Our Love for the "Lawnz": Like No Other Neighborhood

By Hafiz Naim Ali Camp

Explore the African American neighborhood of Warwick Lawns, the hub of African American society in Newport News, Virginia, and the people that grew up there, where they went, what they did, and the circle of friends they did it with. You’ll be amazed at their resourcefulness in a neighborhood with no recreational facilities, not even sidewalks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jun 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781490795508

Hafiz Naim Ali Camp

The author is a retired U.S. Marine working on his second project that focuses on his neighborhood Warwick Lawns, which was the first African American neighborhood on the Virginia peninsula. He has elected to highlight distinguished individuals from the neighborhood presenting the military, civil servants, doctors, educators, musicians, and professional athletes, to name a few. Additionally, he talks about life growing up in a neighborhood that was constructed back in the corner of Denbigh for Black military families that couldn’t reside in the predominately White areas in the 1950s.

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Copyright 2019 Hafiz Naim Ali Camp.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9548-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9547-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4907-9550-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019906873

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Trafford rev. 06/04/2019

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CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1   History Of The Lawnz

Chapter 2   Let Me Tell Their Stories

Audrey And Lawrence Garrett With Three’s Company (Myles Garrett, Brea Garrett, And Sean Williams)

The Honorable Sheila R. Tillerson Adams, Chief Administrative Judge Of The Seventh Circuit Court Of Prince George’s County, Maryland

Michael Spry Sr. (The Lawnz Prodigy)

Leadership By Example, Cwo-4 Ercell A. Grimes Sr.

Lucille Jarvis (Mother Of Our Community)

The Champ (Uncle John Jarvis)

A Major General (U.s. Army) On A Mission For The Children

Cwo-3 Julius Bud Green (U.s. Army Master Diver)

Cwo-3 John E. Gragg (The First Black Boat Captain Of The U.s. Army)

John Gragg Jr. (Chemist And Quality Product Manager For Global Aviation Tires, Goodyear)

Ivy League, No Problem! (Ann Parker Oyekan)

Willis Robert Billy Drummond Jr. (World-Renowned Jazz Drummer)

Jj’s Custom Kitchens And Cabinets (My Uncle Jimmy)

Marvin Hedgepeth (Educating The Masses)

Marion Hedgepeth (Marine Biologist) Two Of A Kind

Command Sgt. Maj. Moses L. Gayle Jr. (U.s. Army)

Rhonda Stevenson Banks (The Rhonda S. Banks Autism Center, Glen Allen, Virginia)

Our Version Of The Jackson Five – Our Wooten Brothers

Lawnz Hospitality

Wooten’s Fun And Funk Tour (Clearwater, Florida)

Dr. L. Carolyn Washington-Alston, Md (Pediatrician)

Dr. Leroy Graham Jr., Md (Our Community Doctor)

Coach Kevin J. Clark (Hampton Roads African American Sports Hall Of Famer)

William Pete Moore (Moore’s Custom Kitchens Inc.)

Chapter 3    Where We Went, What We Did, And What We Said

Old Skool Reunions

Recreational Outlets

The Mysterious Travelers (A Mystery In The Eyes Of Many)

Busch Gardens, The Old Country

Lawnz Fraternities, Sororities And Social Organizations

Follow-The-Leader (Aka Ska-Loo-Gie)

Montgomery Wards ($.76 Bicentennial Year Special)

Lawnz House Parties – Who Had The Best?

Lawnz Musicians From Back In The Day

The Warwick Lawnz Olympics

A Typical Day In The Lawnz

The Lawnz Across The Globe

The Lawnz Turkey Bowl

Denbigh High School Days

Nightmare The Day Before School

Where Are You Going To School?

Back In The Hood (July 2018)

Lawnz Fashions (Don’t Get Caught With Butter Cookies On!)

The Lawnz Foursome In Sarasota, Florida, Tee It Up!

Ally Ally In Come Free!

Location Medley

Back In The Day

What Happened To The Days?

Gone But Not Forgotten

References

INTRODUCTION

As I communicated with family and friends from the Lawnz (Warwick Lawns) and surrounding communities, in many cases, the focus of the conversation was centered around the Lawnz —the things we used to do, places we used to go, things we used to say, and the circle of friends we did it with. Conversation would also lead to those who stood out or had an impact on the community then or now. Furthermore, mentioned in those conversations was the fact that someone needs to write a book on the Lawnz. This is what prompted me to take on this task. I must mention that since the inception of this project, I’ve received nothing but support and encouragement from the masses and an overwhelming response from those who are included in this project. I realize that personal time is valuable, and, for those who took the time to converse with me and share their family stories, we owe you immensely. For those who chose not to share their stories for whatever reason, I wholeheartedly respect your decision, and I applaud your accomplishments and accolades anyway. But I must note that I, as well as others, feel that your stories would help solidify the contents and purpose of this book. Two of the key stories were removed from the manuscript a week prior to submission because of circumstances beyond my control. One perhaps is one of the most accomplished individuals from our neighborhood. On a better note, there are so many other distinguished individuals included in the book. Hopefully, the removal of a couple won’t detract from the book’s intent.

Ideally, the intent of the book is to inform the masses of the distinguished individuals we have from our neighborhood. Furthermore, I feel a certain sense of accomplishment at this point because as far as I know, no one has attempted to write anything about our neighborhood, and I only pray that this inspires others to follow suit. As I often think about it, I find it hard to believe that with the number of distinguished figures who have resided in our neighborhood, very little has been documented to expose these personalities to the public. Arguably, other neighborhoods could contest that they have individuals from their neighborhoods of equal stature, but I beg to differ with these opinions. Our individuals highlighted cover an array of areas that include the civil, the military, the athletics, the sciences, and the arts. We’ve even had numerous neighbors who have fallen into the categories of the first to do and two who have had schools named after them in honor of their dedication for teaching. Although we’ve had numerous standouts from our surrounding communities, my focus on this book is centered only around figures from the Lawnz.

CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF THE LAWNZ

When segregation comes to my mind, I can vividly picture the scenes of young African American girls being escorted to school by the sheriff’s deputies in Alabama or the white cardboard signs in the back of the white establishments indicating White Only and Colored Only restrooms and water fountains. A social black eye from our past that resonates in the hearts of all of us who have suffered from the injustices that segregation created. It was pretty much common knowledge that segregation dominated in the Southern states, with Virginia included in the pack, but I am totally embarrassed that I was ignorant to the fact that it revealed its ugly head right in the midst of our town of Denbigh. Why would one group of people feel the need to suppress the lives and livelihood of another group and feel that they were totally justified for doing so? That concept has never sat well with me. American activist Rosa Parks sitting steadfast in the front section of that bus motivates me to no end because standing up to the opposition in her defiant nature, she showed the nation that she was fed up with being a second-class citizen for a nation that was built by the blood, sweat, and tears of black folks. This historical gesture should have been written in our history books long before society decided to publicize it. That defiant act by Rosa Parks made history not only on the national and world level, but also local history in this tiny black neighborhood tucked away in the corner of Denbigh. While on the very bus that Rosa Parks was arrested, our Queen Carr (R.I.H.), mother of Angelo, Nedra, and Tia, from Spratley Circle was posing as an undercover informant for the government in the late 1950s to early 1960s in Montgomery, Alabama, to report incidents where blacks tried to sit in the front of the bus but were denied. She was always assigned to buses that ran through the black neighborhoods. Because of her fair, light skin and her well-groomed straight hair, she could pass for white. She also worked undercover in Norfolk and Richmond to help expose discrimination efforts.

Angelo has made a bit of history himself. When I first asked Angelo if I could use his mother’s story in the book, he mentioned that he and a few others from the neighborhood were the first African Americans allowed to attend Lee Hall Elementary School. I told him that I would look into it. During my research, I found an article dated July 19, 1963, where the Newport News School Board approved the transfers of twenty-four African American children to white schools. This allowed Angelo and nine other African American children to be the first to integrate Lee Hall Elementary.

It was brought to my attention by our youngest daughter, Tayla, who was a history major at the University of Southern California, that although Rosa Parks is a recognizable pioneer of the civil rights movement for her bus arrest, there was another arrest of a young sixteen-year-old female who occurred nine months earlier for the same offense. Once the police arrived on the scene, she still refused to move and was handcuffed, forcibly removed, and arrested by two officers. She was charged with disturbing the peace, violating the segregation laws, and assault. She was bailed out by her pastor. Her case was presented to the Montgomery Circuit Court on May 6, 1955, with the disturbing the peace and violating the segregation laws dropped. She appeared with four other plaintiffs in the court case of Browder vs. Gayle. The ruling from the court was that the bus segregation laws in Montgomery were unconstitutional, and that was due partly because of the black community support. The segregation policies were suspended until fair legislation was implemented. In December of 1956, the Supreme Court ordered Montgomery and the state of Alabama to end bus segregation.

With this incident occurring nine months prior to the Rosa Parks incident, why didn’t this black young teenage girl get the notoriety that the Parks arrest generated? The black community leaders didn’t feel that the young girl fit the image that they wanted to test integration at that time. And it was rumored that she had gotten pregnant by a married man, which was not true. Parks was an adult senior female with the characteristics of nice hair and light skin, the appearance needed to make her look middle-class. The dark young teenager unfortunately, and not because of her fault, didn’t portray the proper image.

The Smithsonian Institute and National Museum of African American History and Culture have yet to recognize this pioneer at the request of her family. The museum dedicated a section in honor of Rosa Parks in September 2016. Unfortunately, she wasn’t even invited. In March of 2017, the City Council of Montgomery proclaimed that March 2 was named Claudette Colvin Day in Montgomery, Alabama, in recognition of her mark in history.

Although 95 % of the articles I found during research pertained to real estate and zoning for Warwick Lawnz, I did discover an article from the Daily Press archives dated December 28, 1954, which the headline read, "240-Home Project Officially Begun." Yes, they were referring to Warwick Lawnz, where the mayor of Warwick and Homer L. Hines, an African American (the original article stated, A Negro), broke ground for the project for our African American neighborhood. In 1952, the Virginia peninsula on the northern bank of James River between Hampton Roads and Jamestown was recognized as the city of Warwick. The city was politically consolidated with the city of Newport News on July 1, 1958. The Lawnz now falls under Warwick County.

In September of 1955, according to the City Assessor’s Office, where ownerships are registered and recorded, they reflected that the city of Warwick showed the expansion of thirty-four subdivisions, while the entire year of 1954 was thirty-six. One of those subdivisions was Warwick Lawnz, and it expanded with twenty-one lots in that year.

Because of a petition filed by one of the Lawnz developers in September of 1960, the city council was asked to rezone 25 acres of the neighborhood because of lot sizes. The lot sizes in the Lawnz then were 75 by 120 feet. We had a handful of lots 85 by 120 feet. The developer proposed 60 by 120 feet lots, which would, of course, provide more space for extra homes, but some felt that it would overcrowd the neighborhood and bring down property value. Although the Lawnz was already established as a thriving neighborhood, resistance was presented at a council meeting by members from our adjacent neighborhood, citing that it would open the door for erection of noticeably cheaper and smaller homes. The neighbor actually stated that it had nothing to do with race but better people live on bigger lots. The president of the Denbigh-Stanley Civic League was not in favor of the smaller lots of 60 by 120 feet but was in favor of the 75-by-150-foot lots. A compromise was made for 65-by-120-foot lots. The 65-foot lots would save $500 per unit that would be passed on to potential purchasers.

In 1965, my family moved to Fort Eustis from Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, New York. After two years in base housing there, we moved to Warwick Lawnz after noticing the neighborhood while driving back and forth to my grandparent’s house. The main route of Campbell Road bypassed the entrance of the neighborhood, where a wooden sign designating Warwick Lawns used to position itself in the large corner lot off Campbell Road and Jenness Lane across from the Drummonds. The Newport News City Planning Office lists Warwick Lawns as one of the twelve statistical neighborhoods that made up the section of Denbigh. The other eleven include Menchville, Denbigh, Oyster Point, Camelot Village, Village Green, Patrick Henry, Richneck South, Richneck North, Endview, Lee Hall, and Fort Eustis. Only Campbell Road, Campbell Lane, and Jenness Lane existed at that time. My mother informed me that we paid $12,500 for the three-bedroom, one-bath structure. Like many of the families in the neighborhood, as the children grew older, more space was needed in the homes, so my parents added a dining room, a den, an extra bathroom, and, a laundry room. That opened things up a bit in our household. Leisure family time was then spent in the den. Seems incredible for what we pay for houses now.

The average cost of a home in Warwick Lawns then was $10,500 to $14,000. Records indicate that most of the homes sold between 1960 and 1979 were with no cash down, a move-in cost of $390, and a monthly payment of about $75. At the time, our house was constructed in 1965, only four streets existed in and around the neighborhood—Campbell Road, Campbell Lane, Jenness Lane, and Phillips Lane. Structures on Delmar Lane were being constructed and woods extended to our last roadway, Motoka Drive. Pocahontas Drive, our next passage through the hood, was the beginning of the white section called Pocahontas. Pocahontas Drive was one of the most frequently traveled streets in the area because it connected our neighborhood with the other major thoroughfares, Denbigh Boulevard and Warwick Boulevard.

The Lawnz is located a five-minute walking distance from Warwick Boulevard, where we had access to stores and the city bus, which was our primary source of transportation until we received our driver’s licenses. The city bus was easy to maneuver and, of course, cheap. Sixty-cents would allow us at that time to travel to Downtown Newport News all the way to Washington Avenue. Washington Avenue was our version of Fifth Avenue of New York. Shopping was our main focus when we ventured there.

Our neighborhood was tucked back into a corner of a wooded area with railroad tracks adjacent to one side of the woods. Along one of the longest streets in the neighborhood, Tillerson Drive, there were four dead ends that eventually lead to apartment complexes—Iron Gate, Pear Tree, and Villa Capri apartments. The construction of these apartments provided us the opportunity to entertain ourselves within the confines of the structures inside. To stay amused, we ran up and down the stairs, played hide-and-seek, and had dirt clog fights with whoever challenged. Ralph Hedgepeth and I trained our Dobermans within the framework after the construction workers called it for the day. We conducted other mischievous activities at that location that I won’t go into as not to incriminate ourselves.

Unfortunately, we had no sidewalks, playgrounds, or other amenities like the white neighborhoods primarily because Warwick Lawnz was constructed solely for creating a black middle-class neighborhood to accommodate black military families who couldn’t reside in the surrounding white neighborhoods like Beechmont, Stoneybrook, and Windsor Great Park. Yes, the same racial and discriminatory practices that helped start the civil rights movement were just as prevalent here in our neighborhood. This left Warwick Lawnz, our small neighborhood totaling .433 square miles, as the only subdivision for African Americans on the peninsula, and later, to its advantage, the Lawnz became the hub for blacks living in the surrounding areas.

With its military influence that led to business resources, many blacks looked at the Lawnz as the ideal place to settle down and raise their families. Military influence also added diversity to our neighborhood. Overseas assignments led to marriages and children of a variety of cultures—German, Korean, Japanese, Italian, French, and five families of Latino descent, four from Puerto Rico and one from Panama. This culturally elevated our neighborhood in foreign language, customs, and food. Mike Spry told me about the way his Japanese mother prepared spareribs with a Japanese twist on them. That was something special to experience with the neighbors.

To my knowledge, we had six African American and Japanese families to share that influence. Two of those families did not have children. Sharon Washington-Phillips shared with me that segregation played a big part in her family residing in the Lawnz. With an African American military man married to a Japanese woman, the segregation laws stated that the farthest they could live down South was North Carolina. With no assignments for their father’s job in Carolina, Fort Eustis was his closest option. Proudly to say, this outcast neighborhood has produced a judge, a scientist, a chemist, a neurosurgeon, a few medical doctors, numerous doctors of philosophy (PhDs), a couple of history-making military veterans, a couple of two-star generals, and a large number of educators. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget two NFL players and a number of All-American athletes from various sports who have raised the bar.

I was informed by two neighborhood sources that Retired General Colin Powell once lived in our neighborhood, but I couldn’t verify it through my research. I visited one site that stated Powell was stationed at Ft. Eustis as a young Lieutenant. He served as a Lieutenant from 1958-62, so it is highly possible. The other site posted images of Powell while stationed at Ft. Eustis. From 1958-62, our neighborhood was up and coming, so I would not rule out the fact that he probably did reside in the Lawnz.

During another conversation with Michael Spry, he told me that when his father was assigned to Fort Eustis, the base had no housing available for his family, and they directed him to move his family downtown. After a trip downtown to survey the area, his father refused to live there and went back to the base to confront his commander to address his concerns. About two o’clock in the morning, Sergeant Spry knocked on his commander’s door and demanded base housing because of the living conditions downtown. Later that day, the Spry family mysteriously received base housing and resided there until moving onto Chipley Drive in the Lawnz with the other military families.

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Broker R. C. Crutchfield Jr. and Contractor G. E. Tillerson Sr.

Totally unaware of this until now, Warwick Lawnz was constructed by two of the first blacks in Virginia to become a broker and a bonded general contractor, George E. Tillerson Sr., who was the father of George E. Tillerson Jr., and Broker R. C. Crutchfield Jr. Yes, the George Tillerson Jr. who had the largest house in the neighborhood and had a street named after their family. This was all deserving because the land that Warwick Lawnz sits on was sold by George E. Tillerson Sr. We realized that the house was nice and that we had a Tillerson Drive, but it didn’t dawn on us the circumstances surrounding this. Needless to say, the two longest streets in the Lawnz are Tillerson Drive and Crutchfield Drive.

Media reveals that Mr. Tillerson Sr. was awarded his first major construction contract in Chase City at the Thyne Institute. This institute was built in 1876 for the sole purpose of educating African Americans. John Thyne deeded this property to the United Presbyterian Church in 1878, and in later years, it became a boarding school to accommodate students from Norfolk, Newport News, and Hampton Roads. This project consisted of building a four-story boys’ dormitory on the property, where he learned the basics of construction. The Federal Housing Administration and Veterans Administration were two of the financial institutions that funded his projects.

Additionally, he started housing developments for blacks in Downtown Newport News and in Aberdeen Gardens in Hampton. Mr. Tillerson and Mr. Crutchfield worked together for the construction and sale of homes in Warwick Lawnz, and they were mentioned in the articles. While researching articles from our local newspaper, the Daily Press archives, real estate ads for homes in the Lawnz were boldly posted as For Colored and For Military Families. Doesn’t that reflect the sentiments of the 1950s White Only and Colored Only water fountains of the South, where blacks were discriminated in almost every aspect of public life? Restrooms, schools, railroad cars, and restaurants were other public commodities where whites exploited their mentality of equality toward blacks. Ads seeking help in our neighborhood were also posted for carpenters, plumbers, and contractors to assist in the building of the neighborhood.

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Real estate advertisements for the Lawnz from the 1950s

CHAPTER II

LET ME TELL THEIR STORIES

05.JPG

The Garrett family on NFL Draft Night 2017

AUDREY AND LAWRENCE GARRETT WITH THREE’S COMPANY (MYLES GARRETT, BREA GARRETT, AND SEAN WILLIAMS)

It was April 27, 2017, and we were watching our homegirl Audrey Johnson Garrett with her husband, Lawrence, and a host of family and friends for the eighty-second 2017 NFL Draft. Their son, Myles Lorenz Garrett, as the projected number 1 pick, was the focal point of the draft. This, I would have to say, is the biggest national event of anyone from Warwick Lawnz. Located in the Philadelphia City Hall, directly across from the famous Rocky Balboa Steps, made famous by the movie Rocky, the highly