Wilson Daily Times, 13 April 1917.
Levi Jones advertised for his new barbershop at 108 East Nash Street.
“Everything sanitary.” The location of Levi Jones’ barbershop. Sanborn fire insurance map, Wilson, 1922.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Every week or so, a large manila envelope arrives in the mail, postmarked Wilson, N.C. Inside, a sheaf of xeroxed newspaper clippings from late 19th and early 20th century editions of the Wilson Daily Times. Bobby Boykin is the benefactor, and I thank him mightily, especially when gems like this appear:
Wilson Daily Times, 25 January 1921.
Just a few months past the earth-shattering release of “Crazy Blues,” the first blues recording by a Black artist for a Black audience, Mamie Smith and Jazz Hounds would have been a hot ticket anywhere, much less Wilson. The band played three shows in a single day at the Globe Theatre, Samuel H. Vick‘s vaudeville hall/movie theatre on the second floor of the Odd Fellows Lodge on East Nash Street. Darcy Yancey and Isaac Shade were selling tickets at their respective drugstores.
(If I could time-travel, I’d want not only to see Smith perform at the Globe, but see who saw her perform at the Globe.)
Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds, including Willie “The Lion” Smith on piano, 1920. Donaldson Collection/Getty Images.
2020 marked the 100th anniversary of the release of “Crazy Blues.” For more about the significance of Mamie Smith’s work, see Daphne A. Brooks’ New York Times piece, “100 Years Ago, ‘Crazy Blues’ Sparked a Revolution for Black Women Fans,” published August 10.
Mamie Smith publicity photo, Apeda Studio, New York, circa 1922, in collection of Old Hat Records.
This version of an obituary for Joe Mercer is considerably less racist than the one that ran in the News and Observer.
Wilson Daily Times, 18 March 1920.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Wilson Daily Times, 14 June 1920.
The Republican Party’s 1920 convention in Chicago nominated Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge for president and vice-president. Samuel H. Vick, long active in Republican politics and well-known from the battles over his appointment as Wilson’s postmaster, formerly registered his protest against North Carolina’s exclusion of African-Americans from its deliberations.
James Perry Barnes (1895-1960).
Mattie Mae Atkinson Barnes (1895-1951).
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In the 1900 census of Beulah township, Johnston County: farmer Perry Barnes, 50; wife Lizzie, 50; and children Clarky, 26, Nettie, 18, Sarah F., 16, Jesse, 13, Rosetta, 9, and James P., 5.
In the 1900 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: Archabald Atkinson, 48; wife Martha M., 34; and children Mary F., 19, Spicy J., 17, Roxanna, 15, Narcissua, 13, Carline, 11, Minnie L., 8, Adlina, 6, and Mattie M., 3.
In the 1910 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: Archabold Atkinson, 58; wife Martha, 44; children Roxanna, 25, Ossie, 23, Caroline, 20, Elisabeth, 18, Adaline, 16, Mattie, 13, Addie, 8, and James R., 4; and granddaughter Eldora Cherry, 7.
On 13 February 1919, James Barnes, 24, of Springhill township, son of Perry and Kissie Barnes, married Mattie Atkinson, 21, of Springhill township, daughter of Arch and Martha Atkinson, at “the girls resident” in Springhill. Baptist minister Robert Mack Robinson performed the ceremony in the presence of Purcy Kent, Frank Kent, and Jesse Barnes.
In the 1920 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: on R.L. Scott Mill Road, farmer James P. Barnes, 24; wife Mattie M., 22; and son James A., 4 months.
In the 1930 census of Oneals township, Johnston County: farmer James P. Barnes, 45; wife Mattie, 43; children James A., 10, General A., 7, Mattie M. and Maggie M., 5, Oralee, 2, and Willard, 6 months, and mother Kizzie, 79.
In the 1940 census of Oneals township, Johnston County: farmer J.P. Barnes, 45; wife Mattie, 43; children James A., 20, Archie, 17, Mattie Mae, 16, Maggie Mae, 15, Ola Lee, 12, John W., 9, William R., 8, Lula Bell, 6, Annie Bell, 4, and Thedo R., 1.
Mattie Mae Barnes died 24 November 1951 in Kenly, Johnston County. Per her death certificate, she was born 5 April 1895 in Wilson County to Archie Atkinson and Martha Atkinson; was married to James P. Barnes; lived in Kenly; and worked in farming.
James Perry Barnes died 5 March 1960 in Kenly, Beulah township, Johnston County. Per his death certificate, he was born 2 February 1895 in Johnston County to Perry Barnes to Kizzie Barnes; was a farmer; and was a widower.
Photos courtesy of Ancestry.com user Tynetta Willis-Nayteh.
At last, the official dedications of four historical markers installed in Wilson in 2020-21.
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“Colored Citizens” published a note to mark the end of the second year of the Wilson Normal and Industrial Institute. Wilson Daily Times, 1 June 1920.
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Wilson Daily Times, 1 April 1920.
Wilson Daily Times, 9 April 1917.
In addition to undertaking and embalming, Charles H. Darden & Sons offered a number of services, including bicycle repair. (Note the phone number. The Dardens were among the first in Wilson to get telephone service.)
Wilson Daily Times, 13 May 1920.
First, “jitney” — a vehicle providing inexpensive shared transportation over a set route. In this case, round-trip travel between Wilson and Goldsboro, some 25 miles south. Second, the jitney was integrated in 1920?
Now the story: an African-American passenger aboard the jitney “made himself obnoxious” — which could have been anything from refusing to yield to seat to whistling loudly to … anything, short of actual criminal behavior, which would have been dealt with swiftly. White people threatened to boycott the service if they had to share space with “colored” people any longer. The jitney proprietor quickly acceded to their wishes and barred Black passengers. An unnamed “worthy colored man” of Wilson requested that the Daily Times post a notice of the change to “save [African-Americans] from worry,” i.e. humiliation, inconvenience, and dangerous annoyance. He himself had been denied passage when he attempted to board for a return from Goldsboro. To reassure any who questioned his motives, perhaps, the anonymous man asserted that he was not complaining of the jitney company’s action, that, in fact, he thought it just under the circumstances.
[Note: Jim Crow, among other things, required a constant soft-shoe, relentless squaring, rapid-fire calculation, a perpetual mask. Consider this as you judge. — LYH]
Christine Blackston James Radford (1921-2011), circa 1939.
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In the 1930 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Raleigh Road, James Blackston, 50; wife Katie B., 40; and children Pleasant N., 18, William J., 17, James H., 15, Alfonzer, 13, Ila M., 11, Christine, 9, Hilton R., 8, James Jr., 6, A.C., 4, and L.Z., 3.
Portrait courtesy of Jerilyn James Lee. Thank you!