Wilson Daily Times, 6 March 1940.
Elm City’s first black high school was damaged beyond saving in a fire in early 1940. County school authorities quickly made plans to replace the building using Works Progress Administration funds. As to the question of the 334 “schoolless” students, no decision was ever made, and children whose families could not arrange to transfer them elsewhere sat out until the new facility — Frederick Douglass High School — opened in 1941.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 23 March 1940.
With the destruction by fire of Elm City’s black high school in 1940, the education of local children slammed to a halt. Amanda Mitchell Cameron was in the eighth grade at the time. She recalls that, rather than delay their high school studies, two of her older siblings carpooled to Wilson with a neighborhood boy to attend Darden High School. Most children, however, stayed home until the newly built school opened in 1941.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 11 January 1947.
Elm City was aswirl with visitors during the 1946-47 Christmas season.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 16 October 1937.
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In the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Main Street, widow Lillie Jane Wynn, 26, cook, and children Genie U., 5, Pink, 4, and Willie A., 2.
Pink Wynne died 14 February 1940 in Durham, N.C. Per his death certificate, he was born 25 October 1909 in Wilson County to Willie Wynne and Jenny Hussey; was married to Lilly Jane Wynne; lived in Elm City, N.C.; and was buried in Elm City.
In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Ernest Dew, 39, house plasterer; wife Geneva, 38, owner/operator of store and beer parlor; daughter Vilma, 15; and nephew Willie A. Wynn, 12.
Baltimore Sun, 27 April 1999.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 5 November 1948.
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Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 22 April 1939.
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In the 1930 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: Jesse Winn, 38, railroad shifter; wife Katie, 37; and children Ralph, 16, George, 14, Charlie, 9, Jennie M., 7, Marie, 6, Herbert, 4, Katie, 2, and Edward, 1.
In the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Main Street, Jessie Wynn, 45, grocery store merchant; wife Kattie, 45; and children Ralph E., 25, garage mechanic, Charlie, 19, Jennie Mae, 17, Marie, 16, Hurbert, 14, Kattie D., 12, Rudolph, 11, Lindbergh, 8, and Joyce, 4.
In the 1950 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Main Street, grocery store salesclerk Katie Wynn, 55, and children Marie, 25, Herbert, 23, cabdriver, Katie, 22, and Joyce, 14.
Journal and Guide (Norfolk, Va.), 15 June 1946.
Carrie P. Ricks was an occasional correspondent to the Journal and Guide, reporting on social events in and around Elm City. This particular column was heavy on the doings of her own family, but touched on the Jesse Wynns moving to a new store and receiving visits from two of their sons; Doris Gaston‘s return home from college and Mrs. A.N. Spivey‘s attendance at summer school; and other visits.
Norfolk Ledger-Star, 24 February 1913.
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During a recent visit to Wilson, I drove out toward Elm City to visit with Amanda Mitchell Cameron and follow up on the delightful interview she gave me last month. At 99, Ms. Cameron is a fount of information about her part of the county, and the people and places she mentioned will keep me researching for months.
Among the topics she touched on was the fight by rural African-American parents for school buses to transport students to the new Elm City and Williamson Colored High Schools:
“That first year, we were able to get a bus. That was in ’41 that we got it. … [A]nd my second oldest brother drove the school bus, but getting those buses was not easy. My father [Kester R. Mitchell] and Phil Lindsey, Sidney Harris, Johnny Parker, Robert Mitchell, all of them joined Howard Farmer. They went to Raleigh to talk about getting a bus for these children to ride school, and Mr. Curtis, I think was the name, Mr. [Kader R.] Curtis, told him at that time, “Well, we can furnish you — what you do, you go back to you to your superintendent,” and, well, you know, at that time we had two superintendents. Elm City had a superintendent and Wilson, but Curtis was the county superintendent. He was the county. And that group of men came back at some point, from what I heard, went to Mr. Curtis, and Mr. Curtis furnished two buses. As I said, my brother drove one, and the other one was Fred Armstrong, and he lived way out what now you call 42, not 42 — Langley Road.
“… And then later on they found out that two buses were not enough to pick up. They were only picking up high school students, not the elementary students. Not grammar. You know, you had to be a high school student. And so, they added on one other bus, and that bus was to be driven by Roosevelt Sharp. …”
During my visit, Mrs. Cameron showed me a display prepared by Frederick Douglass High School students in honor of those who led the demand for buses and the early drivers, which also included Thelma Ward Williams.
Interview with Amanda M. Cameron, all rights reserved; image courtesy of Amanda M. Cameron.
