Charlotte Hawkins Brown was born in Henderson, North Carolina, on June 11, 1883. She was an author, educator, and founder of the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina

Charlotte Hawkins Brown was born in Henderson, North Carolina, on June 11, 1883. She was an author, educator, and founder of the Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina.

In 1901 eighteen year old Hawkins accepted a teaching position and taught black children at Bethany Congregational Church in Sedalia, North Carolina. In 1902, Hawkins, with the assistance of her mentor Alice Freeman Palmer, established the Alice Freeman Palmer Institute, instructing Black children between the elementary and junior college level.

Charlotte Hawkins Brown continued her own formal education while teaching and she received several honorary degrees from Simmons College, Temple University and Wellesley College. As her dedication to her students and education became nationally recognized she traveled in circles that included Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, and the great educator Mary McLeod Bethune.

Besides her work as an educator Brown also became a talented essayist and short story writer. Throughout her adult life she was a dedicated anti-segregationist and an advocate for Black cultural pride and identity. Charlotte Hawkins Brown died in 1961. Soon afterwards, North Carolina designated the Alice Freeman Palmer Institute the first historical landmark of North Carolina for a Black person.