The Knights of Gideon meet.

Wilson Daily Times, 1 August 1919.

Founded about 1900, the Knights of Gideon were headquartered in Goldsboro, N.C., twenty-five miles south of Wilson. The group seems not to have been nearly as popular in Wilson County as similar fraternal organizations.

  • W.H. Green
  • Mrs. A.M. Whitley — perhaps, Sylvia Yancy Whitley, wife of Amos Whitley?
  • J.H. Palmer — in the 1920 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Palmer John H (c) farmer h Elliott nr Hackney

11 comments

  1. I found this page while looking up the Knights of Gideon. Here’s something else I found.

    “Begun in Norfolk in 1900 by the Supreme Lodge Knights of Gideon, a Black fraternal order, it was originally called the Gideon Safe Guide. The name later was changed to the Lodge Norfolk and Guide, and from 1910 to 1991, it was called both the Norfolk Journal and Guide and the Journal and Guide. Since 1991, it has been called the New Journal and Guide.
    By the time World War II was under way, the Journal and Guide was the largest Black employer in the South. Circulation soared to over 100,000 and the paper was the only one south of the Mason–Dixon line to carry a national edition. It won four consecutive Wendell Willkie awards for outstanding journalism. Along with the Chicago Defender, the Baltimore Afro-American and the Pittsburgh Courier, the Journal and Guide took the lead in informing the Black community on events as they related to such issues as housing and job discrimination among Black soldiers. At that time, the Guide ranked fourth in circulation among Black newspapers in the United States.”

    I’ve also learned that the archives for the Journal and Guide are housed in North Carolina. I also read that the Knights of Gideon were starting a “colored” bank in a newspaper from 1903.

    Reply

  2. I have a document dated 11 Nov 1926, wherein my paternal grandmother, Martha Short, was a member of the Knights of Gideon. This document bears the signatures of the Supreme Commander and Supreme Scribe on that date.

    I am researching my ancestral North Carolina family. Will you help me.

    Thanking you in advance, I remain her granddaughter Rev. Dr. Iveracottis Short

    Reply

    1. Hello, Rev. Short, and thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately, I am unable to conduct private research at this time. However, if Martha Short was from Wilson County, I will keep an eye out for documents related to her life. Was she in the Wilson Chapter of the Knights of Gideon?

      Reply

  4. I am doing overviews of 80 different African American fraternal associations in order to document ribbon badges in my collection. I have an overview of the Knights of Gideon, if anyone would like to see it, They started in Norfolk but eventually developed as separate organizations in VA and NC.

    Reply

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