Topics Related to African American History

On June 25, 1948, Parmele native William Claudius Chance was ejected from an Atlantic Coast Line Railroad passenger train car in Emporia, Virginia, for refusing to move to a car for black passengers.

Chance was a well-respected educator in Martin County, having established and operated the Parmalee Industrial Institute. He was returning home to Parmele from the Republican National Convention, held in Philadelphia that year, when he was instructed to leave a “white car” at the stop in Emporia. When he refused, Chance was placed under arrest for disorderly conduct.

On June 15, 1838, John Chavis, African American teacher, preacher and Revolutionary War veteran died.

Born sometime around 1763, Chavis had an extensive education for the time period, likely the best education of any African American of his day in North Carolina. In 1778, Chavis enlisted in the 5th Regiment of Virginia, serving for three years with the patriots. Honorably discharged, he studied at what is now Washington & Lee University.

On May 30, 1803, Lunsford Lane was born into slavery in the household of Sherwood Haywood, a Raleigh banker.

The Haywoods acknowledged Lane's ambition and talent for business. As a boy he began to pursue entrepreneurial ventures in Raleigh. He developed a variety of enterprises that included selling commodities he kept in a rented warehouse and operating a successful tobacco business where he invented a unique pipe and popular tobacco blend.

On May 26, 1949, actress Pam Grier was born in Winston-Salem.

Grier’s father was an Air Force mechanic, keeping the family constantly on the move, so it was in Colorado that her acting career got its start. Spotted by an agent at the Colorado state preliminary to the Miss Universe pageant, Grier accepted the agent’s offer to come to Hollywood to try to make it in the film industry.

On May 15, 1918, Henry Beard Delany became the first black Episcopal bishop in North Carolina and only the second in the United States.

On May 11, 1970, Henry Marrow, a 23-year-old African American Vietnam veteran, was murdered in Oxford.  Marrow was approaching Robert Teel’s store to buy a Coca-Cola when he spoke to a young white woman. Teel, his son and his step-son interpreted the exchange as offensive, so they chased Marrow from the store parking lot, beat and fatally shot him.

On May 5, 1972, legendary bluesman Reverend Gary Davis died. Renowned as a finger-style ragtime guitar player, he influenced generations of players.

Davis got his start as a popular street musician in Durham in the 1930s, where he was known as “Blind Gary Davis.” Ordained as a minister of the Free Baptist Connection Church in Washington, North Carolina in 1913, he began to tour as a singing gospel preacher.

On March 24, 1862, African American educational leader George E. Davis was born in Wilmington. Davis was the primary organizer and fundraiser for the Rosenwald schools movement in North Carolina. 

After graduating from the forerunner of Johnson C. Smith University, Davis became that school’s first black professor.  He earned his doctorate over time while teaching science and sociology and was named dean of the faculty in 1905. He stepped down in 1921 to take on the task of implementing the Rosenwald program in North Carolina.

On March 21, 1949, the Freedom Riders surrendered at the Orange County Courthouse in Hillsborough and were sent to segregated chain gangs.