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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/sobek/FIVK045598/00001
Notes
- General Note:
- This is a series of oral interviews about Virginia Key beach. The first person, name unknown, remembers taking the ferry from 5th street to Virginia Key beach. She remembers that getting off the boat was the worst part of the trip because of the food and other things they needed to carry to the beach made it difficult to leave the rolling boat. She remembers that the boats to Virginia Key were "always full." In the afternoon, the boats returned to Virginia Key to take the people back to 5th Street. She remembers the miniature trains running at the beach, but she never rode the train because they were always full of people. But she does remember riding the carousel. At the concession stand, she ordered hot dogs, hamburgers, and sodas. She visited Virginia Key mostly during the holidays and on the weekends. She does not remember seeing any baptisms at Virginia Key, nor does she remember seeing any celebrities at the beach. (Music begins playing at the 3.50 mark and makes it difficult to hear some of the interviews). Audio cuts out from 5.55 to 6.56. She wants people in the future to know the difficulties "we had in getting it in the first place." She notes that Virginia Key was important because Miami’s black community were barred from the city’s pools, beaches, or anywhere else to go to cool off. She reveals that she wants people to take advantage of all that they have now and to build on that progress. The interview ends with her recollections about how segregation impacted her life in Miami. (Interview ends at 10.11). Next, the video shows a band and a progression of people marching through the Miami cemetery. The next interview begins at 13.31 with a young boy named Casey Anthony Ferguson. Ferguson relates the history of Virginia Key beach noting that they closed it down and then one day they "reopened it for the people." Ferguson reveals that he was born in Miami on December 14, 1998. He has been to Virginia Key twice, once for the dedication. Ferguson wants to tell people fifty years from now to know that everything they did they did for "our own health" for Virginia Key beach because it was the only beach that they could go to. (Interview ends at 16.30.) Next, they interview Lequesha(?) Willard. Willard was born in Miami on March 8, 1995. Willard wants to learn more about Virginia Key's history and the history of segregation in Miami. (Interview ends at 2.28 on FCP3). Next, they interview Brenda Hadley, (This part of the recording is damaged). She was born in Miami in 1941 and went to the Booker T. Washington, Dorsey, and Miami Northwestern high schools. Hadley visited Virginia Key at a young age with her parents. They took hotdogs, coconut candy, and sodas to drink. She remembers that the jukebox played a lot of blues. Hadley also remembers the train and the merry go round at the beach. Hadley reveals that people danced the jitterbug and other swing dances at the beach. Hadley wants people to know fifty years from now that they need to enjoy the beach while they can and to make good memories there (interview ends with FCP3.) It is unclear who they interview next, as that part of the tape is damaged. But she was born in 1928 (video stabilizes at .29 second mark. She went to Liberty City elementary and then to Dorsey high school. She took a senior trip out to Virginia Key beach. She remembers that the trip was fun and "nice." She did not swim at the beach, because she cannot swim, but she did wade in the water. She notes that on the senior trip they took food with them and then bought food at the concessions stand. They took sandwiches and salads to eat. She only went to Virginia Key one time on the boat and then the rest of the time she took the causeway over. She would like to tell people in the future to go there because you will have a nice time and you will meet nice people. She then remembers segregation in Miami, where the "blacks" could not go where the whites were. She reveals that she was satisfied with where she could go in Miami during segregation because that was the “rule” and they needed to follow it. She says that she thinks Miami has changed "some." She notes that she lived in Liberty City, when it was a small place. She remembers when people moved from Overtown to Liberty City. She notes that being able to live anywhere in Miami now has changed the life for some people, but not all. She believes that this is because some people still live "low" while others are "up." She cannot understand why some of the people who are born today act the way they do. She notes that lived in Liberty City all her life and that she remembers the riot in Liberty City. But she never visited any of the places where they rioted.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Virginia Key Beach Park Trust
- Holding Location:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- No copyright - United States
- Resource Identifier:
- FIVK045598
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