The Afro-American (Baltimore, Md.), 18 November 1939.
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North Carolina Central University
Record crowd expected at football game.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 20 September 1941.
In the fall of 1941, North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central) and South Carolina State squared off at Wilson’s Municipal Stadium, which is now called Fleming Stadium. Black Wilson was a-buzz!
The obituary of Walter P. Diggs.
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In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 205 Vick Street, barber Edgar Diggs, 49; wife Mary, 39; and children Edgar, 12, Mary, 9, and Preston, 11.
In 1946, Preston Walter Diggs registered for the draft in Wilson, Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 27 September 1928 in Wilson; lived at 205 North Vick Street, Wilson; was a student at Mary Potter School in Oxford, N.C.; and his contact was Mary Diggs, 205 North Vick.
The 1948 Maroon and Gray, the yearbook of North Carolina Central University (then North Carolina College.)
Hat tip to Dr. Michael Barnes for alerting me to this obituary.
Students at North Carolina College.
From the 1949 edition of The Eagle, the yearbook of North Carolina College for Negroes [now North Carolina Central University], sophomore Johnnie Parker and freshman Thomas V. Dawson.
- Johnnie Parker — Johnnie Parker registered for the World War II draft in 1941. Per his registration card, he was born 12 October 1923 in Wilson County; lived at Route 4, Gardners township, Wilson; his contact was Cary Banks, Wilson; and he worked for Julius Parker.
- Thomas V. Dawson — Thomas Virgil Dawson registered for the World War II draft in 1944 in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 1 April 1926 in Wilson; lived at 619 East Green Street; his contact was grandfather Charlie Thomas; and he was a student at Darden High School.
N.C.C.U, ’40.
From the 1940 edition of The Eagle, the yearbook of North Carolina College for Negroes [now North Carolina Central University.]
Ethel Gray Howell.
Alice W. Jones.
Charles B. Lassiter.
- Ethel G. Howell — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Harry Howell, 46, porter at A.C.L. station; wife Annie, 46, cook at cafe; and children William, 19, Lanetta, 17, Baker, 14, Charles, 9, and Ethel, 20.
- Alice W. Jones — Jones also appears as a senior in the 1939 N.C.C. yearbook.
- Charles B. Lassiter — Lassiter’s obituary describes him as a graduate of North Carolina State A.&T.
Cancer instruction.
Wilson Daily Times, 6 August 1949.
The Wilson County chapter of the American Cancer Society sent Mercy Hospital nurse Sylvia Daniels to attend a training course in cancer nursing at Durham’s North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University.)
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Hill’s Wilson, N.C., City Directory (1947).
Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.
Tickets available for interstate classic football game.
Wilson Daily Times, 24 September 1941.
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Would-be attendees of the football match-up between N.C. College (now North Carolina Central University) and South Carolina State could purchases tickets at several outlets, including these Black-owned businesses — Mack’s Place (owned by Daniel McKeithan), Yancey‘s Drug Store, Shade’s Drug Store, and the Small Town Club. [What was the “Small Town Club,” and who owned it?]
College football game to be played in Wilson.
Wilson Daily Times, 19 August 1941.
“North Carolina State College” of Durham was, of course, what we now know as North Carolina Central University!
Dr. James T. Taylor, briefly of Wilson.
Madison (Ind.) Daily Herald, 12 August 1922.
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In the 1900 census of Winston, Forsyth County, North Carolina: tobacco roller William Taylor, 31; wife Mary, 27; and children Anna, 8, James T., 6, Geneva, 4, and Charles, 1.
James T. Taylor registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County in 1917. Per his draft card, he was born 27 December 1893 in Danville, Virginia; lived at 653 [later 706] East Green Street, Wilson; and worked as a bellhop at Yarmouth Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey (“student” crossed through). [Taylor was a college student at the time. Why was he living in Wilson with the family of John W. and Edmonia Barnes Farmer?]
On 12 August 1922, James T. Taylor, born 27 December 1893 in Danville, Virginia, to William T. Taylor and Mary Thompson, and a resident of Wilson, N.C., married Gertrude E. Tandy, born 15 January 1898 in Bedford, Kentucky, to George Tandy and Josephine Stafford, in Madison, Indiana.
In 1926 James Taylor took a position as professor of psychology at North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University) and later Dean of Men and Athletic Director and then Director of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Circa 1930, the Taylors bought a house at 2106 Fayetteville Street.
College Heights Historic District, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form.
In the 1930 census of Durham, Durham County, North Carolina: college teacher James Taylor, 36, and wife Gertrude, 32, school supervisor.
In the 1940 census of Durham, Durham County, North Carolina: James T. Taylor, 45, born in Virginia, college teacher; wife Gertrude E., 40, born in Indiana, public school supervisor; and nephew James B. Clarke, 19.
Gertrude Elinor Taylor died 24 January 1954 in Durham, North Carolina. Per her death certificate, she was born 15 January 1900 in Marion, Indiana, to George Tandy and Josephine Stafford; was married; and was a school teacher. Prof. James T. Taylor, 2106 Fayetteville Street, was informant.
The Eagle (1954), the yearbook of North Carolina College [now North Carolina Central University.]
On 30 June 1955, James T. Taylor, 57, of Durham, son of William T. and Mary T. Taylor, married Galatia Elizabeth Lynch, 41, of High Point, N.C., daughter of James C. Cunningham and Lillie B. Cunningham, in High Point, Guilford County, North Carolina.
N.C.C.U.’s James T. Taylor Education Building, constructed in 1955.
In November 1968, North Carolina Governor Dan Moore named James T. Taylor as chairman of the state’s Good Neighbor Council, “the official state agency for moderating racial troubles.” Per a 14 November 1960 article in the News and Observer, Taylor retired from N.C.C.U. in 1959 and was a past president of N.C. Teachers Association (where he led a fight for equal pay for African-American teachers) and an organizer of the Durham Committee on Negro Affairs.
James Thomas Taylor died 29 March 1970 in Durham, North Carolina. Per his death certificate, he was born 27 December 1893 in Danville, Virginia, to William Thomas Taylor and Mary Brown; was a widower; and was a retired professor at N.C. Central University. Mrs. Irma Lash of Brooklyn, N.Y., was informant.
The Women Who Ran the Schools: The Jeanes Teachers and Durham County’s Rural Black Schools, http://www.durhamcountylibrary.org
News and Observer, 30 March 1970.
N.C.C.U. ’45.
From the 1945 edition of The Campus Echo Review, a yearbook of North Carolina College for Negroes [now North Carolina Central University.]
Doris Gaston Rosemond (1924-2007).
In the 1930 census of Town of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: barber Dewey Gaston, 30; wife Mary, 20; and children Doris L., 5, and Victor H., 3.
In the 1940 census of Town of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: barber Dewey Gaston, 40; wife Mary, 38; and children Doris, 51, and Victor H., 13.