Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307040181
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LARRY W. BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Hundreds of black homes, churches and businesses were destroyed by Roanoke's Old Northeast urban renewal program from the 1950s to the 1970s to build Interstate 581, the Roanoke Civic Center, the main post office and motels, restaurants and industries.
Former residents of Old Northeast reunited this weekend with family and friends for the second time in three years to reminisce about life in their former neighborhood. The reunion weekend began Friday with a dinner dance and concludes this morning with service at 8 at Pilgrim Baptist Church.
Nearly all of the former residents at the reunion, which included a picnic Saturday in lower Washington Park, agree that Old Northeast had a strong sense of family.
"It was beautiful growing up as a child," said Catherine B. Johnson, who now lives in Northwest. "Everyone was friendly."
She said the move from Northeast didn't affect her too much because she was young. Four years ago she decided to start organizing the first reunion, which was held in 1991.
"I just felt like crying," Mary Wilson, 62, said about the reunion. "This is the best thing. I didn't know where a lot of friends were. I still miss my old home."
Donald Lee Harris, 53, traveled from his home in Fort Washington, Md., for the gathering. "Growing up in Old Northeast was a learning experience," he said. "I remember playing around the old gas house on Kimball. Everyone was neighborly and friendly and everyone did something."
Community life was a lot different then, said Charlie Douglas, 64, who lives in Washington, D.C. "The people now don't pull together like they used to. We might have a little fight one day, but we'd get back together the next."
"We were one big family," said I remember large families of children with both parents. They set goals for us and we had to attain them. Margaret Thompson Della Millener, coordinator of the reunion. "Now we don't see them unless it's because of death, and that hurts."
"I remember large families of children with both parents," said Margaret Thompson of Roanoke. "They set goals for us and we had to attain them."
"To some people [urban renewal] was a blessing, because some people received enough money for their homes, but it was a disaster for others to uproot and move," said Thompson, who is principal at the Roanoke Academy of Math and Science.
Thompson, who grew up where the Civic Center now stands, said even though there was one rough street in old Northeast, the kids weren't scared to walk down it because the men there knew them and protected them.
"Northeast was the heart of the city," said "Big Andy" Brower, 77. "That's why they moved the blacks out." In the old neighborhood, the residents had their own cleaners, nightclubs, restaurants and grocery stores, Brower said.
"Ain't nothing been in Roanoke like Northeast," he said. "We had everything. The only thing we didn't have was a theater."
Brower said outsiders don't know very much about Old Northeast because all they hear about is Henry Street. "You don't hear about Northeast because it was isolated. No one said anything about [renewal] because they were moving blacks," he said.
According to Geraline Hooper of Roanoke, life in old Northeast was "sweet like honey." It was unfair, she said, how the city forced them out of their neighborhood.
"I don't think there's anything left from where I used to live," said Hooper, who said her family was one of the last to leave Northeast.
Recalling what happened to their former neighborhood is still a sore area for many of the people who attended the picnic. By some accounts, the city of Roanoke was to blame.
"They falsely represented the people. They promised us apartments," said Edith Fisher, 82. "I cried for joy because it was for the better. But I wasn't in favor because they didn't give us enough money."
Florine Reddick of Roanoke said most of the city dismissed Old Northeast at that time because the people were thought to be inferior.
"They were down on us," Reddick said. "They didn't think we were up to par."
Because of urban renewal, many former residents lost contact with the friends and neighbors who helped raise them. Maxine Wiley of Roanoke said urban renewal was a frightening time for blacks, who had to search for housing in new parts of the city.
"It was a very sad time. To think about branching off to unknown parts of Roanoke was scary. Many people died before they relocated," Wiley said.
Some former residents, such as John M. Patrick of Baltimore, met this weekend with friends they hadn't seen in decades. Patrick, who left before urban renewal began in earnest, said he was shocked to find the neighborhood gone when he came back to visit.
Wiley said many people don't realize that urban renewal affected both homes and businesses.
"Black people don't have that sense of enterprise [anymore]. But we can do it," she said. "It's going to take your generation. . .to not just accept handouts. But first we have to love and trust each other."
by CNB