RALEIGH – When the N.C. Highway Historical marker for Parker David Robbins is dedicated on Monday, Jan. 16, at 11 a.m., it will recognize a man who achieved against the odds. Born in Bertie County in 1834, he was one of the more than 30,000 free African Americans in North Carolina. He was literate at a time when enslaved blacks were forbidden to learn to read, and became a successful farmer, carpenter, mechanic, and legislator.
The marker will be dedicated at on NC highway 903, Main Street in Magnolia, one block west of US highway 117, just beyond the railroad track. The Robbins gravesite is one half mile west. The dedication will be one aspect of Duplin County’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance, which will start at 9:30 a.m. at the Duplin County Events Center in Kenansville, then proceed to the unveiling.
Robbins enlisted in the U.S. Colored Troops to help win freedom for his kinsmen. Blacks generally were not allowed to hold ranks as officers, but Robbins achieved the rank of sergeant-major, the highest enlisted rank allowed. Demonstrating his leadership qualities and being a respected mechanic from the area, Robbins was promoted from private to sergeant-major 10 days after enlisting.
After the war he returned to Bertie County and was one of 15 African Americans elected to the constitutional convention to write a new state constitution. He was elected to serve in the N.C. House of Representatives for the 1869-1870 session. Afterward he served as postmaster for the town of Harrellsville in Hertford County.
In 1877 Robbins moved to Duplin County where he was a successful businessman, owning a steamboat, sawmill and cotton gin. He also became an inventor and held several patents on sharpening machines. Additionally, he constructed homes in Magnolia, and died there in 1917. His portrait is widely known and he has been featured in museum exhibits and textbooks since the 1970s.
For additional information on the N.C. Highway Historical Marker Program, call 919-807-7290. The program is part of the Office of Archives and History within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.
About the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources annually serves more than 19 million people through its 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, the nation’s first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the N.C. Arts Council, and the State Archives. Cultural Resources champions North Carolina’s creative industry, which employs nearly 300,000 North Carolinians and contributes more than $41 billion to the state’s economy. To learn more, visit www.ncculture.com.