Brice, John Mack
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Brice, John Mack
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John Mack Brice worked at Davidson College for thirty-five years as a paid employee during the Jim Crow era and the Civil Rights Movement, from 1933 until his retirement in 1968.
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John Mack Brice’s employment at Davidson College spanned the Jim Crow and post-desegregation eras. He was born on June 6, 1891, in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, as one of the many children of Turner and Hannah Brice.
Davidson College hired Brice as a janitor in 1933. He oversaw Georgia, East, Watts, and Chambers dormitories. He was praised in the student newspaper for nine years of perfect attendance while managing Georgia. He later worked in the basement of the Chambers Building as a mailman and a supervisor of the mimeograph, an early copying machine. He performed the part of an enslaved person manumitted by Maxwell Chambers in the Davidson Centennial Play. The college honored his retirement in 1968, where President David Martin presented him with a wristwatch and a Davidson College chair, recognizing his service to the college and the Cornelius and Davidson communities.
Outside the college, Brice was active in his church and had a long marriage. He married Susan Johnson on February 6, 1910, and remained with her until her death in 1971. Both were active members of Torrence Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church, where Brice served as a trustee, class Leader, steward, Senior Choir member, and church custodian. The couple celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary as the longest-married members of the congregation. They had multiple children, including Ozon, Hubert, Harry, Theolia Davis, Bernice Stinson, and Ethel Mae Kane, who survived him at his death in 1973. Some of his children found employment at the college. He is buried at Torrence Chapel AME Zion Cemetery in Cornelius, North Carolina.
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June 6, 1891
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December 27, 1973
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Martin, David Grier
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“John Brice,” North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Index, 1829-2015, Ancestry.com
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Death Certificate of John Mack Brice,” North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976, Ancestry.com
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“Episode VIII: Maxwell Chambers—1854” Play, Centennial Pageant and Masque, Davidsoniana Files, Archives and Special Collections, Davidson College, Davidson, NC.
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Torrence Chapel A.M.E Zion Church. One Hundred First Anniversary. Cornelius, NC,
1869-1870.
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“Tribute to a Janitor,” The Davidsonian, November 4, 1955, 4.
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“Chamber’s Cellar Busy,” The Davidsonian, November 20, 1964, 4.
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“John Brice Retires; Served From 1933,” The Davidsonian, February 2, 1968, 6.
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“Obituary,” The Charlotte Observer, December 29, 1973, 20.
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