Black History Figures

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Dorothy Counts Scoggins was the first black to integrate the public schools of Charlotte.
Katie Dorsett is the first black woman to be elected to the Greensboro City Council and the first black woman to hold a state cabinet post in North Carolina.
Dr. Edward Fort, former chancellor of A&T State University is the first African American to serve on the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) Advisory Board.
Reginald A. Hawkins of Charlotte was the first black person in the 20th century to seek state–wide election.
Howard Lee was the first black person to hold a cabinet position in North Carolina when Governor James Hunt appointed him Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Community Development in 1977.
Annie Wealthy Holland of Gates County founded the North Carolina Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers, the first such organization for blacks in the state.
Attorney Richard C. Erwin of Forsyth County was the first black appellate judge in North Carolina.
Charlotte Hawkins Brown founded the Palmer Memorial Institute, a black prep school in Sedalia, North Carolina.
James E. Harris founded the late 19th century African American community of Oberlin, located in northwest Raleigh.
Annie Brown Kennedy of Forsyth County is the first African American female to serve in the North Carolina House of Representatives.
In 1992, Eva Clayton became the first woman in North Carolina history elected to Congress.
Milton Fitch, Jr. is the first black in North Carolina to preside over the NC House of Representatives and the first black to be elected House Majority Leader.
George Henry White was the last former slave to serve in Congress. During his tenure, he secured the passage of legislation authorizing the establishment of four normal schools for training black teachers.
Charles Clinton Spaulding was the first agent and manager of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company and became president in 1923.
In 1951, Floyd B. McKissick became the first black man to attend the University of North Carolina Law School. In 1972, he launched Soul City, the first new town sponsored primarily by black enterprise.
Elizabeth Duncan Koontz of Salisbury was the first black president of the National Teachers Association.
Representative Mary McAllister made local political history in 1980 when she became the first black woman elected to the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners.
On January 7, 1985, Aaron Johnson became the first black Secretary of North Carolina’s Department of Corrections.
Dr. James Shober, in 1878, became the first black with a medical license to practice medicine in North Carolina.
Reverend Henry Evans is credited with building the first church, black or white, in Fayetteville in 1776.
Hiram Revels, born in 1822 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was the first black ever elected to the United States Senate.
John H. Baker, Jr. is the first black sheriff elected in the State of North Carolina.

Sources:

African Americans In Winston Salem/Forsyth County RNC 975.667 D

The Heritage of Blacks in North Carolina RGEN 929.3756 H

A History of African Americans in North Carolina RNC 975.6 C

Dictionary of North Carolina Biography RNC 920.0756 D

Paths Toward Freedom: A Biographical History of Blacks and Indians in North Carolina RNC 920.0756 P

http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/nc/bio/afro/afro_nc.htm

http://docsouth.unc.edu/highlights/roundup.html

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