John Cheatham (18551918) was an American

firefighter A firefighter (or fire fighter or fireman) is a first responder trained in specific emergency response such as firefighting, primarily to control and extinguish fires and respond to emergencies such as hazardous material incidents, medical in ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. Born as an enslaved person in

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Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, Cheatham was freed at the age of eight by the

Emancipation Proclamation The Emancipation Proclamation, officially Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Proclamation had the eff ...

, and then moved to Minneapolis,

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, with his family shortly thereafter. In 1883, at the age of 33, Cheatham was appointed as one of the first

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

firefighters in Minneapolis. He held several leadership positions during his fire department career. In 2022, the City of Minneapolis re-designated a street in the Longfellow community as Cheatham Avenue to honor his legacy of racial integration within the city’s fire department.

Early life

John W. Cheatham was born in 1855 to an enslaved family in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

. His family was freed by the

of 1862. Shortly thereafter, at the age of eight, his family moved from

, Missouri, to Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Cheathams were among the first Black families to reside in Minneapolis.

Career

Cheatham worked as a laborer. He held jobs as a church sexton and

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., a locom ...

. In 1888, at the age of 33, Cheatham was appointed to the Minneapolis Fire Department by a White fire chief. He was either the first, or one of the first, Black firefighters in the city. Cheatham's first job with the fire department was as a pipeman. He was promoted to a driver after three years with the department, and after about five years he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He then obtained the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 1899, but was demoted back to pipeman a year later for refusing to comply with an order from a White firefighter who held the same rank as him. Cheatham worked at several fire stations in Minneapolis in the first part of his career. Hiawatha Avenue just north of 46th St looking north

Hiawatha Avenue just north of 46th St looking north

In 1907, Cheatham and two other Black firefighters, Lafayette Mason and Frank Harris, were assigned to be in charge of Fire Station 24 at Hiawatha Avenue and 45th Street, a racially segregated facility that officials were transitioning to an all-Black firehouse. The station was in middle of a redlined neighborhood that was predominantly White, but it was also adjacent to a railroad yard where many Black labors worked. White firefighters at Fire Station 24, and some nearby residents, initially objected to Black fire fighters being assigned to the station. Cheatham and the other Black firefighters resisted being replaced by White firefighters at Fire Station 24. Cheatham said about the situation that he was "drawing the color line and drawing it stiff”. After debate by Minneapolis city councilors and support via a petition from White women who lived in the area, the fire station continued with the assignment of Black firefighters. Cheatham worked at the station until his retirement in 1911, after 23 years with the fire department. The community thought highly of Cheatham during his fire department tenure. His firefighting received praise in the ''

Minneapolis Journal ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...

'' newspaper at the time.

Personal life

Cheatham was married to Susie Cheatham. They owned a home at 3020 20th Avenue in Minneapolis. John and Susie had four children, Ethel, Bertha, Gilbert, and Wesley. Susie Cheatham died in 1906 from typhoid at the age of 46. John Cheatham died on August 15, 1918, at the age of 63, from chronic

endocarditis Endocarditis is an inflammation of the inner layer of the heart, the endocardium. It usually involves the heart valves. Other structures that may be involved include the interventricular septum, the chordae tendineae, the mural endocardium, o ...

. Cheatham was buried at the Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery in Minneapolis alongside other family members.

Legacy

Racial integration

Cheatham and several other Blacks assigned to Fire Station 24 were the first to racially integrate the Minneapolis Fire Department. From when it opened in 1907 to when it closed in 1941, dozens of Black firefighters served at the station. After its closure, there were no Blacks in the city's fire department for thirty years. The city's fire department was not racially integrated again until 1972 after being ordered to do so by federal judge Earl Larson. The city sold Fire Station 24 after its closure and it was used by a variety of private industrial businesses. In 2021, several organizations and activists sought historic designation status for the station building.

Cheatham Avenue

In the aftermath of

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

following

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a white police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd had used a counterfeit tw ...

's murder in 2020, honoring Cheatham's legacy was part of a wave of statue removals and official re-designations. In 2021, a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to an officia ...

drive led by disability activist Noah McCourt requested that the City of Minneapolis rename Dight Avenue, a street in the Longfellow community that had been named decades earlier for Charles Fremont Dight for his efforts to promote

food safety Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, food processing, preparation, and food storage, storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a simi ...

, but who also advocated for

eugenics Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fer ...

. The petition obtained 30,000 signatures, according to activists. After consulting with residents on Dight Avenue and offering several options, city officials decided to honor Cheatham's legacy by renaming Dight Avenue after him, with the re-designation taking place on March 17, 2022. Cheatham Avenue is one of a few named streets in Minneapolis where most streets are numbered. The street runs for 10 blocks on the city's southside, running parallel to Hiawatha Avenue.

References

External links

* Hennepin County Library
Racial Segregation at Fire Station 24 (1907-1941)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheatham, John 1855 births 1918 deaths African-American activists 19th-century American slaves 19th-century United States government officials People from Minneapolis People from St. Louis 20th-century African-American people 19th-century American firefighters People enslaved in Missouri 20th-century American firefighters