At Wilson Colored Graded School (also known as Stantonsburg Street School and, later, Sallie Barbour School), classes regularly posed for group photos on the school’s front steps.

In this photo, taken in the late 1910’s, Roney Baker sits third from right on the second row. He was about six years old. Though this was one teacher’s class, notice the range in her pupils’ ages. As noted here, “[t]hree thousand African-American children in Wilson County were enrolled in eight grades during the 1923-1924 school year. They ranged from six to twenty years of age. The 1689 first graders ranged from six to seventeen years old, and nearly two-thirds were classified as ‘over age.’ There were three nineteen year-old second graders, and a full fifth of all third graders were thirteen years old. One was twenty. Only 17 of 269 fourth graders were age-appropriate. The eighth grade class — the highest grade offered to black children — tallied a single pupil.”

Do you recognize the teacher or any other students?

Many thanks to Verona Barnes True for sharing this photo.