For an in-depth understanding of the context and significance of Samuel H. Vick‘s service as Wilson postmaster, please read Benjamin R. Justesen’s “Black Tip, White Iceberg: Black Postmasters and the Rise of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1897-1901,” published in The North Carolina Historical Review, Volume 82, Number 2 (April 2005), pp. 193-227. (If you don’t have a JSTOR subscription, you can sign up for 100 free article views.)