, author, and professor who specializes in 20th-century African American history, Black women’s history, civil rights history, and the history of Black education. She currently serves as an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Emory University.
The Freedmen’s Schoolhouse, located at 308 N. Fourth Street, was built by the federal Freedmen’s Bureau in 1868-1869 under the auspices of the American Missionary Association and is the only freedmen’s schoolhouse known to remain in North Carolina.
The Historic Smithfield Foundation and the Johnston County Heritage Center have been collaborating for almost a decade to rehabilitate the building and interpret its history for the public. Private donations and a $250,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources have made the work possible.
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