This detail from the 1888 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows a section of Green Street between Pine and Jackson Streets. The skating rink caught my eye at first and, then, across the street, the “Negro cabin.”
skating rink
Colored skating rink.
Fifty years earlier, a reference to a colored skating rink seemed to suggest a freestanding building, but this suggests a “Colored Night” at an otherwise segregated facility.
Wilson Daily Times, 21 September 1936.
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- Bob Speight — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 624 Viola, barber Thedo S[p]eight, 27; wife Marie, 25; children Robert E., 3, and Margret E., 9 months; and brother Rufus, 22.
- Lillian Black — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 616 Viola, house servant Bessie Thomas, 44, and niece Lillian Black, 17.
- Buster Horton
- Goldwin Robertson Jr. — Golden Robinson Jr. In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 202 Vick Street, barber Golden Robinson, 30; wife Bertie, 23; and children Parthenia, 5, Gold M., 3, and Glean, 1.
- Clarence Dawson [Jr.] — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 619 East Green Street, printing office laborer Charlie Thomas, 65; daughter Elizabeth Dawson, 32; son-in-law Clarence Dawson, 31; and grandchildren Eris Dawson, 11, Naomi, 9, Clarence, 7, and Thomas V. Dawson, 3; and daughters Sarah, 19, theatre ticket seller, and Beatrice Thomas, 17.
- Ray Hines — Clifton Ray Hines. In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: barber Walter Hines, 50, wife Sarah, 48, and children Elizabeth, 21, Walter, 20, Carl W., 16, and Clifton R., 7.
Colored Skating Rink?
Wilson Advance, 22 December 1882.
Another article in the paper the same day touted the recent opening of a presumably non-colored skating rink. Was the colored rink a different facility? Or was the second floor of the white rink reserved for African-Americans?