In the summer of 1938, “Baker” photographed farming scenes across North Carolina for the state Department of Conservation and Development. In July, he captured in quick succession two images of a small group of white and African-American men and boys shelling corn on a farm “near Wilson.”
Close-ups of the two photographs:
Shelling Corn near Wilson July 1938, Department of Conservation and Development, Travel Information Division Photographs 1937-1973, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh.
Wilson Daily Times, 29 August 1911.
“The worst had happened, Fields was dead,” and the Times penned a tribute to its loyal subscriber.
——
On 26 February 1903, James Fields, 52, of Wilson, son of Alex and Mary Fields, married Lucy Warren, 30, of Wilson, at her residence. Missionary Baptist minister E.P. Pearsall performed the ceremony in the presence of Charles B. Gay, Ella Gay, and William C. Barnes.
In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: James Fields, 49, odd jobs laborer, and wife Lucy, 32, laundress.
James P. Fields died 21 August 1911 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 58 years old; was married; lived at 213 Hackney Street; worked as a gardener; and was born in Boyton [Boydton], Virginia, to Elex Fields and Mary Smithering. W.B. Fields of Wilson was informant.
Below, a figure holding a level, said to be O. Nestus Freeman, standing atop a wall at the construction site of the second iteration of Calvary Presbyterian Church, completed in 1924.
Photo courtesy of Wilson City Archives; hat tip L. Monson.
Wilson Daily Times, 11 June 1928.
In June 1928, a Atlantic Coast Line railroad worker spotted a grievously wounded elderly man lying by the tracks. He flagged a train, and the “injured negro” was taken to the company’s hospital almost twenty miles north in Rocky Mount. He died. Two days later, the Wilson Daily Times reported the death of “Uncle Dortch.”
So did his death certificate.
Though he lived at the Wilson County Home, also known as “the poorhouse,” no one seemed to know Uncle Dortch’s surname. I regret that I have not been able to restore it to him.
“Fractured Skull (found by side of R.R. track near Wilson)”
A.C.L. Hospital, Rocky Mount, N.C. (1925), East Carolina Digital Collections.
Thanks to J. Robert Boykin III for the clipping.
The occupation and industry columns in federal population schedules sometimes yield unusual results, even in an era in which most African-Americans in Wilson worked as farm laborers, tobacco factory hands, or domestic workers.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County, 48 year-old Deal Tillman gave his occupation as:
Tillman spent much of his life in Randolph County and only lived a few years in Wilson.
In the 1910 census of Trinity township, Randolph County, N.C.: Sandy T. Tillman, 75; wife Tempa, 78; daughter Adaline, 50; granddaughter Ella, 24; great-grandchildren Roy, 6, and Mary, 2; and grandson Dealie, 20, farm laborer.
In 1917, Dealie Tillman registered for the World War II draft in Randolph County, N.C. Per his registration card, he was born 12 July 1892 in Trinity, N.C.; resided in Trinity; worked as “keeper of kennel” for Dr. P.P. Satterwhite, Trinity; had a wife and two children; and “claims right leg stiff from fracture; thumb on left hand disabled.” [Dr. Preston P. Satterwhite was a Kentucky-born retired surgeon and art collector with homes in Palm Beach and New York City. His marriage to Florence Brokaw Martin, widow of a Standard Oil executive (and herself an heiress) allowed him to retire from the practice of medicine early. I have found no record of Satterwhite’s maintenance of a residence (or kennels) in North Carolina, but, per the Asheboro Courier, Florence Satterwhite’s brother, socialite W. Gould Brokaw, owned an estate with a kennel, called Fairview, near Trinity The kennel was just one of many in the county catering to well-heeled Northerners game for hunting.]
Asheboro Courier, 7 January 1915.
In the 1920 census of Trinity township, Randolph County: Deal Tillman, 28, manager of dog kennels; wife Effie, 25; and children Albert, 7, Ruth, 5, and Mary, 2.
In the 1930 census of Blue Springs township, Hoke County, N.C.: Deal Tilman, 41, dog trainer at kennels; wife Julia, 39; daughters Alberta, 17, and Ruth, 15; and others.
In the 1940 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: at 314 New Bern Street, rented at $10/month, Deal Tillman, 49, dog trainer in private practice; wife Julia B., 48, cook at training school; and grandchildren John, 13, and Bertha Smith, 11.
In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Tillman, Deal (c; Julia; 2) porter h 204 Powell
Deal Tilghman died 29 December 1941 at his home at 204 Powell Street, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 25 July 1892 in High Point, N.C.; was married to Julia Tilghman; and worked as a laborer. He was buried in Rest Haven cemetery.
Julia Tilman died 19 December 1945 in Raeford, Hoke County, N.C. Per her death certificate, she was born 4 July 1891 in Red Springs, N.C. to Archa and Nerva Melvin; was the widow of Deal Tilman; and was a teacher. Bertha Smith, Raeford, was informant.
A fuller story of the aftermath of Daniel Smith‘s death in an electrical accident while working in Brooklyn.
Wilson Daily Times, 23 October 1919.
On this Labor Day, I bring you “It Wasn’t Just Wages We Wanted, But Freedom”: The 1946 Tobacco Leaf House Workers Organizing in Eastern North Carolina, a compilation of all known scholarship related to the Tobacco Workers International Union and Food, Tobacco, Agricultural & Allied Workers’ mass organizing campaign. The campaign secured union contracts at more than 30 leaf houses, and workers engaged in voter registrations and political action that presaged the civil rights movement a decade later.
In an introduction to the first edition, Phoenix Historical Society’s Jim Wrenn noted, “This movement began as early as March 1946 when three workers at Export Leaf in Wilson — Aaron Best, Harvey Moore and Chester Newkirk — met with TWIU organizer Dr. R.A. Young … at Best’s home on East Nash Street in Wilson. This meeting led to the establishment of TWIU Local 259 at Export Leaf, the leading tobacco local in Wilson. Best became its first president, Moore its first secretary and Newark its first treasurer. Local 259 members reached out to workers at five other Wilson leaf houses, who were organized as Locals 260, 268, 270, 271, and 272. Today, Local 259 has been absorbed into local 270, the last surviving union local of the 1946 movement.”
The work was published by the Phoenix Historical Society, an organization devoted to the preservation of the African American history of Edgecombe County, and I purchased this copy directly from them.
The North Carolina State Archives holds records of the former Department of Public Instruction’s Division of Negro Education, including correspondence between the Rosenwald Fund and county school superintendents.
In March 1926, Rosenwald Fund Supervisor W.F. Credle wrote Wilson County School Superintendent Charles L. Coon to update Coon on his visit to Elm City and to tout several sources of funding “for the colored children of North Carolina.” “We are very anxious to add on schools in towns the size of Elm City where buildings large enough for the accommodation of a high school can be provided.”
Though initially cool to the idea of external control of funds, Coon responded quickly, inviting Credle to meet with the Board of Education to discuss “the whole problem of colored school buildings for Wilson county.”
On April 26, Credle sent Coon a report on the schools he had inspected during his visit and urged him to consider employing a Jeanes teacher, who “could assist the people in raising as much money by private contributions for school buildings and equipment as the county would have to spend for her salary.” (The Jeanes Foundation funded educational and vocational training in rural African-American communities, primarily via teacher placement.)
On May 31, Credle wrote again, “happy to advise” that checks for Stantonsburg ($900), Evansdale ($700) and Saratoga Schools ($900) were attached, and Yelverton and New Vester were coming.
Correspondence: Rosenwald Fund, Box 2, Folder C, 1925-1926, African American Education, digital.ncdcr.gov.
Wilson Daily Times, 24 February 1998.
Roderick Taylor Jr. is kneeling, second from the right.
Can anyone identify his classmates?
Pauline Holloway Artis (ca. 1916-1966).
Photograph courtesy of Tiyatti Speight.