teacher

County teachers meet.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 30 January 1937.

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  • E.M. Barnes, “supervisor” — Edward M. Barnes.
  • J.D. Reid, “principal of the Stantonsburg Street School” — here we find the surprising return of J.D. Reid to the principalship of the Graded School. I don’t think the stint lasted long.
  • Mr. Lee
  • Mrs. Whitehead, “fifth grade teacher of Wilson High School” — Mamie Ethel Key Whitehead.
  • M.D. Williams, “principal of the new S.H. Vick graded school” — Malcolm D. Williams.
  • Stanley Gilliam, “principal of the Williamson school”

B.W.A. Historical Marker Series, no. 35: Georgia Burke.

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.

GEORGIA BURKE

(1878-1985)

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.

Wilson County teachers meet.

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.

Ferrell’s School entertains the superintendent.

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.”

——-

  • Ferrell’s School — see also here.
  • Dora Godwin — in the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 910 Wainwright Avenue, Robert Godwin, 29, odd jobs laborer; wife Dora, 23, public school teacher; and stepson [sic] Paul Helpler, 16.
  • Emily Wilson — in the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Wilson Emily (c) sch tchr r 711 E Green
  • Augustas Woodard — in the 1930 census of Black Creek township, Wilson County: farmer Gus Woodard, 49; wife Lizzie, 38; and children Eva M., 20, Mamie, 19, Daisye, 18, Ruth, 14, Augustus, 16, Purrell, 15, and James, 8.

Wilson High School welcomes teachers.

Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 24 October 1936.

——

Normal School teachers.

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 obituary of Rosa Lee Kittrell Williams of Nashville, Tennessee.

The Tennesseean (Nashville, Va.), December 1981.

——

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.

The funeral of Ida Ross Clark.

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.