✊🏾 BHM 2026 Notables by QCT | Post #05

 

 

✊🏾 BHM 2026 Notables by QCT | Post #05
Building Legacy Through Education & Uplift 🏫📜🕊️

Meet two men who turned classrooms, Congress, and community institutions into engines of empowerment for generations to come:

• Henry Plummer Cheatham (1857–1935)
  • Born enslaved in Henderson (Vance County), NC; educated at Freedmen’s schools & Shaw University
  • U.S. Congressman for the 2nd District (1889–1893), known for advocating:
  ▪️ Federal aid to education
  ▪️ Pensions for Black Civil War veterans
  ▪️ National action against racial violence
  • After Congress, led the Colored Orphan Asylum at Oxford for decades, extending his legacy through care and institution-building

• Dr. George Edward Davis (c.1850–1909)
  • Born in Wilmington, NC; became first Black professor at Biddle Memorial Institute (now Johnson C. Smith University) in 1885
  • Taught natural sciences and mentored Charlotte’s emerging Black intellectual class
  • Invested in housing near the campus and helped shape Charlotte’s early Black neighborhoods 🏘️
  • A cornerstone figure in transforming Charlotte into a beacon of Black higher education

🎓 Walk in their footsteps on the
👉🏾 28^th Annual QCT Charlotte Pilgrimage Tour^sm 2026
🎟️ Tickets & info at: charlottepilgrimagetour.com

#BHM2026 #BlackCharlotte #HenryCheatham #GeorgeEdwardDavis #QCTHeritage #BlackEducators #BlackSecond #NCBlackHistory #CharlotteLegacy #InstitutionBuilders #BlackHigherEd #HiddenHistory #CharlotteTours #LegacyInAction

📚 Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_P._Cheatham
https://northcarolinahistory.org/encyclopedia/henry-plummer-cheatham-1857-1935/
https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/cheatham-henry-plummer
https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/20/henry-p-cheatham-1857-1935-g-94
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_E._Davis
https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2024/01/16/george-e-davis-1862-1959-l-103