John Chavis, Charlottesville Daily Progress

The name John Chavis isn’t likely to spring to the lips of most people when discussing important black leaders in American history.

Someday it might.

Chavis was the first African-American to receive a college education in the United States. That alone should have gotten him into the history books, but his accomplishments during his life go far beyond that.

Chavis is believed to have been freeborn in 1763 in Granville County, N.C. This in itself was unusual considering most of his peers were born into bondage.

No records of Chavis’ early life are known to exist. The veil shrouding his background begins to lift slightly when he reaches his mid teens, thanks in large part to his patriotism.

When Chavis was 15, he had moved to Virginia and was living in Mecklenberg. By then the nation was embroiled in the War of Independence. Despite his youth, he enlisted in the 5th Virginia Regiment in December 1778.

Service to his country

It isn’t known what Chavis did or how much combat he saw. What is known is that he served honorably for three years. When he was discharged in 1783, his commander certified that he had “faithfully fulfilled his duties” and was entitled to all benefits due three-year soldiers.

Bits and pieces of information, such as a 1789 tax list of Mecklenburg County, tell us a little about Chavis’ circumstances that year. The only piece of property he owned at the time was a horse, and he was making a living tutoring the children of a white man named Robert Greenwood.

Chavis obviously had received schooling, and it could have come from Presbyterian ministers or missionaries. This conjecture is based on the fact that during his early years the Presbyterian faith was making a strong effort to bring Southern blacks, particularly those in Virginia, into its fold.

Call of the church

There’s no question that Chavis was a very religious person, because he answered the call to become a Presbyterian minister. But his academic record doesn’t begin to be established until the early 1790s, when he appears at the College of New Jersey, later to become Princeton University.

It was there that he began his formal preparation to become a minister. The Rev. John Blair suggested Chavis be accepted to the school and that the cost of his schooling be provided by the school’s Leslie Fund.

The president of the college, John Witherspoon, gave private lessons to students hoping to become ministers in the Presbyterian faith. Witherspoon died in 1795 and not long after, Chavis’ name appears on the rolls of Liberty Hall Academy, later to become Washington and Lee University in Lexington.

“The College of New Jersey was a Presbyterian school, and we have Presbyterian roots as well,” said Theodore C. DeLaney, associate professor of history at Washington and Lee and an authority on Chavis’ life.

“The name of this institution was changed to Washington Academy in the late 1790s after George Washington gives a gift of 100 shares of James River Company stock. Chavis was a student here when that happened.

“He completed his studies in 1799 and took the test for the Presbyterian ministry. He passed the test and was admitted to the ministry in 1800.”

The theological examination was much more than a test or two that could be completed during a single session.

Chavis began the testing phrase on June 11, 1800, and it didn’t end until late November, when he was granted a license to preach.

Chavis became a circuit-riding missionary with the mandate to convert whomever he could, regardless of color. In this capacity he earned the respect of many white families, including those who owned slaves.

When one considers the time, this is a remarkable accomplishment. One of the things that enabled God-fearing whites to condone slavery was the belief that blacks were somehow inferior to them.

But Chavis was a living example that that wasn’t true at all. Here was a black man conversant in Greek and Latin and educated at two of the finest institutions of learning in the land.

Perhaps white slaveholders were able to come to terms with this by considering Chavis an exception to the rule. Still, his obvious intelligence had to have cast doubt in a lot of slave owners’ minds.

“Chavis was an interesting African-American who seemed to be able to move freely between both the white and the black worlds,” DeLaney said. “He was not only a licensed Presbyterian minister, he also conducted a school in North Carolina for both whites and free blacks.”

Because Chavis never had a church of his own, he had to earn money in other ways. Sometime around 1809 he moved to Raleigh, N.C., and opened a school in his home.

The tuition Chavis charged reflects his awareness of the difference in the financial status of black and white students. Each quarter, white students paid $2.50 and black students paid $1.75.

Initially, Chavis taught black and white students together, but that proved to be too much for some whites to handle. After parents voiced their objections, the teacher began giving instructions to white students during the day and black students in the evening.

Chavis provided his students with a strong educational foundation, and could point with pride to many of their later accomplishments. For example, Willie P. Mangum went on to be a North Carolina Whig senator, Charles Manly became a North Carolina governor and Abram Rencher became the governor of New Mexico.

Chavis’ role as both a minister and educator came to an abrupt halt in 1831 as a result of the Nat Turner uprising in Southampton County. During a two-day rampage, Turner and about 75 fellow slaves killed 51 whites, some of whom were children.

One of the offshoots of the short-lived uprising was the enactment of laws intended to tighten control of blacks regardless of their status. Suddenly Chavis was no longer able to preach or teach.

With his means of livelihood taken away, Chavis had to depend on charity to support himself and his wife. Until his death in 1838 the Presbyterian church provided the couple with money it raised from parishioners who wanted to help.

Chavis’ accomplishments in life were such that he wouldn’t be forgotten completely. Nonetheless, as years went by, he faded further and further into obscurity.

This has begun to change.

“The Chavis connection is something that Washington and Lee had never emphasized in its history,” DeLaney said. “However, one of the things the university has done in the last few years is include Chavis in the canon of Washington and Lee history.

“Although we had the Chavis House on campus, where minority students meet and live, we really had not done anything any more sophisticated with regard to honoring his memory. Now, in the new commons which was completed last year is a boardroom dedicated to Chavis.

“It includes a bust of Chavis we commissioned and there’s also a glass panel on the way into the room that has a short biography on him etched into it.” (Another story on the bust and its artist appears at chavisbust.htm.)

From all accounts, Chavis was a deeply pious man and one who loved to learn and teach. One of the most powerful lessons he taught in life was by example.

During his lifetime Chavis stood as a living testament to what blacks could accomplish given the opportunity.