Minneapolis Street To Be Renamed For City's 1st Black Fire Captain, John Cheatham
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minneapolis is honoring the man believed to be the city's first Black fire captain, as the Minneapolis City Council voted to rename a road in south Minneapolis after him.
John Cheatham was born into slavery in Missouri and moved with his family to Minnesota after the Emancipation Proclamation. He became a fire captain with Minneapolis in 1899 and died in 1918. Records from that far back aren't airtight, but historians generally believe he was the first Black person to hold that position in the city.
Following the city council's vote Thursday, what once went by the name Dight Avenue will now be made Cheatham Avenue.
City Council member Andrew Johnson, who represents Ward 12, says Charles Dight does not deserve to have a street named after him.
"A pretty bad person, somebody named Charles Dight, who led the eugenics movement in Minnesota that resulted in the forced sterilization of hundreds of Minnesotans," Johnson said.
According to the African American Registry, Cheatham and his wife lived on the 3000 block of 20th Avenue, and had four children.
The registry reported that there was some resistance to Cheatham's position:
Their appointment met with resistance from some local residents who circulated a petition demanding that the men be replaced by white firefighters on "general principle." That was "strenuously resisted" by another group of residents who circulated a petition in support of the firefighters.
Cheatham's response to the situation was that all he wanted was "a chance to educate my children and get them started right." He described the move to replace him as "drawing the color line and drawing it stiff."
The formal change to Cheatham Avenue will happen in the coming weeks with a renaming ceremony in the works.