Inspired by the 2010 "Spirit of Mecklenburg"—a bronze statue of Captain James Jack, "the South's Paul Revere," in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina—this history details the lives of 12 Charlotteans who made important contributions to the Queen City, from the early Colonial period to the 20th century. Subjects include Catawba Indian chief King Haigler, Founding Father Thomas Polk, freed slave Ishmael Titus, African American celebrity barber Thad Tate and North Carolina's first woman physician, Annie Alexander.