Famous Citizens:

Dale Earnhart
Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001) dropped out of school in ninth grade to pursue a career in auto racing. Known for his aggressive driving style, and dubbed "The Intimidator," Earnhardt dominated the sport through the 1980's and early 1990's. In addition to his seven Winston Cups, he won three IROC championships, was twice named American Driver of the Year, and five times named the National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year. Dale Earnhardt was killed in the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 on February 18, 200l, at the age of 49.

 

 

Andrew Johnson
Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1808, Andrew Johnson grew up uneducated and in poverty. At the age of 13 he was apprenticed to a tailor. Two years later, Johnson ran away from home and eventually opened a tailor shop in Greeneville, Tennessee. When he was 18, he married Eliza MCCardle. She was a devoted and intelligent woman who taught her husband how to read and write.
Johnson became mayor of Greenville at the age of 22, served in the Tennessee assembly for six years, was a congressman from 1843 – 1853 and became the governor of Tennessee in 1853. As a politician, he was an adept speaker, promoting the needs of the common man and criticizing the aristocracy. He supported the Homestead Act, which made large tracts of land available to the poor.
Although he was a Southerner, Johnson opposed secession and remained in the Senate even when Tennessee left the Union. This made him a hero in the North and a traitor in the eyes of most Southerners. In 1864 the Republicans Party nominated Johnson, a Southerner and a Democrat, for Vice President. Six weeks after the inauguration, Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson became the seventeenth president of the United States.
After Lincoln’s death, President Johnson continued to reconcile and reconstruct the former Confederate States. He pardoned all rebels who demonstrated loyalty to the Union, but required leaders and men of wealth to obtain special Presidential pardons. His policies angered Congress, which was controlled by radical Republicans who wanted to treat the South like a conquered country.
In March 1867, Congress implemented its own plan of Reconstruction and placed southern states under military rule. Laws placing restrictions upon the President were passed. When Johnson allegedly violated one of these, the Tenure of Office Act, by dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. The House impeached him. He was tried by the Senate in the spring of 1868 and acquitted by one vote.
Johnson was not renominated in 1868. Seven years later, the people of Tennessee voted Johnson back into the Senate. He was the first ex-president to become a senator. He died a few months later on July 31, 1875.

 

 

Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan may have been born in Brooklyn, but the Jordan family moved to North Carolina when Michael Jordan was very small and he grew up in Wilmington. He played at the University of North Carolina and was twice College Player of the Year.

After being picked by the Chicago Bulls in the 1984 NBA Draft, Jordan was named NBA Rookie of the Year in his first season. He broke many of the league records in scoring and steals, and in the meantime, added two Olympic Gold Medals from the 1984 and 1992 Games. After his retirement in 1998, he became part owner of the Washington Wizards basketball team. In 2001, he resigned his position as head of basketball operations in order to become an active player again.

 

 

James Polk
James Polk, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in 1795. Polk graduated with honors in 1818 from the University of North Carolina. As a young lawyer, he served in the Tennessee legislature and was elected to seven terms in Congress. He became Speaker of the House at the age of 40 and was elected governor of Tennessee four years later.
At the Democratic Convention in 1844, supporters of Marin Van Buren counted on Polk as the vice-presidential candidate. But Van Buren lost the support of the South when he opposed the annexation of Texas. Polk quickly became the Party’s choice for president and he won the election against Republican Henry Clay, becoming the eleventh president of the United States in 1845.
After a series of disputes over boundaries in the Southwest, President Polk declared war against Mexico in 1846. As a result, a vast area of land was added to the United States. But despite his success, the acquisition of this land started a bitter quarrel between the North and the South over the expansion of slavery.
Polk served only one term as president and left the White House in March of 1849. He died in Nashville, Tenn., on June 15, 1849, at the age of 53.

 

 

Hiram Rhoades Revels
Hiram Revels began his life in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1822. Born a free man of African American and Indian descent, he became the first African American member of Congress.
Revels studied at the Quaker school in Liberty, Indiana and attended Knox College in Ohio. He became an ordained minister of the African Methodist Church and traveled extensively to African American congregations in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and Kansas. Revels settled in Baltimore in 1845 where he became principal of a school for African Americans as well as pastor of a local church.
During the Civil War, Revels assisted in organizing black volunteers for service in the Union Army and then joined federal forces himself. He was stationed in Mississippi as chaplain to a black regiment. After the war, Revels was appointed alderman by the military governor and was later elected to the state senate. His goal as senator was to restore political rights to former confederates. In 1870, he became the first African American elected to the United States Senate. Senator Revels supported desegregation in education and on the railroads. After his term in the Senate ended, Revels became president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College in Mississippi.