To piggyback on Dr. Trotti's comments, I might also recommend looking at
Patricia Click's work (The Spirit of the Times, Amusements in Nineteenth
Century Baltimore, Norfolk, & Richmond, Charlottesville, 1989) to get a feel
for the social stratification of such amusements (i.e. their intended
audiences), as well as the type of activities, demonstrations and the like
that were available. You may also want to look at the development of a
number of parks in the Richmond area in the 1900-1920 period that do suggest,
at the very least, an intent to establish places of a strictly segregated
nature. Westhampton Park, Lakeside Park, and Forest Hill Park were all
established in the "country" surrounding the city, while Reservoir Park and
West End/Idelwood park were located closer to the heart of Richmond.
(Reservoir Park was owned by the city). The development of parks such as
Echo Lake Park in Henrico County by African Americans suggests that even
though they may have not been excluded from certain areas by law, they
certainly felt the need to establish places for recreation solely for their
use.
Greg Stoner
Library Assistant
Virginia Historical Society
Michael Trotti wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> I pursued this issue a bit when I was a graduate student. In fact, an
> article on
> amusements in Richmond at this time -- including the issue of racial
> segregation
> and mentioning the fairs -- is forthcoming in the next . . . and, sadly,
> last . . .
> issue of the Virginia Cavalcade.
>
> Here are a few things I found:
>
> Blacks were mostly invisible in the white press coverage of fairs –
> perhaps few
> attended, perhaps the press avoided mentioning them. Judging by other
> evidence,
> African-Americans were not made at all comfortable in such places (see
> the Richmond Planet, May 11, 1907 on Jamestown Exposition, for
> instance). For its part, the Planet never mentions the State Fair in
> this era, which I think is telling.
>
> The special Exposition of 1888 in Richmond included a “colored
> department” and
> “colored day” when blacks could attend at half price (was it an accident
> that
> “colored day” also happened to be Halloween?). Another aside, “colored
> day” was
> the day of highest attendance of the Exposition and perhaps was the
> largest
> concentration of African Americans in one spot in Richmond’s history to
> that point.
>
> There was no Virginia State Fair from 1896, in the midst of depression
> and after
> years of shortfalls, to 1906, when a revived (and moved – from where the
> DMV is now to where the Diamond is now) State Fair began again.
>
> Eddie Drummond, a black Richmond youth, attended the fair in 1910 and
> 1911
> according to his diary in the Valentine Museum. So at that point it was
> not
> segregated . . . or rather blacks could attend, but they MUST have been
> forced to
> use different, segregated bathrooms and eating/drinking facilities. I
> think that
> is just a given.
>
> There were also separate black fairs. In July 1915 there was a
> particularly large
> Negro Historical and Industrial Exhibition, lauded by the white press
> and
> criticized by John Mitchell’s Planet. Other black fairs were held in
> 1884, 1891,
> and 1892 . . . and perhaps other years I did not find.
>
> This is a very interesting issue – good luck pursuing it.
>
> Michael Trotti
> Ithaca College
>
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--
Gregory H. Stoner
Library Assistant
Virginia Historical Society
804-342-9648 (work)
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