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January 16, 1963 - Harvey Gantt desegregates Clemson College. January 16, 1963
1963 - Separate campuses are built for UNC Charlotte and Carver College.
May 13, 1964 - Charlotte minister and dentist Reginald Hawkins starts a protest at the YMCA, which excludes blacks from its membership. After protests and lawsuits, the YMCA board changes its policy.
January 24, 1965 - Dynamite destroys the car of Julius Chambers, a black NAACP lawyer, while he speaks at a civil rights rally at a church in New Bern. Three Ku Klux Klansmen are arrested and receive suspended sentences.
April 18, 1965 - Friendship Baptist Church in Second Ward is demolished.
November 22, 1965 - The homes of four local civil rights leaders are bombed in Charlotte.
May 4, 1965 - Fred Alexander is elected to the Charlotte City Council. Photo shows Alexander being sworn in on the 10th.
1966 - King brings the civil rights movement to the North and opposes the War in Vietnam. This is a time of change for the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., takes the movement north and encounters resistance. In Chicago on August 5, 1966, protesters throw stones at him.
1967 - The Charlotte Redevelopment Authority begins the demolition of First Ward. Some residents move to traditionally black neighborhoods.
From left to right, seated, are: J. E. Grisby, Second Ward High; C. L. Blake, West Charlotte High; Mrs. Cordelia E. Stiles, supervisor; W. G. Byers, Fairview Elementary; Mrs. Gwendolyn Cunningham, Double Oaks Elementary; and C. E. Moreland, Northwest Junior High.
Alexander Street School was opened around 1918 to serve the children of the uptown neighborhood of First Ward. The school was closed in 1968 and converted into the Alexander Street Neighborhood Center, run by the City of Charlotte.
Biddleville School was one of Charlotte’s all-black schools. It served the children of the Beatties Ford Road/Johnson C. Smith University area. In 1964, James Swann was assigned to Biddleville School.
Billingsville School was built in 1927 and was named for Sam Billings, who donated the land where the school stands. The school was one of Mecklenburg County’s 26 Rosenwald schools, which were all-black schools built with the help of money donated by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald.
Double Oaks School was built in the early 1950s to serve Double Oaks and the surrounding communities. Because of the building’s unique design, it won an architectural award soon after it was completed. At its peak, Double Oaks had over 750 students.
Fairview School served elementary students from the communities surrounding the Greenville neighborhood. As part of the city’s integration plan, Fairview was abandoned around 1968 and eventually torn down.
Isabella Wyche School served the children of uptown’s Third Ward community. It was named for a former teacher. When the city and county schools consolidated in 1960, Isabella Wyche School was converted into administrative offices and eventually torn down.
Marie G. Davis School was originally an elementary school for black children on the south side of town. It was named for a former teacher. After integration, the school became a middle school. The Marie G.
Morgan Elementary School was built in 1925 in the Cherry neighborhood, one of the first suburbs developed for black families. The school was closed in the late 1960s as part of the school system’s integration plan.
Northwest Junior High was Charlotte’s first and only all-black junior high. Until it was started in 1954, grades 7-12 were considered high school. The school now occupies the old West Charlotte High School campus.