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The Excelsior Club, a long-time center of black social and political activity, was started in 1944 by Jimmie McKee in a seven-room house on Beatties Ford Rd.
possibly African-American Linda Blackwelder near the west side of the Charlotte-Douglas airport
James E. Hemphill worked in Charlotte from 1917 to 1959. Besides Henry Hayden, he is the only known black photographer in Charlotte prior to 1925. He was born in Blackstock, South Carolina in 1886. Hemphill was the son of James and Frances Hemphill.
This photograph of the Friday Evening Social Club was taken about 1907. The members were schoolteachers at the Myers Street School.
LAURA M. BOOTON
The Grace African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was founded by four men and seventeen women in December, 1887. The Church moved into this building on Brevard Street in 1900. Physical Description: Publisher: Unknown
Good Samaritan Hospital was the first hospital built for African Americans in North Carolina. The original building was made on December 18, 1888. Physical Description: 3x5 Publisher: Dixie News Company
The Right Reverend Daniel J. Sanders was the first black president of Johnson C. Smith University. This photograph is also part of the African American Collection. Physical Description: 8x10 glossy Publisher: Unknown
The first sale of a slave in Mecklenburg County is officially recorded. Prices are set in units of British currency, called pounds. The price paid for the African man is 75 pounds. Slaves are given new names by their masters. Some names, such as Joseph and Jacob, come from the Bible.
Before the Civil War began, black slaves attended church with their white masters, but sat in the balconies. Now, as slaves win their freedom they want churches of their own. The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Philadelphia helps start a congregation in Charlotte.
In West Africa, men, women and children are captured and forced onto ships bound for the American colonies. These people will be sold as slaves. Although the Africans have their own beliefs, language, families and culture, their owners will not care.
The plot was once owned by H. C. Dwelle and his family. There were 17 graves that were in a wooded area, which is now the site of Theater Charlotte. The graves were relocated in 1941 to an unnamed downtown cemetery. An African-American mortician named Grier performed the relocation.
This cemetery may have been called Roseville at one time. It may also have some unmarked graves. A long time resident and local historian of Matthews thinks this may have been the cemetery for an African American church that was near Charles St. in Matthews.
African American novelist Charles Waddell Chestnutt (1858-1932) leaves his home in Fayetteville and arrives in Charlotte to teach school. He is fifteen years old. Chestnutt would eventually become an assistant to the principal.