I tell this story often about how I ended up in Lynchburg, and what might have happened had I done a simple thing differently! In the book “Inspiration Street” by Darrell Laurant, I was interviewed by him and I told him this story. It was so fascinating that he included it in his book! Here is the complete version of my story from the beginning! My Mom and Dad met at Virginia Union in Richmond during classes in the early ’40’s, graduating, getting their teaching degrees,  and getting married in 1946. Dad was from Abingdon, Va.(near Bristol), and Mom was from Richmond, within walking distance of Va. Union. They then began a search for teaching jobs with an agreement that they would settle near the middle of the state so that each of them would be an equal distance from home. It would have to be somewhere from Roanoke to Lynchburg….and it ended up to be Campbell County at a school called Kingston, 15 miles south of Lynchburg….120 miles from Richmond, and 190 miles from Abingdon, Va….close enough.

My parents rented a house near Chapel Grove church, and a short ways from Kingston school. Mom taught 1-4th grade, Dad taught 5-7th, and was the principal! In 1951. Ok…here I am…ta-da, I was born. Ms. Spencer, was my babysitter next door to where we lived…..in the meantime Dad was looking for a house! Mom didn’t like the country, Dad neither. He looked a lot in Lynchburg. I told Ed, Big6, that I was almost their neighbor on Taylor St. Dad bidded on a house at 1718 Taylor St, but he lost the bid! The house burned down in the mid 90’s, and is now a vacant lot. Dad kept looking for houses, and here is where it gets interesting? Lets jump ahead a little…Dad spent his last days at the Oak’s(now the Elm’s), on Murrell Rd, an assisted living home. After my morning shift on the radio, everyday I would visit him there in 1995. We would watch Perry Mason, and have lunch. Dad would out of the blue, say something that didn’t make any since? Dad said “Son, if you had to go to the bathroom 5 minutes earlier, we wouldn’t have got our house on Pierce St!” I didn’t pay attention at first, but Dad said it a few times later….I then decided to investigate it? I asked him what did he mean by that right then, forgetfulness would set in, and that is all I got? I kept at it and got this story… Those who know my Dad, knew that he was really light skinned….he could really do this “passing” thing like sit in the bottom section(all White) of the Paramount theater and watch a movie with no hassle! Lynchburg realtors would only show houses in certain areas to certain people according to….you guessed it….race! There were certain invisible barriers around the city dividing Black and White neighborhoods! The barrior went places like up 15th St, one side, down Fillmore St, down 16th St, and so on. Historical Pierce St. was Black from 12th to 15th, stopping there on the side of Dr. Johnsons home (the tennis court). Doc’s home was 1422 Pierce. You cross 15th St. on Pierce, and you were in another territory! There were a lot of these “territories” in Lynchburg, including a well-to-do one from Johnson Rd, to Tollys Ln. off Fort Ave to Carver St. A lot of prominent teachers and Dr’s built houses there! I remember us invited to the newly built home of the Moultries(1958)! We took a tour of the beautiful very large home on Johnson Rd. I recently drove by their home, damn, John and Drucilla would turn over in their graves if they saw the condition of their house now! They, at the time, were surrounded by the White section “territory!” Anyway, Dad saw the ideal house at 1502 Pierce St, one problem, wrong territory! The house had a fenced in yard, place to park your car off the street, etc. Someone told Dad that the couple fought all the time, and it was up for sale! Dad was determined to get that house after losing the bid recently on Taylor St. He said the plan was to meet with the realtor (passing), and he had the cash to get the house for $4500 dollars! The plan was, he was to park up the street(Church St, if I remember)? Mom, who was dark skinned was to wait with me in the car! Dad got out, and went down the street, about a block to the real estate office. We had a four door ’54 Chevy at the time, and I had to go to the bathroom. Before Mom could stop me I opened the back door and ran down the street and into the office…thus the words….”Dad, where is the bathroom?” All hell broke loose, but Dad had already paid the money, and was walking out the door with the deed!! The Realter said “there must be some kind of mistake, wait, you can’t, wait (I guess he must have sounded like the guy on the Reginald Yancy tv spot!) but, but, uh, uh, uh!! The guy followed Dad and me out the door, as he dragged me up the street and into the car! I was told that the realtor turned red as a beet! I’ll bet he said “Oh no” (guess who said “oh no” this time?) “I just sold the wrong house to a ni–r!!” Now you can see where the title to this childhood tale came from! We soon moved in to 1502 Pierce St, one house in the White territory, to the dismay of the neighborhood! Dr. Johnson watched us as history was made, and almost 5 year old MadLad and family moved in! Ms. Proffitt lived next door down 15th St, and yelled out the window “Hey, yawl got the wrong house?” Dad politely said “No mam!” “Yawl must have the wrong house ’cause ain’t no ni–rs in this block!” She called the police. Dad showed the deed to them, and they were on their way. Ms. Proffitt had 3 teenaged boys who worked on old cars in the backyard. Every now and then a rock or something would fly by your head, and hit the ground close, from the back yard! Thank God that their aim was terrible! Dad would wake up in the middle of the night to see if anything was done to the car….nothing! Ms. Bell lived across the street at 1501 Pierce. She came over to the fence and spoke to Dad. After a while I remember Dad saying “We ain’t moving nowhere!!” She had offered Dad twice the amount of the house to move!! I had a fenced in yard to play in, but my parents wouldn’t let me play there alone! Dad put in a new furnace, heat, air conditioning, paint job and gravel driveway! My Sister and I had our own rooms! My only concern was that I had to leave Ms. Spencer, and go to Bethune Nursery School. I knew that when I saw that long hill on Campbell Ave, to Dewitt St, I would start crying….I was getting ready to get left! Mom taught me at Kingston in the 1st grade, but I had to go to the second grade at Robert S. Payne school, where I met all my present day friends! As the rocks and the sneers continued from the area, I remember this interesting tid-bit? A few months after we moved in, Mom got a letter, read it and threw it into the trashcan! My Aunt was visiting at the time from D.C, and noticed her sister getting mad! Mom said “Nothing, don’t worry about it!” My Aunt went in the trash and got out the letter…it said:
New resident! We noticed that you have recently moved here to our beautiful city of Lynchburg! Since you are new here, we would like to invite you to our next church service this Sunday! We would love for you to possibly make Thomas Road Baptist church your church home! We hope to see you this Sunday….signed….

Rev. Jerry Falwell!!!
My Aunt said “Come on Sis, lets go Sunday!! If they say anything or try to stop us we will show them the letter!” My Mom, who didn’t like controversy, said that she didn’t want to be the Rosa Parks of Lynchburg! I wish that Mom had kept that letter! Now we know how the church congregation solicitation works don’t we? The church would get the real estate records for the area, look up the new home sales, and see what street(territory) they were living in to send them a letter! I’ll bet they got a lot of the congregation that way!?
The pictures below are, clockwise:
Madlad, 8 months old, and Mom at our home on Chapel Grove Rd. in Evington!
Family picture with my sister Cornelia in front yard at 1502 Pierce!
Dad and me, Mom and me, ducking rocks! Notice Dr. Johnson’s home in the background, the next territory!
What if….a little thing can cause big consequences, theme of the movie “Back to the Future!” Ok….What if: Dad and Mom had settled in Roanoke(no Soul station for Lynchburg? Surely someone would have thought of the idea…maybe)? What if: I had gone to the bathroom before the deed was transferred? Dad arrested for impersonating a White person?

STORY #20 “THE GLEN CLARK DELIVERY BICYCLE ACCIDENT!“

There were a lot of stores in the neighborhood, almost one on every other corner! Meade’s, Simmons, Bibee’s, Hall’s, Ward’s. Every store had something to attract customers in a unique way. Simmon’s was just across the street from us…I could go out the door and right into the store with Mint Juleps on the brain! Hamilton’s Store at the corner of 13th & Pierce Sts. had a unique service….delivery! Classmates Herbert Walker & Glen Clark would take items you ordered right to your house! I know you all remembered the delivery bike Glen rode with the big basket on top of the little wheel and the big wheel in the back! All the groceries had to fit in the front basket! Glen had his apron on, and took off with what looked like a normal delivery. I was at the corner of 14th & Pierce Sts. talking to Paul and Juan, and watching Glen ride down the street. Glen was going to turn left and go up 14th St. toward Fillmore. We all turned and looked down the street, so none of us saw the collision! Oh but we heard it though, a big crash after a screech of tires!  We looked up 14th St, a blind corner from Pierce…..Glen had run headlong into a car!! Glen was laying on the ground holding his arm…there were grocery items, milk, eggs, tomatoes, lying everywhere! We Froze none of us could speak or move! The driver got out of the car to see if he could do anything? Mr. Hamilton either heard the crash or someone ran up the street and told him about it, but he ran up the street and helped Glen to his feet…..I go blank from there, still frozen, I couldn’t tell you if he was taken to the hospital or not! A small crowd had gathered and talking, hoping that Glen would be all right? I need for someone to take up the story from there, I was still frozen! We are trying to restore the Hamiltons Store, and make it a Museum! You can read about it on my web-site under “pierce st. gateway!” If you can help out by donating, you will find the forms and blanks on that page! By the way, there is a picture of Glen Clark on my first “pierce st.” page! Glen passed away recently!

 

STORY #21 “COMMUNION AT JACKSON STREET CHURCH!“

My Mom told me one Sunday that this was going to be a special Sunday at Jackson Street Church! This was Communion Sunday….what is that? Mom said you will find out when we get there. I waited for Rev. Pannell to announce the occasion, he did! “I want you to come up a few section at a time for our Communion service! We partake the body of Jesus, and the blood of Jesus” at least  it went something like that? All I heard was the Blood part! The first group everyone kneeled in front of the alter…Rev. said “This is my body take it! “Then he said “This is my blood, drink it and be blessed!” Again, all I heard was the blood part…. Rev. said “Do this in remembrance of me.” Man, I would remember anyone that you want to remember, just don’t make me do this! The first group rose up and went back to their seats….they seemed alright! A few groups went up and came back, I was concerned about the fact that it was almost our turn, and the blood part! Finally it was our turn, and Mom took me by the hand and took us to the alter. I stooped down beside Dad, and the service continued… Jesus body was represented by these small round paper wafers. Rev. said “This is my body, take it.” I ate it, this ain’t bad, kinda stuck to the roof of my mouth, but I got through it! On No….there it is….Rev. said “This is my Blood, drink it and be blessed.” I looked to my left, Mom drank the liquid in the tiny little glasses that fit into the holes in the round alter. I looked to my right, and Dad did the same, no different expression, and put the tiny glass in it’s place. I was the last one, and the glass was in my hand. Rev. Pannell was getting ready to say go in peace, and I still had the glass in my hand! Here goes nothing…down the hatch…..I don’t remember what happened next after what I said! Before I thought….(this happened to me a lot), I said loudly “Ma, this ain’t nothing but grape juice!!” There was a big SMACK (Mom had a backhand you could never see coming), I don’t remember anything after that…….

 

STORY #22 “A HARD HEAD MAKES A SOFT TAIL“

Dad wouldn’t let me ride my new bike in the street, only in the yard! We had a fenced in yard, but it wasn’t long enough to get up enough speed to ride! Boy oh boy, if I only could ride up the street and back it would be great! Dad told me that it was dangerous in the street! Elmer’s bike was taken last week right off his porch, and it hasn’t been found yet! My bike could be taken, I could be hit by a car, I might run over something and get a flat tire…. This possibility never occurred to me when the urge to ride, pedal and break was too tempting! You know me, and then you know what happened…. The gate opened, and I went up 15th Street with a big smile on my face! I was riding down Fillmore when I noticed four boys at the other end of the block. They saw me….I waved, and next thing I knew one of them grabbed me and pulled me off the bike to the ground! I was holding on to my bike for dear life…finally letting go! As I saw my bike going down the street, I said…..here it comes….”OH NO!” Dad told me this would happen! I picked myself up and ran up Fillmore Street crying….big time! I ran to my house where Dad was reading the paper. I said “Some kids stole my bike!” “Did they come in the yard?” “No….I…was….up…..the street.” Dad said “WHAT, WHAT, I told you, never mind, which way did they go?” Dad jumped in our car and sped down the street. I didn’t know what was worse….losing my bike or getting yelled at when Dad came back for disobeying him? I was always hard headed, but all of you knew that….right? It seems that there was a gang stealing bikes in the area. I found out that they would paint, and disguise the bikes some kind a way! I was upset at the prospect of this happening to my bike!  I had just told Elmer that I thought that I saw his bike at the market on Grace St! We put a certain decal on the crossbar of the bike. It was a decal of a guy in a toilet, all you could see was his head sticking out. His hand was on the plunger and the caption said “Goodbye cruel world!” That decal in a certain place on a different color bike would be a dead giveaway! Elmer told the police and hoped that this report would put him a little closer to finding his bike! Anyway….that was the longest few minutes of my life wondering where Dad was, and it was all my fault! My eyes were glued to up 15th Street with tears in my eyes when around the corner came our white Chevrolet. In the trunk was MY BIKE! Dad told me that he saw the boys gathered around the bike on White Rock hill. He pulled up, rolled down the window and yelled “Where did you all get that bike!!!” The boys dropped the bike to the ground and ran off in different directions! Dad picked it up and put it in his trunk, and started home! Man….I was glad to see that bike! The next thing he said stopped me in my tracks….. “Take a good look at it because you are not going to see it for two weeks! A hard head makes a soft tail!” That was the longest two weeks of my life! Below is a picture of my sister and me….IN THE YARD! If you look in the basket by the rear wheel on the bike, you will see the radio a few weeks before it was destroyed at the basketball game! Story #8!

 

STORY #23 “THE RADIO STATION WASN’T MY FIRST REAL JOB!“

My first job was at a department store! G.C. Murphys had opened in Pittman Plaza, and was very popular with everyone. It had a flower dept, toys, records, everything under one roof. There was a Snack section manned by Chef Sam Watkins. People would come for miles around for his sandwiches! They had a cool item that no-one had….an escalator! I rode my bike there and discovered that they had hired a Black cashier. Leroy Copeland DHS-’67 was hired to oversee the record department. If you wanted to get all the latest songs out, Leroy could get it for you! The only other record shop was L. Oppleman. They had booths where you could play the records and see if you liked them or not. Their 45’s were 98cents, Murphy’s were 76cents! Lp’s were $2.77 for mono, and $3.77 for stereo. The songs sounded better in stereo for some reason? Leroy had the hifi going all over the store while you were shopping you might hear something you liked! He was selling a lot of records! Leroy told me there was a part-time position open at the store for a cashier. I applied for it. You had to take a test…..I was the only Black in with five other people for the same position. The questions were things like….if an item was $2.99, and the customer gave you $5.00, how much change would you give back? Well, back then there weren’t many Black cashiers anywhere in town….Leroy was the first on the sales-floor with a key to the cash register! You had to keep up with the total in your register every few hours. I just knew I didn’t get the job being the only Black in the bunch, but to my surprise I got it! I was the only one that passed with an almost perfect score! I guess that they liked a Black guy counting correctly, rather than anyone else giving back the wrong change! Mrs. Candeler was our supervisor! I worked Thursday 5-till close at 9PM, and was on sick call if someone couldn’t make it to work. I worked Saturday from noon-7PM, being still in school. I walked to work mostly cutting through Miller Park, walking up the wall in front of the Salvation army! I listened to the radio a lot, and told Leroy about this great song I heard. It was Leroys job to guess how many copies of one song to order? We’ll order 50 copies of “She Loves you-The Beatles. 50 “Shotguns” by Jr. Walker, and so forth! You try not to tell a customer you don’t have a song, just that you can get it for them! I learned a lot about marketing, and sales! The records came from Deans one Stop, a record distributor from Richmond. I thought this was strange, the lady that brought the records was a little White lady, and boy did she know her music! She knew the Temptations, 4 tops, Wilson Pickett like they were best friends! I was there when she brought to 100 copies of this song that she said was going to be a hit and best seller! Leroy played the song over the stores loudspeaker system and a crowd came to the record department and wanted to buy copies! I’ll never forget, the song was “The Horse” by Cliff Nobles & Company! I was there for a year before I got laid off, but I had enough money to start my little radio station WKKD! The rest of the story is on my “WKKD” page on this web-site. Leroy, who recently passed away, provided the music for the station! He would give me a copy of any song he wanted me to push on the radio. The one copy he gave me could turn into hundreds he would sell that week….we had a great racket going! Everyone was happy….I had music for my radio station, Leroy had customers for the record department, and Lynchburg had a great place to buy the latest hits! My job was great till a few of my teachers and friends came to G.C. Murphys to shop, and I waited on them! Below is a shot of Leroy, I am sure all will remember him! He was one of the few people who owned a 8 mm movie camera!
(CLICK HERE) for a beautiful home movie at the Copeland’s home, Christmas 1968 part I.
(CLICK HERE) For Christmas 1968 part II.
Leroy was at Murphy’s from 1965-1969! Go to “events” on this site to see what Leroy is doing now! I talked to Leroy to get his approval of this story, and he told me something I forgot about in getting the correct number of records that would hopefully sell. You know a song, so do you order 25, 50, or 100 copies of it? We used a guide that came out every week….it listed the latest top tunes in different categories, Country, top 40, R&B/Soul, etc. Since at the time Lynchburg didn’t have a Soul station, you really had to rely on “Billboard Magazine!” For example, if you hadn’t heard of a song, but it was #2 on the Soul charts, it must be a best seller somewhere…..so you should order 100….get it? Under Leroy’s picture is an example of Billboard for the week of September 10th, 1966. If you want to download the magazine and read about singers from the past……
(CLICK HERE)

 

STORY #24 WOW, LOOK AT THAT LITTLE SUCKER GO!!

I would get home from Payne school around 2:30PM after school let out at 2:20PM. I was a latch-key kid, and wore my key to the house around my neck. After letting myself in the house, I had to do my homework, before maybe visiting a few friends. My older friends wouldn’t get home till 3:45PM after Dunbar let out at 3:25PM remember? That gave me an hour before Mom and Dad came in from school around 3:45PM. It was plenty of time to get into some mischief of some kind! One day I noticed this thing in a round glass case on the side of the house? It had something in it that moved a tiny bit, just barely. I happened to cut on a light or two, and I noticed that the little thing in the glass started moving faster. Interesting…. I cut on a few more lights, and it went a little faster…wow, a discovery? I wonder what it was? I cut on a few more lights, it was really moving now! I happened to cut on our electric stove….it was really, really moving now! About then, the furnace cycled on and that thing was going so fast you could bearly see it! You could see the gears moving as they worked the dial for some reason? By now I had about every light and appliance on in our house! Right about now, Mom and Dad arrived home. They would always tell friends that everyday they would turn the corner on 15th St, and hope and pray that the house was still there and not two chimneys smoldering….next would always come a sigh of relief! Anyway…Dad got out of the car and I very proudly told him I wanted to show him something. I don’t remember anything too much after I told him “Just look at that little thing in the glass case go!” I saw the belt come out of the loops in his pants….”Oh NO!” Just imagine me cutting off switch after switch fast as I could all through the house, while dodging the belt! Wow…..now what did I do wrong!!??