The plus side of Charles L. Coon, as republished in the April 1911 issue of the N.A.A.C.P.’s The Crisis magazine:
The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races, volume 1, number 6 (April 1911).
education
Higher learning.
A running list of African-Americans born (or reared) in Wilson County before 1900 who attended normal school, university or graduate school.
Barnes Bird, Agnes M. (1862-??), Saint Augustine’s.
Battle, Ada G. (1876-1951) — Livingstone; Scotia Seminary ’95.
Battle Wright, Chandler (1891-1952) — Scotia Seminary.
Battle, Charles Tecumseh (1888-??) — Brick Agr., Ind. & Normal ’10.
Battle Williston, Doane (1886-??) — Scotia Seminary.
Battle Faver, Geneva T. (1877-1967) — Livingstone.
Battle, James A. (1885-1923) — Leonard Medical ’09.
Blount, Frank Oscar (1860-??) — Lincoln B.A. ’84.
Bowser, Russell Linwood (1891-191) — Howard Dental ’17.
Bryant, William H. (1886-1947) — Saint Augustine’s; North Carolina A.&.T. B.S. ’11; Leonard Medical; Meharry Medical ’15.
Bynum, Charles H. (1872-1938) — Lincoln B.A. ’90, Leonard Medical ’98.
Clark, Augustus S. (1874-1959) — Lincoln B.A. ’94; Lincoln M.A. ’97.
Clark, Flora R.M. (1898-1985) — Saint Augustine’s.
Clark, John Henry (1864-1949) — Lincoln; Howard Normal ’82.
Clark, Thomas G. (1876-??) — Lincoln B.A.; Howard Divinity ’05.
Clark, William H. (1873-??) — Lincoln B.A. ’93, M.A. ’96.
Cotton, James A. (1866-1922) — Livingstone B.A.; Leonard Medical; Harvey Medical ’97.
Darden Tennessee, Artelia (1889-1962) — Livingstone.
Darden, Arthur N. (1889-1948) — North Carolina A. & T., B. Agr. ’08.
Darden, Charles S. (1879-1954) — Howard Law ’05.
Darden, James B. (1882-1951) —
New York Medical Journal, 29 July 1916.
Darden, John W. (1876-1949) — Livingstone B.A.; Leonard Medical.
Darden James Morgan, Lizzie (1886-1970) — Livingstone ’03; Tuskegee.
Darden, Walter Theodore (1896-1986) — Livingstone ’21; Howard Medical ’25.
Edwards, J.H. (??-??) — Howard Normal, circa ’90.
Forbes, J.H. (??-??) — Shaw, circa ’77.
Freeman, Daniel E. (1895-??) — Tuskegee.
Freeman, Julius F., Jr. (1887-1960) — Tuskegee ’11.
Freeman, Oliver Nestus (1881-1955) — Tuskegee.
Fullwider, Samuel (??-??) — Shaw, circa ’77.
Harris, Benjamin Amos (1894-1955) — Tuskegee.
Hines, William (1883-1981) — Biddle Normal ’08.
Kersey, Ardella (1854-??) — Shaw, circa ’77.
Lassiter, Henry C. (??-??)– Howard Normal; Lincoln ’95.
Powell, Wiley (1886-??) — North Carolina A.&T., B. Agr. ’08.
Skinner, John H. (1867-??) — Saint Augustine; State Normal, Fayetteville B.A. ’81; Tuskegee B.A. ’22.
Suggs, Daniel C. (1865-1930) — Lincoln; Saint Augustine’s B.A.’84; Saint Augustine’s M.A.; Morris Brown Ph.D.
Suggs, James T. (1876-1934) — Livingstone ’93; Lincoln B.A. ’97; Howard Medical ’03.
Suggs Moore, Serena (1863-1930) — Saint Augustine’s; Scotia Seminary; Saint Mary’s Academy.
Taylor, Russell B. (1881-1954) — Livingstone.
Vick, J. Oscar (1872-??) — Biddle.
Wilson Mirror, 19 October 1892.
Vick, Samuel H. (1863-1947) — Lincoln B.A. ’84.
Vick, William Henry (1870-??) — Lincoln B.A. ’94; Leonard Pharmaceutical ’97.
Ward, Joseph Henry (1870-1954) — Physio-Medical College of Indiana M.D.; Indiana University School of Medicine M.D.
Washington Vick, Annie M. (1872-1952) — Scotia Seminary.
Washington, Samuel (1867-1959) — Howard Normal, circa ’85.
Wells, Marie (1898-1997) — Saint Augustine’s.
Williamson Reid, Mahala (1864-ca. 1894) — Hampton, circa 1882.
Williamson, Turner G. — Lincoln ’95.
Dr. Clark’s normal school.
Adapted from Gillespie-Selden Historic District Design Guidelines 2013:
The Gillespie-Selden Historic District is located in southwest Cordele, Georgia, and is roughly bounded by US 280/GA 30 (16th Avenue) to the south, 13th Avenue and the CSX Railroad to the north, 11th Street to the east, and 15th Street to the west. The Gillespie-Selden neighborhood centers around the Gillespie-Selden Institute campus on West 15th Avenue.
The Gillespie Normal School was founded in 1902 by Dr. Augustus S. Clark and his wife, Anna Clark, to provide educational facilities for African-American boys and girls. The school was named in recognition of the Gillespie family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, whose financial gift made the school possible. The Clarks met the Gillespies during a Presbyterian Conference in South Carolina. With the financial gift, the Clarks were able to build a school and support a boarding program. Students from the eastern section of the United States, such as New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, attended the school. Some of the students worked as laborers in the rail yards to attend the institute.
Gillespie-Selden Institute originally consisted of two wood-framed buildings, a faculty of three teachers, and an enrollment of 28 students. In 1923, a hospital was financially secured with a gift of $1,000. At that time the nearest hospital for African-Americans was located 160 miles away. The first nurse was Mrs. Eula Burke Johnson, a graduate of the Gillespie Normal School. The hospital was located on the second floor of one of the early wood-framed buildings and consisted of two beds and one operating room. Local doctors, white and African-American, were on the staff. The Charles Helm Hospital, named for the benefactor, also functioned as a nursing training school. The nurses trained in patient care at the hospital and attended classes at the Gillespie-Selden Institute. In 1937, a 25-bed hospital was constructed near the Gillespie-Selden Institute and named Gillespie Hospital for William Gillespie, who donated the funds needed to build it. The hospital, in cooperation with the state nursing service and under the direction of Nurse Johnson, held weekly clinics for midwives who cared for over 50% of all maternity cases in this area of the state. In 1949, a separate nursing college, Selden Cottage, was constructed to house the nursing program.
…
The Gillespie-Selden Institute, located at the corner of 15th Avenue and 12th Street, includes a complex of buildings consisting of the President’s Home, Founder’s Home, girls’ dormitory, Gillespie Memorial Hospital, Administration Building and Selden Cottage. The President’s home, built circa 1925 is located next to the girls’ dormitory and is a two-story brick building with Craftsman style detailing. The Founder’s Home, also known as Dr. Clark’s House, is a Colonial Revival style house built circa 1941 and located on 15th Avenue near St. Paul Presbyterian Church. The girls’ dormitory is a three-story brick building with Colonial Revival style features built in 1929. This building was one of the first brick buildings constructed on the campus. The Gillespie Memorial Hospital is a one-story brick building with a center gable built in 1937 with Colonial Revival style features. The Administration Building, built in 1937, is a two-story brick building featuring a center tower with Colonial Revival style detailing. Selden Cottage, which served as a nursing school, is a two-story brick building constructed in 1949.
——
In the 1880 census of Wilson township, Wilson County, farmer Henry Clark, 39, wife, Florah, 38, and children John, 16, Mary J., 14, Ella, 12, Henrietta, 9, Henry, 8, Augustin, 5, Thomas, 3, and Margaret, 10 months.
On 12 September 1918, 44 year-old Augustus Simeon Clark registered for the World War I draft. His occupation? “Teaching and preaching.”
In the 1920 census of Cordele, Crisp County, Georgia: at 611 – 15th Avenue West, Rev. Augustus S. Clark, 46, wife Annie, 40, and adopted daughter Louise, 14. Annie and Louise were Alabama natives.
In the 1930 census of Cordele, Crisp County, Georgia: A.S. Clark, 55, superintendent of Gillespie School; wife A.W., 52, teacher; daughter K. Louise, 24, teacher; and ten boarders, including a campus laborer, students, a nurse and two teachers.
One of the testimonials of “Negro college presidents” who joined and contributed to National Urban League’s labor programming, Pittsburgh Courier, 7 July 1934.
In the 1940 census of Cordele, Crisp County, Georgia: at Gillespie Normal School, Augustus S. Clark, 65, president, and wife Anna Clark, 60, dean.
Augustus S. Clark died 28 July 1959 in Cordele, Georgia.
For more on preservation efforts in Cordele’s Gillespie-Selden Historic District, see Gillespie-Selden Design Charrette.
Teachers, 1896.
From the chapter concerning Wilson County in the 1896 edition of Branson’s North Carolina Business Directory:
- Joseph Bass
- Ella Battle
- Ada Battle
- John H. Clark
- Carrie Cooper
- James A. Cotten — James Arthur Cotton (1862-1922) obtained a medical degree in Chicago in 1897 and practiced there until his death in 1922.
- A.D. Dawson — Alexander D. Dawson (circa 1860-??) later worked as a fishmonger and merchant.
- A.W. Jones
- Charlotte Jordan
- Maggie Joyner
- A.J.C. Moore — Thirty-nine year-old salesman Andrew J.C. Moore appears in the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County, with children Seneth W., 9, Willie P., 8, and Minnie, 6. In the city directory of 1908, he listed as a teacher, but in the 1922 directory his occupation is grocer.
- Silas Parker — Born about 1860, Silas Parker was the son of Toney and Julia Parker of Lower Town Creek township, Edgecombe County. He married Mahala Parker in Nash County on 20 December 1888. In the 1900 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Silas Parker, 38, wife Mahalia, 31, and children Maggie, 9, Mary B., 7, John W.L., 5, McKilley, 5, and Estle, 1. Silas died before 1914.
- Henry Vick — William Henry Vick was a son of Daniel and Fannie Blount Vick and brother of Samuel H. Vick. He graduated from Lincoln University in 1894 and Shaw University’s pharmaceutical program in 1897.
- Hinton Wilder — Son of Ishmael and Sarah Richards Wilder, Hinton was born about 1864 in Wilson County and died before 1913, per his father’s will.
- B.R. Winstead — Braswell R. Winstead was a former barber.
I think a school would be sufficiently supported.
In a letter to Brevet Lt. Col. Charles E. Compton, Assistant Commissioner of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau), Israel Barden provided information about the state of education for freedmen in Wilson County. There were two schools, he reported, one at Joyners Depot (later Elm City) and one in Wilson, and support for a new school building would justify its expense.
Records of Assistant Commissioner of the State of North Carolina; Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands; Record Group 105, National Archives; Freedmen Bureau Records of Field Offices, 1863-1878 [database on-line], Ancestry.com.
One of the Negro’s Crying Needs.
In which Calvary Presbyterian‘s Rev. Halley B. Taylor sets forth an argument for an educated clergy:
The Presbyterian Banner, 27 January 1910.