Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 6 September 1947.
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In this series, which will post on occasional Wednesdays, I populate the landscape of Wilson County with imaginary “historical markers” commemorating people, places, and events significant to African-American history or culture.
We been here.
Boycotted school to protest abuse of Black teacher Mary C. Euell in 1918, then taught at alternative Wilson Normal & Industrial Institute. In 1928, launched renowned stage and movie career in New York City spanning decades. In 1920s, lived at 332 S. Spring [now Douglas] Street.
Detail from 1925 Sanborn map of Wilson showing house in which Georgia Burke boarded.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 1 December 1928.
In 1928, teachers from 23 African-American schools attended a meeting with Wilson County school superintendent C.E. Curtis.
Barnes, Boyette, Evansdale, Holden, Lucama, New Vester, Pender, Saratoga, Stantonsburg, and Yelverton were Rosenwald schools.
Bynum, Calvin Level, Elm City, Farmer’s Mill, Ferrell, Howard, Lane, Lovers Lane, Mitchell, Page, Ruffin, Turner, and Wilbanks were not.
Schools not represented included Healthy Plains, Jones Hill, Lofton, Minshew, Rocky Branch, Sims, and Williamson Elementary.
Wilson Daily Times, 10 November 1933.
Ferrell’s School, near Black Creek, entertained county commissioners and the school superintendent and laid out a spread of barbecue, cole slaw, fried chicken, potato salad, pumpkin pie, and “cakes of every kind.”
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Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 24 October 1936.
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The 1920 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory lists some of the staff members of the breakaway Wilson Normal and Industrial Institute, known variously as the Industrial School, the Independent School, the Wilson Training School, and here, Wilson Normal School.
Principal Mary M. Jennings and Georgia Burke (not Burton) were among the teachers who resigned in 1918 after superintendent Charles L. Coon’s assault on Mary C. Euell.
The Tennesseean (Nashville, Va.), December 1981.
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In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: bricklayer William Kittrell, 36; wife Mary, 30; and daughter Rosa L., 4.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 637 Green, brickmason William H. Kittrell, 45; wife Mary, 42; and daughter Rosa L., 14.
In the 1925 and 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directories: Kittrell Rosa L (c) student h 708 E Green
In the 1938 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Kittrell Rosa L (c) school tchr h 708 E Green
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Julas B. Highsmith, 60, schoolteacher; wife Maggie, 45; niece Ethel Cowan, 19; and boarders Idella McCreary, 27, schoolteacher; Matthew S. Branch, 44, schoolteacher; and Ros L. Kittrell, 24, schoolteacher.
On 6 June 1930, Malcolm D. Williams, 24, of Warsaw, N.C., son of Holley and Martha Williams, married Rosa Lee Kittrell, 24, daughter of Wm. and Mary Kittrell, at 708 Green Street, Wilson. William Hines applied for the license, and Presbyterian minister J.T. Douglas performed the ceremony in the presence of W.H. Kittrell, Mary Kittrell, and H.D. Douglas.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 6xx Green, owned and valued at $3500, Dr. B.O. Barnes, 38, medical doctor; wife Flossie H., 34; and children Helen N., 6, and John H., 3; also, renting at $15/month; teacher M.D. Williams, 30; wife Rosa L., 33, teacher; daughter Frances E., 9; mother Martha E., 70; and Opie H. Williams, 48, teacher.
In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 703 Green, Malcolm Williams, 40, supervisor of city public schools; wife Rosa L., 43, “teacher (English)” in city public schools; father-in-law William Kittrell, 79, widower; and lodger Cecil C. Clinton, 26, born in Alabama, primary school teacher.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 24 January 1942.
This remarkable photograph captures Ida Ross Clark‘s coffin as it was wheeled from old Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in January 1942. She was buried in the Masonic Cemetery.
Though the Wilson Daily Times ran a brief obituary, only Black newspapers like the Journal and Guide could be relied upon to run respectful images for events the community deemed important.
The Call and Post (Cleveland, Oh.), 7 June 1952.
Sophia Dawson Artice was another of Alexander D. and Lucy Hill Dawson‘s accomplished children. After graduating Scotia Seminary, she married Jesse A. Artice, but he died less than two years later. Artice taught for decades in Wilson County before migrating to Cleveland, Ohio.
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In the 1900 census of Concord Town, Township #12, Cabarrus County, N.C.: at Scotia Seminary, student Sophia L. Dawson, 16.
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.
Also, in the 1910 census of Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia: at Colored Orphans Home, teacher Sophia L. Dawson, 25, born in N.C.
In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Dawson Sophia (c) tchr h 505 E Vance
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: A.D. Dawson, 59, widower, and daughter Sophey Dawson, 28, public school teacher.
On 26 May 1920, Jesse Artis, 37, of Wayne County, son of Jesse and Lucinda Artis, married Sophia Dawson, 30, daughter of A.D. Dawson, in Wilson. Presbyterian minister H.B. Taylor performed the ceremony at 650 East Green Street in the presence of C.L. Darden, F.L. Artice, and Eugene Norman.
Jessie Arthur Artis died 9 March 1922 in Nahunta township, Wayne County, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was 39 years old; was born in Wayne County to Jessie Artis and Lucinda Hobbs; worked as a tenant farmer for his mother; and was buried in the “country” by C.H. Darden & Son. Sophia Artis of Wilson was informant.
Sophia Artis is listed in the 1925, 1928, and 1930 Wilson city directories.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1928).
In the 1950 census of Cleveland, Cuyahoga township, Ohio: Sophia Artice, 64, widow, and Lucy Artice, 38, lodgers.
New Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 13 August 1938.
In 1938, Darden High School added two new faculty members, an optional twelfth grade, and an extra month to the school year.
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