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Randall Griffin was born and raised in 1967 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and spent time as a young child in Lanett, Alabama, where his mother’s family worked as sharecroppers. Griffin discusses his Cherokee roots in Standing Rock, Alabama, and his early memories of growing up in public housing in Tennessee. His father was a musician in Tennessee with a band called the Fabulous Battalions. Griffin joined the Navy and was stationed in Norfolk in 1986. Following his time in service, Griffin worked as a manager at a Fertilizer plant in Chesapeake when he lost his left hand in a workplace accident, which disabled him permanently. He later went on to work for the Parks and Recreation Departments in Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth. In this oral history interview, Griffin discusses his experience often being the first Black person in these departments and his experience with workplace discrimination. He discusses the importance of rec centers in young people’s lives. This interview was conducted in the Cavalier Manor Recreation Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, where Griffin serves as the Recreation Program Specialist.
Ray Smith was born in Douglas Park, Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1954. His father worked in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and when the city of Portsmouth built the interstate in Douglas Park, his family and other residents were forced to relocate to the Mount Hermon neighborhood. When the city of Portsmouth announced the closure of I.C. Norcom, a historically Black high school in 1972, Smith and others organized a walkout in protest. I.C. Norcom was saved and eventually rebuilt in 1999, when Smith served on the school board. Smith became involved in city politics working for governor and presidential campaigns and served as the President of the Civic League, a community organization dedicated to improving conditions for the Portsmouth community of Cavalier Manor, of which he was a resident for 45 years. In this interview, Smith discusses the ways that recent tolls in Portsmouth have impacted Portsmouth residents and how the city dealt with Hurricane Isabel.
Sharon Johnson is a lifelong resident of Norfolk, Virginia. She has lived in the Bruces’ Park neighborhood in midtown since 1954.
Track 1: This interview discusses Johnson’s life and family, including her grandfather who was a Black contractor in Norfolk in the early part of the 20th century. It takes place in Johnson’s historic home, built by her grandfather.
Track 2: In this oral history, Johnson describes her memories of downtown Norfolk in the 1950s, and key moments including President Kennedy’s assassination and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963. Johnson graduated from Maury High in Norfolk in 1970, and reflects on the changes precipitated by integration, and her observations on race and discrimination while she lived in Boston. She discusses her participation in marches in Washington with the Service Employees International Union. The interview also includes a walking tour with Johnson as she describes the changes that have occurred in the neighborhood since the 1980s.
In this 2023 testimony, Tiara Lassiter speaks about her experiences going to the Community Center in Lambert’s Point and the impact coal dust has on the drinking water supply for residents in Lambert’s Point. The testimony includes her recollections about her childhood friend’s grandmother in Lambert’s Point who developed lung cancer and lived with foul-smelling water in her home pipes. She urges the federal government to exert pressure on Norfolk Southern to remedy their violation of the Clean Water Act.
Vernon Crump was born in 1929 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and has been a leader in civil rights work in the city since he was 25 years old. Crump’s roots in the area extend for generations. Crump’s great-grandfather, George Crump, was one of the founding members of the Zion Baptist Church, created by Black residents in 1865 just after the Civil War. In this oral history interview, Crump reflects on the city as it was transformed by WWII, recalling his mother’s experience serving white WWII sailors breakfast at the Portsmouth Shipyard, and his own memory delivering news about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As a young child, Crump worked as a shoe shiner in a white barber shop. Crump reflects on his time playing football and going to school dances in segregated schools in the 1940s and 50s, and his long and successful battles fighting workplace discrimination throughout his career with the Department of Disposal. In the 1950s and 60s, Crump led major voter registration campaigns with the Civic League in Portsmouth, which registered Black voters and later helped to elect the first Black man and woman to the City Council, the first Black judge, and the first Black Clerk of Court in Portsmouth. This interview, conducted with Crump’s son, Vernon Crump III also present, also includes Crump’s reflections on police violence and rising sea levels in the city of Portsmouth.
