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Monday, June 27, 2005
This was a story in our local newspaper, www.pe.com about our family get together. I am one of the decendants of the Goodwin, the Strickland, and the Hopkins families. Another family name that wasn't mentioned was Ware. My greatgrandfather Mr. Boswell, (who wasn't mentioned here because he was full blooded Native American), was born here in Riverside, his family was here far earlier than even Mr. Robert Stokes, who just happened to be my grandfather, George Goodwin's, full blooded brother. They had the same mother AND father. There may have been as many as eight or so siblings.
The reason they had different last names was because some of the family members grew up ( were slaves), on the Stokes plantation, and other (full blooded) family members grew up (were slaves) on the Goodwin plantation, both located in Georgia. They later all found each other again here in Riverside, California. Though none ever changed their last names, we kids all knew who were related to whom growing up. Our parents didn't want to take the chance of any of us marrying our own cousins, so we were often told, "they are your family".
The Strickland side of my family were all very fair-skinned mulattos, we were always told that they were forced to leave their hometown of Cartersville, Georgia because, they were the offsprings of a prominent citizen, and too many of the "negro children" were being confused (too often) with his legitimate children, and that wasn't tolerated back then. So, they too ended up in Riverside, California in the early 1900s.
My Great-grandmother Cornelia Ware, who ended up married to Clyde Strickland, was also a mulatto, and was often mistaken for caucasian, but she was quick to tell any and everyone that she was "colored", she was fond of saying " you never know when a dark baby will crop up, and then where are ya"? She also had Native American blood, but not California Native American. She was a very funny lady, and I loved her alot. Though she died when I was quite young.
Good story. Always amused us.
It is true that we are growing apart now a days, we have all spread out, and lost touch, and it is very sad.
Descendants chart deep history
RIVERSIDE: A reunion of families at Fairmount Park recognizes the earliest black community.
on Saturday, June 25, 2005 (Also my 58th birthday, (smile) Pam).
By JENNIFER BOWLES / The Press-Enterprise
Descendants of some of Riverside's first black families gathered for an annual reunion Saturday at Fairmount Park and remembered a different city when they were growing up.
"It was just a little colony of people -- you have to realize there weren't even paved roads back then," said Delora Allen, 79, the eldest living relative who was born in a house on the city's east side in 1925.
Allen's mother, Fannie, ran a social club for girls to teach them manners, dancing and how to set a formal table. Her father worked at The Mission Inn greeting visitors, operating the elevator and doing whatever else needed to be done, she said.
Doreen Hopkins, 68, a retired banker who lives in Mira Loma, recalled a bustling Park Avenue on the city's east side where everyone met at the malt shop, neighbors held bridge parties, and dances and social gatherings were commonplace at the mercantile hall. A movie theater showed films for 9 cents, and Lincoln Park had the only swimming pool in the city where blacks could swim, she said.
"It was really a self-contained community," she said. "We had a ball; it was really exciting."
Some 200 descendants of the Hopkins, Davis, Goodwin, Carr, Strickland and Stowers families were at the park, eating food, listening to jazz bands and trying to remember who was who and how they were related. The first reunion was held in 1999.
Allen said when she started researching the family's roots about 10 years ago, she couldn't find much information at the local libraries and museums about black history.
"It was as if we didn't exist," she said.
She began asking everyone she knew for memories and pictures, eventually compiling a thick collection of the region's black history. "The Pioneer Black Families of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties: 1826-1940" is available at Riverside's downtown library, she said.
Robert Stokes was the first black person in Riverside when he arrived in 1870, Allen said. An old black-and-white photograph shows him donning his police uniform. He also owned a hog ranch where the Fox Theater now stands in the downtown area.
Blacks came to Riverside, San Bernardino and Redlands, mainly from the South, looking for economic and social opportunities, Allen said. There were enough in the community to spur a monthly newspaper, "The Colored Citizen," published in Redlands from 1905 to 1906. A year's subscription cost $1.
"I think it's very important to know where you come from. The more you find out, the more you know about yourself," said Sedalia Gaines, 53, who was born in Riverside but now lives in Tennessee. Living just an hour from the town in Georgia where the ancestors came from, Gaines also has done research on the family's roots.
Hopkins said she's concerned that once the older generation passes, there won't be anyone to carry on the history.
"We need to get our families together and talk more and remember not just the activism but the life we had," she said.
Reach Jennifer Bowles at 951-368-9548 or jbowles@pe.com
~~~~~~~~~~Pamela~~~~~~~~~~~
This was a story in our local newspaper, www.pe.com about our family get together. I am one of the decendants of the Goodwin, the Strickland, and the Hopkins families. Another family name that wasn't mentioned was Ware. My greatgrandfather Mr. Boswell, (who wasn't mentioned here because he was full blooded Native American), was born here in Riverside, his family was here far earlier than even Mr. Robert Stokes, who just happened to be my grandfather, George Goodwin's, full blooded brother. They had the same mother AND father. There may have been as many as eight or so siblings.
The reason they had different last names was because some of the family members grew up ( were slaves), on the Stokes plantation, and other (full blooded) family members grew up (were slaves) on the Goodwin plantation, both located in Georgia. They later all found each other again here in Riverside, California. Though none ever changed their last names, we kids all knew who were related to whom growing up. Our parents didn't want to take the chance of any of us marrying our own cousins, so we were often told, "they are your family".
The Strickland side of my family were all very fair-skinned mulattos, we were always told that they were forced to leave their hometown of Cartersville, Georgia because, they were the offsprings of a prominent citizen, and too many of the "negro children" were being confused (too often) with his legitimate children, and that wasn't tolerated back then. So, they too ended up in Riverside, California in the early 1900s.
My Great-grandmother Cornelia Ware, who ended up married to Clyde Strickland, was also a mulatto, and was often mistaken for caucasian, but she was quick to tell any and everyone that she was "colored", she was fond of saying " you never know when a dark baby will crop up, and then where are ya"? She also had Native American blood, but not California Native American. She was a very funny lady, and I loved her alot. Though she died when I was quite young.
Good story. Always amused us.
It is true that we are growing apart now a days, we have all spread out, and lost touch, and it is very sad.
Descendants chart deep history
RIVERSIDE: A reunion of families at Fairmount Park recognizes the earliest black community.
on Saturday, June 25, 2005 (Also my 58th birthday, (smile) Pam).
By JENNIFER BOWLES / The Press-Enterprise
Descendants of some of Riverside's first black families gathered for an annual reunion Saturday at Fairmount Park and remembered a different city when they were growing up.
"It was just a little colony of people -- you have to realize there weren't even paved roads back then," said Delora Allen, 79, the eldest living relative who was born in a house on the city's east side in 1925.
Allen's mother, Fannie, ran a social club for girls to teach them manners, dancing and how to set a formal table. Her father worked at The Mission Inn greeting visitors, operating the elevator and doing whatever else needed to be done, she said.
Doreen Hopkins, 68, a retired banker who lives in Mira Loma, recalled a bustling Park Avenue on the city's east side where everyone met at the malt shop, neighbors held bridge parties, and dances and social gatherings were commonplace at the mercantile hall. A movie theater showed films for 9 cents, and Lincoln Park had the only swimming pool in the city where blacks could swim, she said.
"It was really a self-contained community," she said. "We had a ball; it was really exciting."
Some 200 descendants of the Hopkins, Davis, Goodwin, Carr, Strickland and Stowers families were at the park, eating food, listening to jazz bands and trying to remember who was who and how they were related. The first reunion was held in 1999.
Allen said when she started researching the family's roots about 10 years ago, she couldn't find much information at the local libraries and museums about black history.
"It was as if we didn't exist," she said.
She began asking everyone she knew for memories and pictures, eventually compiling a thick collection of the region's black history. "The Pioneer Black Families of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties: 1826-1940" is available at Riverside's downtown library, she said.
Robert Stokes was the first black person in Riverside when he arrived in 1870, Allen said. An old black-and-white photograph shows him donning his police uniform. He also owned a hog ranch where the Fox Theater now stands in the downtown area.
Blacks came to Riverside, San Bernardino and Redlands, mainly from the South, looking for economic and social opportunities, Allen said. There were enough in the community to spur a monthly newspaper, "The Colored Citizen," published in Redlands from 1905 to 1906. A year's subscription cost $1.
"I think it's very important to know where you come from. The more you find out, the more you know about yourself," said Sedalia Gaines, 53, who was born in Riverside but now lives in Tennessee. Living just an hour from the town in Georgia where the ancestors came from, Gaines also has done research on the family's roots.
Hopkins said she's concerned that once the older generation passes, there won't be anyone to carry on the history.
"We need to get our families together and talk more and remember not just the activism but the life we had," she said.
Reach Jennifer Bowles at 951-368-9548 or jbowles@pe.com
