That would be the pin that marks the northeast corner of Vick Cemetery.
In the middle of the parking lot. Which means everything to the left sits on top of Odd Fellows Cemetery. I once described this encroachment as a “sliver,” but another time as “sprawl.” It’s definitely more the latter.
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2026.
For $2800, you can purchase from AbeBooks this copy of Rev. E.K. Love’s History of the First African Baptist Church, From Its Organization, January 20th, 1788, to July 1st, 1888.
The description: “8¼” x 6″. Green cloth over boards, title gilt. Pp. [5], [A]-E, [6], iv-v, [blank page], 360. Good: Ex-library with remnants of call number to spine, bookplate, due cards and embossed stamp on title page; moderately shaken, boards moderately worn with losses at spine tips, ffep heavily notated. This is another copy of Love’s History with several outstanding associations. A partially obscured inscription on the front pastedown shows that this particular copy was presented by R.R. Wright to D.C. Suggs. Richard Robert Wright, Sr., who wrote part of the book’s introduction, was born into slavery in Georgia in 1855 and was valedictorian of the first graduating class of Atlanta University, now known as the HBCU Clark Atlanta. He became an educator and newspaper editor who went on to serve as the first president of the Georgia Industrial College for Colored Youths (GICCY), the first public institution of higher learning for African Americans in the state. Under Wright’s leadership, GICCY hosted renowned lecturers including Booker T. Washington, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Mary Church Terrell. Wright later founded the first Black-owned bank in Philadelphia and co-founded the first organization of Black-owned banks in the country. The recipient of the book, Dr. Daniel Cato Suggs, was born in Wilson, North Carolina in 1865. He was a wealthy Black businessman, active in real estate, and a teacher in the public school systems of North Carolina. He served as a professor at GICCY before being elected president in 1917 of Livingston College, a private, HBCU in Salisbury, North Carolina, noted for its strong affiliation with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. This volume also contains a bookplate from Bennett College in Greensboro. Founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers, Bennett is now a private HBCU liberal arts college for women. There is yet another interesting facet to this copy: the front free endpaper has two pages of handwritten notes regarding a speech given by David B. Hill in Savannah in 1892 as he was campaigning to be the Democratic candidate for United States President. We found the entirety of the speech’s text in a newspaper account online and note the oddity of the possibility of a Southern African American attending a Democratic candidate’ speech at that time. OCLC shows six holdings of the physical book over four entries. A unique copy, with wonderful associations, of Love’s important history of the First African Baptist Church.”
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In the 1930 census of Upper Town Creek township, Edgecombe County, N.C.: George Braswell, 41; wife Lizzie, 35; and children Cornelius, 15, James, 13, Eloise, 10, Arthur, 8, Rena, 5, Ollin, 3, and Walter, 1.
In 1941, Cornelius Braswell registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 26 May 1914 in Wayne County, N.C.; lived on Route 3, Wilson; his contact was mother Lizzie Braswell; and he was a “prisoner until Feb. 20, 1941” at Prison Camp 406, Wilson.
Image courtesy of Veterans of World War II Wilson County, spiral-bound volume, Wilson County Public Library.
In Chapter IX, “The Negro Bank and the Moral Uplift,” of The Story of the Negro: the Rise of the Race from Slavery, volume II, Booker T. Washington mentions Daniel C. Suggs:
Who bought all these Samuel H. Vick-related manuscripts from Swann Auction Galleries? Where is this material now?
The earliest black churches in Wilson were Baptist, but African Methodist Episcopal Zion missionaries quickly established a foothold in the county. Saint John A.M.E. Zion is one of the oldest black churches of any denomination in Wilson County, and the first generation of college graduates emerged from its attendant private academy. The older African Methodist Episcopal denomination did not take root as quickly or as widely in North Carolina, but at least two churches were founded in Wilson County.
As far as I know, Evansdale mystery aside, no black United Methodist congregations were ever established in Wilson County.
African Methodist Episcopal Zion churches
Founded in 1868. Present site at Pender Street purchased in 1880. Wooden church replaced by current handsome brick structure in 1914. Associated with several high-profile pastors in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including Rev. Joseph C. Price, Rev. Owen L.W. Smith, and Rev. R.A.G. Foster.
Second oldest active African Methodist Episcopal Zion church in Wilson. First sanctuary built on land purchased in 1909 on Banks Street from Rev. Smith, former consul to Liberia and A.M.E.Z. presiding elder.
In 1903, Orren and Hancey Best sold trustees a lot in Grabneck community for construction of Saint Stephen’s. Also known as South Wilson Mission. Per the 1923 report of the Wilson District of the Cape Fear Annual Conference, a 22 foot by 32 foot church was built in 1922. Church is defunct, and precise location is not clear.
Founded in 1877. Presently active at 210 West Broad Avenue, Stantonsburg. Bethel’s original site was southeast of Stantonsburg on what is now Peacock Bridge Road. Its old cemetery marks the approximate site.
In 1886, A.M.E.Z. trustees bought a lot on “Avenue Street.” Location not now known. This was likely Hardy’s Chapel. Church is defunct.
Active in 1940s. No further information.
The 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows an A.M.E. Zion church at 312 Manchester Street, at the corner of East Suggs Street. The 1930 Sanborn map, however, shows this building housing a Christ Disciple Church. No other information is known.
Six miles from Wilson. No further info.
Eight miles from Wilson. No further info.
Perhaps: in 1910, the Colored Methodist Episcopal purchased a lot on Wilson Street, east of the railroad, in Elm City. No further information.
African Methodist Episcopal churches
In 1906, trustees bought a lot on Suggs Street to build an A.M.E. church. However, the church was not organized as Saint Luke until 1910. In the 1930s, the congregation moved to a storefront at the corner of Vick and Atlantic Streets and erected its current church building at that site in 1948.
On 1 September 1903, the trustees for the A.M.E. Church of Lucama paid $25 for a quarter-acre lot on Main Street in Lucama. The exact location is not clear.
A.M.E.Z. or A.M.E.? (Or maybe C.M.E.?)
Shown in the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map on South Lodge Street, across from Imperial Tobacco. No further identification.
I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.
I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated.
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Noah Artis (1856-1952), farmer.
