City of Wilson

Saint James Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Last week, a group led by Rev. William Barber gathered in Wilson to take their first steps on a three-day march to Raleigh. The mobilization event, dubbed This Is Our Selma Love Forward Together, draws attention to “unabridged voting rights; living wages and ending poverty; welcoming immigrants; embracing religious values of mercy, grace, empathy and not religious nationalism; supporting fully funded public education; guaranteeing health care for all; spreading love, not hate; keeping peace, not ICE raids and unchecked militarism; saving our environment instead of turning it over to the polluters; letting the people be in control, not a few millionaires and technocrats; and health care for all.” The marchers set forth from Saint James Christian Church on Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway in East Wilson.

Per its website, in “1917, Saint James Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ was founded by George and Daniel Dupree (two laymen brothers who lived in the community). The church’s ministry began as a Sunday School. The Church’s name was changed in 1966 to Saint James Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Our anniversary is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in the month of May. Saint James Christian Church has called five Senior Pastors: Rev. George Washington Little (1917-1920); Bishop Wilbert B. Parks (1920-1959); Rev. Amos Artis, Sr. (1959-1976); Rev. Dr. Charles E. Barnes (1979-2020); and Interim Pastor Rev. Mary Ann Glover (2020-2021). On December 1, 2021, the Reverend Dr. Della J. Owens was called to serve as the Senior Pastor.” The church’s history includes this photograph of an early church building.

The Dupree brothers lived in Pitt County, so it was not clear to me which community was indicated here. Researching Saint James’ history is complicated by by what appear to be related churches in neighboring counties that were also called “Saint James” and shared pastors; by the number of unrelated churches in Wilson and neighboring counties called “Saint James”; and by an apparent switch from Free Will Baptist to Church of Christ Disciples of Christ.

The first recorded Wilson County property purchased by the church was a one-acre lot in Saratoga township, adjacent to “Old Speight’s Chapel Church.”  Trustees Charles Ruffin Sr., Charles Ruffin Jr., and Howard Barrett handled the transaction for the church, paying $225 on 6 July 1946. Deed Book 325, page 48. It is not clear that a church was built here though, as newspapers references to Saint James place it in Fountain, a few miles into Pitt County. In fact, it appears that Saint James built its first church in Wilson only in the late 1990s, when the present building was constructed. Nonetheless, wherever it met, Saint James was active in Wilson County from at least the 1940s.

History courtesy of stjamesdoc.org.

Happy Valentine’s Day 2026!

We moved into 1401 Carolina Street just before my first birthday and left just before my tenth. I haven’t been inside this little brick house in nearly 50 years, but I can describe its every detail, inside and out. My deep connection to my community and its people was forged in those first ten years. Safe in the nest of my knowledge-seeking, passion-encouraging family, I flourished — a sensitive, inquisitive, observant child.

Today, Black Wide-Awake celebrates foundational love! Cheers to Beverly and Rederick Henderson and the East Wilson that made me!

Help for the road to the Negro cemetery.

In the aftermath of complaints by “prominent Negroes of the city” about the impassable condition of roads leading to Vick Cemetery, City Manager W.M. Wiggins appealed to the Wilson County Board of Commissioners to request the state highway commission to make “the road to the local negro cemetery” a state highway. The “town and state” had made some improvements to try to make the road passable in winter, and Wiggins believed the state would take over if asked.

…

Wilson Daily Times, 26 November 1937.

When I first posted about the complaints, I concluded that the road in question was what we now know as Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway/US Highway 264. I’m now revising my thoughts.

The eastward extension of Nash Street past town limits was already a paved state road by 1937 as shown on this 1936 Wilson County road map.

US 264 and NC Highway 58 were already 264 and 58. But there’s a tiny spur, a little dashed set of parallel lines, that represents the road that turned off 264 at Rountree Missionary Baptist Church and ran several hundred feet back to three cemeteries. This — now the eastern end of Bishop L.N. Forbes Street — was the muddy road to the Negro cemetery. It’s not clear whether City Manager Wiggins’ appeal was immediately successful, but a 1968 N.C.D.O.T. map labels this as S.R. (“state road”) 1546.

Is Bishop L.N. Forbes Street still a state road?

Black History Month Throwback: Wilson’s black baseball history.

A recent Facebook post by Wilson’s new Minor League baseball team, the Warbirds, reminded me of the city’s deep black baseball roots. Check out the links below.

americas-game

homestead-grays-at-spring-camp

pop-eye-leonard-and-the-wilson-braves

wilson-braves-negro-nine

homestead-grays-play-the-new-york-black-yankees-in-wilson

the-stantonsburg-hawks

rest-in-power-fred-valentine

elm-city-negro-giants-were-not-boasting-but-we-believe-were-the-best

Celebrating Dr. and Rep. Jones!

This audacious try happened two years ago, but the clip is making the rounds again this Black History Month. Abe Jones, who represents part of Wake County in the North Carolina General Assembly, is a Harvard University and Harvard Law School graduate, and I wanted to know a little more about him. Imagine my surprise to find that Jones was born in Wilson!

A quick bit of research informed me that Jones was born to Frissell W. Jones and Pauline Gallop Jones during the brief period that Frissell Jones taught diversified occupations, math, and English at Darden High School. Jones left Wilson to teach at Saint Augustine’s College, and Abraham Penn Jones was born soon after.

Dr. Frissell W. Jones modeled excellence for his son, and we celebrate both!

Greensboro News and Record, 18 January 2006.

Studio shots, no. 268: the Diggs family.

Though a Wayne County native (and descendant of Celia Artis), Edgar H. Diggs spent most of his adult life in Wilson. He was well-known barber for decades at Walter Hines Barbershop and lived at 205 North Vick Street.

Diggs’ granddaughter Sheila Diggs has graciously shared photos of three generations of her family.

Sula Diggs Artis (ca. 1866-1919), probably taken in a Goldsboro, N.C., studio.

Sula Diggs Artis’ daughter Lizzie Olivia Diggs (1894-1988), circa mid-1910s. Edgar H. Diggs (1890-1970) was her brother. This photo was taken in the studio of Wilson’s Picture-Taking George W. Barnes. That’s his signature one-armed chair, and we’ve seen the window prop before, too.

Olivia Diggs Artis a few years later, with a bob and tiered, drop-waist day dress characteristic of the early 1920s. 

Edgar H. Diggs and youngest son Preston Diggs at their Vick Street home, circa late 1940s. The camera is a twin-lens reflex camera, perhaps a Rolleiflex.

Walter Preston Diggs (1928-2024).