teacher

No armistice in sight.

Buried under this peculiar title stack is an update on the Wilson Normal and Industrial Institute — the independent school founded by African-American parents and their supporters who were boycotting Wilson’s public schools.

The article notes that attendance at the independent school was 250 students versus fewer than 100 at the public Colored Graded School and offers a brief and inaccurate description of the incident that led to the boycott. (Mary C. Euell is described as “the Washington city teacher.” More about my attempts to learn more about Euell’s life later.) The aftermath is laid out nicely, though, noting that the discharge of J.D. Reid — called “the pouring of oil on troubled waters” — failed its goal, and teachers at the Colored Graded School had so few pupils that they had time to knit socks for World War I soldiers. (Those at the independent school, in contrast, were “having the times of their lives hammering progressive ideas into the heads of little pickaninnies.” One of which was my grandmother.) The writer wondered if support would falter when people realized they still had to pay a school tax, but admitted “at present there’s no sign of an armistice in sight.”

Greensboro Daily News, 17 November 1918.

The 106th anniversary of the school boycott.

Today marks the 106th anniversary of the resignation of 11 African-American teachers in Wilson, North Carolina, in rebuke of their “high-handed” black principal and the white school superintendent who slapped one of them. In their wake, black parents pulled their children out of the public school en masse and established a private alternative in a building owned by a prominent black businessman. Financed with 25¢-a-week tuition payments and elaborate student musical performances, the Independent School operated for nearly ten years. The school boycott, sparked by African-American women standing at the very intersection of perceived powerless in the Jim Crow South, was an astonishing act of prolonged resistance that unified Wilson’s black toilers and strivers.

The school boycott has been largely forgotten in Wilson, and its heroes have gone unsung. In their honor, today, and every April 9, I publish links to these Black Wide-Awake posts chronicling the walk-out and its aftermath. Please read and share and speak the names of Mary C. Euell and the revolutionary teachers of the Colored Graded School.

we-tender-our-resignation-and-east-wilson-followed

the-heroic-teachers-of-principal-reids-school

The teachers.

a-continuation-of-the-bad-feelings

what-happened-when-white-perverts-threatened-to-slap-colored-school-teachers

604-606-east-vance-street

mary-euell-and-dr-du-bois

minutes-of-the-school-board

attack-on-prof-j-d-reid

lucas-delivers-retribution

lynching-going-on-and-there-are-men-trying-to-stand-in-with-the-white-folks

photos-of-the-colored-graded-and-independent-schools

new-school-open

the-program

a-big-occasion-in-the-history-of-the-race-in-this-city

womens-history-month-celebrating-the-teachers-of-the-wilson-normal-industrial-school

And here, my Zoom lecture, “Wilson Normal and Industrial Institute: A Community Response to Injustice,” delivered in February 2022.

Health campaign.

Wilson Daily Times, 16 February 1917.

The focus of the “health campaign” of February 1917 is not clear, but lectures were delivered at, among other places, two assemblies of “colored teachers” and New Vester, Lovers’ Lane, and Barnes Colored Schools.

The obituary of Margaret L. Morrison, beloved teacher.

In the lead-up to my February 8 talk at Wilson County Public Library, every day I’ll feature a post related to Wilson County’s Rosenwald schools. Here, the obituary of Margaret Lenora Morrison, a beloved teacher at Barnes School on what is now Airport Boulevard.

Wilson Daily Times, 18 December 1946.

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In the 1920 census of Jackson township, Nash County: farmer Charlie Morrison, 28; wife Mary E., 26; and children Nathaniel, 9, Margrett, 8, Charlie Jr., 4, Pearlie, 2, and Esther M., 4 months.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1000 Wainwright, owned and valued at $1000, Frank F. Battle, 42, minister at Good Hope Church; wife Rosetta, 43; daughter Mary C., 15; and roomers Dollena Roberts, 30, cook, Virginia D. Roberts, 7, and Jessie J. Roberts, 5; Laura Bogins, 42, widower; and Margaret Morrison, 17.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1303 Washington Street, tobacco factory laborer Jesse Woodard, 27; wife Pauline, 26, tobacco factory laborer; daughters Horacetina, 6, Mary E., 3, and Blondina, 1; and roomer Margaret Morrison, 28, county school teacher, born in Robeson County.

Margaret Lenora Morrison died 15 December 1946 in Coopers township, Nash County, North Carolina. Per her death certificate, she was born in 1914 in Robeson County, N.C., to Charlie Morris Sr. and Mary Bethel, both of Scotland County; was a single; and was a schoolteacher in Wilson County.

The obituary of Arlando R. Dawson of Cleveland, Ohio.

The Charlotte News, 12 April 1980.

Arlando R. Dawson was another of the accomplished children of Alexander D. and Lucy Hill Dawson.

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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: restaurant cook Alexander Dawson, 50; wife Lucy, 49; and children Sophie, 25, school teacher, Mattie, 23, stenographer, Virginia, 19, school teacher, Lucile, 17, Alexander, 15, Clarence, 13, Augusta, 11, and Arlander, 1.

In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Dawson Orlando (c) film opr h 505 E Vance

In 1918, Arlander Richard Dawson registered for the World War I draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 26 August 1900; lived at 121 Pender Street, Wilson; worked as a waiter at Girard Hotel, 44th Street, New York City; and his nearest relative was A.D. Dawson, 121 Pender Street.

The Charlotte Observer, 3 May 1923.

In the 1929 Winston-Salem, N.C., city directory: Dawson Arlando R (c) tchr Columbian Hghts Sch bds 636 Bruce

Clementine Azalee Dawson, daughter of Arlando and Clementine Hill Dawson, was born 23 June 1929 in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County.

In the 1930 census of Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina: at 636 Bruce Street, lodgers William B. Stinson, 22; Arlando R. Dawson, 29; and George F. Newell, 24; all public school teachers.

Also, in the 1930 census of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: school paper editor William Hill, 58; wife Alice, 50; daughter Clementine Dawson, 23, school teacher; granddaughter Clementine A. Dawson, 7 months; and mother Caroline Hill, 85, widow.

In the 1934 Winston-Salem, N.C., city directory: Dawson Arlando R (c) tchr Atkins High Sch h 1422 Hattie av

In the 1940 census of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio: at 10121 South Boulevard, city school teacher Arlanda Dawson, 36; wife Clementine, 31; and daughter Azalea, 10.

In 1942, Arlando Roween Dawson registered for the World War II draft in Cleveland, Ohio. Per his registration card, he was born 26 August 1902 in Wilson, N.C.; lived at 10121 S. Boulevard, Cleveland; worked for the Cleveland Board of Education; and his contact was Clementine H. Dawson.

Clementine Hill Dawson died 15 July 1943 in Cleveland.

Call and Post (Cleveland, Oh.), 31 July 1943.

Arlando Dawson remarried in 1948.

Call and Post (Cleveland, Oh.), 19 June 1948.

In 1953, he and his daughter were oddly featured in a Call and Post article, “Cleveland Father-Son Teams Are Doubly Proud”: “‘Through a daughter’s marriage, fathers inherit sons,’ believes Arlando Dawson of South Boulevard. Dawson is an English teacher at Kennard Junior High school and his daughter, Mrs. Azalea Dawson Wagner, is a teacher at R.B. Hayes Elementary school. He holds a B.A. from Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, N.C., and the M.A. from Western Reserve. A graduate of West Virginia State College, Mrs. Wagner is working on her M.A. at Kent State University.”

Call and Post (Cleveland, Oh.), 20 June 1953.

Mrs. Whitted’s academy.

Caroline Whitted operated a school at the corner of Green and Pine Streets?

Entries in the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory are the only reference to the school found so far, and there’s scant record of Whitted either.

1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory.

Was the school on Green Street at the corner of Pine? Or Pender? Pender seems more likely, but in what building? The 1908 Sanborn fire insurance map is not very helpful, as its coverage cuts off at the intersection and shows only Calvary Presbyterian at the southwest corner. Amerson’s Grocery stood on the northwest corner. I have not yet determined who owned the eastern corner lots at the time, but suspect Whitted was renting a house for her academy.

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In the 1880 census of Contentnea Neck township, Lenoir County, N.C.: school teacher Charlotte Whitted, 40; children Elizabeth, 22, John M., 17, James L., 14, and Allan, 8; and grandson Arthur Halcott, 4.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Charlot Whitted, 58, widow, living alone, no occupation listed. Her youngest son, Allan J. Whitted, appears in the 1900 United States Military and Naval Population Schedule aboard the U.S.S. Princeton, Cebu, Cebu Island, Philippines. He is listed as a cabin steward; a resident of Wilson, N.C.; was born in January 1873; and was a widower.

On 30 April 1902, A.J. Whitted, 31, and Lena A.S. Stallings, 19, received a Wilson County marriage license, but did not return it.

In the 1910 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Nash Road, widow Charlott A.E. Whited, 69, school teacher at private school.

Charlotte Whitted died 8 November 1911 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 72 years old; was born in Chapel Hill, N.C.; was married; worked “teaching school”; lived on Manchester Street; and was buried in Wilson. Rev. H.B. Taylor was informant.

The obituary of Lydia Meeks Grissom Coley.

This clipping of an obituary for Lydia Meeks Grissom Coley is found in a scrapbook kept by Savannah Powell Farmer (1908-1996). I have not been able to source the newspaper or its date of publication, but it does not appear to have come from the Wilson Daily Times.

Many thanks to Levolyre Farmer Pitt for sharing her mother’s scrapbook!

The obituary of Ivary Langley Satchell.

Wilson Daily Times, 9 September 1948.

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In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Jarot Langley, 40, blacksmith at wagon factory; wife Lydia, 38; and children Hattie, 15, Thedore, 14, Marie, 12, Carnell, 7, Ruline, 6, Alcestus, 4, and Oris, 2.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 901 Viola, owned and valued at $4000, grocery store merchant Jarrette J. Langley, 49; wife Mary, 43; and children Ivary, 21, public school teacher, grocery store delivery boy Esmond, 18, Ruttena, 16, Alcesta, 14, and Eunice, 8.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Langley Ivary (c) tchr Stantonsburg St Graded Sch r 910 Viola

On 22 May 1938, Spencer J. Satchell, 28, of Hampton, Virginia, son of S.J. Satchell and Julia Satchell, married Ivary Langley, 28, of Wilson, daughter of J.J. Langley and Mary Langley, at 901 East Viola Street, Wilson. M.S. Gilliam Jr. applied for the license, and Presbyterian minister O.E. Sanders performed the ceremony in the presence of Rosa L. Williams, Malcolm D. Williams, and J.J. Langley.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 901 Viola Street, retail grocer Jarrette J. Langley, 60; wife Mary, 60; daughter Orris, 21; Virginia-born son-in-law Spencer Satchell, 29, teacher; and daughter Ivory, 30, teacher.

Ivary Satchell died 7 September 1948 at Lincoln Hospital, Durham, North Carolina. Per her death certificate, she was born 16 October 1909 in Wilson County to J.J. Langley and Lydia Savage; was married to S.J. Satchell; lived 901 Viola Street; and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery, Wilson.

The 105th anniversary of the school boycott.

Today marks the 105th anniversary of the resignation of 11 African-American teachers in Wilson, North Carolina, in rebuke of their “high-handed” black principal and the white school superintendent who slapped one of them. In their wake, black parents pulled their children out of the public school en masse and established a private alternative in a building owned by a prominent black businessman. Financed with 25¢-a-week tuition payments and elaborate student musical performances, the Independent School operated for nearly ten years. The school boycott, sparked by African-American women standing at the very intersection of perceived powerless in the Jim Crow South, was an astonishing act of prolonged resistance that unified Wilson’s black toilers and strivers.