Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Feb. 10, 1979, edition 1 / Page 5
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X"" " "X i /^v * \ / ^ ^ 1 ' ^ : ;> - /-.. N mow tr M * ^ .'> of BLACK ^ cWinstori-Salem # cd. ?^ 5 ijUBtJlb ^53 " *9 *7T ? ?h*If ".*_._jlM IHV *^y * The Smoker's Home, owned by Abe M. Long, wm one of a number of service establishment* which sprang up in the black business district between Church and Chestirit Strets and 3rd and 4th Streets. According to -- Joseph Bradshaw, owner of this p)ct?u?f the Long stow 20th Centur) As^surely as the prospect of coming to work in the burgconingSndustries ofWinston had drawn blacks by the thousands on wheels, train and foot, the?reality?of?work ?in?the?tobacco factories?? convinced more than a few blacks to find a new way of earning a living. Accordingly, the earfy 1900s witnessed an upsurge of black business activity which, in a rplafivp cpncp miffrtPoH ? ?1 _ ?w I awik?vi?*V? VUU UVAflil laMU^ jjiace among the tobacco and textile firms which dominated the city's economy. The assortment of tobacco workers turned entrepreneurs, who combined with the existing black professional class, began to make their mark in the supplying of food and other services to the rapidly growing black population. In the process, they generated the wealth to spawn two banks, two savings and loan associations, an insurance company and real estate ventures which included three office buildings, and * more than 100 grocery stores. Those businesses were among the institutions -hospitals, churches, lodges, a fair, schools -- which began to make the black community of Winston and Salem a true community. The first two decades of the twentietn century were not without tragedy. On Nov. 3, 1904, the ?j brick and cement city reservoir at the north end of Trade Street, where a number of black families had sottlrd. hurst at fivp a m Unleashed were 180,000 gallons of water which j flowed through a ravine to what was then known as Belos pond, located near the corner of CherryMarshall and Northwest Boulevard. (The pond was used by black Baptists for baptizing ceremonies.). Eight homes were washed away, nine persons killed and scores injured. Acacording to historical accounts, one black couple escaped death almost miraculously. In Forsyth: The History of * Qpanty on the March (Fries, Wright and Hendricks)* it is noted: "they were carried safely in their bed on the crest of the flood to the bottomland around Belo*57~ Pond." * Fourteen vears later, on Nov. 16, 1918, a different kind of flood occurred around the old City Hall at Fourth and Main Streets (on the current site of the Reynolds Building). 4 7^11 w vwm ui * flflthftmd own i n ri tbr h*Mf vv fflcOfStf iWPffL' j ktf,4rr the sccond attempt ? iji 23 years to lynch a black man.. The target of the mob was a man named Russell High, who was accused of shooting a white man, raping his wife and also shooting the sherriff. the time the mob began gathering at about 3 p.m., city officials had determined that High was probably not the man they were seeking. Mayor # The Ea The year 1900 marks a watershed in both the history of blacks in Winston-Salem and in the development of our series. By that year, the outlines of the black community had begun to take shape. Institutions were in the process of development and the former farm workers began to become city dwellers. From a historical standpoint, that year marks the beginning of a broadening of the resources available. One deficiency of the written accounts and other information which survives the early Salem days.and the time of slavery is that the black perspective on anything was rarely to be found. That situation does not improve much in later years. However, beginning with the turn of the century, we are able to draw upon the collective memories of people living today who go back that far. Use of what is know as oral history provides unique insights into the history of any period. Such use also was at one time a bar and served the last mixed drink la Winston-Salem when the state prohibited alcohol la 1909. Right, Is the 1920 annual report for the Forsytk Savings and Trust Company, the first black bank hi WlnstonrSalem. Note the $12.4 million figure for dw lisnk's total business -between 1907 'and 1*20. r i .< .. m i .v ? ~ f Opens Witl R.W. Gorrell told the crowd at 4 prmr^that officials ~were quite sure they had the wrong man. The Home Guard was called in to disperse the ?crowd. JWhen_ thev- began squirting-fire_hoses on the mob, an outbreak of wild shooting occurred. Hardware stores were looted, and blacks were attacked on sight. By nightfall, according to the Nov. 17 Journal, a "steady firing" was kept up in the direction of east Winston, where the majority of the black popula, tion had begun to settle. Three black men were counted amont the five official fatalities; however, historian Fambrough Brownlee says the actual toll could have been much higher. Black bodies were reportedly stuffed in r?iil c o n ah* r* *?1 ? vuir vi ij auu uiuvi uui ui iiit way piaccs. Long-time resident Mrs. Myrtle Stepp tells how her light-complexioned father, W.P. Hairston, t | Winston Industr HOME OFFICE: Ov A* _ ? _ i s rrrrs | \Y. A. JON KS. ViVcT(Km.t. | i)K j. \V. JONiiS, TrraM.rer Pa^s ail claims promp we will pay you. Imr | WINSTON-SALEM, I y:-; > . ,,mX.V,.V.v.w -.V.V .v.v.v.v.-..- v.'.* Early Ad For What Be' escaped injury after being caught downtown in the midst of the riot. "Papa was a sexton at the white Presbyterian church located where Frank A. Stith is now. He went out to open up and close up the church... When he got outside to come home, he was met by some white men. They said. 'He's white, let him go.T He then changed course, went down through Salem and got back to our house on Ridge Avenue.> * In the aftermath of the riot, 15 whites*received sentences ranging from 14 months to six years. One. black, uulllwhs excrtrfetHu! mm Mm. The original target of the lynching was tried! but founmd not guilty of rape on the testimony of the victim. The big economic story in Winston-Salem during,., the early 20th ccrrrory was the growth ur fcfirtr R?. J; ~ Reynolds Tobacco Company. By the turn of the-"* century, fhe firm begun by Richard Joshua , ? FT o - * + ^ urn -EJ \ The C rly 20th Cent perpetuates the oral tradition which our ancestors 01 brought from Africa. B % On the mother continent, the memories of the U! oldest members of the community were relied upon as tr. the source material for griots, or storytellers, who were able to, in asingle sitting, tell the accumulated th history of a people. cj We have such people here, in whose minds lie the untold story of our history in the Twin City. We'll will be using more and more of the st red oral heritage of *n the city this week and in weeks to come. You will P* likely find it as fascinating as we have. P* We'd like to acknowledge this week the assistance yc we've received from Joseph Bradshaw, Rev. and Mrs. ^ William Crawford, Mr. and Mrs. Odell Clanton, Myrtle Stepp, Mrs. Mary Green, Hampton Haith, 81 Fambrough Brownlee, Mrs. Louise Hamilton and a* Thomas and Laura Hooper. - We also note Mrs. Pomasue Crockett, who called us R FOURTEENTH ANNUAL RETORT OF I Statement at the close of bin RESOURC Real estate loans ^ ~ ? Furniture and fixtures Bankine house Deposited in Wachovia Bank & Trust Co? Cash in Vault J". Other loans Liberty bonds - ; . Jot LIAB1L1T Capital stock Surplus funds ~ Earnings Bills payable Christmas savings Deposits subject to check Savings accounts Tofc TotaL receipts from, all sources for the year 1920 Paid out for all purposes volume ot business for the year _ Total business from May 11,1907. to Dec. 24. 1919 Total business since opening. .._ Balance earnings on hand Dec. 24, 1919 Earnings for the year 1920 Total earning EXPENSES FOR ' Salary *. Taxes .. .. Paid on Building 1 Interest on Savings Printing, publishing and advertising Dividend - : insurances ..t.: Supplies and sundries ..... Interest paid on mortgage .-. Labor Telephone : Water Recording papers Fuel and fights Janitor ' Interest op Christmas savings Bank audit." ~ Bank examination , Tota Balance earnings to Dec. 30th, 1920 ' Correct Attest; Oeo. W. Hill, J. S k Rlnr>lr Rucin II l#IUVI% K/U Jill Reynolds, scion of a Virginia planting family, hid become the^world's largest manufacturer of plug tobacco. In 1900, Reynolds acquired the tobacco business of P.H. and John W. Hanes (they invested their money in the textile business). In 1907, Reynolds launched Prince Albert smoking tobacco, naming his product after the Prince of Wales. The firm's real leap forward came with the introduction of Camel cigarettes in 1913 byway of an, at the time unheard of, national advertising pamnaicrn Rv 1Q14 nno.Vio ?? "f * "J < ' A <, UIIV-IIBII VUUVU VBUICI9 were sold. In 1917, 12.3 billion were sold. By 1921, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company had 50 percent of the American cigarette market with a whopping 18 billion Camels sold that year. The majority of the workers in the plant were ?> ial Association 1 I er Jones' Drug Store j R. W. I)\ ()W N. Sccj'ctar\ J. A H L l> M K, Sintiajjcr. || J. \V. i.KWIS, General A^cnt. tly. You pay us and , W nediate benefits givenw NORTH CAROLINA 1 vV d came Winston Mutual black, recalls Odell Clanton, who went to work in the Reynolds factory for the first time in 1900 at the vage of six. "R.J. Reynolds and Henry Ford had more blacks working for them than anybody else in America," Clanton recalls. -c otacics m tne factory performed such jobs as "prizing" or pressing plug tobacco into shapes and "casing," treating the tobacco with flavoring. "Blacks did everything in the plant, but boss," said Clanton. He siad foremen in the factories made $12 per week, or $24 each bi-weekly paycheck. "There were very few colored people "There were two colored, mechanics,; named Lash and.Lawrence, who were there when I went there and there when I left," added Clanton. Lash wns tfie ffnrt co/ore<2 man T saw come out with ? check for $20/* :: wv^ Discontent at the plants opened the way for the - International Tobacco Workeri Union to make an * > < *" "C" + 4 ... I hronicie, Saturday, February 10, 19*79- Pt^? 5 :ury | i Monday to let us know that the history of the elview community is a very interesting one. She led s to other persons whose memories are a valuable easurehouse of information. Mrs. Mary L. Fair wrote us this week to tell us of e scrapbooks she has kept about black history in the ty. It is heartening to us as a newspaper and as dividuals that our efforts have moved so many of the sople we have encountered. We invite more reader irticipation in the Rotts of Black Winston-Salem. If >u have pictures or/>ther old records of black life in ie city, call the Chronicle Newsline at 723-9863. This week, we are publishing a list of the 59 black ocers in the city in 1910. If you have information >out any of them, call the Newsline. We hope you enjoy this week's installment of the I oots of Black Winston-Salcm. _ J". tiriAtt 1 $144,033.04 3,049.64 28,457.66 ; ^ 3,313.68 14,146 07 _ 40,834.26 ? 1,600.00 * d : - ......... $235^434^36 . 1ES - ?- $ 19,549.00 - 115.87 - - v- 6,264.11 2,000.00 f ., 1965.18 ? - 68,893.35 - 136 646 84 *1- $235,434.35 ~? S 1.556.379.99 =Z=Z:..... 1,627,742.69 : ~f 3,183,122.68 1 9.112.928 71 1 .. ....$12,496,050.89 - $ 5,190.70 .. 19,086 81 s ....! $ 24,277.51 1 HE YEAR 4,030.00 585 14 - 4,000.00 $ 5,425.00 626.35 ? . ? -.. 1,003 00 : - J 66.57 - 460.33 - 130.00 47.25 ....... ^ 61.65 24 50 38.75 - - 95.21 - 95 CO 512.22 * 627.96 : 83.57 il ? $ 18,013 40 : ...$ 6,264.11 >. Hill. W. S. Scales. Richard E. Reynolds, Cashier. OCC I IhCllVCTA 6) effort to unionize the Reynolds plants in 1918 and =1919. CI an ton said the union effort was going on when he returned from the V.S. Army onMarch 6? 1919. "The factory was doing whatever it could to keep the union out and they were fairly successful/' he said. "A lot pf people lost jobs about the union; a lot lost their homes.". More frequently, dissatisfaction with low wages and lack of advancement was evident on an individual basis, through tobacco workers who decided to go into business for themselves. Mrs. Stepp recounts the circumstances which led W.P. Hairston to leave the factory in 1913. "Daddy didn't want to work in the factory. He was always dissatisfied; always messy and was making, I think, ^ fl A * # ' ? - auuui 3j per weea witn a wife and baby. He couldn't make it." Hairston wanted to send his five-year-old daughter to school, but his plant boss advised him to bring her to the factory, according to Mrs. Stepp. "Papa said he had to send her to school,'* she said. So, Hairston went to work for the Winston Industrial Association as an insurance agent. He was* later to retire as treasurer of the firm, which became Winston Mutual Life Insurance Company. Oftentimes the black entrepreneuers set up businesses on the side while they continued working jn the factories. One suclfwas William S. Scales, who began an eating nouse at v feast 3rd 5treet sometime before 1910. According to his daughter, Mrs. / Gwendolyn Scales Crawford, he started part-time, using his mother, Hannah Scales and wife to cook meals for the eating house. Scales, who had the reputation of making money with whatever he touched, used the cafe as a foundation to become the city's first bondsman, to buy two movie theatres and real estate. " ? ?Not all the black business pioneers came out of the tobacco factories. J.S. Hill grew up in Jonesville, S.C. and became a school teacher by the age of 18, according to his sons, Edward and Leander Hill. He raised money for Livingstone College and, then, for Slater Institute (now Winston-Salem State tflitierafty) m the New England.ttirf? Wrrrmrr* his fund-raisins efforts. J.S. Hill Half was namecftfi his honor. , ^ By 1907, Hill decidcd to settle down in Winston and raise his family in the Hill House, which still > taixfei acrewt ibt sjngt front jjg-Jfc- ' ~~
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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Feb. 10, 1979, edition 1
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