Dublin Core
Title
Oral History with Mr. James Edwards and Mrs. Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards
Subject
[no text]
Description
Mr. James Edwards lived on the eastside on lot 10, block 38
Full notes on the interview are attached. Finders guide coming soon! Full notes contain parts of meeting that were not recorded.
ARRIVAL IN LAKELAND
Mr Edwards:
• Aunt came in the early 1930s to work at the Univeristy
• Mother and father moved from Baltimore to Lakeland following Aunt and her wife
Mrs. Edwards:
• Mother from Lakeland
• Father from Hamlet North Carolinna-came around early 1940s (1941-42)
• Grandmother Esther Hicks, Great-grandparents Annie Hicks and Benjamin Hicks
• Grandparents migrated to Lakeland in the early 1900s
• Mother still lives in the house that her husband built
NEIGHBORS
Mr. Edwards:
• Lived next door to the Brooks
• Not very many of people from 18 and 1900s still living when he arrived
• Johnnie Johnson was one of the originals
• The Hills some of the oldest Lakeland families
• Many of the descendants of the original families lived in their houses into the 1970s
FAMILY
Mrs. Edwards
• Family was all in close proximity
• If Lakeland adults saw children misbehaving, they would reprimand them.
• Her Aunt nurtured her along with uncle
Mr. Edwards
• Community raised you-reported wrongdoing
• His father's family lived next door
• Aunt lived at corner of Cleveland and Albany
• They lived three houses down from them on Albany
• He was raised with his first cousin,
• At the time mother and father did not have children, were told they would not, so they adopted her (Clara) as their own.
HOUSE
Mr. Edwards:
• Lived in a cape cod bungalow, frame house , last house on the street, big yard
• The yard had a large garden and animals, big garden
• Strip of land where his father planted land for the owner, corn to feed the animals
• They grew corn by the creek to feed the 2-3 hogs
• Raised about a dozen ducks , chickens and rabbits that he took care of until he got married
• His father bought that house in 1940
Mrs. Edwards:
• One of six children very large yard living in a small two story Cape Cod house
• Macio Campbell, her father, built their house without a blueprint and it looked just like a cape cod anywhere else
• Yard always maintained with flowers
• There was a garden in the yard, put children to work in the garden to produce fruits and vegetables
• They played games in the yard: dodge-ball, red light, Simon Says, hide and seek, etc.
• Recalls hearing the UMD band practicing
• Heard the chimes of the chapel clock ring regularly on the hill
Mr Edwards:
• House inside-interior walls papered, ceilings as well and most of floors stripped pine floor, kitchens dining rooms, bathrooms, had linoleum floors
• Regularly painted house, sidewalk, chimney, trees and outbuildings
• At the Brooks’ house on rainy or snowy days, Mrs. Maggie Brooks would move the cars out of the four car garage to play marbles and jacks on the floor of the garage.
SOCIAL CLUBS
• There were many social events in Lakeland such as men’s clubs like the Counts, the Aces, the Elks
• Gathered, wore chesterfield sweaters, smoked cigars, chatted, planned events
• The women’s group called the Duchesses got together for meetings and special affairs and dressed in gowns
• There was an American Legion and Elks carnival
RECREATION
• Movies were projected in the Legion hall because they couldn’t go out to theaters
• There was a baseball team called the “Black Socksâ€
• Lakeland High had intramural sports teams
• Churches were a very important social place
• Housed movies, talent shows, Teen Club, movies, dances, intramural sports for boys and girls , arts and crafts during summer school time
• River cruises with all of the surrounding black communities
• Competition in dancing in different Teen Clubs, would have a dance-off of all the teen club bests
• Tobacco barn dances in Upper Marlboro
• Beach excursions organized by churches to Carr’s Beach in Annapolis
• Every 3rd Saturday in July, all black churches in the area would meet there
SCHOOLS
• Growing up in Lakeland prior to 1950, there was no bussing
• The schools were separate, but Lakeland had outstanding teachers
• All meals cooked in the cafeteria
• Girls in junior high scheduled to work in the cafeteria collecting plates and washing dishes during home economics.
• Schools in Lakeland and in Fairmount Heights, trades and labor offered to students
• Students given either college prep or trade school education
• Girls educated in manual sewing, cooking, working a sewing machine
PARENTS’ PROFESSIONS
Mr. Edwards:
• Father in funeral business
• Originally worked as a teacher
• Supplemented income as a traveling salesperson
• Mother did work mostly in the house,
• Most people in Lakeland worked at the University, on the railroad, or at the research center in Beltsville.
• A few worked for the federal government, as teachers etc in Washington DC
• Some men settled after coming to the CCC camp in Beltsville
Mr Edwards
• Prior to 1950s, every student stayed n Lakeland schools throughout their school career
• Lakeland had very smart and articulate teachers
• Trying to create separate but equal, sometimes got things that the white kids did not to encourage them to stay in school
BOUNDARIES
• There were boundaries, physical and social
• North was Berwyn, a white neighborhood,
• To the South, the University and College Park Airport
• There were social boundaries as well, such as when Mrs. Edwards was refused a job at Hot Shoppes.
• Free education given to the children of University of Maryland employees unless you were Black
• The lake froze in the winter and people would go ice-skating, made fires on the island the middle and ice-skated all night.
• People had utmost respect for the train
• No one was ever killed on those train tracks from Lakeland because they had utmost respect for train tracks
• Trains and streetcars not quite as segregated as the busses
THE EAST SIDE
• Open land on the East Side across the tracks, may have been some farming, but no only for subsistence
• A lot of bartering, trade food for services, etc.
• The lake was used for fishing
• Breeding part of it had gone by the time they came along in the 40s
• In 1953, there was a train wreck and the hydrated lime dumped in the lake and killed it
FUN IN LAKELAND:
• Ice skating on the lake in the winter took place all night
• Boyfriends and girlfriends
• Boyscouts, Girlscouts, Cubscouts
• Parents fostered socialization and community
• Never got locked out because you didn’t lock doors
• Always had family to take you in
• Girls played just as rough as the boys did, skated one mile from railroad to US1
• Built huts, forts, scooters, soapbox carts
• Not much problem with outsiders and racism
• Most problems with racism occurred outside of Lakeland, for example in rural places like the Eastern Shore, where Mr. Edwards went to college.
Full notes on the interview are attached. Finders guide coming soon! Full notes contain parts of meeting that were not recorded.
ARRIVAL IN LAKELAND
Mr Edwards:
• Aunt came in the early 1930s to work at the Univeristy
• Mother and father moved from Baltimore to Lakeland following Aunt and her wife
Mrs. Edwards:
• Mother from Lakeland
• Father from Hamlet North Carolinna-came around early 1940s (1941-42)
• Grandmother Esther Hicks, Great-grandparents Annie Hicks and Benjamin Hicks
• Grandparents migrated to Lakeland in the early 1900s
• Mother still lives in the house that her husband built
NEIGHBORS
Mr. Edwards:
• Lived next door to the Brooks
• Not very many of people from 18 and 1900s still living when he arrived
• Johnnie Johnson was one of the originals
• The Hills some of the oldest Lakeland families
• Many of the descendants of the original families lived in their houses into the 1970s
FAMILY
Mrs. Edwards
• Family was all in close proximity
• If Lakeland adults saw children misbehaving, they would reprimand them.
• Her Aunt nurtured her along with uncle
Mr. Edwards
• Community raised you-reported wrongdoing
• His father's family lived next door
• Aunt lived at corner of Cleveland and Albany
• They lived three houses down from them on Albany
• He was raised with his first cousin,
• At the time mother and father did not have children, were told they would not, so they adopted her (Clara) as their own.
HOUSE
Mr. Edwards:
• Lived in a cape cod bungalow, frame house , last house on the street, big yard
• The yard had a large garden and animals, big garden
• Strip of land where his father planted land for the owner, corn to feed the animals
• They grew corn by the creek to feed the 2-3 hogs
• Raised about a dozen ducks , chickens and rabbits that he took care of until he got married
• His father bought that house in 1940
Mrs. Edwards:
• One of six children very large yard living in a small two story Cape Cod house
• Macio Campbell, her father, built their house without a blueprint and it looked just like a cape cod anywhere else
• Yard always maintained with flowers
• There was a garden in the yard, put children to work in the garden to produce fruits and vegetables
• They played games in the yard: dodge-ball, red light, Simon Says, hide and seek, etc.
• Recalls hearing the UMD band practicing
• Heard the chimes of the chapel clock ring regularly on the hill
Mr Edwards:
• House inside-interior walls papered, ceilings as well and most of floors stripped pine floor, kitchens dining rooms, bathrooms, had linoleum floors
• Regularly painted house, sidewalk, chimney, trees and outbuildings
• At the Brooks’ house on rainy or snowy days, Mrs. Maggie Brooks would move the cars out of the four car garage to play marbles and jacks on the floor of the garage.
SOCIAL CLUBS
• There were many social events in Lakeland such as men’s clubs like the Counts, the Aces, the Elks
• Gathered, wore chesterfield sweaters, smoked cigars, chatted, planned events
• The women’s group called the Duchesses got together for meetings and special affairs and dressed in gowns
• There was an American Legion and Elks carnival
RECREATION
• Movies were projected in the Legion hall because they couldn’t go out to theaters
• There was a baseball team called the “Black Socksâ€
• Lakeland High had intramural sports teams
• Churches were a very important social place
• Housed movies, talent shows, Teen Club, movies, dances, intramural sports for boys and girls , arts and crafts during summer school time
• River cruises with all of the surrounding black communities
• Competition in dancing in different Teen Clubs, would have a dance-off of all the teen club bests
• Tobacco barn dances in Upper Marlboro
• Beach excursions organized by churches to Carr’s Beach in Annapolis
• Every 3rd Saturday in July, all black churches in the area would meet there
SCHOOLS
• Growing up in Lakeland prior to 1950, there was no bussing
• The schools were separate, but Lakeland had outstanding teachers
• All meals cooked in the cafeteria
• Girls in junior high scheduled to work in the cafeteria collecting plates and washing dishes during home economics.
• Schools in Lakeland and in Fairmount Heights, trades and labor offered to students
• Students given either college prep or trade school education
• Girls educated in manual sewing, cooking, working a sewing machine
PARENTS’ PROFESSIONS
Mr. Edwards:
• Father in funeral business
• Originally worked as a teacher
• Supplemented income as a traveling salesperson
• Mother did work mostly in the house,
• Most people in Lakeland worked at the University, on the railroad, or at the research center in Beltsville.
• A few worked for the federal government, as teachers etc in Washington DC
• Some men settled after coming to the CCC camp in Beltsville
Mr Edwards
• Prior to 1950s, every student stayed n Lakeland schools throughout their school career
• Lakeland had very smart and articulate teachers
• Trying to create separate but equal, sometimes got things that the white kids did not to encourage them to stay in school
BOUNDARIES
• There were boundaries, physical and social
• North was Berwyn, a white neighborhood,
• To the South, the University and College Park Airport
• There were social boundaries as well, such as when Mrs. Edwards was refused a job at Hot Shoppes.
• Free education given to the children of University of Maryland employees unless you were Black
• The lake froze in the winter and people would go ice-skating, made fires on the island the middle and ice-skated all night.
• People had utmost respect for the train
• No one was ever killed on those train tracks from Lakeland because they had utmost respect for train tracks
• Trains and streetcars not quite as segregated as the busses
THE EAST SIDE
• Open land on the East Side across the tracks, may have been some farming, but no only for subsistence
• A lot of bartering, trade food for services, etc.
• The lake was used for fishing
• Breeding part of it had gone by the time they came along in the 40s
• In 1953, there was a train wreck and the hydrated lime dumped in the lake and killed it
FUN IN LAKELAND:
• Ice skating on the lake in the winter took place all night
• Boyfriends and girlfriends
• Boyscouts, Girlscouts, Cubscouts
• Parents fostered socialization and community
• Never got locked out because you didn’t lock doors
• Always had family to take you in
• Girls played just as rough as the boys did, skated one mile from railroad to US1
• Built huts, forts, scooters, soapbox carts
• Not much problem with outsiders and racism
• Most problems with racism occurred outside of Lakeland, for example in rural places like the Eastern Shore, where Mr. Edwards went to college.
Creator
Jocelyn Knauf & Rebecca Lueg
Source
[no text]
Publisher
Rebecca Lueg
Date
December 2, 2009
Contributor
[no text]
Rights
[no text]
Relation
[no text]
Format
MP3
Language
English
Type
[no text]
Identifier
[no text]
Coverage
[no text]
Contribution Form
Online Submission
No
Posting Consent
[no text]
Submission Consent
[no text]
Contributor is Creator
[no text]
Oral History Item Type Metadata
Interviewer
Rebecca Lueg
Interviewee
Mr. James Edwards and Mrs. Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards
Location
The interviewees' home
Transcription
[no text]
Original Format
[no text]
Duration
2 parts
1st part 3:38 minutes
2nd part 1:10:02 hours
1st part 3:38 minutes
2nd part 1:10:02 hours
Bit Rate/Frequency
[no text]
Time Summary
[no text]