#blindpoetofnorthcarolina

[perfectalpacacollector-f543cd03]

Here is the text of the poem written for lady year’s dedication of Strieby as a Literary Landmark in honor of the Rev. Islay Walden, “Blind Poet of North Carolina.” It was written by Strieby community descendant and Santa Barbara Poet Laureate Emerita, Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, “The Afrigeneas Poet.” The Promised Land In Commemoration of Islay Walden We are gathered to consecrate this place To instill and imbue with his memory This place this ground this land We come to lift up the name Islay Walden A man of feeble sight and meager means Bearing the vestiges of enslavement Journeyed in search of betterment Far from mountain roads of his home Wandering the streets with freedmen Heeding the outreach of reformers Vaulted Into the halls of the university Under the tutelage of Christian soldiers Acquired the tools and methods of his calling Driven by his mother’s wish Learned and ordained Never veered from his master plan Never deterred from his soul’s ambition to minister among the freedmen of the South To teach the children of the disinherited That which by unjust law had been denied To build a church on hallowed ground Where all could freely worship To endow this land in perpetuity To fulfill the broken promise Made in waning days of war Land and livestock to every man For centuries held In brutal bondage long denied his own piece of ground We are a village spawned by Islay Walden Named for his benefactor in gratitude Peopled with his kinsmen and their kin A multitude gleaned from these golden hills Bestowed with the promised land This beloved sacred common ground This hallowed place we call our home Bequeathed by our founders Hands joined beneath the tree of life Hearts intertwined in eternal love Our Strieby, a towering symbol of success A monument to the visionary and his legacy The testament to a people in covenant united An everlasting pledge to forever uphold the promise Now and forever, we honor the name islay Walden The AfriGeneas Poet Sojourner Kincaid Rolle Santa Barbara, CA - 2022 #islaywalden #striebychurchnc #literarylandmark #randolphcountync ##blindpoetofnorthcarolina #sojournerkincaidrolle https://www.instagram.com/p/CoNnSd_ppPt/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[perfectalpacacollector-f543cd03]

On this day, 2 February 1884, the Rev. Islay Walden, Pastor of Strieby Congregational Church, missionary and teacher with the American Missionary Association, and “Blind Poet of North Carolina” died in Strieby, Randolph County, North Carolina. He is buried in the Strieby Church Cemetery, part of the Strieby Church, School, and Cemetery Cultural Heritage and Literary Landmark Site, in Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, now a member of the Black Cemetery Network and the Reconstruction Era National Historic Network. #islaywalden #blindpoetofnorthcarolina #striebychurchnc #americanmissionaryassociation #striebyheritagesite #randolphcountync #literarylandmark #culturalheritagesite #blackcemeterynetwork #reconstructioneranationalhistoricnetwork https://www.instagram.com/p/CoJ5F7DudTh/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=