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Wikipedia Article (Rough Draft) Junius Wilson

Junius Wilson was a black man born in North Carolina, who just happened to be deaf. In late August 1925, JW was pulled out of his family home and arrested, in front of his two-year-old niece, for the attempted rape of, Lizzie Smith, a family friend. It was her husband, Arthur Smith Jr., who accused seventeen-year-old Junius of attempted rape. He had no means of defending himself because he could not speak. The courts tried to talk to him, but all he did was make strange noises which was misinterpreted as crazy. As a result, the judicial system declared him insane and sent him to the State Hospital for the Colored Insane, later changed to Cherry Hospital, in the city of Goldsboro, North Carolina. He spent 76 years’ in Cherry Hospital, for a crime he did not commit. He was innocent of all charges although he was never released from the hospital. In June of 2001 JW passed away in Cherry State Hospital for the criminally insane. This is the Junius Wilson’s story from how he became deaf to his time at Raleigh school for the deaf, to his rape charge, to his time in the mental hospital to his death of heart failure in 2000.

Junius Wilson was born 1908 in Castle Hayne, North Carolina. It was a small African American city outside of Wilmington, North Carolina. It is unknown when he lost his hearing because at the time he was born deafness could not be diagnosed in newborns. Similarly, he contracted a lot of illness as a child which are known for taking one’s hearing. He was the second child born to Mary and Sydney Wilson. Sydney was a railroad woodcutter while Mary was a homemaker. They had three other children, the oldest Asynia, Junius and Carrie Wilson. There was a child between Asynia and Junius, but the baby died before it was born. The Wilsons had close unrelated family friends named Arthur Sr. and Annie Smith. They lived in close proximity to one another. Arthur and his sons also worked alongside Sydney on the railroad. Arthur Sr. and Carrie had four sons George, Arthur jr, Jim and King. They were a tight little family. Mary always asked for advice regarding family and Annie always gave it out. Thing were good up till the Wilson’s realized that Junius was deaf. A few years latter Sydney left and remarried. The Smith family then took over and helped Mary and her kids. They became legal guardians of Junius. The Wilsons found a school that could help Junius. As a result, at the age of seven he was sent to North Carolina School for the Colored Blind and Deaf in Raleigh.

Time at North Carolina School for the Colored Blind and Deaf
His mother sent him to North Carolina deaf school for colored because she believed it would be a good environment for Junius. They would teach him what other schools could not. He would be taught lifelong skills and how to live a normal live. At Raleigh school they taught him vocational training and academic education. He first started attending in late January 1916. Jumius went there by train with Annie Wilson; in fact, she filed out all the paper work and everything because she could read and write, unlike his mother. The school had Annie and Arthur Sr. Smith listed under Junius’s guardians. He was taught by hearing instructors, who were mostly female. Because by 1910 sign was banned in classrooms across the USA. Deaf instructors did not teach at Rayleen or a lot of other deaf schools because at the time oralism was taking its hold on American its deaf schools. Oralism is the teaching of lip reading and speech. Sign language was not allowed in the class room in black or white deaf schools when jw attended school. As a result, the kids developed their own language which they would in turn teach to the teachers in an ironic role reversal.

The dialect Junius and the other kids spoke became known as black sigh. At the school, they were taught vocational training while white schools were taught spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, higher mathematics, geography, grammar, the sciences, kinder garden training and vocal instrumental music. Although JW gained language at Raleigh, his primary code of commination did not make sense to deaf people outside his school white or black. At his time at the school he gained a community and a cultural identity He finally belonged and felt he fit in. He was there for roughly 8 years, from 7 to 15. Raleigh was his home for all those eight years. He went from a young boy to a man at that school. His academic ability remains unknown; however, he must have done alright because he was never kicked out for 8 years. In contrast, his peers left a lot sooner because of academic dismissal or behavior issues. Jw was there in till he was expelled miss behavior at the age of 15. He was kicked out because one day the circus came out and all the kids went to see it. All the kids were supposed to leave, yet JW didn’t. He stayed and hid overnight. When he returned to school the next day after spending all day at the fair, he was dismissed from school for being dis obedient.

Back home ( The Struggle for The Wilson Family)
On his release, his family was shocked and sadden. They had grown accustomed to living their lives without Junius. Because he was at the school, they rarely saw him. They also did not have to pay for him either. All his expenses were paid by the state. Mary only had to work about herself and daughter when it came to expenses. Money was extremely tight, and the Smith family helped out. When JW came home, it was even harder for the Simth family to take of Mary and her daughter plus Junius. Life was a lot easier when JW was no around. The whole family felt uncomfortable when he was around, for they had no way to communicate with him. When It was a struggle to have him back. It was hard on the Wilsons and Smiths. JW’s moods didn’t make things easier. JW threw fits when he could get people to understand what he was trying to say. It wasn’t his fault, but it made dealing with him even harder. The Smiths did the best they could to help out. However, Arthur Sr. was and it was left to Arthur Jr. to taking have of everybody. Jw was not a pleasant to live with because of his constant fits. It was like he was still a child. To make things worse, JW had developed a relationship with Arthur Jr.’s wife. He would peep on here from time to time and always be around her. Because she was educated, she was able to communicate with Junius. Being back home was strange for him, he missed his friends and school, yet now he had someone he could communicate with. JW had only been out of school for a few months when the ball dropped. He was accused of attempted rape. Arthur Jr. accused him of assaulting and attempting to rape his wife. Maybe he accused Jw out of jealously or just trying to help the family by getting rid of JW. He knew if he was accused of attempting to rape a black woman nothing to bad would happen. He would just be sent away for a little while. However, a little while would turn into 75 years.

His rape charges and sentencing
Junuis was picked up and arrested for the attempted rape of his aunt. After his arrest, he was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No body to the courts JW was deaf. The court thought he was crazy and dangerous. When he was brought to the jail house he couldn’t speak. There was a bailiff who realized he was deaf and tried to commutate with JW. The baliff spoke sign language, yet he did not speak the sign JW spoke. The judge and jury didn’t know what to make of JW either. All they saw was a man, who was convicted of rape, screaming and moaning. They too didn’t know JW was deaf. They thought he was a crazy mute. Hence, the jury did not find him guilty they just found him unfit to be outside. He was then sentence to a mental hospital for the criminally insane. The most import think to note is no one found JW guilty of raped. They jury saw a distressed man and sentence him to a special place where they could take care of him.

Hospital Early years in general pop
He was declared defected and sent to a segregated black state hospital for the criminally insane. The hospital was ran but an all-white staff. This was common back in those days. They didn’t know what to make of junius when he first arrived. It was a struggle for JW the first few years at the hospital. He was in general population where are the really violent insane were. He was only 17 when he entered the hospital. He was a kid thrown in the lion’s den. The staff and the court had no sympathy for him at the begging. They felt he was a danger to himself and society. He was tested before the trial and when he got there. All the doctors felt he was mentally unstable and violent. His outbursts got worse because he missed his family. He was a child and was torn away from his family.

His few months he stuck to himself didn’t really communicate with anyone for no one could talk to him. No one at the hospital could speak asl. To make things worse his family never came to see him. It was never known why they never came to see him his first couple years. I could only speculate imagine. After his first years at the hospital he was castrated. The warden had him castrated because he was attempted rapist. At the time people were afraid of black men. Because of all the propaganda going around about black men raping white women and afraid he was going to get out and rape white women.