The Ohio County Public Library launched the Wheeling Memory Project as a contribution to the ongoing community effort to record oral histories from Wheeling’s residents. The project will focus on stories of life in Wheeling’s diverse neighborhoods.
Series One: Ann Thomas, Growing Up in Jim Crow Wheeling
Series one features Ann Prince Thomas, a pioneer and witness to history. She was just six months old when her mother moved to Wheeling from a North Carolina tobacco farm to help Ann’s aunt and uncle run the New Dixie Restaurant on Chapline Street in the middle of what was, at the time, an established African-American neighborhood.
Ann grew up during the era of “Jim Crow” (government sanctioned, racial segregation) and witnessed the turbulent transition to desegregation. From first grade, she attended Lincoln (Wheeling’s segregated school), but thanks to the landmark Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), she graduated from Wheeling High School in 1956.
After graduation, Ann enrolled in the Ohio Valley General Hospital’s school of nursing, and in 1959, she became the first African American to graduate.
The Wheeling Memory Project is pleased to present Ann Thomas’s story, in her own words.
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Love the design of the captions!
Chuck Wood
Memory Project. Keep it us Sean! Thanks for the memories.
Very Interesting, Love Old Wheeling Photos, Grew Up There Late 60’s 70’s, Thanks
Loved hearing Ann’s account. A true friend. Charleene Jerrome Wise Sharp. Class of ’56.
Ann it was great to see you Featured on here. Kim Perdew- Glenna Nelsons daughter
Trust in God where theres a will theres a way. Proud of our wheeling pioneers.
I would love to look through this beginning to end but no pictures will load. Where do I find them on here??
Debbie, you can view all the Ann Thomas videos here: http://www.ohiocountylibrary.org/wheeling-history/5040
I take a great deal of pride having been born and raised in Wheeling from 1946 until 1966 , those where the years of Spiritual,mental and physical for me and all my siblings. I will always remember and never forget from whence I come and I that God for it all.
It was a blessing and an inspiration to know Ann Thomas as a nurse and as a person. Had it not been for women of color such as Ann, I would not have achieved the things I did. I’m happy that she has been featured in this historical archive.