Mebane Holoman Burgwyn’s actions always centered on empowering young people.

That’s the impression historian Rodney D. Pierce got when researching the late Rich Square native’s background.

“Whether it was her career as a pioneering and award-winning author of children’s literature, working as the director of Guidance Services in Northampton County Schools, or serving on the board of trustees at East Carolina University and UNC-Chapel Hill, she was invested in the youth,” he said.

While that investment helped teenagers and young adults become successful, it has paid off in another way, as a historical marker application for Burgwyn prepared by Pierce was unanimously approved last week by the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Committee.

Since 2018, Pierce, an award-winning educator and newly elected member of the State House of Representatives, has successfully applied for eight historical markers overall, including one in Greensville County, Virginia.

The previous markers have honored Black North Carolinians and a Virginian. This will be the first application he has completed for a white person.

But each of those markers commemorates Black history.

“This was uncharted territory for me, in terms of not applying for a marker that had something to do with Black history in this part of the state,” said Pierce, the freshman state house representative for District 27. “I was flattered and honored that her family trusted me with this responsibility. And the more I learned about her, the more determined I became to get it.”

In September 2023, Pierce received a phone call from Stephen, one of Burgwyn’s sons, about applying for a marker for his late mother. 

Stephen told Pierce he’d read about the dedication ceremony held in the county days earlier for Dr. Nicholas Franklin Roberts, a prominent Black religious and educational leader whose marker was installed in his hometown of Seaboard. Roberts was the first Black president of Raleigh-based Shaw University, the oldest HBCU in the South.

“He was impressed with my work, and was pretty confident his mother could get a marker too,” said Pierce.

“The entire Burgwyn and Holoman families and her many friends have long recognized her creative talents and achievements,” the Burgwyn family said in a statement. “And we are very grateful to all of those who contributed to this marker as she was an exceptional person. We are truly honored that she is receiving this acknowledgment.”

An author of seven novels, Burgwyn’s books authentically depicted Black youth in their natural settings, similar to the Northampton County community of Occoneechee Neck where she resided. “I think her family and I would both tell you that she does not get the credit she rightfully deserves for being a pioneer in that regard,” Pierce said of Burgwyn’s writing of Black characters.

When discussing the character Guy, a Black child featured in her first novel River Treasure, Burgwyn said in an interview that her “only idea was to present Guy and his people as they really are and not to caricature them as so many books have done.”

Burgwyn was a two-time recipient of the American Association of University Women’s Award for Best Juvenile Book of the Year in North Carolina, winning for Penny Rose in 1952 and Crackajack Pony in 1970. 

She said she wrote the latter novel because she wanted white children to know the trauma of the prejudice faced daily by Black students during integration efforts in the South, but also to let Black students know that they “had the responsibility of living up to the best of (themselves) in order to meet this challenge.” 

Another one of her works, Lucky Mischief, earned Honorable Mention by the Committee of the Art of Democratic Living in 1954.

Her prowess as an author made Burgwyn a sought after speaker for literary clubs, book fairs, and other civic groups in many Southern states. In October 1948, she was the speaker at a luncheon during the biennial meeting of the Southeastern Library Association in Louisville, Kentucky, and was a guest later that day at an open forum of librarians held at the city’s public library. 

In 1956, Burgwyn sat on the Selection Committee for the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association’s Sir Walter Raleigh Award, given annually to the most significant work of original fiction by a North Carolina author. She also worked as a creative writing instructor at Halifax Community College when it was Halifax Technical Institute.

Burgwyn’s most impactful work may have been the more than 25 years she served as a member of the board of trustees at UNC-Chapel Hill (1955-1971) and ECU (1973-1981). She was the secretary of ECU’s board and sat on UNC’s Visiting and Executive Committees.

Her time in Chapel Hill was marked by political controversy, growth in the university system, and a need for reform to the administrative framework of higher education in the state.

In 1960, she urged the board to set high academic standards of its own that could raise the quality of high school instruction around the state. 

Three years later, while on the Executive Committee, Burgwyn showcased her willingness to advocate for freedom of speech and academic freedom when she publicly criticized the Speaker Ban law that had been passed by the state legislature, saying the legislation that was made to thwart Communist influence in the political activities of students was “promoted by the forces of fear.”

Later that same year, she urged approval of the plan to permit male undergraduates at her alma mater of UNC-Greensboro, stating women needed to learn to work alongside men as opposed to competing with them. Burgwyn earned a bachelor’s degree in primary education from UNC-G when it was the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina before receiving a master’s degree in counseling from ECU.

In 1966, again demonstrating her commitment to freedom of speech and academic freedom, Burgwyn was one of three Executive Committee members to vote against Governor Dan Moore’s statement and allow controversial speakers Herbert Aptheker (Director of the American Institute for Marxist Studies) and Frank Wilkinson (head of a National Committee to Abolish the House Un-American Activities Committee) to speak on UNC’s campus.

Burgwyn was the only woman on the committee that determined if Charlotte College (now UNC- Charlotte) would be able to join the consolidated university system, and in 1971, she was a member of the Committee to Restructure Higher Education in North Carolina, which led to the creation of the current University of North Carolina System later that year.