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Old May 17th, 2008 #9
Susan
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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The first twelve years of my life were spent in Richmond so I have many fond memories of that once beautiful city. My father was the Chairman of the Speech and Drama Dept. at the Univ. of Richmond. That campus was so beautiful back then, not a cluttered mess that it is now. There was absolutely nothing built on the campus lake back then. We used to go feed the ducks and there was nothing except the few buildings overlooking the lake back then. I think they've actually built on or over the lake now. You could walk from one end to the other and I frequently did back then. All by myself.

My family lived out Patterson Avenue going away from the city. I don't even know which direction that is--east, west, north or south. But we lived in a brand new built street off Sleepy Hollow. There was actually a nigger street behind our street but they never bothered us back then. However, as I've pointed out in other posts here before, right around the time of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Coon, niggers began to slowly but surely come over and start breaking into our houses. I remember hearing my parents talking about it. And right about that time, my father bought some hardware cloth and nailed up over our back glass door. In 1966, we moved to Chapel Hill and moved to a new all white area that stayed all white up until we left there in 1973. And I would imagine even today it's still mostly white. We were far away from the niggers, but unfortunately the school system had just been integrated in Chapel Hill, so I had to endure that nightmare.

But getting back to Richmond back then, I used to ride my bike miles around where we lived unafraid of anything back then. Through streets without houses surrounded by woods on both sides, through the woods alone, etc. Never a care in the world. The niggers stayed on their street and never ventured out into our world.

I took ballet from Eleanor Fry, who was the woman who taught dance there in Richmond for decades. I'm sure she's long since dead. This would have been l960-1966, and she was in her fifties back then. She had younger assistants doing most of the actual teaching by then. But back then, she was "it" as far as dance was concerned. I don't know how many little white girls danced for Ms. Fry over the years.

Our spring recitals were big deals too. They were held downtown at the Mosque on a Saturday and we had an afternoon performance and an evening performance with a full orchestra. My father was one of the few parents who had a movie camera back then, so we have home movies of our dance recitals. I can remember going down into the Ballroom underneath the stage and seeing little girls getting dressed as far as the eye could see. It was a sight to behold. Because our costumes were always gorgeous! One year I was a Lotus Blossom and my costume was a lime green netting stand out petticoat with a white satin one piece top and skirt. One year I was a "hunter" and wore a black and red short coat over a short tutu with pink tights, toe shoes, and a black hat. One year we had a patriotic theme and wore red white and blue costumes over a short tutu with pink tights and toe shoes. I don't know how many groups of dancers there were, and each group had its own theme and costume, but it seemed as if there must have been thirty or more. I still have the programs to these recitals with my papers.

But we used to come and go outside of the Mosque day and night then and we never worried much about anything. I'm sure that area now is pretty much no mans' land for whites.

We used to shop at Willow Lawn shopping center, which was nice and new back then. It may be smack dab in the middle of niggertown now. But it was nice and new and safe back then. About 1965, the first drive in opened up on Patterson Avenue out past our area, going away from town. I remember seeing "The Trouble with Angels" and "That Darn Cat" out there. Haley Mills was big then.

Our swimming pool which was of course all white and safe and enjoyable, where I spent all summer swimming and playing. I went to Mayberry Elementary which was down around the corner from my home. Again, all white, grades one through six.

Oh, we used to go to Maymont Park and stroll around for hours looking at the monkey cages and walking on the grounds. Again, no niggers anywhere to bother us or rob us or threaten us or otherwise ruin our day. We didn't even have to think about niggers bothering us back then.

And we used to go swim at Overhill Lake which was all white back then and safe and enjoyable. I can't even imagine what that's like now. It was a huge place back then, with sandy "beaches" surrounding the huge pools. It's probably infested with niggers now and ruined. If whites even go there now.

So many things are probably like "Kiddieland" used to be in Birmingham, Alabama. When I was little, it was an amusement park near my grandmother's house, and it was clean and safe and fun. Then when niggers began to be let in, it began to go downhill and I doubt now if any whites even go there anymore. But I have home movies of an all white Kiddieland with white people dressed nicely and enjoying themselves in a safe family setting. Gangs probably "own" it now.

Gosh, so many memories. And all ruined by one thing: the presence of niggers. Unbelievable that we have allowed them to so totally infiltrate every aspect of life and overtake it and ruin it. Wow.
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