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- Permanent Link:
- http://dpanther.fiu.edu/sobek/FIVK045603/00001
Notes
- General Note:
- This oral history interview begins with Alpha Mashack telling the interviewer that he was born on April 5, 1953. Mashack's first memories of Virginia Key beach consist of the dance floor in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Mashack remembers the jukebox being located on one of the coconut trees and that if you touched the machine, then it would occasionally shock you. He remembers dancing the "hully gully," known today, in 2008, as the Electric Slide. He also remembers people dancing the Twist on the dance floor as well. Mashack recalls listening to Sam Cooke, Ella Fitzgerald, the Platters, and the Drifters on the jukebox. He remembers that Virginia Key beach, in the 1960s, was a "wonderful place" for people to gather because they could not go anywhere else Miami. Mashack believes that live music was not traditional to Virginia Key and he recalls that for a nickel you could chose three songs on the jukebox. But after a short amount of time, the price to play three songs on the jukebox increased to a dime and then to a quarter. Mashack's typical day at Virginia Key beach consisted of visiting the beach with his mother, Janel Mashack who is still alive at the age of 73 at the time of the interview. Mashack recalls that his mother made food before they left because his family did not barbeque much at the beach. Mashack remembered that when his family visited the beach, they found a bench or other area nearby and spread out. He remembers people playing baseball and volleyball on the beach. Mashack's mother always made fried chicken and iced tea for the family to take to the beach. Mashack remembers that Virginia Key beach was always crowded, with families visiting all the way from Broward County. He notes that he visited the beach mainly on the weekends and recalls that there were "a lot" of baptisms at the beach. Mashack reveals to the interviewer that he personally saw many baptisms performed at Virginia Key beach due to the fact that his grandfather was a pastor and his father was an assistant pastor. Mashack describes the baptisms as taking place early in the day at Virginia Key beach. Those who were going to be baptized wore white dresses or robes. Everyone would sing "We are Climbing Jacob's Ladder" or they sang songs that pertained to the baptism. Everyone would escort the candidates to the pastor and the assistant and they would submerge the people in the ocean. Mashack estimates that around three, four, five, or six people would be baptized at once. He notes that his church tried to have a baptism ceremony every month. Mashack recalls that a "lot of the historical churches that we have right now" baptized their members at Virginia Key. He recalls that St. James, St Johns on "Third Ave." and some of the apostolic churches baptized there as well. Mashack remembers that when children visited the beach they played on the carousel, rode the train, played dodge-ball and kickball. He remembers playing marbles at Virginia Key, that girls jumped rope, played "bolo batting," hopscotched, and played with Jacks. People played softball and baseball, but football was not as popular back then as it was "today." Mashack does not remember any celebrities visiting Virginia Key beach. Mashack remembers that the park "really went down" after the 1960s. He recalls that in the late 1960s and early 1970s the activities really died down at the park because of the end of segregation. Mashack then recalls the "splashdowns," the parties that young people had at Virginia Key. Mashack said that there were live bands, live groups, stages, and nothing but "music, drinking, partying, and jumping in the beach." He remembers that Frankie, Beverly and Maze were there, along with Kool and the Gang, the Manhattans, the Chi Lites, the O Jays and James Brown. He remembers that it cost eight to ten dollars to see those acts perform at the beach. A private group sponsored the splashdowns, which occurred almost every summer during the 1980s. Mashack remembers that there was a lot of violence at Virginia Key in the 1980s. Mashack reveals and then in the 1960s his family moved to Liberty City. Mashack goes on to recall his memories of his neighborhood and what it was like growing up in Miami in the 1950s and 1960s. Mashack says that it was "horrible" having to live in a segregated Miami. He remembers that he was afraid of the police officers because most of them were white and that they "didn't really care" how they treated Miami's black population. He remembers the police disrespecting his parents and that an officer called his father "boy" while another called his mother "girl," in their conversations. He remembers that this treatment continued into the late 1960s. He notes that even though it was a horrible time to live in a segregated city, it was "a beautiful time" for his community. Mashack remembers when lunch counters, especially the counter at the Walgreens store on Flagler, were segregated. He remembers when people from the NAACP sat at the lunch counter and were refused service. Mashack remembers that after integration his transition form an all black high school to an all white one was "horrible." He remembers that the "hate never stopped" from the teachers to the students. He remembers that he had to be out of a certain area within fifteen minutes and if he were still there, then he would get "jumped" by "some of the white gangs." Mashack notes that there were no voluntary integration efforts between Miami's black and white communities. Mashack recalls that most of Miami's churches were hardly involved in the Civil Rights movement. But in the late 1960s, more and more churches started participating in the Civil Rights movement. Mashack was born in Virginia, but his father moved to Miami for work. Mashack thinks that it might be difficult to encourage Miami's many different cultures today to create an act of civil disobedience like the Civil Rights movement. Finally, Mashack notes that he is happy that the city will not be able to develop Virginia Key beach and that the park and its history will be taught to all people.
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- Virginia Key Beach Park Trust
- Holding Location:
- Florida International University
- Rights Management:
- No copyright - United States
- Resource Identifier:
- FIVK045603
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