African Americans in North Carolina

African Americans in North Carolina
Total population
	2,415,824 (2017)
Regions with significant populations
	Charlotte, Durham, Fayetteville, Greensboro, Raleigh
Languages
	Southern American English, African-American Vernacular English, Gullah, African languages
Religion
	Black Protestant
Related ethnic groups
	African Americans, Barbadian Americans, West Indian Americans, Barbadians

African-American North Carolinians or Black North Carolinians are residents of the state of North Carolina who are of African ancestry. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, African Americans were 22% of the state's population.^[3] African enslaved people were brought to North Carolina during the slave trade.^[4]

History

Slavery has been part of North Carolina's history since its colonization by white Europeans in the late 1600s and early 1700s. Many of the first black enslaved people in North Carolina were brought to the colony from the West Indies, but a significant number were brought from Africa. Records were not kept of the tribes and homelands of African enslaved people in North Carolina.^[5]

A significant number of free African Americans migrated from Virginia to North Carolina, making up most free families in the state. Many owned land, and communities formed around free Black people who would continuously migrate onto the frontier and purchase the more affordable land there. At least one member of most families tended to own land, causing closer relationships with whites.^[6]

Significant numbers of free African Americans in the state caused the North Carolina General Assembly to pass a law in 1723 mandating that freed slaves must leave the colony, and a law restricting manumission in 1741.^[6] A complaint in the 1723 Assembly mentioned:

"great Numbers of Free Negroes, Mulattoes, and other persons of mixt Blood, that have lately removed themselves into this Government, and that several of them have intermarried with the white Inhabitants of this Province..."

However, by 1790 free Black people represented 5% of free people in some counties in the state. Some of these families would alternatively be classed as white or "mulatto" by tax assessors. In some cases, settlers would attempt to illegally indenture them for longer than their term, or sell them into slavery. After the Free Negro Code, many married freed slaves.^[6]

African Americans in North Carolina suffered from racial segregation. Most white people in North Carolina sought to refine the Jim Crow system and retain systematic segregation.^[7] Some free people of color agitated for separate schools under Jim Crow, apart from freedmen, who unlike them, had not been free before the Civil war.^[6] They were granted separate schools under different names, such as "Croatan" schools for the Lumbee, or "Indian" schools for the "old-issue negroes" of Person County.^[6]

Gallery

List of historic communities

Western North Carolina:

People

John Chavis
Abraham Galloway
George Moses Horton, an enslaved poet, North Carolina's first known author of literature
Elizabeth Keckley
George White^[13]
Hiram R. Revels
J. Cole

References

^ "North Carolina". blackdemographics.com.
^ "Religious Landscape Study".
^ "North Carolina QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau". Quickfacts.census.gov. 2011. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2014.
^ "NCpedia | NCpedia".
^ "NCpedia | NCpedia".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Heinegg, Paul (2021). Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina from the Colonial Period to About 1820. Sixth Edition. Vol. I - Families Abel to Drew. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 1, 7–8, 10–18, 20, 24, 27–28. ISBN 9780806359298. Retrieved 9 January 2026.
^ "African Americans - Part 4: Segregation | NCpedia".
^ "History". Shiloh Community Association. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
^ "History". Shiloh Community Association. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
^ "More Than Biltmore | endeavors". endeavors.unc.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
^ "History of Cemetery". South Asheville Cemetery Association. Retrieved 2018-08-05.
^ "History". Traditional Voices Group. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
^ Black History Month – North Carolinians to Remember

External links

A brief history of slavery in North Carolina
Slavery
African Presence in North Carolina
African American History Across North Carolina
A History of African Americans in North Carolina
1898 and White Supremacy
"History of African Americans in North Carolina". University of North Carolina Press. 17 August 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
Sharpe, Cynthia (7 February 2022). "Beyond The Beach: African-American History in Coastal Carolina". Coastwatch. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
"Civil Rights Movement". North Carolina History Project. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
"Native American Tribes, Colonel History & the Wright Brothers". history.com. 9 November 2009. Retrieved 9 December 2023.

This article about African American topics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

This North Carolina–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

[1] "North Carolina". blackdemographics.com.

[2] "Religious Landscape Study".

[3] "North Carolina QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau". Quickfacts.census.gov. 2011. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved January 21, 2014.

[4] "NCpedia | NCpedia".

[5] "NCpedia | NCpedia".

[hein6v1-6] Heinegg, Paul (2021). Free African Americans of North Carolina, Virginia, and South Carolina from the Colonial Period to About 1820. Sixth Edition. Vol. I - Families Abel to Drew. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 1, 7–8, 10–18, 20, 24, 27–28. ISBN 9780806359298. Retrieved 9 January 2026.

[7] "African Americans - Part 4: Segregation | NCpedia".

[8] "History". Shiloh Community Association. Retrieved 2018-08-05.

[9] "History". Shiloh Community Association. Retrieved 2018-08-05.

[10] "More Than Biltmore | endeavors". endeavors.unc.edu. Retrieved 2018-08-05.

[11] "History of Cemetery". South Asheville Cemetery Association. Retrieved 2018-08-05.

[12] "History". Traditional Voices Group. Retrieved 2023-11-18.

[13] Black History Month – North Carolinians to Remember

[note_n11-14] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah Part of the National Council of Churches

[note_n0-15] Not in communion with the rest of the Catholic Church

[note_n6-16] Those are traditions and denominations that trace their history back to the Protestant Reformation or otherwise heavily borrow from the practices and beliefs of the Protestant Reformers.

[note_n3-17] This denomination is the result of a merger between Lutheran, German Reformed, Congregational and Restorationist churches.

[note_n1-18] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u ^v ^w ^x ^y ^z ^aa ^ab ^ac ^ad ^ae ^af ^ag ^ah ^ai ^aj ^ak Part of the National Association of Evangelicals

[note_n4-19] This refers to the denomination's heritage and not necessarily to the language in which the services are conducted in.

[note_n5-20] This is a reformed synod within the United Church of Christ that is distinct in heritage, doctrine and practice from the rest of the denomination.

[note_n2-21] Outside the Anglican Communion

[note_n8-22] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f This is more of a movement then an institutionalized denomination.

[note_n10-23] Denominations that don't fit in the subsets mentioned above.

[note_n7-24] Those are traditions and denominations that trace their origin back to the Great Awakenings and/or are joined together by a common belief that Christianity should be restored along the lines of what is known about the apostolic early church.

[note_n9-25] The Holiness movement is an interdenominational movement that spreads over multiple traditions (Methodist, Quakers, Anabaptist, Baptist, etc.). However, here are mentioned only those denominations that are part of Restorationism as well as the Holiness movement, but are not part of any other Protestant tradition.

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