Samuel H. Vick

Samuel H. Vick, as imagined.

I am ambivalent about using artificial intelligence to restore photographs. Or, more specifically, I’m concerned about manipulated photographs supplanting original images and further blurring the line between reality and misinformation. However, the allure of AI-enhanced images is strong, as I often contend with blurry, poorly lit photographs in unnatural sepia or black-and-white tones. Photographs whose condition sometimes exacerbates the distance between us and our ancestors.

I have been experimenting with ChatGPT lately, feeding it queries and images to be restored and colorized. The results are somewhat haphazard, with many images weird and off-putting. Other times, the images are breathtakingly sharp and … alive. Black Wide-Awake exists to resurrect forgotten lives, and I believe these images are valuable to help us connect with the men and women we read about in these posts. From time to time, I’ll share the better ones here, clearly marked as AI-generated.

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Samuel H. Vick (1861-1947), Renaissance man.

Reflections on Samuel Vick’s “unquiet life” in politics.

William T. Bost was the influential political correspondent and columnist for the Greensboro Daily News. Just a few days after Samuel H. Vick died, Bost wrote an editorial about Vick’s “unquiet” political life, reflecting on the aftermath of Vick’s removal from his postmaster position.

Greensboro Daily News, 13 July 1946.

The Vicks sell property downtown.

On 22 September 1913, Samuel H. and Annie M. Vick sold mail carrier Albert S. Barnes and blacksmith Hilliard T. Thomas a lot on the south side of Tarboro Street adjoining the property of Wilson Oil Mill and W.J. Davis Machinery Company. Vick had purchased the 40 foot by 150 foot lot from Silas Lucas and wife.

W.J. Davis Machinery, formerly Davis & Winstead, was on the south side of South Tarboro, at the Kenan Street end of the block. (Wilson Oil Mill owned a lot there, but their facility was on Grace Street at Stemmery Street.) The Vicks were among a very few African Americans who invested in real estate in early twentieth-century Wilson’s industrial blocks.

Deed book 97, page 235, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

The Vicks sell four lots to S.E. Clark.

Deed Book 76, page 298, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

On 31 January 1916, for $1000, Samuel H. and Annie M. Vick sold Sue Elma Clark, an unmarried white woman, three lots and part of a fourth in Winona subdivision. Clark likely bought the property as an investment and, per the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson, it does not appear that she built on the lots for several years, if ever.

J.D. Reid borrows $200.

Deed Book 66, page 565, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

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J.D. Reid borrowed $200 from Nancy Harriss in January 1904, guaranteeing the loan with a mortgage on a lot he owned on Green Street that bordered Short Barnes and Louis Battle. The loan was to be repaid in twelve months, but margin notes reveal the mortgage wasn’t cancelled until March 1912. Note that S.H. Vick acted as Reid’s agent.

Samuel H. Vick overcame odds.

Wilson Daily Times, 24 February 2003.

This Black History Month piece offers a few nuggets for further research on Samuel H. Vick:

  • “His father … had three brothers, all having different last names depending on the white families to whom they belonged.” [Who were Daniel Vick’s brothers?]
  • newspaper articles reported that, on Vick’s first day as postmaster, “[g]un-toting black citizens lined the streets to serve as bodyguards because he had received so many threats” [Wowww.]
  • “The Independent School continued to operate until 1923 when the local school system opened the Wilson Colored High School ….” [Other sources estimated a ten-year run, but this makes sense.]

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series: no. 36 (mural edition).

In this series, which posts on occasional Wednesdays, I usually populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture. This time, I imagine a mural to commemorate the life of Samuel H. Vick.

Vick’s controversial service as postmaster of Wilson thrust him onto the national stage. Though Wilson’s handsome old Neo-Classical post office was erected long after his tenure, its Douglas Street facade is a fitting place for a tribute to Sam Vick.