Learn Why Barbershops Were Once Nearly As Important As Black Churches

By Jon Strayhorn

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.