Roanoke College opening new center to study race, slavery

Center to open in renovated former slave quarters

SALEM, Va. – One local college now has a new center to study race and slavery.

The Center for Studying Structures of Race at Roanoke College has been more than a decade in the making.

It will be in the former slave quarters near the Fintel Library on campus.

The first floor will be academic space while the second floor will be set up to resemble what it may have looked like when it was used as slave quarters.

“With the news headlines the way they are today, it’s resonating differently, perhaps, than it would have before. So we are ready for that,” said Roanoke College professor Dr. Jesse Bucher. “We take that as a really good opportunity to answer and ask questions that both our students, our faculty and our staff are thinking through right now.”

The center will officially open this fall when the new school year begins.