Ida B. Barbour
The late Miss Ida B. Barbour, a native of Portsmouth, Virginia, founded Miller Home and Day Nursery in 1910. Miss Barbour attended Philadelphia's Institute for Colored Youth (now Cheyney State University) which was headed by Fannie Jackson Coppin. Miss Barbour returned to Portsmouth and was a teacher at the Chestnut Street School (now I.C. Norcom High School). After learning of her neighbor's death Miss Barbour and her elderly mother took in the neighbor's five small children who were left with no one to care for them. As time passed, her family of homeless and neglected children grew. Miss Barbour operated with minimal finances and the support of the Women's Sewing Circle. Together they provided food, clothing and shelter for her children. In 1917, a group of social workers merged with Miss Barbour and the Women's Sewing Circle to provide a more unified service for children. In the same year, the group incorporated Miller Home and Day Nursery and established a Board of Directors. On July 6, 1925 Miss Barbour died but services for children in need continued without cost to them. Many organizations, citizens and doctors offered their generous support and services.
In 2004 the Board of Directors voted to change the name of Miller Home and Day Nursery to Ida Barbour Early Learning Center, in honor of its founder. The center has had various locations in Portsmouth throughout the years but has continued to maintain the heritage of its original organization. The center is in the United States Library of Congress Archives as one of the oldest daycare establishments in the State of Virginia. The members of the Board of Directors remain inspired and continue to serve the community. Ida Barbour Early Learning Center is a Certified Agency of the United Way of South Hampton Roads (UW #5035) and is licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Social Services
Israel Charles Norcom
I. C. Norcom
The Chestnut Street School was renamed I. C. Norcom in 1953 in honor of its first supervising principal, Israel Charles Norcom. Physically, he stood tall (6-feet-1 or 6-feet-2)and erect. The multi-faceted Mr. Norcom was described as a pioneer educator, leader of his people, churchman, civic leader, businessman, fraternalist, guidance counselor, and an outstanding citizen. A newspaper article from the 1950s said of the man:
"This educator was many-sided yet in all endeavors he was the cultured, dignified gentleman without frigid affectation or repellant presumptuousness. Both races recognized his genius."
Israel Charles Norcom, was born in Edenton, North Carolina on September 21st, 1856, one of John and Lucy Norcom's ten children. He attended school in North Carolina. The Virginian Pilot has said Mr. Norcom attended Yale preparatory school in Hartford, Connecticut. He studied at Yale and Harvard Universities. The Journal and Guide for November 2, 1957 stated that he graduated from Andover, Massachusetts Preparatory School, took a business course at Howard University, and attended summer school at Hampton Institute and the University of Virginia.
After teaching for two years in Bedford County, Virginia, Israel Norcom became both teacher and principal at the Chestnut Street School (built 1878), the precursor of I. C. Norcom High School. He served there from 1883 until 1916, the year of his death.
The Norcom home was at 206 N. Green Street, Portsmouth.
Besides his dedication to education, Mr. Norcom was involved with the Emanuel AME Church, of which he was secretary of the trustee board. He was a founder of the Southern Aid Society. He was secretary of the Tidewater Building and Loan Association, involved with the Negro Organization Society and the Tidewater Teachers Association as well as being a Mason, and a member of Norfolk's Acme Club.
It is said that Mr. Norcom guided with intelligence and wisdom, led with firmness, dignity and understanding, aimed high, and visualized expanding educational facilities for his race in Portsmouth. Mr. Norcom's contributions to Portsmouth's educational heritage are acknowledged by all facets of the community. Norcom also inspired seven of his descendents to follow him into the field of education. He has been honored as part of the Portsmouth Heritage Series bookmarks.
Mr. Norcom's grandson, James Jr., a third generation educator, has remarked that I. C. Norcom would have been "amazed" by the the school system today. "There are some leniencies he would frown upon" . But he would be pleased to see the school integrated.
"This educator was many-sided yet in all endeavors he was the cultured, dignified gentleman without frigid affectation or repellant presumptuousness. Both races recognized his genius."
Israel Charles Norcom, was born in Edenton, North Carolina on September 21st, 1856, one of John and Lucy Norcom's ten children. He attended school in North Carolina. The Virginian Pilot has said Mr. Norcom attended Yale preparatory school in Hartford, Connecticut. He studied at Yale and Harvard Universities. The Journal and Guide for November 2, 1957 stated that he graduated from Andover, Massachusetts Preparatory School, took a business course at Howard University, and attended summer school at Hampton Institute and the University of Virginia.
After teaching for two years in Bedford County, Virginia, Israel Norcom became both teacher and principal at the Chestnut Street School (built 1878), the precursor of I. C. Norcom High School. He served there from 1883 until 1916, the year of his death.
The Norcom home was at 206 N. Green Street, Portsmouth.
Besides his dedication to education, Mr. Norcom was involved with the Emanuel AME Church, of which he was secretary of the trustee board. He was a founder of the Southern Aid Society. He was secretary of the Tidewater Building and Loan Association, involved with the Negro Organization Society and the Tidewater Teachers Association as well as being a Mason, and a member of Norfolk's Acme Club.
It is said that Mr. Norcom guided with intelligence and wisdom, led with firmness, dignity and understanding, aimed high, and visualized expanding educational facilities for his race in Portsmouth. Mr. Norcom's contributions to Portsmouth's educational heritage are acknowledged by all facets of the community. Norcom also inspired seven of his descendents to follow him into the field of education. He has been honored as part of the Portsmouth Heritage Series bookmarks.
Mr. Norcom's grandson, James Jr., a third generation educator, has remarked that I. C. Norcom would have been "amazed" by the the school system today. "There are some leniencies he would frown upon" . But he would be pleased to see the school integrated.
Jeffrey Wilson
He was a slave, born on South Street and owned by a Confederate Army officer. But humble beginnings didn't stop Jeffrey Wilson from becoming the first black newspaper columnist in Portsmouth.
On August 19, 1924, Wilson's byline first appeared in the Portsmouth Star on a column that documented events and milestones of the city's black community.
The public would leave announcements for Wilson at the Eugene J. Bass Drug Store on Green Street where he would periodically pick them up.
This week, more than 80 years later, an index of his chronicles of early 20th-century African American life will debut in the Local History Room of the city's main library, thanks to the efforts of Mae Breckenridge-Haywood, who has long been intrigued by Wilson's work.
Wilson's columns cover a lot of ground. He wrote about church happenings, gatherings, deaths, births, anniversaries and marriages. He commented on political and social issues of his day, such as prohibition, which he supported, and evolution, which he did not.
"This theory is all bosh," he wrote of evolution in his July 6, 1925, column. "From dust - not monkey - thou art and to dust thou shalt return."
Wilson, who lived in Lincolnsville and worked as a bailiff in Norfolk, wrote the column until his death in 1929. He was 86 years old. His writings now serve as an important and unique historical record.
Breckenridge-Haywood, a retired I.C. Norcom High School librarian, knew of the columns for years. Her interest in collecting them was sparked in 1996 after meeting Wilson's daughter, Blanche Wilson Bridge, who lives near Petersburg.
"From talking with Blanche, I learned that Wilson chronicled a lot of his own life in his columns, so I started photocopying them at the library," said Breckenridge-Haywood, who even found a reference to her mother, Pattie Griffin, taking a "motor trip to North Carolina" in one of Wilson's columns.
Breckenridge-Haywood believes that Wilson's legacy is more than a collection of writing - it is his personal tale of overcoming adversity.
"When I was still working at I.C. Norcom, students would come into the library and say 'I live in J-Dub,' " said Breckenridge-Haywood, referring to the now vacant Jeffry Wilson public housing development. "It irritated me. I told them, 'In my presence, don't call him J-Dub. He is Jeffrey Wilson and he is a man that you should learn to respect.' "
Breckenridge-Haywood felt a "burning desire" to share the writings of the man "born a slave but who had a vision." So she collected, catalogued and indexed Wilson's work - a project she started in 1997, but for which she only recently received funding to complete.
At 11 a.m. on Thursday, Breckenridge-Haywood will demonstrate how to use the library's new online index of Wilson's 1924 writings. A $5,500 grant from the city of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Museum and Fine Arts Commission made the project possible.
On August 19, 1924, Wilson's byline first appeared in the Portsmouth Star on a column that documented events and milestones of the city's black community.
The public would leave announcements for Wilson at the Eugene J. Bass Drug Store on Green Street where he would periodically pick them up.
This week, more than 80 years later, an index of his chronicles of early 20th-century African American life will debut in the Local History Room of the city's main library, thanks to the efforts of Mae Breckenridge-Haywood, who has long been intrigued by Wilson's work.
Wilson's columns cover a lot of ground. He wrote about church happenings, gatherings, deaths, births, anniversaries and marriages. He commented on political and social issues of his day, such as prohibition, which he supported, and evolution, which he did not.
"This theory is all bosh," he wrote of evolution in his July 6, 1925, column. "From dust - not monkey - thou art and to dust thou shalt return."
Wilson, who lived in Lincolnsville and worked as a bailiff in Norfolk, wrote the column until his death in 1929. He was 86 years old. His writings now serve as an important and unique historical record.
Breckenridge-Haywood, a retired I.C. Norcom High School librarian, knew of the columns for years. Her interest in collecting them was sparked in 1996 after meeting Wilson's daughter, Blanche Wilson Bridge, who lives near Petersburg.
"From talking with Blanche, I learned that Wilson chronicled a lot of his own life in his columns, so I started photocopying them at the library," said Breckenridge-Haywood, who even found a reference to her mother, Pattie Griffin, taking a "motor trip to North Carolina" in one of Wilson's columns.
Breckenridge-Haywood believes that Wilson's legacy is more than a collection of writing - it is his personal tale of overcoming adversity.
"When I was still working at I.C. Norcom, students would come into the library and say 'I live in J-Dub,' " said Breckenridge-Haywood, referring to the now vacant Jeffry Wilson public housing development. "It irritated me. I told them, 'In my presence, don't call him J-Dub. He is Jeffrey Wilson and he is a man that you should learn to respect.' "
Breckenridge-Haywood felt a "burning desire" to share the writings of the man "born a slave but who had a vision." So she collected, catalogued and indexed Wilson's work - a project she started in 1997, but for which she only recently received funding to complete.
At 11 a.m. on Thursday, Breckenridge-Haywood will demonstrate how to use the library's new online index of Wilson's 1924 writings. A $5,500 grant from the city of Portsmouth and the Portsmouth Museum and Fine Arts Commission made the project possible.
Breckenridge-Haywood, who also serves as president of the African American Historical Society of Portsmouth, intends to index each of the remaining five years of Wilson's writings if she can get the funding.
The 1924 Colored Notes index registers more than 2,500 unique references to people, places, events, organizations and activities.
Breckenridge-Haywood also compiled a collection of historic photographs of some of the Colored Notes references, including a rare portrait of George Grice, Wilson's former slave master.
Reference copies of the photographs, as well as a compilation of the 1924 Colored Notes columns, will be available at Portsmouth's main library. Libraries in Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach will have reference copies of the Colored Notes Columns, but not the photographs.
"None of the newspapers before the 1960s are indexed, so this is a wonderful project," said Portsmouth Library Director Sue Burton. "For those interested in the history of Portsmouth, African American history, finding out about ancestors, or just how local people lived in the 1920s, Colored Notes provides a good snapshot of that era."
Lia Russell, 222-5829, lia.russell@pilotonline.com
The 1924 Colored Notes index registers more than 2,500 unique references to people, places, events, organizations and activities.
Breckenridge-Haywood also compiled a collection of historic photographs of some of the Colored Notes references, including a rare portrait of George Grice, Wilson's former slave master.
Reference copies of the photographs, as well as a compilation of the 1924 Colored Notes columns, will be available at Portsmouth's main library. Libraries in Norfolk, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach will have reference copies of the Colored Notes Columns, but not the photographs.
"None of the newspapers before the 1960s are indexed, so this is a wonderful project," said Portsmouth Library Director Sue Burton. "For those interested in the history of Portsmouth, African American history, finding out about ancestors, or just how local people lived in the 1920s, Colored Notes provides a good snapshot of that era."
Lia Russell, 222-5829, lia.russell@pilotonline.com
