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.
Topics Related to Stories from North Carolina's Black History
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.
All this month we’re bringing you stories from North Carolina’s black history. Check back here each week day for a new tidbit from our state’s African American’s past.
(Image courtesy of Ricky Stillely Photography)
All this month we’re bringing you stories from North Carolina’s black history. Check back here each week day for a new tidbit from our state’s African American’s past.
All this month we’re bringing you stories from North Carolina’s black history. Check back here each week day for a new tidbit from our state’s African American’s past.
Often referred to as the oldest historically black institution of higher learning in the South, Shaw University was founded by Henry M. Tupper, a white minister and Union Army veteran from Massachusetts in 1865.
A prominent free black preacher and educator in and around the Raleigh area from 1810 onwards, John Chavis had students from many notable families in North Carolina, including future Governor Charles Manly and the sons of Chief Justice Leonard Henderson.
Born a slave in Virginia around 1820, Elizabeth Keckley came to North Carolina with her master’s son in 1835. Keckley purchased her freedom in 1855. In 1860, Keckley moved to Washington, D.C. where she eventually was hired by Mary Todd Lincoln in March 1861. In 1868, Keckley published her memoir, Behind the Scenes: Or 30 Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House.
All this month we’re bringing you stories from North Carolina’s black history. Check back here each week day for a new tidbit from our state’s African American’s past.
From January 15 to February 22, 1865, Union army and naval forces engaged in the successful effort to capture Fort Fisher and take Wilmington, the South’s last significant blockade running port. Several regiments of United States Colored Troops (USCT) took part, and fought with conspicuous gallantry.