Franklin D. Dancy

Franklin D. Dancy was a Reconstruction era blacksmith, mayor and politician who served in the North Carolina Senate.

Biography

Dancy was born enslaved and was owned by an Edgecombe County planter. His brother was John C. Dancy a politician, journalist and educator.
He served as the commissioner of Tarboro for two years during the Reconstruction era and then two years as the county commissioner for Edgecombe County.
In 1879 he was elected to serve in the North Carolina Senate and was elected as the mayor of Tarboro in 1882, being the first black mayor of that town.
Dancy was the chairman for the Republican district executive committee from 1880 until 1882, and in 1896 he was elected as a justice of the peace.
Both Dancy and his brother John are mentioned in the inscription on the historical marker at the St. Paul A.M.E. Zion Church in Tarboro.
Dancy died in Tarboro on October 16, 1907.