Between a combination of land-grants and private donations dozens of schools, now called Historically Black Colleges and Universities, HBCUs for short, were founded.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed to ensure the equal rights to freed person, but states, municipalities, and domestic terror organizations undermined it’s power.
Blacks were not allowed to attend predominately white colleges. In North Carolina, there are 10 such institutions. Charlotte North Carolina is home to one such HBCU, Johnson C. Smith University.
Founded in 1867 as the Biddle Institute, now Johnson C. Smith University, quickly grew into the corner-stone of the community it inhabited. Lending it’s name to the neighborhood. For the next 60 years, the college evolved from an institute to a university, and its campus and student body grew exponentially.
Biddle University soon became Johnson C. Smith University after a generous donation for new buildings from Jane M. Smith, the widow of Johnson Crayne Smith.
The Duke Endowment is a fund that James B. Duke started in 1924 with 40 million dollars and left an additional 67 million after his death. Today, there are only 4 universities that are currently recipients: Duke University, Davidson College, Furman University, and JCSU.
A draw to the community was the Excelsior Club. While Charlotte was host to multiple country clubs, back in 1944 Jim Crow ruled the south.
This gave Jimmie McKee started the club for black patrons. The Excelsior Club soon a the spot to hold banquets, enjoy entertainers, and basically enjoy each other’s company without being relegated to a sub-par venue simple because of the color of their skin.
Notable visitors to the club included greats like Nat “King” Cole, Louis Armstrong, James Brown, and Sam Cooke.
Martin Luther King paid multiple visits to Charlotte and a trip to Biddleville by way of Johnson C. Smith University in the 1960s for speeches.
Opening in 1937, a theater opened up on 333 Beatties Ford road. The Grand Theater. This theater was one of the only theaters in Charlotte where African American’s were not forced to sit on the balcony.
The theater remained open for 30 years, but it closed in 1967. This was in part due to the opening of multiplexes and large auditorium movie theaters. The structure still exist on the corner of Mill and Beatties Ford Rd.
Hawkins escorted a young Dorothy Counts to a non-integrated school. With little protection from the city and police, while surrounded by a hoard of angry white citizens the two pressed. Actions like the school escorts and the support of Alexander helped desegregate Mecklenburg schools and adopt a plan to bus students across the county to integrate schools.
In an attempt to quell Charlotte’s Civil Rights movement, 4 bombs went off at the homes of Fred and Reginald on November 22, 1965. No one was ever arrested for the bombing. Despite this attack both men, were emboldened and continued their work in the community.
This lasted for some time until the early 2000s when a push from the outlaying communities around Charlotte worked to reduce busing. This culminated in another court case, Belk v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education. The decision repealed Swann and asserted that the schools had become desegregated and busing and other desegregation remedies had become redundant
Some time after the civil rights era the community became neglected by the city and it’s leaders. This lack of attention led to the area of Biddleville and Beatties Ford Rd as a whole to gain a bad reputation among Charlotte residents and kept businesses from investing in the area. Opportunities shrunk and people began to leave. But as the 20th century came to a close, there was a renewed interest in inner city living.
This pushed the residents into action in an effort to preserve history and continue telling their story. Organizations like the Johnson C. Smith’s Northwest Corridor Community Development Corporation to start.
With the renewed interest in Biddleville, the desire to preserve its history and identity is stronger than ever. Members of the community are taking advantage of the situation. Across the area there is a push to increase the affordability for long-time residents and spur investment from people of color.
