John C. Dancy

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John C. Dancy
Dancy in 1908
Born(1857-05-08)May 8, 1857
Tarboro, North Carolina
DiedDecember 5, 1920(1920-12-05) (aged 63)
Washington, DC
Occupation(s)Politician, educator, journalist
Political partyRepublican
RelativesFranklin D. Dancy (brother)
Personal
ReligionAfrican Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

John Campbell Dancy (May 8, 1857 – December 5, 1920) was an American politician, journalist, and educator in North Carolina and Washington, D.C. For many years he was the editor of

Recorder of Deeds from 1901 to 1910. His political appointments came in part as a result of the influence of his ally, Booker T. Washington
.

Early life

John Campbell Dancy was born a slave in

John A. Hyman. Less than a year later he resigned to return to Tarbaro to become principal of a school there.[1]

Early career

Dancy in 1895

In 1877 he was secretary of the State convention of colored men, a part of the Colored Conventions Movement,[1] and was the chief secretary of the State Republican convention in 1880, 1884, 1886, 1888, and 1890.[3] In 1880 and 1882 he was elected recorder of deeds of Edgecombe County, and was chairman of the county Republican Committee for many years. In 1884, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, where he supported John A. Logan.[1] He was again a delegate at the 1888 Republican National Convention where he supported John Sherman and at the 1892 Republican National Convention. He was a prominent campaigner in all three elections.[3]

Journalism

He edited a newspaper, the North Carolina Sentinel, based in Tarboro for three years. He resigned that position at the request of AME Zion bishops to become editor and business manager of the church's paper, the Star of Zion[1] in 1885. He resigned that position at the General Conference of the AME Zion church in 1892, to be succeeded by George W. Clinton. Instead, that year Dancy took the position as editor of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Quarterly, which had been edited by Clinton.[3] At the Quarterly Review he was closely associated with Booker T. Washington, who subsidized the paper.[4]

Later career

Dancy in 1902

With the support of Booker T. Washington, he was appointed collector of customs at

Wilmington massacre of 1898, during which thousands of the city's African Americans were attacked, and Dancy was forced to flee the city.[7] Dancy then was appointed to the position of recorder of deeds from 1901 to 1910.[4] His home in Washington became a center of Southern black society in the nation's capital.[8]

Other activities

Dancy was a prominent layman in the A. M. E. Zion church and was a lay delegate to the general conferences of the church in 1880 and 1884. He was also a prominent

freemason.[1] He was a trustee of Livingstone College and served as chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Afro-American Press Association.[3]

Personal life and death

His first wife was Laura G. Coleman of

Allegheny City, Pennsylvania.[3] Dancy's son, John C. Dancy Jr. was executive director of the Detroit Urban League.[9][10] His surviving daughter was Lillian G. Reed, and his other son was Dr. Joseph Price Dancy.[10]

Dancy died on the morning of December 5, 1920, at his home on 2139 L Street NW in Washington, D.C. His funeral was on December 7, 1920, at Galbraith A. M. E. Zion church. The eulogy was read by his friend, Rev. William Harvey Goler and led by Bishop J. S. Caldwell. Honorary pallbearers were Robert Heberton Terrell, John E. Traylor, Whitefield McKinlay, S. M. Pierre, E. D. Williston, P. B. S. Pinchback, J. Finley Wilson, Simon Green Atkins, Emmett Jay Scott, D. C. Suggs, Thomas E. Jones, and Nathan Williams.[10] He was survived by two sisters, Ella and Martha.[11]

In 1889, Dancy's niece, Cottie S. Dancy, married Aaron McDuffie Moore, the first Black medical doctor of Durham, North Carolina.

References

  1. ^
    Men of Mark: Eminent, Progressive and Rising
    . GM Rewell & Company, 1887. p1101-1104
  2. ^ Justesen, Benjamin R. George Henry White: An Even Chance in the Race of Life. LSU Press, 2012. p64
  3. ^ a b c d e Hood, James Walker. One Hundred Years of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church: Or, The Centennial of African Methodism. No. 131. AME Zion Book Concern, 1895. p482-489
  4. ^ a b c Meier, August. Negro thought in America, 1880–1915: Racial ideologies in the age of Booker T. Washington. Vol. 118. University of Michigan Press, 1963. p234, 252
  5. Durden, Robert Franklin
    . The Dukes of Durham, 1865–1929. Duke University Press, 1975. 147
  6. ^ Alexander, Shawn Leigh. An Army of Lions: The Civil Rights Struggle Before the NAACP. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011, p83
  7. ^ Alexander, 2011. p87-88
  8. ^ Yellin, Eric S. Racism in the Nation's Service: Government Workers and the Color Line in Woodrow Wilson's America. UNC Press Books, 2013. p50
  9. ^ Woodford, Arthur M. This is Detroit, 1701–2001. Wayne State University Press, 2001. p175
  10. ^ a b c John C. Dancy Died at Washington Home, The New York Age (New York City) December 11, 1920, page 2. Retrieved February 2, 2017 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8810957//
  11. ^ John C. Dancy Dead, The Washington Post (Washington, DC) December 6, 1920, page 16. Retrieved February 7, 2017 at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/8812107/john_c_dancy_dead_the_washington_post/
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