Locating Slavery's Legacies @ University of Virginia

Memorial Structure

Named Building

Emancipationist

Pro-Civil Rights

Gale, Sullivan French

Gale Hall

Constructed in 1936, Gale Hall was intended to provide separate male dormitory lodging for one of a growing number of fraternal organizations on campus. Dedicated in honor of Reverend Sullivan French Gale by President Hamilton Holt, the building has housed the Phi Delta Theta, Delta Chi, Alpha Phi Lambda, and X-Club fraternities, the last of which continues to occupy the residence. The dormitory was created in a Spanish-Mediterranean architectural style and today largely reflects its original structure, with minor renovations occurring in 1970 and 2007.

The dedicatee, Rev. S. F. Gale (1842-1909), was an original member of the board of trustees that founded Rollins College in 1885. Born in Plainfield, Vermont and a veteran of Gettysburg, Gale enlisted in the Union’s 13th Vermont Infantry Regiment in 1862 and obtained the rank of sergeant a half year later. Following the war, Gale earned degrees from Barre Academy, the University of Vermont, and the Union Theological Seminary to eventually work as a Congregational minister in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. In 1883, he continued to be an influential Congregational figure and moved to Florida, where he became superintendent of the American Home Missionary Society based in Jacksonville until his death in 1909. Notably, Gale earned an honorary degree from Knox College in 1904, an institution that since its inception “opposed slavery in all forms.” Based on his military, religious, and educational background, it is safe to assume that Gale was a progressive minister who supported both emancipation before the Civil War and civil rights after its conclusion.

2918 sq. ft. two story fraternity dormitory constructed in a Spanish-Mediterranean architectural style; houses 17 students

"Gale Hall, 1936. Named in Honor of Sullivan French Gale: A.B, B.D, D.D., 1842-1900. Organizer and first superintendent of the Congregational Home Missionary Society in Florida
Editor of The Florida Historical Society 'Quarterly'
A leader in the founding and charter trustee of Rollins College"

Richard Kiehel, architect

Holt, Hamilton

1936

1970

2007

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

1945-1976: Era of Civil Rights Movement and resistance to Civil Rights Movement

2000-Present: Memorialization in the Era of Universities Studying Slavery and the Black Lives Matter Movement

Rollins College

Rollins College; Winter Park, Florida

Wenxian Zhang, Eneid Bano, Charles Stevens, Rollins Architecture: A Profile of Current and Historical Buildings, Olin Library, 2009.

Knox College

Elizabeth Gale