These are the 5 places in Charlotte to explore and connect with African American history
Black History Month is an opportunity to honor the triumphs and tribulations of African Americans throughout U.S. history.
There are a few places where you can learn about the history of Black people in Charlotte, from the antebellum years where African Americans were kept as slaves before the Civil War, to demonstrations led by members of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Though some of the notable landmarks that reflect the city’s Black heritage have been erased, including the Brooklyn neighborhood, once a vibrant Black community in downtown Charlotte that was demolished in the 1960s for an urban renewal project, local museums have worked to keep those memories alive.
Here are some places you can visit to learn about Black history in Charlotte:
Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
Named for Charlotte’s first Black mayor, the Gantt Center has been a premier destination for African American art, history and culture for nearly half a century. The center hosts both temporary and permanent exhibits featuring photography, paintings and other visual projects created by Black artists from all over the country, and programs where guests can learn about Black cinema and music.
Levine Museum of the New South
The Levine Museum of the New South offers award-winning exhibits, like “Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers” and “Brooklyn: Once a City Within a City,” that explore Charlotte’s post-Civil War history. The museum’s new free app, KnowCLT, allows people to delve into the history of Charlotte’s Brooklyn neighborhood, once the largest Black community in the Carolinas, through narration, photos and poetry from former residents.
Johnson C. Smith University
Founded in 1867 and located just outside of downtown Charlotte, Johnson C. Smith University is one of the oldest historically Black higher education institutions in the nation. Biddle Memorial Hall, built in 1883, once included classroom space, a theater and the first library on campus. The Victorian-style building, which now serves as the main administrative office, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Other historic buildings on campus include the Carnegie Building and Smith Memorial Church.
The Charlotte Museum of History
The Charlotte Museum of History sits on an eight-acre site home to the oldest surviving house in Mecklenburg County, the Hezekiah Alexander Rock House. The Alexander family, who migrated to the Carolinas from Pennsylvania in 1752, lived there with at least 17 slaves who helped build the house and worked on the farm. Other exhibits at the museum include one on the Siloam School, a K-7 school built for African Americans in 1920, and another on the growth of development of Charlotte neighborhoods like Brooklyn, Biddleville and Plaza Midwood.
First United Presbyterian Church
First United Presbyterian Church, one of Charlotte’s oldest Gothic Revival churches, was constructed by ex-slaves who wanted their own place to worship, after sitting in the balconies of white churches for years. The sanctuary, which opened in 1896, also served as a resting place for protesters in the Civil Rights Movement and Freedom Ride activists in the 1960s, according to historian Tom Hanchett.
This story was originally published February 1, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
