James/John C. Napier. Close-up portrait in a black-colored suit, with a black-colored tie,  and a white-colored shirt. Head slightly turned away from the camera.

Studio portrait of John C. Napier. Creation: 1863. Photographer: Gardner's Gallery. Collection: Cartes de visite. Photographs and Prints Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

John C. Napier

Transcript below

John C. Napier

Born free in 1845, Nashville, Tennessee. Attended the free Blacks School until its forced closure by whites in 1856. Moved to Ohio to continue schooling with a free Black teacher. In 1872, received a law degree from Howard University, and practiced in Nashville. Served on City Council from 1872 to 1886, became the first Black to preside over Nashville City Council. In 1904, founded One Cent, today Citizens Bank; helped organize the 1905 Negro streetcar strike and the Black Union Transportation Company's streetcar lines. Register of the United States Treasury from 1911 to 1913, presided over Nashville Negro Board of Trade, board member of Fisk and Howard Universities.

 

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Many thanks to the speaker Linden D Anderson from the Schomburg Center

The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries.