Topics Related to African American History

Walter Fenner “Buck” Leonard was an American first baseman in Negro league baseball and in the Mexican League. After growing up in North Carolina, he played for the Homestead Grays between 1934 and 1950, batting fourth behind Josh Gibson for many years. The Grays teams of the 1930s and 1940s were considered some of the best teams in Negro league history.

The almost forgotten Anderson Elementary School in Mars Hill is being reborn. It evolved from a school for black children built in 1928 to enable African Americans still weighed down by the impact of slavery to seek a better life.The black community remained in western North Carolina as slavery ended for the small population of enslaved there. A split in pro-Confederate and pro-Union sentiment locally-led many blacks to move from Yancey to the Union-leaning Madison County at the Civil War’s end.

Photo from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Libraries.Ann Atwater was a woman to be reckoned with, a woman not to be ignored. She was a fierce fighter for rights for poor African Americans who shook up the white power establishment in Durham, N.C. in the 1960s. From then on, she demanded to be heard.

Bertha Landis (center) with her children in 1985. Photo provided by Tom Davenport.

Halifax, North Carolina, was an important part of the Underground Railroad in North Carolina. With the largest free Black population of any county in the state in the antebellum period, the community provided a network to help freedom seekers as well as a place to blend in.

Abolitionist & maritime captain. Emancipated self and family. He published autobiography ca. 1843. Labored & lived nearby.

African American culture and history have deep roots in North Carolina. Across the state, these stories are preserved in special locations dedicated to honoring the experiences and achievements of African Americans. Here are 10 places to explore Black history in North Carolina:

Confederate attack on U.S. troops, April 1864 led to killing of Black soldiers and civilians. Atrocity diminished the placement of Black troops in N.C.

Opened in 1927 to serve Black patients during Jim Crow era. Housed nursing school, 1929-1954. Operated here until it relocated in 1966.

The historically Black community of Kingsboro organized to stop hog slaughterhouse efforts, 1996. Environmental victory. Met 1/2 mile west.