graded school

Nineteenth-century colored school districts.

We know little about 19th-century African American schools in Wilson County. There were at least 19 and probably many more, but to date we can only firmly identify five. These quasi-public schools predated Rosenwald schools by decades, but at least a few, like Rocky Branch, Howard, and Stantonsburg, survived to be upgraded with Rosenwald funds.

Here’s a running list of the schools I’ve identified.

#1 Unnamed school, Stantonsburg township, per deed reference, Stantonsburg and Moyton Road.

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12 Rocky Branch school, Springhill township, per an 1896 deed reference to “the lot belonging to district No 12 of the colored free school … on the Buck horn and Kenly Road” adjacent to the “colored Christian church lot …”

#13

#14 Unknown school, Black Creek township, per reference in an 1881 news brief.

Wilson Advance, 11 February 1881.

#15

#16

#17 Howard School, Taylors township, per deed.

#18

#19 Unknown school, Toisnot township east of Elm City, per a 1898 deed reference: “Parcel of land known as Colored School lot District no 19. Situated on the East Side of the Public road leading from Elm City to the old Tarboro and Raleigh road, adjoining the lands of [Redmond Winstead] containing one acre or less.”

Deed Book 50, page 283, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 19: Lofton School.

In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.

We been here.

LOFTON SCHOOL

Probably originally school for white students; converted to Black school. Located near bridge over Contentnea Creek on present-day Downing Rd. Not a Rosenwald School. Closed in 1951 with consolidation of rural schools.

We know little about Lofton School, but for more see here and here and here.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2024.

Brooks School scholars.

This priceless photograph depicts the students of Black Creek township’s Brooks School in 1914. Ada Harris Sharpe Reid stands second from left on the front row. Teacher Louvenia Woodard clutches a large book or ledger at right.

Photo courtesy of Ada H. Reid via George K. Butterfield Jr.

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 18: Minshew School.

In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.

We been here.

MINSHEW SCHOOL

Late 19c. one-room graded school for white students. Ca. 1920 began serving Black students in Black Creek area. Not a Rosenwald School. Hosted active 4-H and home demonstration clubs. Closed in 1951 when rural schools on east side of county consolidated after construction of Speight School. 

For more about Minshew School, see here, here, here, and here.

Expenses of white and colored schools.

Wilson Daily Times, 12 December 1921.

In 1921, Wilson County paid expenditures for its white and “colored” schools at a ratio of 16:1. Note not only the overall money spent, but what it was spent for. (Or not.) There were no African-American high schools anywhere in the county — hence, no salaries paid. No assets used for African-American students were insured, and no transportation was provided. No furniture, blackboards, desks, stoves, new houses, sites, or equipment accrued to Black students. The County did pay out $67.50 in rent, however, as many rural schools did not have their own buildings.

The sales of colored schools.

I’ve written before of the 1951 consolidation of Wilson County’s tiny rural African-American graded schools following a lawsuit by Black parents seeking adequate education for their children.

“Wilson County Schools Institute Large Expansion Program This Year; Two New Colored Schools Are Among Listed Improvements,” Wilson Daily Times, 11 August 1950.

Some were Rosenwald schools, but others predated that program. During a recent visit to Wilson, I began to try to pin down the locations of the school buildings, nearly all of which have disappeared from the landscape.

In 1951, the county’s three school systems — Wilson City Schools, Wilson County Board of Education, and Elm City Schools — began to run notices in the paper publicizing auctions of the excessed buildings. Finding deeds of sale for most of the school properties was simple, but interpreting their archaic metes and bounds — with references to grocery stores, churches, and long-dead neighbors — is a frustrating exercise. If time and energy ever allow, I’ll run title searches forward to pinpoint locations.

I’ve created a spreadsheet to track what I find and of course will keep you posted. In the meantime, in case a name or place resonates with you, here are the descriptions set forth in deeds of sale filed at Wilson County Register of Deeds Office:

Brooks Colored School. Deed book 447, page 291.

Wilbanks Colored School. Deed book 447, page 37.

New Vester Colored School. Deed book 445, page 400.

Bynums Colored School. Deed book 445, page 333.

Williamson Colored School. Deed book 447, page 330.

Jones Hill Colored School. Deed book 445, page 322.

Turner School and Pender School. Deed book 505, page 295.

Minshew Colored School. Deed book 465, page 224.

Sims Colored School. Deed book 463, page 92.

Calvin Level Colored School. Deed book 463, page 37.

Yelverton Colored School. Deed book 447, page 187.

Lofton Colored School. Deed book 447, page 184.

Howard Colored School. Deed book 447, page 203.

Evansdale Colored School. Deed book 447, page 249.

Stantonsburg Colored School. Deed book 445, page 325.

Sallie Barbour School. Deed book 441, page 5.

Rocky Branch Colored School. Deed book 449, page 380 (correcting deed book 447, page 23).

Farmers Mill Colored School. Deed book 447, page 278.

Lucama Colored School? Deed book 463, page 171.

 

County schools, no. 2: Mitchell School, no. 2.

We first visited Mitchell School here. Mitchell was not a Rosenwald School. Rather, it was built by the county school board on land formerly owned by James G. Mitchell, a prosperous African-American farmer who lived west of Elm City.

When I first photographed Mitchell School in 2020, it was crowded on every side by pine saplings and catbrier. I recently got word that the lot had been cleared of overgrowth, exposing the school and the motley collection of trailers that surround it. The school is in amazing condition given its age and disuse. Though one of the two entrances was open, I could not access the interior because of a collapsed stoop. The property is said to have a new owner, and I hope he or she is aware of the building’s legacy.

The school has a double entrance. The westernmost is boarded up. The easternmost, below, is open, but not easily accessible. Note the solid, standing-seam roof.

The interior, as far as I could peer in. It’s junk-filled, but dry. (I don’t think this was a “little red schoolhouse,” by the way. It appears that only the area within the entry alcove was painted.)

From the west, looking east.

Mitchell School was converted to a dwelling after its closure, but seems not to have been occupied for many years. A house trailer stands directly in front of the building at a distance of perhaps twenty feet.

The eastern elevation.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2024.

Iredell County Chronicles, no. 5.

Margaret Colvert Allen, seated far right, third row, circa 1915.

Greensboro Daily News, 10 March 1916.

Margaret C. Allen, second from right, second row from top. Her sister Launie Mae Colvert Jones, at left, first row of middle section, circa 1916. Both photos, I believe depict students of Statesville’s Colored Free School. The second photo may show the school itself shortly before it burned or may depict one of the other buildings in which the school met before a replacement was built in 1921.

Photos in the collection of Lisa Y. Henderson.