John Chavis Becomes Licensed Preacher and Schoolteacher in the South

John Chavis, a free Black man who had studied at Princeton in the 1790s, was licensed as a Presbyterian minister around 1801 and became a respected teacher in North Carolina and Virginia. He educated both Black and white students, including the children of prominent white families, and was regarded as one of the best-educated men in the region. He is considered among the first Black Americans known to have attended an American college.