Advanced Search
This is a special project of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in celebration of the Library's centennial year. It addresses a long-standing need to record and preserve the visual history of the African American Community.
One of the most important agencies for maintaining cohesion and rendering social welfare was the church. In slavery, the church played a vital role in attending to the spiritual and social needs of slaves as well as aided in the successful escape of slaves to freedom.
The Kirkpatrick family on the porch of their farmhouse, c.1910
From The Samuel Kirkpatrick Family by Addie Pettice and Josephine Wade
CHARLOTTE MECKLENBURG LIBRARY
This photograph of the Friday Evening Social Club was taken about 1907. The members were schoolteachers at the Myers Street School.
LAURA M. BOOTON
Car advertising an appearance by Bishop C. M. Grace at the United House of Prayer for all People.PLCMC.
Myers Street School was the oldest black school in Charlotte. It began in an old tobacco barn on 5th Street in 1882. The students and faculty moved into a new wood-frame building in 1887, located on land that had belonged to the Myers family. A new brick building followed in 1931.
From 1917 to 1932, Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald donated millions of dollars to build schools for black children throughout the rural South. He gave half the money needed and required that the black and white community work to raise the other half.
From left to right, seated, are: J. E. Grisby, Second Ward High; C. L. Blake, West Charlotte High; Mrs. Cordelia E. Stiles, supervisor; W. G. Byers, Fairview Elementary; Mrs. Gwendolyn Cunningham, Double Oaks Elementary; and C. E. Moreland, Northwest Junior High.
Alexander Street School was opened around 1918 to serve the children of the uptown neighborhood of First Ward. The school was closed in 1968 and converted into the Alexander Street Neighborhood Center, run by the City of Charlotte.
Biddleville School was one of Charlotte’s all-black schools. It served the children of the Beatties Ford Road/Johnson C. Smith University area. In 1964, James Swann was assigned to Biddleville School.
Billingsville School was built in 1927 and was named for Sam Billings, who donated the land where the school stands. The school was one of Mecklenburg County’s 26 Rosenwald schools, which were all-black schools built with the help of money donated by philanthropist Julius Rosenwald.
Double Oaks School was built in the early 1950s to serve Double Oaks and the surrounding communities. Because of the building’s unique design, it won an architectural award soon after it was completed. At its peak, Double Oaks had over 750 students.
Fairview School served elementary students from the communities surrounding the Greenville neighborhood. As part of the city’s integration plan, Fairview was abandoned around 1968 and eventually torn down.
Isabella Wyche School served the children of uptown’s Third Ward community. It was named for a former teacher. When the city and county schools consolidated in 1960, Isabella Wyche School was converted into administrative offices and eventually torn down.