Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day 2026!

We moved into 1401 Carolina Street just before my first birthday and left just before my tenth. I haven’t been inside this little brick house in nearly 50 years, but I can describe its every detail, inside and out. My deep connection to my community and its people was forged in those first ten years. Safe in the nest of my knowledge-seeking, passion-encouraging family, I flourished — a sensitive, inquisitive, observant child.

Today, Black Wide-Awake celebrates foundational love! Cheers to Beverly and Rederick Henderson and the East Wilson that made me!

Love x love.

Top row: Jesse and Sarah Henderson Jacobs; M. John and Delphia Taylor Locus; James and Narcissa Dunn Howard; and Castonoble and Della Gary Hooks.

Second row: Spencer and Bitha Richardson Shaw; Colon and Christine Artis Currie; Joseph and Nettie Peacock Shaw; Benjamin and Phereby Barnes Artis.

Third row: Haywood and Agnes Bullock Armstrong; William and Ethel Cornwell Hines; Kenneth and Nina Darden Speight; Jesse and Sarah Barnes Barnes.

Bottom row: Roderick Taylor and Hattie Mae Henderson; Lawrence and Mary Pender Hagans; Theodore and Edith Barnes Ellis; and Rederick and Beverly Allen Henderson.

Valentines and Negro History Week.

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, Rocky Branch 4-H Club celebrated Valentine’s Day and Negro History Week in February 1947.

Wilson Daily Times, 21 February 1947.

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  • Francis Ashby — in the 1940 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: Joe Barnes, 82; wife Kizzie, 65; daughter Ester, 18; niece Gladys Smith, 14; grandchildren Francis, 7, and Bubble Ashby, 5; son S[illegible] Barnes, 24, and wife Bulah, 24.
  • George Reid
  • Ormond Ashby — “Bubble” Ashby, above?
  • Wadell Bagley
  • Mary E. Hinnant
  • Shirley Terrell
  • Louretha Renfrow — in the 1940 census of Springhill township, Wilson County: farm laborer John Renfrow, 25; wife Eula Mae, 24; and children Louretha, 3, Edna Gray, 2, and Marie, 1.
  • Miss Wade — Helen T. Wade, home demonstration agent.