Though several hotels opened and closed on East Nash Street in the first half of the twentieth century, only one, the Wilson Biltmore, made it into the famous Negro Motorist Green Book. (Other listings for Wilson include a taxi service and an ambiguous reference to a residential address on Washington Street.)
North Carolina African American Heritage Commission’s Green Book Project is an interactive web portal compiling in-depth information about more than 300 Green Book sites across the state. The project also includes a traveling and virtual exhibition that highlights the experiences of African American travelers in North Carolina during the Jim Crow era.
The Project’s entry on the Wilson Biltmore Hotel cites to research in Black Wide-Awake, and I’m happy and honored to be able to contribute to the documentation of this era in African-American history.
Image courtesy of Smithsonian Digital Volunteers: Transcription Center.
Is there an address for the residence on Washington Street ? Important personally for ME !
No. NCAAHC speculates about a couple of addresses on Washington in which census records show lodgers, but people had lodgers all across East Wilson so I’m not convinced.