Jim Crow

The enumeration for whites.

I was looking for an African-American family in the Evansdale area when I ran across this notation in the 1910 census of Stantonsburg township. A closer look revealed that enumerator R.B. Barnes divided Enumeration District 110 into four sections — the white residents of the town of Stantonsburg, the black residents of the town of Stantonsburg, the black residents (who made up the majority) of the rest of the township, and finally the rest of the white residents.

No other township is enumerated this way and, in fact, I’ve never seen this imposed segregation in any other census record anywhere.

No part of said premise may be conveyed unto any person of African descent.

As Wilson expanded west past Grabneck and other former African-American sections, deeds for lots and houses began to imbed restrictive covenants that, among other limitations, prohibited Black residents.

The language was standard:

(a) No part of said premises may be conveyed unto any person of African descent, nor any part thereof be occupied by any person of African descent other than such persons in the domestic employment of the owner. [In others words, onsite maids, cooks, yardmen, and drivers were fine.]

As shown in the referenced plat map below, this sale was for a large lot (#18) on Anderson Street between Moye Avenue and West End Avenue.

Plat Book 4, page 74, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

200 Negro newspapermen expected for the A.&T. game!

Wilson Daily Times, 30 September 1939.

The Daily Times predicted hundreds of pressmen for a match-up between A.&T. and Virginia Union at Wilson’s Municipal (later Fleming) Stadium in October 1939. White fans were expected, too, and “the grandstand will be divided, the third base line half for white spectators and the first base section of the stands for colored fans.”

B&G Cafe, “All White–All American Service.”

“We now employ white people only, which we feel is just what the home people of Wilson want. Our motto stands for itself, …” Wilson Daily Times, 22 February 1928.

Mollie E. Farrell and Allie C. Lamm operated B&G Cafe at 112 East Nash Street, across the street from the Wilson County Courthouse. John D. Marsh was their cook. Their collective idea about what the home people wanted seems to have been off the mark. B&G was gone before 1930.

Appeal for bus for Daniel Hill.

Wilson Daily Times, 16 October 1948.

Daniel Hill parents formed Daniel Hill Educational Club in September 1948 and by December 1949 were able to buy a school bus for the community’s children.

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  • Moses Haskins — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 405 West Spruce Street, Moses Haskins, 42, “works on the machines” at tobacco redrying plant; wife Minnie W., 41, babysitting; daughter Gloria, 16; daughter Doris H. Jones, 24.
  • Mattie Randolph — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 405 West Spruce Street, Paul Randolph, 51, automobile dealer mechanic; wife Mattie B., 50, practical nurse in private home; and daughter Betty L., 9.
  • Best Stewart — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 407 West Spruce Street, retail grocery store proprietor Best Stewart, 39; wife Marjorie F., 32, sales lady in retail grocery; children Best Jr., 12, James A., 10, Elemia, 7, Shirley A., 4, Jimmy L., 3, and Constance B., 1; and mother Ellen McCoy Best, 85, widow.
  • William Powell — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 405 Warren Street, William Powell, 61, janitor in body factory; wife Margaret, 45; and children Willie M., 16, babysitting, Joe L., 14, William T., 10, Betty J., 9, Jessie G., 7, James A., 5, Margaret A., 4, and Maud R., 2.
  • Jesse Stewart — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 701 Walnut Street, Edna Stewart, 52, domestic worker; nephew Jessie, 37, retail grocery store proprietor; and niece Annie, 35, grocery store saleswoman.
  • Rev. J.L. Murphy
  • L.H. Lewis

Parker refuses to give up his seat on the bus.

Wilson Daily Times, 6 April 1943.

Meet James Parker, American hero.

In April 1943, Parker boarded a Wilson city bus on Saturday evening. He sat down in the white section and remained firmly ensconced when the driver asked him to move. The driver, James Batchelor, abandoned his route to drive the bus to the police station, where Parker was arrested and charged with violating North Carolina’s “passenger law,” which allowed for the designation of colored and white sections in commercial transport vehicles. Parker was adjudged guilty and given a thirty-day suspended sentence provided he remain “in good behavior.” Per the Daily Times, Parker was the first person to challenge Jim Crow laws in Wilson County in 25 years.  

Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

White personnel make way for Dr. Ward and staff.

Wilson Daily Times, 13 March 1924.

In early 1924, Wilson native Dr. Joseph H. Ward, a major in the Army Medical Corps and a pioneering physician in Indianapolis, was appointed first African-American chief surgeon and medical director of a Veterans Administration hospital. The appointment was poorly received by many in Tuskegee, Alabama, and the displacement of former personnel by a nearly all-Black staff was initially stiffly resisted.