Early Black Educators

Early Black Educators. African-American Cultural Trail Greenville-Pitt County. One of Eastern North Carolina's most extraordinary friends in the cause of education in the first half of the 20th century was Charles Montgomery Eppes (1858-1942), supervising principal of Greenville's African American schools from 1903-1942. A follower of Booker T. Washington's (1856 - 1915) accommodationist approach to pedagogy and race relations, Eppes advocated hard work, racial self help, and public harmony with the white leaders of the day in the process. Eppes helped coordinate major improvements in African American education in Greenville and much of the state., By the time of his passing in 1942, Eppes had outlived and out-served, as a teacher-administrator, all his peers, black and white, establishing a state record, unbroken still, of 65 years of active service as a public school educator. , (captions) , Honor Society Inductees from C.M. Eppes High School Class of 1966. , H.B. Sugg. (1885-1980) Led his community in many bl-racial efforts. , Professor George Roscoe (known as G.R.) Whitfield. Founder of the first high school in Pitt County. , Original C.M. Eppes High School. , Charles Montgomery Eppes- first row center (1852-1942) One of Eastern NC's most extraordinary friends in the cause of education in the first half of the 20th century. , Images courtesy of Special Collections, East Carolina University