A man of firsts -- remembering Goldsboro's first black police officer
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on February 12, 2017 1:45 AM
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Amaziah Howell Jr. will not only be remembered as the first black police officer in Goldsboro, but as a good man, his son, Amaziah Howell III said. His father passed away last September at the age of 94.
Editor's note: Black History Month is a time to reflect on the contributions, sacrifices and strides made by African Americans, not just in our country, but in our own communities as well. We thought we would share a story some might know, and many probably do not. It is the story of Amaziah Howell Jr., who became Goldsboro's first black policeman and Wayne County's first black sheriff's deputy.
Amaziah Howell Jr. checked his uniform in the mirror each morning before leaving home.
He snapped the buckle of the holster strap which held in place his pearl-handled revolver.
He brushed both hands down the front of his black shirt to smooth out any wrinkles.
He shifted his policeman's hat this way and that, until it sat perfectly on his head.
His 5-year-old son watched his father's every move.
"As a kid, I didn't know what that meant," Amaziah Howell III said.
Now 68, Amaziah completely understands his father's meticulous, daily routine of dressing for work as Goldsboro's first black police officer.
"He was a great role model because he was clean, he was honest, he was straightforward. He was just a solid, solid citizen," Amaziah said.
"I wanted to be like him."
A native of Goldsboro, Howell joined the Army in 1942 during World War II. He served as a corporal in the Third Army with Gen. George Patton in France, Belgium and Germany.
After being honorably discharged in 1946, he returned home.
Amaziah said the city recommended his father become a police officer because of his honest character in the community. Howell gladly accepted his new role, and he sought out his friend, neighbor and fellow African-American Jacob Musgrave to be his partner. Together the two men spent their shifts patrolling the Little Washington area and James Street.
Former North Carolina legislator and former Wayne County commissioner Jimmy Ford, 73, remembers Howell -- and James Street -- clearly.
"It made us feel proud just to go on James Street and see this black policeman standing there and doing his duties for Goldsboro as a police officer," Ford said.
He said the black community lived mainly on James Street back then, and he refers to Howell as an "older pioneer" who led the way for African-Americans to take on high-ranking positions. Ford said the black community changed their opinion of their future status after seeing a black man in a police uniform.
"The word spread throughout the community who he was and his job," Ford said. "I knew of him."
Ford said he officially met Howell when they were neighbors on Neuse Circle. Ford said he and Howell both attended Barnes Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in the Rosewood community.
He said Howell hired him to sell pots and pans with Howell's company, Presto Pride, in the '60s. But Howell eventually told Ford he could do better things with his life than sell kitchenware. Ford went on to become an educator and later took up the path of local and state politics.
Howell devoted 10 years to the police force before being selected as the first black deputy sheriff in Wayne County. He was then elected president of the North Carolina Black Police Officers Association. In 1972, he answered the call to the ministry.
Howell moved to Ohio where he pastored at Lakeside Baptist Church in Cleveland and Mount Olive Baptist Church in Dennison. But in 2001, he moved back to North Carolina to take care of his wife, Theresa Reid Howell. Amaziah said his mother succumbed to Alzheimer's disease nine years later and passed away after 67 years of marriage with Howell.
"Of the many outstanding things that he did in his life, one of the best was his dedication to taking care of my mother when she became sick," Amaziah said.
"He drove to and from the nursing home three times a day, and he fed her. And every night he combed and brushed her hair and rolled it up into curlers."
Howell continued to serve people at Barnes Chapel until he passed away "peacefully at home" last September at the age of 94.
He left behind three children, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He also left behind a legacy for all Americans to follow.
Ford said the month of February is special to the black community of Goldsboro, and he said the community needs to remember the life of Howell.
"I know this is Black History Month, and it's time to look back at those persons who have been and who began the saga for us," Ford said.
Amaziah created a collage to hang in his house to remember his father. He placed pictures of his father and mother together in the frame and included pictures of his father as a police officer, as a war veteran and as a 50-year-old graduate of Ashland Theological Seminary.
Though Amaziah never became a police officer as his father once did, he did start his own company, Howell Petroleum Products, 32 years ago. He now lives in New York with his family, and he said he still tells people about how proud he is of his father.
"I am just so proud to say that he was my father," he said. "He was proud of me because he told me all of the time, but I never paid attention."
Amaziah said he wants people to not only remember his father was the first black police officer in Goldsboro, but remember he was a good man.
"He was a man. He was a real person," Amaziah said.
"He never tried to impress anybody. He was not showy, he was just straightforward and just a real person who dealt with people in a real way."