Vick Elementary School

Legacy.

When you come home to give a Black History Month talk at the elementary school your father attended, and the instruction coach shows you this photograph of her and your mother (in slingbacks) when the instructor was in kindergarten. She said my mama really took care of her. And she’s now been teaching 28 years. This is legacy, folks.

Thank you so much for sharing, M.J.D.

Sam Victorious! (From the mouths of babes.)

I spent the morning with the third, fourth, and fifth graders of Samuel H. Vick Elementary School, talking about the hometown hero for whom their school was named. My father was a Vick alum, which made the day even more special. The kids were curious and attentive and engaged, and their hands shot in the air when they recognized neighborhood landmarks like the Vick house and Mercy Hospital.

I’m grateful to Principal Annette Faison, Rev. H. Maurice Barnes and Gentleman’s Agreement, and Winstead United Methodist’s Hand in Hand partnership for the invitation, and to the students for being an awesome audience.

The current Vick Elementary building sits in the footprint of the old Charles H. Darden High School (my father’s alma mater) and briefly bore its name.

This young scholar gave a reporter an interview after. My heart nearly burst.

Newspaper editor visits Vick School.

Wilson Daily Times, 22 December 1938.

Kudos to principal M.D. Williams, the teachers, and students of Vick Elementary!

  • M.D. Williams — Malcolm D. Williams.
  • E.E. Brodie — Elizabeth E. Brodie. In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Brodie Eliz E (c) tchr Stantonsburg St Graded Sch h 903 E Green
  • Julia Harrell
  • H.M. Fitts — Howard M. Fitts.
  • E.J. Coley — Eva Jane Speight Coley.
  • J.E. Hunter
  • Cecelia Norwood — Cecilia Hill Norwood.
  • A.D. Butterfield — Addie Davis Butterfield.
  • S.J. Satchwell — Spencer J. Satchell.
  • Doris Walker — Doris Vick Walker.
  • W.A. Gilmore — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 808 East Vance, W. Arthur Gilmore, 30, native of Washington, D.C., public school teacher.
  • F.J. Walston
  • H.D. Whitfield — Helen D. Whitted.
  • Annie Frances Parker — in the 1940 census of Wilson township, Wilson County: on Tilghman Road, farmer Ashley Simms, 41; wife Annie M., 35; children Augustus, 14, James, 12, Mildred, 19, Leslie, 8, Trumiller, 6, and Louis, 4; and nieces Annie F., 14, and Beatrice Parker, 12.
  • Reuben Lee Jones
  • Enza Williams
  • Van Jewel Thomas — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 715 East Green, owned and valued at $1800, Louis Thomas, 43; wife Lillie, 33; and children Louis Jr., 16, Charlie H., 14, and Van Jewel, 12.
  • Irene Farmer — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 812 East Green, Jeff Farmer, 48; wife Rena, 36; and children Irene, 13, and Marvin, 15.
  • Katie Johnson — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 503 Viola, carpenter James H. Johnson, 50; wife Carrie, 45; children Mamie, 25, household servant, Roxanna, 22, household servant, Victoria, 18, household servant, James, 16, Lanesy, 13, Katie, 12, Clyde, 9, Herman, 7, and Stella M., 5; and foster son Thurman Land, 14. 
  • Annie Marion Gray — Annie Marian Gay.
  • Walter Sanders — — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 534 East Nash, owned and valued at $2500, cook Mary Bynum Reed, 27; husband Jesse, 33, hospital orderly; nephew Walter Sanders, 13; cousins Mattie, 65, George, 29, Beatrice, 32, and Norward Bynum, 16, private servant; lodger Aldene Taylor, 26, private servant; lodgers Elmer, 25, hospital dietician helper, Hattie, 21, private servant, and Vernita McKeithan, 10 months; and lodgers Henry Benton, 21, servant in cafe, Rosa Lee Davis, 20, private servant, and Ella, 39, washerwoman, and Wilbur Smith, 19.
  • Thomas Stokes
  • Lotis Reid — Leotis Reid.
  • Herman Hines
  • George Hines
  • Harry John Farmer

The penny milk program.

Wilson Daily Times, 26 February 1943.

My father, Rederick C. Henderson, who attended Vick Elementary School from 1940 to 1944, recalled the half-pint milk program: “… they’d give you a little thing of milk [that] cost a penny. You shake it up. Shake it up. It’d be in a bottle. And then that much butter would come to the top. That’s what we used to get.” 

Interview with R.C. Henderson by Lisa Y. Henderson, 2001, all rights reserved. Clipping courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.

School closings and reopenings.

Wilson Daily Times, 2 December 1936.

For a brief period in November-December 1936, all three of Wilson’s Black schools were closed down. The Stantonsburg Street School (formerly known as Colored Graded and later as Sallie Barbour) shut down for repair of a burst boiler. The Colored High School (later known as Darden) was closed indefinitely due to a serious fire, and Sam Vick Elementary’s grand opening had been delayed by late furniture arrivals.