Born Missionary: The Islay Walden Story, by Margo Lee Williams

Available from Amazon in both paperback and kindle, and paperback from Barnes and Noble

In 1879, Islay Walden, born enslaved and visually impaired, returned to North Carolina after a twelve-year odyssey in search of an education.  It was a journey that would take him from emancipation in Randolph County, North Carolina to Washington, D. C., where he earned a teaching degree from Howard University, then to the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Along the way, he would publish two volumes of poetry and found two schools for African American children. Now ordained, he would return to his home community, where he would found a Congregational church (today called Strieby Congregation U. C. C. Church) and common school. Despite an early death at age forty, he would leave an educational and spiritual legacy that endures to this day.

Born Missionary uses Walden’s own words as well as reports from newspapers and church publications to follow his journey from enslavement to teacher, ordained minister, and community leader.

From Hill Town to Strieby: Education and the American Missionary Association in the Uwharrie “Back Country” of Randolph County, North Carolina, by Margo Lee Williams

When former slave, Islay Walden returned to Southwestern Randolph County, North Carolina in 1879, after graduating from the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, as an ordained minister and missionary of the American Missionary Association, he moved in with his sister and her family in a secluded area in the Uwharrie Mountains, not far from the Lassiter Mill community along the Uwharrie River. Walden was sent to start a church and school for the largely illiterate community of primarily Hill family members. The Hill family in this mountain community was so large, it was known as “Hill Town.” Walden’s church and school would also serve the nearby Lassiter Mill community which, though larger and more diverse, was only marginally more literate. Walden and his wife accomplished much before his untimely death in 1884, including acquiring a US Postal Office for the community and a new name – Strieby. Despite Walden’s death, the church and school continued into the 20th century when it was finally absorbed by the public school system, but not before impacting strongly the spiritual and educational life of this remote community. Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Miles Lassiter (circa 1777-1850) An Early African American Quaker from Lassiter Mill, Randolph County, North Carolina: My Research Journey to Home, by Margo Lee Williams

Although antebellum African Americans were sometimes allowed to attend Quaker services, they were almost never admitted to full “meeting” membership, as was Miles Lassiter. His story illuminates the unfolding of the 19th-century color line into the 20th. It reminds us that, while traditional texts recount grand events, true history tells of everyday people who do extraordinary things quietly, not even realizing that they have left their mark.

Available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Walden’s Poems, Written by Islay Walden, Edited by Matthew Gasero

Born into slavery, Islay Walden was a prolific poet. After the Civil War, he attended and graduated from Howard University and New Brunswick Theological Seminary. This book is a compilation of his books “Sacred Poems” and the second edition of “Miscellaneous Poems.” As he dedicated his work to humanity and education, all profits from the sale of this volume help the Reformed Church in America’s Historical Series share the denominations impact on the world in it’s almost 400-year life.

Available at Amazon