Learn Why Barbershops Were Once Nearly As Important As Black Churches

Black barbers were once important community leaders. The Levine of the Museum South features Charlotte’s Thad Tate in it’s Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers exhibit. Tate was a founder of Grace A.M.E. Zion Church in Charlotte. He helped to start the Brevard Street Library which later became a part of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library System. Tate co-founded of a branch of the YMCA for black members.

Historian Dr. Douglas Bristol examines these important men in the book, “Knights of the Razor: Black Barbers in Slavery and Freedom” (Johns Hopkins University Press). He will discuss his new book at the Levine of the Museum of the New South on April 15, 3 p.m.