John Campbell Dancy (May 8, 1857 – December 5, 1920) was a politician, journalist, and educator in North Carolina and Washington, D.C. For many years he was the editor of African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Zion church newspapers Star of Zion and then Zion Quarterly. In 1897 he was appointed collector of customs at Wilmington, North Carolina, but was chased out of town in the Wilmington insurrection of 1898, in part for his activity in the National Afro-American Council which he helped found that year and of which he was an officer. He then moved to Washington, D.C., where he served as Recorder of Deeds from 1901 to 1910. His political appointments came in part as a result of the influence of his friend, Booker T. Washington. Early life John Campbell Dancy was born a slave in Tarboro, North Carolina, on May 8, 1857. His father was also named John Campbell Dancy, but he was not called junior, although his son would be. He began attending school after the American Civil War (1861–1865). In 1873 he began working as an office boy at the Tarboro Southerner, and within a few months was working as a typographer. However, he faced discrimination on account of his race and soon left the position to enroll in Howard University in Washington, D.C. He soon left the school to return home to take care of his family when his father died. Back in North Carolina he briefly taught school, but then was appointed to a position in the United States Treasury Department and returned to the capital, through the influence of John A. Hyman. Less than a year later he resigned to return to Tarbaro to become principal of a school there. Early career In 1877 he was secretary of the State convention of colored men, a part of the Colored Conventions Movement, and was the chief secretary of the State Republican convention in 1880, 1884, 1886, 1888, and 1890. In 1880 and 1882 he was elected recorder of deeds of Edgecombe County, and was chairman of the county Republican Committee for many years. In 1884, he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, where he supported John A. Logan. He was again a delegate at the 1888 Republican National Convention where he supported John Sherman and at the 1892 Republican National Convention. He was a prominent campaigner in all three elections. Journalism He edited