CityView Magazine

FEATURE Proud History D African-Americans have played a critical role in Fayetteville since the city���s earliest days By Diane Silcox-Jarrett uring Fayetteville���s 250 years, the (E.E. Smith), who strongly believed in the education of blacks, city has been the home or birthplace of numerous African-Americans who have contributed to the city and the world beyond. Their contributions span the fields of education, medicine and music to name a few; their stories are both remarkable and memorable. Henry Evans, for instance, arrived in Fayetteville in the 1790s. Originally, he had no intention of making this his final destination; he was on his way to Charleston, S.C. to continue his career as a cobbler and a preacher. A free black man, Evans felt a need to stay in Fayetteville and preach as a Methodist minister, though. He built the first Methodist Church in Fayetteville, called Evans Meeting House, a church where blacks and whites worshipped together. When Evans died in 1810, his funeral was attended by both blacks and whites and his church continued to be a place of worship for both races until rising tensions over slavery increasingly drove them apart. (The church, located in Downtown Fayetteville on North Cool Spring Street, is among the oldest in town and is known as Evans Metropolitan AME Zion Church today.) At the end of the 19th century, when Dr. Paul Melcher opened his medical practice on Bow Street and became one of the first practicing African-American physicians in Fayetteville, a prominent educator named Dr. Ezekiel Ezra Smith was made the principal and chief administrative officer of the State Colored Normal School, and he served in those capacities for fifty years. The school evolved into what is now Fayetteville State University. Smith was also appointed as regimental adjutant of the Third North Carolina Volunteer Infantry in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, was the Minister and Consul-General to Liberia, Africa and was editor of the Carolina Enterprise. Smith served as pastor of First Baptist Church for six years. Following a vision to open a large educational facility, he purchased 40 acres of land on Murchison Road, which would become the permanent home for the Normal School. Through gifts from Smith and his wife, Nannie, the campus would expand from its original 40 acres to 92 acres by time of her death in 1942. Smith was also known for being an entrepreneur and a businessman. In the early 1900s he owned several rental properties around Blount Street. ���He would rent to people with the understanding they had to keep the property up,��� said Dr. Bertha Miller, executive assistant to the chancellor of Fayetteville State University. Smith was one of the founders of the North Carolina Industrial Association, which held an annual fair where African-Americans could display their crafts and which offered industrial and educational resources. The fair began in 1879 and continued until 1930. According to MillCityViewNC.com | 41

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