Benjamin A. Harris Sr., as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

——

Benjamin A. Harris Sr. (1894-1955), brickmason.

Where we worked: Contentnea Guano Company.

Contentnea Guano opened about 1909 between the railroad tracks and Oakland Cemetery southeast of downtown Wilson. Over the course of more than fifty years, hundreds of African-American men labored in caustic conditions to produce the fertilizer cotton and tobacco farmers needed to replenish their worn-out soil. Among them:

  • Tobe Bellamy, laborer, 1909
  • William Clark, mechanical helper, 1950
  • Alfred Cook, laborer, 1910
  • Georgie Crutchfield, helper, 1930
  • Silas Edwards, laborer, 1918
  • Augustus Ellis, employee, 1917
  • Samuel Hargett, laborer, 1918
  • Dave Harris, laborer, 1930
  • Lonnie Hopkins, laborer, 1910
  • Moses Hoskins, laborer, 1917
  • James Johnson, laborer, 1920
  • James T. Jones, laborer, 1945
  • Wesley Jones, laborer, 1917
  • Daner Marshall, laborer, 1917
  • John McCoy, laborer, 1930
  • Robert McNair, laborer, 1920
  • Charlie Morris, laborer, 1917
  • Lee Palmer, laborer, 1930
  • Coney Rodgers, laborer, 1930
  • Millard Smith, laborer, 1917
  • Ellis Suggs, laborer, 1930
  • John H. Swinson, laborer, 1940
  • Ed Sykes, laborer [killed in factory accident], 1921
  • Basil B. Tyler, laborer [killed during construction of factory], 1909
  • George Vinson, sack sewer, 1917
  • Roosevelt Weaver, laborer, 1940
  • Wilson Webb, laborer, 1930
  • William White, wagoner, 1920
  • Henry Williams, laborer, 1918
  • Garfield Williams, making guano, 1918, 1920
  • Junius Woodard, carpenter [died as a result of injuries during construction], 1909
  • Charlie Younger, laborer, 1930

Wilson Times, 24 October 1911.

Ora Renfrow Parker, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated. Let me know what you think about them.

——

Ora Renfrow Parker (1899-??), homemaker.

Patsy Tabron turns two!

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 1 November 1941.

——

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: painter-contractor Butler Jones, 59; wife Myrtie, 57; and sons Joseph, 25, Willard, 20, and John, 19, all painters; son-in-law William Tabron, 26, janitor at Carolina Theatre; daughter Myrtie, 21; and granddaughter Patsy, 6 months.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1011 East Nash Street, painter Butler Jones, 69; wife Myrtie, 67; son John H., 27, and his wife Lizzie M., 28; son-in-law William L. Tabron, 35; wife Myrtie, 30; and daughters Patsy, 10, and Julia, 9.

Mitchell vs. Smith and Moore.

In 1911, Annie Mitchell filed suit against Rev. Owen L.W. Smith over a land dispute. In 1907, Mitchell had purchased from Smith a lot in what is now the 500 block of East Nash Street. Per the deed, the lot measured 44 1/4 feet by 210 feet.

Soon, though, Mitchell learned that the lot was only 147 feet deep and that the back 63 feet that she thought she owned in fact was R.J. Taylor’s lot. She sued for the difference in the values of the full lot and the lot she got.

For reasons unstated, the court granted O.L.W. Smith’s motion to add Edward Moore as a party.

On 15 February 1913, Judge B.D. Cline ordered Smith to pay Mitchell $125, plus interest, and Moore to pay Smith $100, plus interest.

Civil Action Papers Concerning Land, Wilson County, N.C., 1908-1916; Wilson County, N.C., Court Records 1904-1916; http://www.familysearch.org.

Sallie Coleman Bynum remembers.

Wilson Daily Times, 24 February 1994.

What a testimony!

——

  • Sallie Coleman Bynum

In the 1910 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: Henry Coleman, 38, farmer; wife Mary J., 28; and children Stella, 13, Willie, 8, Josiah, 7, William, 5, Mattie J., 4, and Sallie, 2.

In the 1920 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: on Old Wilson and Raleigh Road, farmer Henry Coleman, 50; wife Mary Jane, 40; and children Stella, 22, Willie, 19, Joesire, 17, William H., 16, Mattie J., 13, Sallie, 12, Bell, 10, Stephen, 8, Wiley, 7, and Eva, 1.

In the 1930 census of Oldfields township, Wilson County: farmer Henery D. Coleman, 58; wife Mary J., 52; children Bill, 18, Stephen, 17, Willey, 15, Mattie, 22, Sallie, 20, Eva, 13, Guyes E., 9, Gurtice, 5; and grandson Ollie L., 10 months.

Sallie Coleman Bynum died 6 December 1994 in Wilson.

Lamm’s School stood on Lamm Road just north of present-day U.S. 64. The school was built in 1923 as Wilson County consolidated one- and two-room schools for white children into modern masonry buildings. The building was recently demolished to make way for a Chick Fil A.

  • Sugar Hill — An African-American neighborhood just west of Sims’ town limits.

Images of Historic Wilson County N.C., Images of North Carolina, lib.digitalnc.org.