Page 6 - Demo

“Deep in My Heart”
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BY DIANNE SWANN-WRIGHT & CAROLYN WILKERSON BELL
No newspaper headlines recorded Washington Scott’s last ride on
a Lynchburg streetcar in 1905. None of his fellow citizens, black or white, male or female, stood outside the trolley car and waved him on or off. Scott was alone, dressed in a business suit and tie, donned just for this occasion, when he climbed on board the vehicle, paid his fare, and rode one last time. In this way, the successful African American plasterer and carpenter observed, mourned, and protested the passing of an era in Central Virginia history.
Washington Scott’s last ride responded to a new state statute that separated blacks and whites on buses and trains. Other laws had been and would be passed that would construct social, economic, and political life in Central Virginia and other parts of the country along racial lines.
Almost sixty years after Scott’s trolley ride, Lynchburg officials would order that all three city swimming pools be closed and filled with dirt. Rather than have black and white people swim together in municipal pools, town officials decided there would be no pools at all. Area residents, African American and white alike, took note of this action in their own ways. The closing of the pools was a part of life in this community and region, shaped for decades by Jim Crow law and custom.
The rise of the laws, customs, and practices that became known collectively as Jim Crow is the
12 Lynch’S Ferry
Washington Scott (1869-1932) and his family gather at the Scott home on Buena Vista Street in the 1920s. Scott is the tall, light-skinned man to the right of the center column. The home is still standing near White Rock Cemetery, where Scott is buried.
Swimming pool at Riverside Park. In 1961 the City of Lynchburg filled the pool with dirt in 1961 to keep blacks and whites from swimming together there.
DeLving into the SouL oF Segregation at the Legacy muSeum
COURTESY OF THE NEWS AND ADVANCE
COURTESY OF OTIS MEGGINSON, JR.