library

The bookmobile is dedicated.

On 10 March 1951, The Norfolk Journal and Guide covered ceremonies marking the dedication of the Wilson County Negro Library‘s bookmobile. The photo postdates the era generally covered in this blog, but is included for its depiction of several member of the Negro library’s African-American board, as well as Rev. Howard Farmer, a leader in the Elm City community.

Left to right: Willie Mae Hendley Freeman, Anna Douglas Johnson, William Hines, librarian Sarah E. Jenkins, Rev. Howard W. Farmer, Mayor Littlejohn Faulkner, James Whitfield, city manager T.F. Green, county commissioner Thomas Daniels, and Dr. G.K. Butterfield Sr.

Thanks to Tammy Medlin, local history/genealogy librarian at Wilson County Public Library, for bringing this image to my attention.

Wilson County Negro Library.

negro library trustee board

Board of Trustees, Wilson County Negro Library, 1948: clockwise around the table, Willie Mae Freeman, Carter Foster, Anna Johnson, D’arcy Yancey, Barbara Foster, James Whitfield, Elizabeth Jenkins, G.K. Butterfield Sr., William Hines.

library

Willie Mae Freeman, Elizabeth Jenkins, Dora Dickerson.

This early iteration of the Negro library was located in a first-floor storefront of Mount Hebron Masonic Lodge No. 42, 115 North Pender Street.

Photographs courtesy of Freeman Round House Museum, Wilson, North Carolina, and digitized at http://www.digitalnc.org.