Norfolk, Virginia

Ruth A. Rose

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2000
• Print ISBN: 9780738505640
• eBook ISBN: 9781439627631
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Norfolk has been a center of African-American life since this countrys humble beginnings, when indentured African servants arrived in 1619 to the Tidewater region. Since that time, the African-American population has endured the atrocities of slavery, poverty, and inequality, and has emerged, through a remarkable combination of hard work, perseverance, and faith, as a vibrant community and an integral component to the identity and success of Norfolk and surrounding areas.

Five

ENSURING PROSPERITY

By the turn of the century, Norfolk’s African-American population had made significant strides toward economic survival. This was accomplished certainly not by being integrated into the mainstream of Norfolk’s workforce, but by seizing each employment opportunity no matter how small or menial. An examination of the City Directory of the first decade reveals the areas where African Americans were heavily concentrated. They were proprietors of eating houses, tailoring shops, barber shops, shoe repair shops, laborers of all types, household servants, waiters, and laundresses. A few who had had the advantages of a complete education were letter carriers. This occupation actually was regarded as quite prestigious within the African-American community since it implied an advanced level of literacy and knowingness. Also, it was guaranteed steady employment with government benefits. Often letter carriers’ families were at the center of the social pecking order.

For the African-American community in Norfolk, the time between 1900 and 1939 was exciting and promising. Booker T. Washington’s philosophy of economic enfranchisement through preparedness, training, self-help, and separation served as the model for Norfolk’s aspiring business community. These years could quite appropriately be called the period of the American Dream. The expectation was that each and every African American could reach her or his full potential. This time was also, it must not ever be forgotten, a time of the harsh restrictions of segregation, Jim Crow, and the men of the sheets. Nevertheless, excitement filled the air and much was accomplished towards the goal of establishing economic prosperity.

J. Homer Rose is pictured in front of his Atlantic Pressing Club, a cleaning and pressing business. Like many other African-American businesses, such as Charles Carter’s Tailoring, Goldie Garrett’s Millinery, and Alston’s Rubber, Rose targeted Norfolk’s European-American community for his customer base. The advantage of this strategy became evident as the Depression approached. African-American workers were the most vulnerable to losing their jobs. Because the large percentage of their customers were African American, many of the Church Street merchants either were just able to squeak by or went bankrupt as their customers’ economic prospects diminished.

Oyster fishermen are unloading the oyster nets at the dock. There were many who excelled at this work and formed businesses of their own. Most notably was M.J. McPherson, who during his prime, cornered the market on the Lynnhaven oyster and crab market.

Cotton workers at the cotton warehouses unload cotton. Note the worker in the center who seems to have a bail of cotton on his scale for weighing. Norfolk was the major port of exportation for cotton grown in Virginia and the Carolinas.

Another occupation available during this period was delivery person. Here James Jordan is posing beside his horse and delivery carriage. While this kind of work was often tedious, the hours long, and the pay meager, it provided those who could do it with steady employment for their families. There were no benefits, such as health insurance or dental plans, as we know them today.

Dock work was plentiful and readily available to African Americans during the 1800s as well as at the turn of the century. At one time the great majority of haulers of materials from the docks to the factories and warehouses were African Americans. Here a crew of rope workers are pictured on the rope walk.

Above: This photo was found among those in the Isabelle and Carroll Walker Collection at the Kirn Branch of the Norfolk Public Library, Sargent Memorial Room. The caption written on the back says, “Burial of Martin L. Hundley at Forest lawn. Mr. Cox is on the right.” The significance of the deceased and the man at the right is not known. What the photograph does suggest is that this funeral is for a person who was important in the Klan movement in Norfolk and that he was a well-known member of the Norfolk European-American community. It also frames the context of the time period in which African Americans were ensuring their prosperity.

Frank Guy, shown with his wife, Annie, was a waiter by occupation. He decided early on...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• One - ANTEBELLUM NORFOLK
• Two - FEEDING THE SPIRIT
• Three - SURVIVING FREEDOM
• Four - ESTABLISHING LITERACY
• Five - ENSURING PROSPERITY
• Six - PUBLIC EDUCATION
• Seven - FAMILIES
• Eight - LEISURE AND MEDICAL CARE