African American Album Volume 2

West Charlotte High School

This collection of photographs shows student life in West Charlotte High School from its days as a segregated institution to the 1990s.

United House of Prayer for All People

October 1977

Built behind the sanctuary on Beatties Ford Road, the pool was used for group baptisms.

October 2, 1983

House of Prayer church members collect water after it was blessed by Bishop McCollough.

October 27, 1990

Billy Hoover is the drum major of the McCollough Brass Band.

[No Date]

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. Three renovations and 50 years later, the Excelsior Club still continues to operate on Beatties Ford Rd.

Johnson C. Smith University

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s voice filled the gymnasium on the Smith campus. His address was the highlight of the university's 1967 centennial celebration.
In 1967, Johnson C. Smith University celebrated its 100-year anniversary. At the Grand Reunion, Dr. Melva Costen greets Matthew Whitehead. Both are Smith graduates.

Urban Renewal

Local governments must often make unpopular decisions about how to deal with areas of substandard housing and roads. In poor or run-down neighborhoods, it can be difficult to determine whether the cost of fixing up old buildings is worth the expense.

Date of Event:

Read more about Urban Renewal

River of Life - Beatties Ford Road

In the early 1960s, the Johnson family waits on Beatties Ford Rd. for the JCSU homecoming parade to pass through their neighborhood.
The Rev. I. Milledge offers an array of fruits and vegetables at his produce and flower stand.

Neighborhoods

Many of Charlotte's African-American families have lived in the Beatties Ford Road area for decades. Some of the neighborhoods off Beatties Ford Road include: Biddleville, Five Points, Dalebrook, Lincoln Heights, McCrorey Heights, Oaklawn Park, Oaklawn Terrace, Seversville, Smallwood, Taylor Avenue, University Park, Washington Heights, Wesley Heights.

These photographs from a Biddleville family give the flavor of neighborhood life:

Gethsemane AME Zion Church

October 19, 1993
Students and teachers work together at Gethsemane's education center. (Alita Sharp, Kim Little, Shakina Johnson and Adelaid Hunt)

December 26, 1975
Mayo Cunningham prepares a plate lunch at Gethsemane's Christmas dinner.

Friendship Baptist Church

Friendship Baptist Church, on S. Brevard St. in Second Ward, was demolished as part of urban renewal. In October 1963, the congregration left the original site and held worship services at Northwest Junior High School. They raised the funds for the new church through tithes and offerings.

Church members bought the 3.8 acres for the present site at 3301 Beatties Ford Rd.

Brooklyn

Second Ward lies within the city of Charlotte, NC, south of Trade Street and east of Tryon Street. Boundary Street and Little Sugar Creek formed its other boundaries. Beginning in the late nineteenth century, African Americans made it the largest of their enclaves within the center city and gave it the name Brookyn.

Explore Brooklyn of the 1950s:

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