History

Jane Berry Smith

benefactor

benefactor who renamed Biddle to Johnson C. Smith

In the record (8)

  1. 1869 · 1869-01-25

    The original Charlotte Observer newspaper was first issued on January 25, 1869 by a group of four Confederate veterans working as the printing firm Smith, Watson & Company.

    Charlotte ObserverMiners' & Farmers' Journal

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

  2. 1882 · 1882-06-17

    The earliest known issue of the Charlotte Messenger, Charlotte's first secular Black newspaper, is dated June 17, 1882; the paper was founded, published, and edited by William C. ('W.C.') Smith, who had earlier founded and edited the short-lived Fayetteville Educator beginning in 1874.

    Charlotte ObserverMiners' & Farmers' JournalCharlotte Messenger

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

  3. 1883 · 1883-02-03

    The February 3, 1883 issue of the Charlotte Messenger carried the masthead 'THE MESSENGER. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY —AT— CHARLOTTE, N.C. —BY— WILLIAM C. SMITH,' with corresponding editors George W. Clinton of Chester, S.C. and R.L. Thornton of Washington, D.C. listed alongside Smith.

    Charlotte MessengerKing GeorgeGeorge W. ClintonR.L. Thornton

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

  4. 1923

    Before Second Ward High School opened, Black students in Charlotte seeking a high-school education had to leave the city or attend the high-school-level program at Johnson C. Smith University.

    Johnson C. Smith UniversityHarding High SchoolSecond Ward High SchoolCentral High SchoolBiddle Memorial InstituteW.W. WardJohnson C. Smith

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

  5. 1923

    Following a major benefaction from Jane Berry Smith of Pittsburgh, who funded multiple campus buildings and an endowment in memory of her late husband Johnson C. Smith, Biddle University's trustees renamed the institution Johnson C. Smith University, with the new charter formally amended in 1923 — a milestone outside this era's range but a direct continuation of the freedmen's-education thread begun at Biddle in 1867.

    Johnson C. Smith UniversityBiddle Memorial InstituteMary Deborah Baird BiddleJohnson C. SmithHenry J. Biddle

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

  6. 1964

    Dorothy Counts went on to earn a psychology degree from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte in 1964, seven years after the harassment that forced her withdrawal from Harding High School.

    Unverified — sourced but not confirmed against a primary record.

    Johnson C. Smith UniversityHarding High School 1957 site (Dorothy Counts' walk)Harding High SchoolSecond Ward High SchoolCentral High SchoolBiddle Memorial InstituteDorothy CountsJohnson C. Smith

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

  7. 2008

    Robert K. Steel, a former Treasury undersecretary, was named Wachovia's permanent CEO in July 2008, succeeding interim chief Lanty Smith after Ken Thompson's ouster.

    Source · checked 2026-08-13

  8. 2008 · 2008-06-02

    On June 2, 2008, Wachovia's board of directors ousted CEO G. Kennedy Thompson amid mounting mortgage losses tied to the Golden West acquisition, replacing him on an interim basis with chairman Lanty Smith.

    Source · checked 2026-08-13