Transcript of Interview with Mrs. Lillian Dandridge - conducted September 21, 1982 by Linda McGowan.
Mrs. Lillian Dandridge at 1610 North 31st Street. Mrs. Dandridge is a life time resident of Church Hill, Richmond, Virginia.
I - Mrs. Dandridge, we'd like some background information. Could you give me your birth date?
N - My birthday is July 11, 1909.
I - And where were you born?
N - Richmond.
I - And your address?
N - 3106 Q Street.
I - 3106 Q Street. Could you give the names of your parents?
N - Mrs. Florence Lewis.
I - All right. And where was your mother born?
N - Her parents were born in Quinton. I don't know whether she was born in Quinton or born in Richmond.
I - OK. That's Quinton, Virginia. All right.
N - Yes.
I - How long were you at Q Street?
N - Until about 12.
I - Until about 12. And could you give us the names of some families that were living in the block?
N - Well some of the families that were living in the block at that time was Mrs. Gertrude Brooks, the Barnums, Evans, Mrs. Florene Allen and her mother was living across the street, and the Jacksons, the Robinsons, Lynwood Robinson, Mrs. Elsie Robinson's husband's people.
I - Oh, OK. Mrs. Elsie Robinson's husband. Was he born in that block or was he..?
N - I don't know. No he wasn't born in that block, they moved there.
I - Oh, OK. All right.
N - The Boisseus lived on the corner, ... Ruby Ransom lived in that block and her family and another family lived in that corner.
I - OK. Tell me a little bit about the neighborhood, the type of houses that was there, whether you had indoor or outdoor plumbing.
N - We had outdoor plumbing for the beginning. Those houses are still in the block.
I - OK.
N - The same houses.
I - The same homes are still up?
N - Are still in that block, some of them have been remodeled. ... On both sides the street.
I - And that's the 3100 Q Street. Right? OK.
N - Most of the houses are still there.
I - Good, good and you had outdoor plumbing. Was there anything else? When did you get indoor plumbing? Were you there long enough at that particular, so while you were there from age 12, up to age 12, you had outdoor plumbing. Somebody was telling me they had to go to the well, to a particular well to get water.
N - There was a well on 31st Street in the 1100 block, right around the corner.Now I can't remember going to the well, but the well was there, whether maybe my parents got water from there.
I - But you don't remember having to go fetch water anything like that?
N - No, I don't remember having to go to the well but I know where the well was, the well was between the ... the Judes and the Parhams, ... 31st Street, right back off Q Street and a well was there. I remember a well being there. Now whether they were using that well at the time, I can't remember.
I - Now do you remember drinking well water, or ... OK. All right. Tell us a little bit about your school days.
N - Well, I went to George Mason School at an early age of five and then at that time we went on North 29th Street and we went there for the first five grades. Then we went to a four room building in the 1300 block of 29th Street for the sixth or seventh grade.
I - Was that a name of a school or just an annex of George Mason?
N - I guess an annex of George Mason.
I - Oh I see. Do you remember any of your teachers during that time?
N - Yes.
I - Give us some names of some teachers.
N - Mr. Charles Holmes was a member of our church. He was one of my teachers. Kate Gilpin Henderson was my first teacher.
I - Kate Gilpin Henderson. OK.
N - Was my first teacher. And I was in her first class.
I - Any other teachers, principal of the school, do you remember who that was?
N - Mr. Crouch I think was the principal, I know at one time. Reverend J. Andrew Bowler was my seventh grade teacher.
I - Oh, OK.
N - .... but, I didn't have too many teachers because I was skipped. I had Kate Henderson for the first three grades. Mr. Holmes for the fourth and fifth grades. E. G. Ross for the last of the fifth grade. Walter White for sixth grade and Cynthia Jones last half of the sixth grade. We had A and B grades at that time. And I skipped the first half of the seventh grade. I went to J. Andrew Bowler last half of the seventh grade.
I - Now you were in that block until 12, what happened? When did you, at the age of 12 you moved where?
N - I lived for a short time, ... 607 North 28th Street. Then we moved to 906 North 31st Street.
I - And how long were you there?
N - About five years.
I - About five years. So you were seventeen, from 12 to 17? And what school were you attending?
N - Armstrong High School.
I - Oh. Uptown, and ...
N - I first went to Armstrong at First and Leigh. Then they built the addition over there, down at Prentiss and Leigh which was later. Booker T. ... and then that's where I finished Armstrong.
I - So you finished Armstrong. Tell us about the neighborhood that was 60, what was the address?
N - What, which one?
I - The last address you had.
N - Well the last address, I moved, we lived at, during my high school days, I was at 906 North 30th Street.
I - 906 North 30th Street.
N - Those houses have been demolished.
I - Oh. OK. All right. Well do you remember any families in that block?
N - Let's see who was in that block; the Bentfords lived on that corner and the Stones, Robert Stone who had the furniture store.
I - Oh, yes, Stone's Furniture.
N - Yes. His parents use to live in that corner house, right there at the corner of 30th and 0 and Reverend Sonny Bentford, somebody use to live downstairs, Robinsons lived next, Harry Thomas, you know Harry Thomas, that keep the oil place.
I - Yes, yes.
N - His grandmother used to live next door and you know Claytee Robinson.
I - Right, right.
N - Her sister use to live second door. Geneva Lee was living in the next big house on the other side the street, there was the Robinsons, ...
I - OK. You had indoor plumbing by then I take it.
N - No. We still had outdoor plumbing.
I - All right. Did you have your own wells, or..?
N - No they had running water.
I - You had running water.
N - Yes we had outdoor toilet and outdoor hydrant for running water.
I - OK. All right.
N - At that time.
I - Tell me a little bit about the neighborhood in the sense of businesses and particularly businesses and social organizations from living on Q Street and then moving to the 900 block of ...
N - Most of it was residential, there weren't many, there was a little confectionery store at 31st and Q, back of the Furman's, the Furman's house. The Furman's house was still there.
I - The Furmans, were they black or white?
N - That's white, do you know Mrs. Furman?
I - OK. Ok. Mrs. Furman was white.
N - Little short lady.
I - Ok.
N - She was an architect. Her parents built that house right there at 30th and Q, that big stone house.
I - 31st and Q. Yeah, oh the pink house.
N - The big house. The big stone house on the corner of 31st and Q Street on this side. And back of it they had a little confectionery store in the back.
I - 31st and Q?
N - Right. Don't you remember the big house up on that corner?
I - ... I know I've seen it a thousand times. I think I've seen it a thousand times.
N - Yeah, and on this side is a row of houses. The Bouisseaus on that corner, the Bouisseau's house on the other corner and the big stone house right here. Herman Jude lived there for awhile while the Furmans was in New York. While they were in New York. You remember Mrs. Furman, a little short lady, use to belong to our church?
I - I'm sure I do.
N - Wilkerson Furman's momma.
I - Oh, OK.
N - That's where he use to live and his sister.
I - OK. All right, and you had a confectionery in the back?
N - In back. And then further up the block Mr. Lewis, what was his name, use to keep a confectionery at the corner of 30th and Q.
I - OK.
N - That's all boarded up now, I noticed today. Well he died and on P Street there use to be a shoe shop, I think at that corner, at 30th and P. The lady use to have a little cook shop, named Maria, but other than that it was a grocery store at 30th and P, that is still there. I mean that building is still there.
I - Building is still there.
N - And that use to be a grocery store at the corner of 31st Street. The building is still there but it's not a grocery store.
I - All right.
N - And the church was still where it is now. Fourth Baptist. ...
I - And when were baptized in Fourth Baptist? What age?
N - Age 12.
I - You were baptized at age 12. Who was the pastor then?
N - Reverend Evans Payne.
I - Oh. Reverend Evans Payne. And tell us a little about your church involvement as a young girl as well as an adult.
N - Well, as a Sunday School, I started Sunday School very young. And I went to Sunday School every Sunday. I had to.
I - Who were some of your Sunday School teachers?
N - Clara Wilson. She use to stand at the corners. My momma use to put me across the street, she stand there watching me, ... and I went to Sunday School with her. You know who I'm talking about?
I - I know who you talking about, oh yeah.
N - And then go down P Street, you know, and come back home and then we use. Well I joined church when I was 12. And I was active in the Sunday School. BYPU missionaries, and I was very active because I use to do a lot of reciting.
I - OK. Now after Reverend Payne, who was the next pastor?
N - Reverend Williams.
I - OK. Reverend Williams.
N - Then, after Reverend Williams, when Reverend Brown?
I - Reverend Brown, do you have any idea when Reverend Williams came in, what year? Vaguely?
N - He was there, vaguely, just three years.
I - OK.
N - Then Reverend Brown.
I - How long was Reverend Brown there?
N - Brown was there, I can't remember, but he was there longer. And then Reverend Taylor.
I - And then Reverend Taylor. Yeah that sounds about right. What are your church affiliations now? I mean, as far as activities.
N - Look what am I doing now.
I - Everything.
N - I belong to the Hospital Missionary Circle. I teach Sunday School, member of the ...
I - Mrs. Dandridge tell us a little more about your church activities now.
N - Now well I attend Ella Perry Memorial Bible Class but I am still a member, the second vice president of that class and I belong to Missionary Society Circle.
I - Right. What other activities are you involved in, social organizations?
N - And I work with the Girl Scouts.
I - For how long?
N - Over thirty years.
I - Beautiful, beautiful and has that always been through Fourth Baptist Church?
N - Right. Well, I have originally, I have been a troop organizer before. I organize troops at several churches. But now I have served on the Board and now
I - Beautiful, beautiful. Do you belong to any other organizations?
N - Yes. Now I am Past Matron of the East End Chapter No. 79I am a Tent. What else I do, I belong to AERIP, retired association, oh Camille Garden Club. One of the original members of that, and I think that's just about all.
I - Well, that sounds good. Now you mentioned ...
N - As a kid I was a member of the Idea, National Idea Benefit Society.
I - Oh really.
N - And the Saint Lukes.
I - Oh really, as a young girl?
N - As a child.
I - How, what age were you?
N - Oh around five or six years old.
I - Really, did you attend meetings and anything like that?
N - Yes.
I - And where was the meeting held?
N - The first, meeting as a juvenile, at Mrs. Ida Jeter's first started in the 600 block 30th Street.
I - How old were you then? You said five or six.
N - Yeah, round, I guess around, yeah eight or nine, between the ages of 6 and 10.
I - And, as we know the Saint Lukes Organization is ...
N - We met on 26th Street at St. Luke's Hall.
I - Oh they met at the Order, on 26th Street, what hundred block?
N - That's in the 1200 block, that hall use to be a Saint Luke Hall, use to belong to the Saint Luke.
I - Oh I didn't know that. So that, is the Masonic Hall now or ...
N - I don't know. It belongs, I thought it belonged to a tobacco union now.
I - I'm not sure, but anyhow that hall.
N - I think it belong to a tobacco union, but that hall was originally a Saint Luke.
I - Do you know if the Saint Lukes built it or did they buy it? Or you don't know?
N - I don't know.
I - OK. That's very interesting.
N - The building was there and that's where Saint Lukes use to meet.
I - And was that just the Saint Lukes East End Branch?
N - Yeah. A Branch because the root I think was on the Northside.
I - Yeah, in Jackson Ward, right?
N - Right.
I - Also you mentioned the East End Order, is that the Eastern Star?
N - Yeah.
I - OK. Now is..?
N - I joined that, I mean that's not a juvenile, that was as an adult.
I - OK. As a juvenile what were your other organizations?
N - National Idea Benefit Society.
I - OK. Tell us a little bit about that.
N - Well, Mrs. Ida B. Jeter she was the, well I guess you call it the leader, you see National Ideas was still located at 26th Street.
I - Oh, OK, was it insurance or a social organization, or what?
N - They call it Society. It's incorporated.
I - Oh, OK. Do you have to attend meetings or anything like that?
N - Yeah, meetings once a month. And some of the people that was in it at that time was the Hills, Alma and Clara, they use to live next door. Azia Booker and Alice Robinson, and
I - Have you maintained continuous membership in the Ideal?
N - Until I got grown.
I - Are you a member now?
N - Until recently-
I - Until recently, really.
N - I mean, well.
I - So how many years were you a member? Do you know?
N - Oh, I guess I was a member around about, until I was an adult.
I - Was that from about age what? To age what? Just a rough estimate.
N - A rough estimate. I guess, it's been in, I guess in my late fifties, when I left the Ideals.
I - Really? That's fantastic.
N - Yeah. Because Miss Mannie Parham, you remember her, she was a you know, after you left the junior, you went to the adult lodge and you, she was the head of the lodge and who was it, the Washingtons, was all a member of that now I don't know whether they still holding their membership or not. But I dropped out.
I - But they had, did they have a East End Branch of the Ideals, or did you have to go down to Clay Street to attend?
N - Well, they use to meet at Lily Valley Hall, you know on P Street.
I - Lily Valley Hall.
N - Use to be at 31st and P.
I - 31st and P. OK, all right.
N - And then after that and I think after she died, it was transferred over town.
I - All right, now let me ask you about your adult organizations. You mentioned the East End Star. Now the Eastern Star has a meeting place in the East End.
N - At Masonic Temple at 25th and Leigh.
I - How long have you been a member of the Eastern Star?
N - Over 25 years.
I - What about the Tents?
N - Well I guess I better, well the Tents almost right long too. The Tents, they meet over town.
I OK. They are not meeting in the East End. But the Eastern Star do have their Masonic Temple and they share it with the Masons or Masons.
N - Masons, yeah, just the Masons Temple. Because they first met at Lily Valley Hall but that's been torn down.
I - Oh so that's not up anymore. OK. Were these organizations like the Tents and the Eastern Star and the Masons, were they very active when you were a young girl? Do you remember hearing about the Stars?
N - Use to hear about them, but you didn't, you know, didn't care much about them.
I - But your parents were, I mean the adults were involved. These were black organizations,
N - Yeah they were black organizations and activities.
I - Oh, OK. What about influential people in Church Hill? As a young girl did you hear about any black or white person that was living in the neighborhood that was relatively well known in the neighborhood, or even in the City? Or in the tate?
N - Well at that time the well known blacks were the ministers and the insurance men.
I - Who were some of the people that really stood out, that everybody knew?
N - Like Mr. Isaiah Carter.
I - Isaiah Carter, what was he?
N - Well he worked for Southern Aid Life Insurance.
I - OK. He was an insurance man.
N - And then he was the choir director at the church. At Fourth Baptist.
I - Fourth Baptist.
N - Yes. And Mr. E. Jackson and he was a deacon at Fourth Baptist and let's see who else, well some of teachers were
I - Emma Roane Gee was a teacher, what about some of your pastors?
N - Well there was Reverend Payne. Reverend Bowler and Reverend Williams, although I attended all the churches, because I did quite a bit of reciting when I was young. And Reverend Bowler was at Mount Olivet Church, and I use to go there quite frequently with a next door neighbor, and I also taught Sunday School for many years.
I - Oh, OK, OK. Let's get back to your education. You went to George Mason. I don't think we mentioned any of your teachers in George Mason. You started George Mason in the 8th grade?
N - No, I started George Mason, it wasn't 8th, in the first grade, I told you about the skips.
I - Oh, I'm sorry, Armstrong. I said George Mason, I'm thinking Armstrong.
N - Oh, Armstrong was uptown.
I - OK. What grade did you start?
N - Eighth grade.
I - Eighth grade. Now tell me some of your teachers. Do you remember?
N - Well when I got to Armstrong, then there was Mrs. Kate Henderson, she had been promoted to high school and she was one of my first teachers in high school, first in elementary school, first in high school. And the first somebody to grab me when they found out that I had graduated. And of course, I use to be there goes my first teacher, I mean she always remember that I was one of her first students.
I - Is her family still in, yeah, is her family still in Church Hill or Richmond?
N - No they, oh, well she lived over town. But she had nieces living the Gilpins, and she was Dr. Henderson was her last husband, she was first . She has nieces living here because they buried somebody not too long ago, a nephew and I noticed that her nieces was in the ...
I - What other teachers in Armstrong? The principals?
N - Oh, at that time a Mrs. Adams was the principal,
I - Oh really, what nursing home is he in, do you know?
N - She's in way up, way up Broad Street.
I- I don't know.
N- On a...OK. Libby.
I- OK. Libby.
N- Yeah, because we went up there this summer and we saw him. I can't think of the man's name now Elwood Nixon. Mr. Nixon, John
Nixon.
I -OK. All right.
N -Yeah he is still living. I'm trying to think who was living there that was teaching then.
I -OK. Let me ask you this question because I think our tape is getting a little bit low. Tell me a little bit about the accomplishments of your children, when you got married, where you were living.
N - I was living in the 1400 block of North 27th Street. At that time.
I - That was before you got married, or your first...
N -Well I was there when I got married.
I - OK.
N - And..
I - You married?
N - Altheus Dandridge in 1936. I had two sons.
I - And their names?
N - Conrad Louis and Elmer Emery Dandridge. Both of them have finished school. Both have their degrees. Conrad finished Virginia State, he got it, yeah. And he has got his master's from NYU, in New York. He is a teacher at Armstrong High School in his 20th year. And Elmer is a graduate of the University of Virginia, an electrical engineering degree, he's got his master's degree from the University, John Kennedy, in California, in California and he works for the Navy Department, for 20 years.
I - Is he in Richmond?
N - Concord, California.
I - Concord.
N - Concord. First job.
I - Excellent, excellent.
N - And I have two grandchildren.
I - OK. Two grandchildren. Did you work after you graduated from high school, or did you, when were you married, what year were you married, you said '31?
N - I was married in 1936.
I - '36, how old were you then?
N - 26.
I - 26. Did you work between..?
N - When I, I finished, after finishing Armstrong High School, I went Armstrong Normal, which was a two year course.
I - And what did you major in?
N - And I finished teacher training.
I - Teacher training.
N - And finished in 1928. I taught in Goochland County for one year, Amelia County for three years and Galax, Virginia, I mean, yeah, Virginia for a year. And Hanover for four years. Hanover County for four years. Then I became affiliated with the Virginia Union Benefit Life Insurance Company and I worked as an agent, assistant cashier, cashier, and auditor, for 33 years.
I - Really, so you've been a very busy person. Were you at the same address after you graduated from high school? Where were you living?
N - When I finished high school I was living at 906 North 30th Street. When I finished Armstrong Normal I was living at 1310 North 29th Street and I lived here for about six years. Then we moved to 1419 North 27th Street. And I lived there until I moved here. Which was in '42, no, yes, no, '47.
I - '47.
N - 1947.
I - And you been here ever since?
N - Yeah, we moved in the house was new.
I - That's beautiful, beautiful. OK. Can you think of anything else, any unusual events or special events that have happened during your lifetime that had an effect on the community, fire, flood, the death of a person, somebody coming to town, something that really sort of set the community on fire?
N - Set the community on fire.
I - A famous person coming to town,
N - Well, I mean you know, persons coming to town, we never had famous but Bill Robinson had been to town. You know he, they built the theatre over here and he was here when I was...
I - Oh he was here for that grand opening?
N - Yes, and then well there we use to bring outstanding players when the kids were very small, I took them to hear Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
I - Oh really, where was that?
N - Not Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Paul Robeson. All Right, they heard Todd Dunkin. They saw the Kate Dunkin dancers and anything that came there I thought was worthwhile, they went.
I - And where were these being shown
N - At the Mosque.
I - Oh, at the Mosque, beautiful, beautiful.
N - And anything that was uplifting, they went. They were well versed as to things that were going on that was important. Well I use to belong to the Dramatic Club, did mostly religious plays, then we had a group called the Little Guild which consisted of Mrs. Rosa Wilkerson, Miss Turner, Elizabeth Turner, Effie Morton, Lena Willis, who else was in that group, myself, Edna Jackson had played with us, and Maude Wilkerson and I guess about..
I - That's very interesting, how long did that last? You called it the Little Guild?
N - Yeah I use to call it ... [transcript ends here.]
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