Once surrounded by thriving Black families along South Wilmington Street, The Pope House Museum is now the only evidence of a vanished community. Dr. Pope was a politically active and well known African American physician and Trustee of Shaw University. And the two-story brick house is a rare and early example of an African American residence built of expensive, high-quality materials with stylish workmanship. Like Dr. Pope himself, the house dared to be grand in a world determined to diminish black achievement.

The Pope House, North Carolina’s sole African American museum, unveils the peculiar life of Dr. Manassa Thomas Pope. This audacious physician, the only African American to run for mayor in a Southern capital in the midst of the Jim Crow Era, defied the status quo.

Pope House Museum hours

The Pope House is open Tuesday – Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Stop by at any time during these hours for a tour.

How much time to budget for your visit

The guided tour takes approximately 30 minutes. Allow yourself up to another 30 minutes to explore the self-guided portion of the museum.

Where to park to visit the Pope House Museum

The Pope House Museum is surrounded on three sides by private parking lots.

There is also street parking is available around the Pope House at 511 S Wilmington St. that can be paid for at the street meters and with the Passport Parking app.

Finally, the City Center Parking Deck is also nearby. Parking rates can be found here.

Here’s more information about getting around and parking downtown Raleigh.

Cost of admission

Admission to the Pope House Museum is free. Tours are first come, first served.

Pope House facilities

There is a restroom and a small gift shop in the museum.

Artifacts

The Pope House Museum Collection overflows with 3,000 artifacts dating to the 1860s. These treasures unlock the story of a prominent Black family in the early 1900s. Dr. Pope’s father’s freedman papers and his Spanish-American War doctor’s bag are just a peek into this inspiring collection.

History of The Pope Family

Manassa Thomas Pope was born as a free person of color in 1858, near Rich Square, Northampton County, North Carolina. He arrived in Raleigh in 1874 to attend for Shaw University. Founded by Reverend Tupper for black men in 1865, Shaw offered a path for Pope’s education. Pope thrived in his studies, progressing on to the prestigious Leonard Medical School, the very first four-year medical college in the North Carolina.

Dr. Pope graduated in 1886 and in 1887, he married Lydia Walden. The couple moved around the state a couple of times while he practiced medicine and became a successful entrepreneur.

Meanwhile, in the early 1890s, African Americans found themselves with new freedoms and a chance to participate in politics. In North Carolina’s 1896 election, a Republican governor was elected and several African American men were elected to public office too, including one to the United State Congress, and three to the North Carolina State Legislature. North Carolina’s Democratic leaders, some descending from slave owners, found themselves perplexed. African American Republicans now held power! The “White Supremacy Campaign,” aimed to discredit men of color and lure white farmers back to the Democratic party. The unscrupulous newspaper editor, Josephus Daniels, used the Raleigh News & Observer (N&O) to spew propaganda. African Americans and Republicans were smeared. For the less literate targets, cartoonist Norman Jennett pumped out vile, fabricated images: inept Black politicians lusting after white women. And a particularly unfortunate event transpired in Wilmington, North Carolina in 1898. A Democrat who lost his seat in Congress, Alfred Moore Waddell, led a mob that overthrew the elected officials in a bloody coup. This “regrettable event,” as it’s been characterized, left at least a dozen dead.

The White Supremacy Campaign was successful in 1898 and the Republicans and Populists were swept from office. The new Democratic legislature swiftly enacted Jim Crow laws, segregating races on public transport. To further disenfranchise black men, they also concocted a “suffrage” amendment to the state constitution. This amendment called for a literacy test, judged by racist officials, for any person showing up at a polling booth. To avoid disenfranchising illiterate whites, a “grandfather clause” exempted any man whose father or grandfather could vote prior to 1867.

In 1900, the good folks at the N&O, led by Josephus Daniels, championed the passage of the suffrage amendment with all the fervor of a squirrel defending its nuts. Meanwhile, James Young took up the fight in his paper, The Raleigh Gazette. He called out the N&O as a “negro howling sheet” and its supporters “blatant foul mouths.” And to showcase Black excellence, he formed an all-Black regiment, the Third Regiment, for the Spanish-American War. Though they never saw combat, the Third Regiment stood tall, a testament to Black patriotism and education. Dr. Pope served as Young’s lieutenant and first assistant surgeon in the Third Regiment.

In 1899, Dr. Pope moved to Raleigh where he established his medical practice on East Hargett Street (which was rapidly becoming the central black business district). In 1901, he built his home at 511 South Wilmington Street, less the two hundred yards away from the home of Josephus Daniels, editor and publisher of the N&O.

The constitutional amendment was passed in 1900 but because Pope’s father, Jonas Elias Pope, was a free person of color and could vote, Dr. Pope was able to meet the nearly impossible requirement of the grandfather clause. He marched down to the registration office in 1902, when the new law took effect, presented his father’s 1851 freedman papers, and was issued a voter registration card.

Dr. Pope thus became one of only 7 men of color allowed to vote in Raleigh. And he shared a polling place with Josephus Daniels.

In 1919, in the midst of Jim Crow segregation, Dr. Pope ran for mayor. He, along with Calvin Lightner (whose son would later become mayor) and J. Cheek, formed a non-partisan African American slate of candidates. They knew they wouldn’t win, but as Lightner wryly noted, “we did it to wake our people up.” A fight for a just future, even in the face of impossible odds.

In this very same year, a record number of black men (more than 70), some returning from the horrors of war and still clad in their uniforms, were lynched by white mobs. Gender was also a public issue as advocates and opponents of women’s suffrage fought over the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. In the South, state legislatures wrestled with the question of who the 19th Amendment would enfranchise. Would black women, they fretted, be allowed to vote? This very real concern, fueled by prejudice more potent than any moonshine, led North Carolina to refuse to ratify the amendment.

In delightful contrast to the world of politics, Dr. Pope’s domestic life unfolded quietly. Though shadows fell in 1906 with the passing of his beloved wife, Lydia Walden Pope, a new chapter unfolded the following year. Dr. Pope married Delia Haywood Phillips, and together they embarked on the grand adventure of parenthood. Evelyn B. Pope joined the world in 1908, followed by her sister Ruth P. Pope in 1910. The family belonged to Raleigh’s elite colored society, counting among their friends the prominent Delany, Lightner, and Irving families. Both daughters received degrees from Shaw University, and both went on to earn Master’s degrees from Columbia University in New York; Evelyn in library science, and Ruth in home economics.

Dr. Pope died 1934 at the respectable age of 76. His wife followed in 1955. By then, the brilliant Evelyn thrived as a librarian at NC Central University and the Ruth nurtured young minds as a beloved home economics teacher in the Chapel Hill public schools. Marriage held no allure for these independent souls, who found companionship in each other. Together, they maintained the family home in Raleigh and enjoyed the luxury of retiring there in the 1970s. Evelyn passed in 1995, and Ruth passed away in 2000.

History of The Pope House

The land around the Pope House boasts a fascinating past. A governor’s palace graced the south end of Fayetteville Street, but development east of the palace lagged behind. Then, in 1870, Reverend Tupper moved Shaw University to its current location, sparking a delightful change. African American families, newly arrived after the war, settled in the area in small frame houses.

Black neighborhoods began popping up in clusters around the perimeter of Raleigh by the late 1800s in areas such as Oberlin, Method, Smokey Hollow, and Hungry Neck. The Third Ward, which included the 500 block of South Wilmington Street, became home to black professionals and their families. While some white residents remained (including Josephus Daniels), a shift was underway. Though residential segregation wouldn’t be law until 1906, the effects of the White Supremacy Campaign of the late 1890s had taken its toll, and for the most part blacks and whites lived in increasingly segregated communities.

In 1901, Dr. Pope embarked on the task of building his own home in the Third Ward. While he legally could’ve lived anywhere, fancy streets where white professionals were building homes like Hillsborough Street or Glenwood Avenue wouldn’t have been terribly welcoming. Thankfully, the 500 block of South Wilmington Street offered a sunny solution providing a buffer zone separating esteemed white families from Raleigh’s vibrant black community. In fact, Dr. Pope’s house faced the charming backsides of grand white-owned houses that faced Fayetteville Street! Among Dr. Pope’s neighbors were other prominent African Americans, including a fellow doctor and a pharmacist. The location also boasted close proximity to both his office on East Hargett Street (the heart of the black business district) and the First Baptist Church (at the corner of Wilmington and Morgan Streets), where the Pope family worshipped.

The architect and builder behind Dr. Pope’s house is a mystery, but it shares architectural features with houses in other Raleigh neighborhoods from the same period, especially Oakwood. In addition, a warehouse was demolished on the site of the Pope House immediately before construction of the house so it’s possible the bricks used for the Pope House were sourced from the warehouse.

The house is laid out as an urban row house, with a staircase along the side of the house and a parlor next to the dining room, a rare form in Raleigh. A one-story porch, originally gracing the facade, featured welcoming turned posts and decorative millwork. The interior was restrained but elegant with dark-varnished wood (now painted or lightly stained) and an impressive staircase. A captivating stained glass window sits in the front hall. Cutting-edge features adorned the interior – gas and electric fixtures, a kitchen with running water, a full bathroom on the second floor, a telephone, even a call bell system for hired help. Evidence suggests Dr. Pope, despite his health struggles in the 1920s and 30s, continued to see patients in his home. A tiny sink and possible instrument cabinet hint at a past medical practice in the rear of the back hall, just off the kitchen.

After Dr. Pope wed Delia Haywood Phillips in 1907, the house was further modified. A brand new garage was built behind the house between 1909 and 1914. The 1910s brought the wonder of electricity, with some fixtures converted from gas, and some completely replaced.

The 1920s brought a brand new sleeping porch constructed on brick piers, and replacing the original front porch. About 20 years later, the space below the sleeping porch was enclosed with brick. The spirit of modernization continued in the 1940s with a kitchen remodel and a convenient downstairs half bath.

The neighborhood was transformed again with the end of segregation and urban renewal, when prosperous African American families moved to the suburbs. Their Raleigh homes were demolished in favor of parking lots. The Raleigh Civic Center was built across the street and the skyline was transformed with skyscrapers in the 1980s and 90s.

Dr. Pope’s daughters, Evelyn and Ruth, inheriting this legacy, lovingly maintained the home even as the world around it changed. After their retirement in the 1970s, the unmarried sisters moved back to Raleigh. Though faced with tough decisions, they ultimately ensured its preservation. With a burst pipe in 1998 acting as an unexpected nudge, the house received a necessary renovation. The opportunity was used to install new plumbing, wiring, and HVAC, along with additional telephone lines, while maintaining the historic integrity of the house.

The Pope House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, and the process of transforming the house into a museum began. The Pope House now stands proudly as a vibrant storyteller, sharing the narrative of Dr. Pope, his family, and the ever-evolving city of Raleigh.

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Within the walls of the Pope House Museum lies a tale not just of triumph, but of prejudice’s chilling grip. Enter the Pope House, if you dare.

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