McLean, Charles A.

Charles A. McLean was born in Harnett County, North Carolina, c. 1909. He attended elementary school in Dunn and Hillside Park High School in Durham, graduating in June, 1927. He attended Winston-Salem Teachers College, qualifying for a North Carolina teacher's certificate at the age of nineteen. McLean subsequently taught school at the Bonnie Dome School in Cumberland County. In 1931 he entered West Virginia State College and earned a degree in business administration in 1935. After graduating, he worked for his family's business--the W.A. McLean & Son Monument Company. He later organized the Wholesale Baking Company in Winston-Salem and became a partner and manager. During WWII, McLean worked as a foreman at the Metro Decorating Company, which was involved in constructing military installations and housing projects. In 1942 he worked for the IRS as a deputy collector, and later was appointed Administrator for War Finance for the state of North Carolina. After the war McLean returned to Winston-Salem and organized a property management company. In 1950 he began a long-time association with the NAACP by accepting a position as director of Special Assignments for the voter registration program. In 1951 McLean became field director of the North Carolina Conference of Branches, consisting of 35 local branches. He served in this capacity until his retirement in 1978, by which time there were over one hundred local branches. McLean's work with the State Conference of Branches involved building up local NAACP branches, work for desegregation, and supporting voter education and voter registration campaigns aimed at increasing representation of African Americans in North Carolina.