Civic Life

Lane Street Project: a grass-cutting appeal.

Oh! Look! Odd Fellows Cemetery awash in dandelions! Lovely, isn’t it?

Well. Not really.

Odd Fellows is a graveyard. Not a meadow. It’s overgrown. And our lawnmower has conked out. Until Friends of Lane Street Project (FoLSP) raises funds for a new one, won’t you consider stopping by to mow the front? Our last cleanup of the season in Saturday, May 23, but you can come whenever convenient. 

Thank you!

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, May 2026.

Lane Street Project: we’ve leveled up!

We’re so pleased to share that we’ve formed a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, FRIENDS OF LANE STREET PROJECT, to enable us to better research, improve, and protect the cemeteries we champion. FoLSP’s primary focus will be Odd Fellows — increasing public awareness, amplifying clean-up efforts, and furthering efforts to identify who and how many people are buried there.

Thanks for all you’ve done to support LSP as a community collective. As we shift to a more organized entity, we’ll be rolling out fundraising initiatives and hope you will help us reach our goals. Tune in for more about our plans in upcoming weeks.

 

Signal Boost: One Love Neighborhood Empowerment Walk.

I didn’t see this flyer until after the fact, but I’m sharing it so you’ll be motivated to find out when One Love Neighborhood Empowerment Walk is again planning to traverse the heart of Historic East Wilson, beautifying our streets and getting in steps.

Lane Street Project’s own Senior Force stalwart Castonoble Hooks was invited yesterday to deliver a few history words to the volunteers gathered. I know he made sure they know they were walking through the neighborhood Samuel H. Vick built. 

Gala day for County School Commencement!

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 21 April 1917.

Can you imagine? Each spring, hundreds and hundreds of county school children gathered at the Colored Graded School to launch a parade through the streets of downtown Wilson, led by a brass marching band. (The article says 2000 children marched in 1917. There were only about 20 county schools, none larger than three rooms. That is a thirst for knowledge.) The children’s manual arts exhibits were displayed on the school grounds and in the auditorium an array of dignitaries (including “three white ladies from New York” and Dr. Frank S. Hargrave) graced the stage. Speaker after speaker delivered messages in the Booker T. Washington mode — work hard, be patriotic, know your place. J.D. Reid, principal of the Graded School and supervisor of the black county schools, was recognized for having spearheaded a prodigious fundraising drive, money that likely represented the community’s monetary contribution to the four Rosenwald Schools built in Wilson County in 1917 and ’18 — Williamson, Rocky Branch, Kirby’s, and Lucama. (Just shy of a year later, Reid and Charles L. Coon were embroiled in the disgraceful events that led to a boycott of the Graded School, but let’s stay present….)

——

  • Rev. Perry — Rev. Robert N. Perry, pastor of Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church
  • Mr. Vick — Samuel H. Vick, former Graded School principal and extraordinary businessman and political leader

Red Hots take top honor in Warrenton.

Wilson Daily Times, 15 July 1949.

Though their longtime leader Ben Mincey was nearing death, the Wilson colored volunteer company, better known as the Red Hots, won top honors at the North Carolina colored fire association’s annual contest, securing silver belt.

The company:

The hose reel team:

  • Charles Artis
  • Fred Barnes
  • Mack McKeathan — Daniel “Mack” McKeithan
  • Chester Smith (who was high school-aged) — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1023 Roberson Street, Emma Smith, 44, cooks and cleans, and children Gloria, 24, Chester, 17, Emma E., 13, and Robert, 8.
  • Moses Worsley (who was in high school) — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1210 Carolina, David Worsley, 43, butler in service; wife Connie, 36, tobacco factory hanging room worker; and children John E., 17, Moses, 15, Elnora, 15, Lois Jean, 11, and Stoney, 9.
  • Joseph Meachen
  • Offie Clark (who was in high school)
  • Clarence Reid — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 705 East Green, Mabel Boney, 58, husband Calvin, 65, and son Floyd, 27, pool room manager; sister Isabelle Reid, 51; and lodgers Viney, 58, servant, and Clarence Reid, 19; yard cleaner Robert Lee King, 28, and wife Marjorie, 17; Raymond, 24, and Lester Hines, 21, delivery boy; and Neil Tucker, 60, barber.
  • Robert Dudley — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: construction carpenter Henry Dudley, 51; wife Della, 46; children James, 25, Minnie B., 22, cooks and cleans, and Bernard, 2; and grandson Robert L., 20.
  • Charles Rountree (who was in high school)– in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: farmer Raeford Rountree, 55; wife Mamie, 48; and children Raeford, 21, Mamie T., 19, Bessie M., 17, Charles, 16, Carrie M., 13, Nellie B., 10, Rosetta, 8, and Clarence F., 5.
  • Charlie Floyd — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Manda Floyd, 47; children Doretha, 23, hotel cook, and Charlie, 17; and grandson David E., 5, Alfonso, 4, and Nathaniel, 3.
  • Hubert Speight
  • William H. Kittrell

The spectators:

The 108th anniversary of the school boycott.

Today marks the 108th anniversary of the resignation of 11 African-American teachers in Wilson, North Carolina, in rebuke of their “high-handed” black principal and the white school superintendent who slapped one of them. In their wake, black parents pulled their children out of the public school en masse and established a private alternative in a building owned by a prominent black businessman.  Financed with 25¢-a-week tuition payments and elaborate student musical performances, the Independent School operated for nearly ten years. The school boycott, sparked by African-American women standing at the very intersection of perceived powerless in the Jim Crow South, was an astonishing act of prolonged resistance that unified Wilson’s black toilers and strivers.

The only known photograph of the Wilson Normal Collegiate & Industrial Institute. 

The school boycott is largely forgotten in Wilson, and its heroes go unsung. In their honor, today, and every April 9 henceforth, I publish links to Black Wide-Awake posts chronicling the walk-out and its aftermath. Please re-read and share and speak the names of Mary C. Euell and the revolutionary teachers of the Colored Graded School.

we-tender-our-resignation-and-east-wilson-followed

the-heroic-teachers-of-principal-reids-school

The teachers.

a-continuation-of-the-bad-feelings

what-happened-when-white-perverts-threatened-to-slap-colored-school-teachers

604-606-east-vance-street

mary-euell-and-dr-du-bois

minutes-of-the-school-board

attack-on-prof-j-d-reid

lucas-delivers-retribution

lynching-going-on-and-there-are-men-trying-to-stand-in-with-the-white-folks

photos-of-the-colored-graded-and-independent-schools

new-school-open

the-program

a-big-occasion-in-the-history-of-the-race-in-this-city

womens-history-month-celebrating-the-teachers-of-the-wilson-normal-industrial-school

the-roots-of-mary-c-euell

respectful-petition-seeks-reids-removal

lucas-testifies-that-he-accomplished-his-purpose

there-has-been-an-astonishing-occurrence-in-wilson

no-armistice-in-sight

the-independent-school-thrives

the-incorporation-of-the-w-n-c-i-institute

normal-school-teachers

And here, my Zoom lecture, “Wilson Normal and Industrial Institute: A Community Response to Injustice,” delivered in February 2022.