Dr. Chavis Othow was a lover of reading, writing, history, education, marginalized populations, and justice. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and majored in Black studies and African, African American, and Caribbean literature. She expressed a desire to impart knowledge to all citizens of the world.

Born April 21, 1932, in Oxford, North Carolina, Dr. Othow was the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Sr; a Prince Hall mason and superintendent of African American child-care institutions, and Elisabeth R. Chavis, a writer and public school teacher for 65 years. She was the second of four children: her sisters, the late Mrs. June Chavis Davenport and Dr. LaRhoda Francine Chavis and her brother, The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr.
A municipal park in Raleigh, North Carolina, bears the name of her ancestor educator, John Chavis (1763-1838).
The beloved scholar, Dr. Othow, also received a bachelor’s degree from St. Augustine’s College, and she earned her master’s at North Carolina Central University.

She eventually became head of the English Department at St. Augustine’s College. She was also widely acclaimed and respected as a conscientious scholar dedicated to enhancing excellence in the literary and other arts. Dr Othow also taught at the following Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs): Howard University, Johnson C. Smith University, North Carolina Central University, Hampton University, and Jackson State University.

Dr. Othow pushed for the understanding of African American history, including educating her students and others about John Chavis, who fought in the Revolutionary War and became an educator who taught some of North Carolina’s most influential leaders.


Dr. Othow is survived by her daughter, Ajulonyodier Elisabeth Othow, her brother, Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., and her sisters, Dr. La Rhoda Francine Chavis, MD and Carol Faye Paton, and a host of other relatives.
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John Chavis who was one of the earliest black educators in the United States. Born in 1763 in North Carolina, John Chavis enlisted in the Revolutionary War in 1778 and served for three years in the 5th Virginia Regiment. In 1792, he began studying for the ministry at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) before moving to Virginia in 1795 to complete his studies at Washington Academy (now Washington and Lee University).

John Chavis had a profound impact upon the history of North Carolina, the life of African Americans, and the course of religion in America. Born in 1763, Chavis fought in the American Revolution and studied at Princeton, becoming the first black person ordained as a missionary minister in the Presbyterian church.

Many of those who learned from his teachings were white, and many of the students in his Latin grammar school were the sons of prominent North Carolinians. His lifelong relationship with his students created connections with some of the most powerful individuals of the nineteenth century, and his religious writings can still stir the soul more than 150 years after his death.

Chavis's story illustrates the power of faith, intelligence, and determination to overcome the precariousness of life for a free black man in this era. This account of Chavis's life, the result of research by one of his descendants, presents a thorough examination of his life, his work, and the world in which he lived.

Also included is the full text of John Chavis's Letter Upon the Doctrine of the Extent of the Atonement of Christ (1837), long considered lost by many of his biographers.