History of the Community Mosque of Winston Salem

The Community Mosque of Winston-Salem was established in September 1984 at 216 East Sixth Street in the Bruce Building, formerly a Black medical professional’s site during the years prior to the end of segregated public facilities. Imam Khalid Griggs was the founding Imam of the mosque. The Community Mosque grew out of the Institute for Islamic Involvement founded in the same location in 1980. The Institute for Islamic Involvement was an organized Muslim membership organization dedicated to demonstrating an assertive Muslim involvement in the life of the general community.

The weekend Community Mosque Academy was formed in 1981 as a site to teach children ages four through 18 the basic principles of Islam, duties of Muslims to other Muslims and to the larger society as well as responsibilities to parents and older people. During this period, the organization produced a quarterly Journal, while members of the Community Mosque of WS were actively engaged in social justice issues confronting the city. One such issue in 1984 was the Darryl Hunt case, a young African American unjustly convicted and incarcerated under life-threatening circumstances for 19 years for the rape and murder of a white female newspaper copy editor for the local paper. Imam Khalid Griggs was the co-Chair of the Darryl Hunt Defense Committee. The Imam and other brothers visited prisons throughout the city and state conducting Islamic Studies Classes, outside sponsorship of incarcerated Muslims, and providing relevant materials to inmates.

In 1987, the Community Mosque of WS moved to and subsequently purchased a five-room house at the busy intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and East Third Street. The location at 1326 East Third Street, was in walking distance of the campus of Winston-Salem State University. Lectures on the campus were frequently given by members of the mosque as well as appearances on the campus-based FM radio station. A weekly What is Islam Lecture and Discussion series, organized Dawah in the Community, the formation of an Anti-Drug Patrol, a monthly Free Health Screening Clinic, Food and Clothing Distribution to the Needy, and other offerings were started at

the Third Street address.

The Community Mosque of WS purchased a much larger property in 1992 located in the most ethnically diverse section of the city, Southside Winston-Salem. The new location was formerly a popular restaurant in the city. Existing programs from the previous location continued in new location on Waughtown Street directly across the street from a highly trafficked Food Lion grocery store. The mosque remained in this location until February 2002 when its members purchased a two-story former church at 1419 Waughtown Street. The property contained a separate building that has a kitchen and storage area. In 2015, the mosque purchased an adjacent house/property expanding the mosque site from its Waughtown Street address to 1446 Bretton Street, directly behind the multi-purpose building and the mosque. The Bretton Street location houses many of the classrooms for the Community Mosque Academy.