Month: October 2022

Rest in peace, Vanilla P. Beane.

Black Wide-Awake mourns the passing of Vanilla Powell Beane, Wilson native, Washington, D.C., legend, and milliner extraordinaire. Her 103 years of life were exceptionally well-lived, and the world so much richer for her talents.

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Vanilla Beane, the District’s ‘Hat Lady,’ dies at 103.

By Michael Rosenwald, The Washington Times, 25 October 2022.

Vanilla Beane, whose radiant hats topped the heads of legions of African American women at church, weddings and funerals in the District for half a century, earning her the title of “D.C.’s Hat Lady,” died Oct. 23 at a hospital in Washington. She was 103.

The cause was complications following an aortic tear, said her grandson Craig Seymour.

Mrs. Beane’s hats, which she had designed and fabricated at the Bené Millinery and Bridal Supplies shop on Third Street NW, were featured on postage stamps and in collections at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Every hat was one-of-a-kind.

“Nobody wants to walk into a church and see someone else wearing their hat,” she once said.

Poet Maya Angelou wore one of Mrs. Beane’s millinery creations. Civil rights activist Dorothy I. Height donned them for meetings with presidents and other officials. “Hats give me a lift and make me feel real special,” Height explained — a sentiment shared by the countless others who shopped at Mrs. Beane’s store.

Mrs. Beane worked six days a week into her 100th year.

“Some people like real fussy hats,” she told The Washington Post in 2009. “Others like sophisticated hats, and a lot of people like simple hats. I try to please people regardless of their race or background.”

Mrs. Beane made her hats the old-fashioned way, wetting buckram — a stiff cotton — into molds decorated with all manner of fabrics. Keeping her fingernails cut short, Mr. Beane made tams, turbans, panamas, sailors and cloches. Decades of the repetitive fashioning turned her fingers stiff and rough.

“They look like I have been digging potatoes,” she said.

Vanilla Powell was born in Wilson, N.C., on Sept. 13, 1919, the second youngest of nine siblings. Her father was a carpenter and farmer, and her mother was a seamstress who also worked in White people’s homes washing their clothes.

Growing up during the Depression instilled a robust work ethic in the Powell children, who worked in the fields picking tobacco and cotton. On Sundays, they rested and walked to Sandy Point Baptist Church, where women sat in the pews wearing fancy hats.

“In the past, when most Blacks had blue-collar jobs, dressing up on Sundays was a cherished ritual,” Craig Marberry, co-author of “Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats,” said in a 2019 story about Mrs. Beane in The Post. “The hat tradition grew out of the idea that you were expressing how God has blessed you. The more flamboyant a hat, the more God has blessed you.”

After graduating from [C.H. Darden] high school in 1940, Vanilla Powell moved to Washington and two years later married Willie Beane Sr., producing the name that endlessly charmed her customers and friends, though it took her a little bit to realize its novelty.

“I was in the drugstore and the pharmacy said, ‘Do you know there is a Vanilla Beane?’” she recalled in a television interview in 2020. “I said I guess it was meant to be.”

In Washington, Mrs. Beane worked as an elevator operator in a downtown building with a hat store called Washington Millinery Supply. She was enamored by the intricate hats and the craft of making them, so she bought some supplies and began making them herself.

Eventually she showed her hats to the store’s owner, Richard Dietrick Sr. “She had very much talent, but she didn’t have the design know-how in those days,” Dietrick recalled later. “She picked it up very quickly.”

Mrs. Beane eventually began working for him, and when he moved his shop to Gaithersburg, Md., she bought his supplies and, in 1979, opened her own store. She was a shrewd businesswoman, convincing Ethel Sanders, the owner of Lovely Lady Boutique in Bethesda, Md., to move her store near Bené Millinery.

“People knew us as a team,” Sanders recalled in 2019. “Women would come in for a dress and I’d send them to Vanilla for a hat. Or they’d go for a hat and she’d send them to me for an outfit.”

Mrs. Beane’s shop had White customers, as well. One of them was Sherry Watkins, who founded the Rogue Hatters, a group of women who collected Mrs. Beane’s hats. Watkins owned 75.

Mrs. Beane taught them the rules of hat wearing.

“Don’t match the hat to the outfit,” Watkins recalled. “Just buy a hat you like and the outfit will come. Never wear your hat more than one inch above your eyebrows. Slant it to look more interesting and possibly even risque.”

Mrs. Beane seemed to never get designer’s block. Her designs constantly evolved.

At the National Museum of African American History and Culture, one of Mrs. Beane’s hats is green velveteen.

“The hat is circular with a rounded peak and constructed by layering a strip of fabric over itself in a wrapped design,” the museum’s description says. “The base of the fabric is a light green while the pile is a darker green, giving the hat a two-tone appearance.”

Another is a red felt bicorn style.

“The hat is composed of a single piece of stiff felt that has been folded up at the center front,” the museum notes. “The dome of the hat is cylindrical, with the raised brim attached at the top of the crown. There are red felt bows affixed at the attachment points.”

Mrs. Beane’s husband died in 1993. Their son, Willie G. Beane Jr., died in 1980. Ms. Beane is survived by two daughters, Margaret L. Seymour of Charleston, S.C., and Linda R. Jefferson of the District; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Mrs. Beane was such a fixture of Washington that then-Fox News host Chris Wallace named her “Power Player of the Week” in the summer of 2020.

Wallace asked her what made a proper church hat.

“Well,” she answered, “any hat that’s not too fancy, not too wide.”

The host marveled at her longevity.

“In these challenging times,” Wallace said, “it’s nice to know there are still some constants in the world, like Vanilla Beane.”

Photo by Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post.

Trojan players ready for Homecoming game.

Wilson Daily Times, 26 October 1950.

  • David Smith — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: redrying plant laborer Bertha Smith, 36, widow, and son David, 8.
  • Leo Dancy — in the 1940 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: John Dancy, 44; wife Pennie, 39; children Evangline, 20; Lovie, 18; R.J., 15; Olie, 11; and Mildred, 8; and [grandson] Leo, 5.
  • Harold Darden — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: John H. Darden, 44, hotel bellhop; wife Estelle N., 43, laundry presser; and children William M., 20, cook and butler, Mildred, 18, receptionist at photography studio, and Harold C., 16.
  • Henry Simms
  • Eddie Best — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 406 Walnut, rented for $12/month, Aaron Best, 39; wife Estelle, 39; and children Rudolph, 14, Royce, 10, Harper and Gerald, 8, Eddie, 7, and Nannie Jean, 5.

The death of Alton Hagans, 13, struck by a truck while riding a bicycle.

Wilson Daily Times, 16 September 1921.

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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Viola Street, Bryant Mill laborer Isic Haggins, 23; wife Essie May 19; and son Alton, 1.

Alton Hagans died 8 September 1921 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 25 November 1910 in Saratoga, Wilson County, to Isaac Hagans and Ezziemay Farmer; lived on Hines Street; and worked as a grocery delivery boy. His cause of death: “instantly killed by auto struck while riding bicycle.”

The obituary of Georgianna Forte Artis.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 October 1949.

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In the 1910 census of Mary Fort, 38, widow, and children Maggie, 10, Georgiea A., 9, James A., 6, Mamie R., 4, and Minnie B., 1. Mary and Maggie Fort were farm laborers “working out,” i.e. as hired hands.

Nathan Artis, 29, of Pikeville married Georgie Anna Fort, 25, of Goldsboro on 8 January 1929 in Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina.

In the 1940 census of Stantonsburg township, Wilson County: laborer Nathan Artis, 39, wife Georgiana, 37, and children Bertha Lee, 17, Virginia, 14, and Minnie Louise, 7.

Georgianna O. Artis died 14 October 1949 in Stantonsburg. Her death certificate reports that she was born 16 June 1903 in Wayne County to James Ford [Forte] and Mary Coley.

Lane Street Project: the perils of speaking truth to power and, also, a victory.

Lane Street Project Senior Force leader Castonoble Hooks recently resigned his appointed position with the Wilson Cemetery Commission, having been subjected to unwarranted disrespect by City Council.

Here’s the Wilson Times article that catalyzed his action — with my comments and questions in red. They of course reflect my opinions alone.

City Council discusses cemetery commission.

By Nicholas Schnittker, Wilson Times, 8 October 2022.

City-owned cemeteries, and the Wilson Cemetery Commission that runs the Rest Haven and Maplewood cemeteries, dominated the Wilson City Council’s open-session discussion during Thursday’s breakfast meeting.

Dell Joyner, a commission member and owner of Joyner’s Funeral Home & Crematory, said the commission is currently at a stalemate regarding price increases due to internal arguments. [Persons who work in the funeral industry hold mandated seats on the Cemetery Commission. As they stand to benefit directly from the Commission’s actions, this feels to me like a conflict of interest.]

“It’s been a struggle to try and get some of this through and some of the board members,” Joyner said. “I don’t think they have some of the business background that would help them in making decisions of raising our prices a little bit to financially continue putting into the cemeteries because I don’t want the cemeteries to be taken over by the city and I don’t want it to burden the city. There is enough revenue there to maintain the cemetery.” [This remark, like most that follow, could use some unpacking. What does “there is enough revenue there to maintain the cemetery” mean? If there’s enough, why the price increase that Joyner badly wants, but the Commission won’t agree to? Also, here’s a bit of information would be helpful to know — Rest Haven Cemetery brings in the lion’s share of cemetery income and thus subsidizes Maplewood Cemetery.]

Internal arguments were far from the only issue involving the panel. Councilman Michael Bell asked whether any rules or guidelines apply to cemetery commissioners making public statements or social media posts that he said aren’t rooted in facts. [“Aren’t rooted in facts”? First, council has shown itself to be only distantly familiar with facts as they pertain to Wilson’s historic African-American cemeteries. Second, whom is Bell calling a liar, why is he monitoring citizens’ Facebook posts, and where does the First Amendment intersect with all this?]

Johnson said the council has fallen short on some of its appointments because the cemetery commission is unlike any other board in the city and requires some special talents. [There’s an editing problem here, as this is the first reference to “Johnson.” For clarity, this is James Johnson, who has been on council since way back in the 1990s and ’00s when the city cleared Vick Cemetery and destroyed its headstones. Now, what are these talents? How long have they been required?]

“We say that anybody can serve on any committee they want to,” Johnson said. “While that’s true if we put them on there, but at the same time, we have hurt the committee with some of our past appointments, and that falls on us recommending them to you and you voting for them. So the only thing that can be done is to pull those commission members back and remove them.” [Here’s an alternative to censuring committee members that you cannot control — get out of your feelings and listen to their concerns.]

Johnson added that he didn’t know the process for removal and City Attorney Jim Cauley would have to weigh in.

“This is the first committee in my 30 years that I can remember board members coming out against somebody that they want to partner with and talking trash nonstop,” Johnson said. “I don’t remember us appointing people on any committee where they came out against us — and we are the appointing body — because we have been pretty fair on everything. You have the leeway to do what you want to and you’re the one on the committee responsible for upkeep of that committee, so you’re bashing us for neglecting your responsibilities. That’s basically what I’ve been hearing, and that’s what I’ve been reading on Facebook.” [So is this what got two council members and a commission member wound up? That other commission members have taken issue with “business as usual” at the Cemetery Commission and have challenged the status quo? Apparently, Johnson’s “required talents” include acquiescence, tractability, and a willingness to keep your tongue in your head. Castonoble Hooks, the unnamed subject of these jabs, certainly demonstrated over his eight months of commission service that he does not do well at any of these.]

Johnson said he thought the council was on a good path after righting a perceived wrong in the 2000s. [Again, this is Johnson, who was there. What “perceived wrong” has been righted? Do we know how many dead lie in Vick Cemetery? Do we know their names? Do we know where their grave markers were tossed? Council’s agreement to fund ground-penetrating radar at Vick started them on a good path, but alone rights no wrongs. And is not the end of this journey.]

“To have a couple of rough board members or a rogue board member, however many there are, in a committee that we pick blaming us for their failure to follow through with their responsibilities is just odd,” he said. “I think we need to be done with it and the folks that want to come to us and complain about the cemeteries, we send them to the cemetery commission.” [“The folks that want to come to us and complain about the cemeteries” — that’s me. That’s Lane Street Project. (“Rough” and “rogue” though?) Neither James Johnson nor anyone else on council get to tell us who we can or can’t complain to. Nor can these elected officials decide that they’re “done with it.”]

Wilson Cemetery Commission meetings are open to the public and are held at 4:45 p.m. on the second Monday of every month at Maplewood Cemetery, 400 College St. Mayor Carlton Stevens said anyone with a question about the cemeteries can call 252-243-3386.

Councilman Derrick Creech raised concerns about staffing and equality for Rest Haven, specifically that he’s received calls about people not being able to find workers to guide them to specific locations in the cemetery.

Over the last few years, Joyner said, the commission has invested extra money into Rest Haven to open a new section and started to allow upright single monuments there, but he added that commissioners can’t build roads for the new sections at the current price per gravesite. [“Invested extra money …  to open a new section ….” Demand at Rest Haven exceeds that at Maplewood. The only way to meet it — and continue generating income for both cemeteries — is to open new sections. This isn’t “extra money.” More to the point, Council can find a quarter of a million dollars to fix a decorative arch at Maplewood, but can’t build roads at Rest Haven?]

“There’s been a lot more money spent over there,” Joyner said of Rest Haven. “Maplewood is kind of good. We need stuff there, but a whole lot more focus has been on Rest Haven because it is busier.” [As focus should be.]

Joyner estimated 75% of the commission’s money is going to Rest Haven for the improvements and to open individual gravesites. He said Rest Haven sells a lot more burial plots than Maplewood. [Talk about burying the lede….]

“That’s the reality, then the African American community have a perception that nothing is being done,” Bell said. “It’s a perception that is not a reality, and I think until somebody is able to tabulate sequentially ‘This is what has been done, this is what we are doing,’ then we’re going to have this evolving conversation about cemeteries.” [May I see a sequential tabulation for Vick Cemetery, please?]

Stevens said he knows what Rest Haven looked like 20 years ago and what it looks like today, saying it looks much better.

“So all I can do is be a voice to say, first of all, I am not going to allow a cemetery to divide this city,” Stevens said. “We have gone through so much in the last three years and every atrocity we went through, it seemed like we band together. Regardless of what our political affiliation and what we thought, we banded together and we pushed through it. I am not going to allow a cemetery to separate us based off one’s perceived perception, and it’s not going to have. I know for a fact that this board is about equity, is about equality, and they want the right thing to be done. Period.” [“Divide this city”? A dispute over whether grave-opening fees should be increased threatens to divide the city? Or is it that an outspoken advocate for equity and transparency is seen as more divisive than those who would shut their eyes to a century of neglect of certain public cemeteries? ]

The council also discussed Vick Cemetery and the possibility of the city deeding it over to the cemetery commission. Creech asked about the commission’s plans for Vick if it receives oversight responsibilities.

Johnson responded, saying that wasn’t a question to be raised right now. [Why not?]

“That’s the question of us once we deed it over,” he said. “If we’re going to give somebody a property, we have to give them the ability to take care of it.”

The cemetery commission was established under a 1923 state law that allows such bodies to operate independently of local government. General Statute 160A-349.4 notes that such boards “shall have the exclusive control and management” of the burial grounds they oversee and can employ superintendents and assistants.

As a separate entity from the city of Wilson, the commission can own property. Despite its autonomy, the panel is one of Wilson’s 18 appointed boards and commissions. If the City Council ever chose to dissolve the cemetery commission, all its assets would automatically revert to the city.

Johnson added that estimating maintenance costs is a task for the staff, and the City Council can make decisions about budget allocations after reviewing those estimates.

If the city conveys the Vick Cemetery to the commission, Cauley recommended the council update the city code regarding cemeteries to include Vick.

No vote was taken regarding Vick, but Cauley said he would bring something before the council at a future meeting.

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That future meeting occurred ten days later at the October 18 Council session, where, surprisingly Council turned over Vick Cemetery to the Commission. We claim this victory and will carefully monitor its ongoing care:

City deeds Vick to Wilson Cemetery Commission.

By Nicholas Schnittker, Wilson Times, 24 October 2022.

The Wilson City Council unanimously voted to transfer ownership of Vick Cemetery to the Wilson Cemetery Commission as part of its consent agenda at Thursday’s meeting.

The council also approved a city code revision to include Vick Cemetery by name.

Castonoble Hooks, a cemetery commission member and staunch advocate for Vick, thanked the council during the meeting’s public comment portion.

“I want to start off first of all by thanking you — thanking you for finally acknowledging that Vick Cemetery is a Wilson public cemetery,” Hooks said. “When I first approached you guys last year, I was told that I was mistaken, but I wasn’t called a liar.”

Hooks abruptly resigned from the commission during his three minutes of speaking time, referencing City Council members’ comments during the October breakfast meeting about possibly removing an unnamed cemetery commissioner.

“In the recent newspaper article from your breakfast, I was called a liar,” Hooks said. “It was said that I misled the public. I am the cemetery commissioner who is not named, but the last one to be appointed.”

Hooks said he was subjected to accusations and innuendo. He also alerted the council to an April audit of the cemtery commission that he said showed mismanagement.

“You said you wanted to get your lawyer to find a way to remove me from the cemetery commission. I remove myself,” Hooks said. “I will remove myself because I don’t think you are genuinely concerned with public input. I have several documents, your own documents, that can show that the cemetery commission is in trouble. They’ve asked y’all to take over. They had a million dollars, they meet one hour, one time a month. They can’t oversee this. This is not a new problem. I am not the first person to bring this up. It has been brought up for decades.”

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My thanks to Castonoble Hooks, who holds down Lane Street Project in so many fundamental ways, and whose commitment to the restoration of our ancestors to memory and respect is beautiful and depthless.

Photo by Chris Facey; all rights reserved.

Benjamin Whitley shot Johnny Ward at an ice cream supper.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 August 1932.

Nineteen year-old Johnny Ward succumbed to his injuries three days after this article was published.

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  • Benjamin Whitley

In the 1910 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: Rufus Whitley, 49; wife Mattie, 45; and children Mattie, 8, Wiley, 3, and Rufus B., newborn.

In the 1920 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: Rufus Whitley, 49; wife Mattie, 45; and children Wiley, 13, Benjamin, 12, Bettie, 7, and Lizzie, 11 months.

In the 1930 census of Saratoga township, Wilson County: Rufus Whitley, 59; wife Mattie, 52; and children Ben, 20, Bettie A., 18, Lizzie J., 11, and Matta B., 6; and lodger Jesse King, 22.

On 9 December 1933, Benjamin Whitley, 24, of Wilson County, son of Rufus and Mattie Whitley, married Cillie Barnes, 20, of Wilson County, daughter of Ed and Dora Barnes, at the courthouse in Greenville, Pitt County, N.C.

Benjamin R. Whitley died 4 November 1971 in Lumberton, Robeson County, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was born 29 November 1909 to Rufus Whitley and Mattie Dupree; was a widower; resided in Middlesex, Nash County, N.C.; and worked as a farmer.

  • Johnny Ward

Johnie Ward died 18 August 1932 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 19 years old; was born in Greene County, North Carolina, to David Ward and Nancy Barnes; was single; and worked as a common laborer.

  • Wes Bynum

The obituary of Hood Vick, World War I veteran.

Wilson Daily Times, 28 October 1950.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Marther Vick, 46, widow, washing, and sons [sic] Peater, 20, and Hud, 6.

In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Martha Vick, Peter Vick, and Hood Vick, the latter two described as laborers (though Hood was only 14 years old) are listed at 105 Pender.

In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Martha Vick, laundress; Peter Vick, porter; and Hood Vick, cleaner and presser, are listed at 105 Pender.

Mildred Ward died 9 January 1914 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 24 October 1913 in Wilson County to Hood Vick of Wilson County and Lucy Ward of Pitt County; and lived at the corner of Nash and Railroad Streets. Lucy Ward, Wilson, was informant.

In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Martha Vick, laundress, and Hood Vick, ball player, are listed at 105 Pender Street. [Peter Vick died 11 January 1916 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 January 1887 in Wilson County to Peter Taylor and Matha Vick, both of Nash County, N.C., and was single.] 

In 1917, Hood Vick registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 10 June 1894 in Wilson; lived on Pender Street; worked as a machine operator at a moving picture theater for C.L. Jones; and was single. 

Hood Vick, North Carolina World War I Service Cards, 1917-1919, http://www.ancestry.com.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 105 Pender Street, Martha Vick, 65, widow, and grandchildren Artha Stokes, 15, and Hood Vick, 25, laborer.

On 8 November 1928, Hood Vick, 35, born in Washington, D.C., to Hood Vick and Lucy Taylor Vick, and employed as an operator, married Anna Windsor in Norfolk, Virginia. 

In the 1930 census of New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina: at 20 Browns Alley, private nurse Anna J. Windsor, 70, widow; and, paying $6/month rent, Hood Vick, 36, theatre operator, and wife Anna, 22.

In the 1934 Norfolk, Virginia, city directory: Vick Hood (c; Lucy) lab h 411 1/2 Church

In the 1940 census of Norfolk, Virginia: Hood Vick, 31, divorced, chauffeur, was a lodger at 411 Church Street.

In the 1941 Norfolk, Virginia, city directory: Vick Hood (c) porter Union Bus Term Inc h 417 Church

In 1942, Hood Vick registered for the World War II draft in Norfolk, Virginia. Per his registration card, he was born 10 June 1897 in Wilson; lived at 411 Church Street, Norfolk; worked for Union Bus Company, Norfolk; and his contact was Lucy Wilson, 411 Church Street.

In the 1950 census of Elizabeth City, Virginia, Hood Vick, 56, is listed as a patient in the Hospital Section of “Vet. Adm. Center.”

Hood Vick died 24 October 1950 in Kecoughtan, Virginia. Per his death certificate, he was born 10 June 1893 in Wilson, N.C., to Hood Vick and Lucy [maiden name unknown]; was married; lived at 506 Church Street, Norfolk; and worked as a porter. Anna Whitney Vick was informant.

Darden Memorial Funeral Home applied for a flat marble marker for Hood Vick’s grave in Rountree Cemetery. The cemetery actually was likely Vick Cemetery (recall that Rountree, Vick, and Odd Fellows were known collectively as Rountree). If so, the marker was destroyed in the aftermath of the clearing of Vick in 1995.

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.