I’ve written before of the 1951 consolidation of Wilson County’s tiny rural African-American graded schools following a lawsuit by Black parents seeking adequate education for their children.

“Wilson County Schools Institute Large Expansion Program This Year; Two New Colored Schools Are Among Listed Improvements,” Wilson Daily Times, 11 August 1950.

Some were Rosenwald schools, but others predated that program. During a recent visit to Wilson, I began to try to pin down the locations of the school buildings, nearly all of which have disappeared from the landscape.

In 1951, the county’s three school systems — Wilson City Schools, Wilson County Board of Education, and Elm City Schools — began to run notices in the paper publicizing auctions of the excessed buildings. Finding deeds of sale for most of the school properties was simple, but interpreting their archaic metes and bounds — with references to grocery stores, churches, and long-dead neighbors — is a frustrating exercise. If time and energy ever allow, I’ll run title searches forward to pinpoint locations.

I’ve created a spreadsheet to track what I find and of course will keep you posted. In the meantime, in case a name or place resonates with you, here are the descriptions set forth in deeds of sale filed at Wilson County Register of Deeds Office:

Brooks Colored School. Deed book 447, page 291.

Wilbanks Colored School. Deed book 447, page 37.

New Vester Colored School. Deed book 445, page 400.

Bynums Colored School. Deed book 445, page 333.

Williamson Colored School. Deed book 447, page 330.

Jones Hill Colored School. Deed book 445, page 322.

Turner School and Pender School. Deed book 505, page 295.

Minshew Colored School. Deed book 465, page 224.

Sims Colored School. Deed book 463, page 92.

Calvin Level Colored School. Deed book 463, page 37.

Yelverton Colored School. Deed book 447, page 187.

Lofton Colored School. Deed book 447, page 184.

Howard Colored School. Deed book 447, page 203.

Evansdale Colored School. Deed book 447, page 249.

Stantonsburg Colored School. Deed book 445, page 325.

Sallie Barbour School. Deed book 441, page 5.

Rocky Branch Colored School. Deed book 449, page 380 (correcting deed book 447, page 23).

Farmers Mill Colored School. Deed book 447, page 278.

Lucama Colored School? Deed book 463, page 171.