Photographs

The talented Daniel Freeman.

While a student, Daniel E. Freeman designed a new scoreboard for Tuskegee Institute’s athletic stadium.

Montgomery Advertiser, 21 August 1926.

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In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: 56 year-old carpenter Julius Freeman, wife Eliza, 46, and children Elizabeth, 19, Nestus, 17, Junius, 11, Ernest, 9, Tom, 6, Daniel, 4, and Ruth, 4 months.

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: house carpenter Julius Freeman, 65; wife Eliza, 54; and children Nestus, 28, bricklayer; Ollie, 18, Daniel, 14, John, 7, Junius, 22, Ernest, 20, and Thomas, 17.

On 28 May 1921, Dedquard [Daniel Edward] Freeman, 25, born in Wilson, N.C., to Julius Freeman and Eliza Daniel, sign painter, married Ellen D. Wilson, 22, born in Wilson, N.C., to William Wilson and Sarah Bullard, in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

In the 1930 census of Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama: Daniel A. Freeman, 32, private school drama teacher; wife Ellaine, 28; and daughter Elaine, 6, born in Ohio.

In the 1940 census of Greenwood, Macon County, Alabama: at Tuskegee Institute, Dequard Freeman, 43; wife Ellen, 35, laundry checker; and daughter Elaine, 16.

Montgomery Advertiser, 21 August 1946.

In the 1950 census of Greenwood, Macon County, Alabama: Daniel E. Freeman, 53; wife Ellen D., 47; and cousin Donald McLauren, 10, born in New York.

Daniel E. Freeman. 

Dedquard E. Freeman died 27 January 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama.

Saint Mark’s sanctuary faces uncertain future.

After Jackson Chapel and Saint John A.M.E.Z., the building in which Saint Mark’s Episcopal worships is the third oldest continuously occupied  African-American sanctuary in Wilson. However, recent structural stresses have imperiled its future. 

Around 1925, Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist erected a church on Reid Street just south of East Nash. Ten years later, Mount Sinai had vacated the building. Looking for a location away from the downtown tobacco warehouse district and closer to its congregants, the Episcopal diocese purchased the church to house Saint Mark’s. With a few repairs, and the installation of its old circular stained glass cross, the church was ready for its new occupants in January 1936.

I took a few photos on a recent visit to Saint Mark’s, but they don’t adequately capture its simple beauty. Though its liturgical articles and ornaments have largely been removed, its altar, pews, and simple stained glass windows tell a century-old story.

The spine of Saint Mark’s building is broken, but the spirit of its worshippers, now largely members of the Guadalupana Mission, continues to soar. 

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2025.

Happy 113th anniversary to the sisters of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.!

Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., was a relative latecomer to Wilson, but as a woman steeped and marinated in crimson and cream, I recognize our national Founders Day here.

www.wilsonalumnae.com

My mother Beverly A. Henderson is a Delta. My father’s sister Hattie H. Ellis is a Delta. My sister Karla M. Henderson-Jackson. My niece Sydney Jackson. Two first cousins, Monica E. Barnes and Tracey E. Leon, and innumerable, more distant relatives. Deltas crowded my childhood “village,” i.e. East Wilson, and I was nurtured by Diana D. Myers, Yvonne C. Lofton, Evelyn W. Hagans, Shirley S. Woodard, Ruth H. Harris, Mary Peppers, Minnie E. Cummings, Jessie M. Jones, Ethel A. Woodard, Marian G. Lane, and so many others.

Sisterhood, scholarship, service, and social action. We are anchored in legacy and evolving with intention. Happy 113th Founders Day, sorors!

Lane Street Project: S6 D1 is in the books!

An enthusiastic thank you to the crew that opened Season 6 of Lane Street Project’s cemetery cleanups yesterday! Workday 1 is in the books!

On a warm, overcast morning, volunteers focused on cutting and clearing wisteria sprouts that sprang up inside the tree line in the off-season. This is critical to prepare for future work at Odd Fellows. Special thanks to newly elected District 6 council member Eduardo Herrera-Picasso, who looked, listened, and learned — and got to work with a string trimmer!

The next volunteer opportunity comes on Martin Luther King Jr. holiday — Monday, January 19! There’s work for everyone, of every ability, and we welcome all!

WE CARE!

Installation by Jen Kehrer. Photo courtesy of Olivia Neeley.

Lane Street Project: thanks again, homeschoolers!

In thanks for their dedication to caring for Odd Fellows Cemetery and learning from elders about the history of their community, I created Children of Lane Street Project badges for the young preservationists of the Homeschoolers Honoring Ancestors chapter of Tarheel Junior Historians.

Yesterday morning, Senior Force members Castonoble Hooks and Briggs Sherwood were on hand at the students’ regular library visit to award their badges. A big thanks to all the H.H.A. kids — and their parents, for nurturing their curiosity and love of history and inviting us to today’s ceremony!

 

Lane Street Project: congrats and gratitude.

I didn’t recognize the phone number, but I answered anyway. I was in a bit of a rush, heading into Home Depot for something or other. The caller was Chris Facey. He’d just started a residency in Wilson with Eyes on Main Street, and Jerome De Perlinghi had suggested he talk to me. I didn’t know it yet, but I was talking to the man who would, while forming an indelible bond with Castonoble Hooks, capture so many beautiful, joyful, sorrowful moments along Lane Street Project’s journey.

I’m so proud that Chris’ work has been included in the Griffin Museum of Photography’s Evidence of Existence on-line exhibit. Chris captured this image during Lane Street Project’s second season — the shaft and pyramidal cap of Henry Tart’s obelisk gleaming dully in a wisteria-draped glade.

Chris has brought honor and recognition to our ancestors. We thank him for his gifts of “art and record” and wish him multifold blessings.

Follow Chris Facey on Instagram @coco.butter.shutter