Documentary offers window into Lewes’ past

On May 17, a private film club was able to offer new perspectives on the history of the First Town in the First State and how it has evolved into the present-day City of Lewes. The viewing took place at Trinity Faith Christian Center along New Road.

"Three Degrees of Connection" is a documentary directed by Brad Mays, co-produced by Lewes resident Ric Moore. The film shares recollections from individuals of diverse backgrounds. While some recall Lewes as an inclusive community, the documentary reveals the existence of unofficial segregation and systemic oppression in the town. 

During an interview, Bill Collick, a member of the Lewes African American Heritage Commission and Cape Henlopen school board, highlighted the challenges faced by Black families in owning homes due to banks' reluctance to lend them money. Collick also praised Otis Smith for his staunch opposition to segregation and for urging banks to provide loans to African American families, while also ensuring that his menhaden fishing operations were not segregated. In addition, Smith encouraged racial integration by incentivizing both Black and white people to dine together.

According to Collick, Smith acquired "the field," which is now Shipcarpenter Square, and encouraged African Americans to use it for athletic events, picnics and social gatherings. As the menhaden fishing industry declined, jobs started moving away from Lewes, and the town on the water turned into a beach resort town. Prior to Shipcarpenter Square, there was only one house in the area, which belonged to Kitty Perry's family.

Ms. Kitty, as she is affectionately called, was also interviewed during the film. As a young girl growing up in Lewes, she remembered the Happy Day Club and what it was like as the menhaden boom was in full swing. The 87-year-old was an only child born at 311 W. Fourth St. and proudly said she was born and raised within city limits, not outside. Following the film, she sat down for a brief question-and-answer session with the film club.

“We would go to the beach, and, yes, we knew the left was for the whites and the right was for the Blacks. We knew that from growing up,” Perry said.

She said her parents didn’t have a car, and they would walk to the beach from West Fourth Street, mainly on Saturday mornings, and stay all day.

When Perry was growing up, the schools in Lewes and around Sussex County were segregated. She attended first through ninth grades in Lewes. African Americans were not allowed to attend kindergarten. 

“When we graduated from the ninth grade, we got on a bus for a 16-mile trip to Georgetown and the William C. Jason Comprehensive High School,” Perry said.

She also recalled the Jack and Jill parade. She remembers it running through uptown Lewes and that it would always end in “the field.”

Perry said she doesn’t remember being discriminated against because as she was growing up, she and others were familiar with the oppressive system.

“We knew, and nobody told us, where you can and can’t sit. They didn’t ever tell or say because we never did it,” Perry said, “We’d just go in there and get our stuff and be on our way.”

Following the famous Storm of 1962, Perry moved to Annapolis, Md. 

“We stood on the post office steps to look over, and every house was underwater. You did not see a house, you didn’t see a top of a house. It was nothing but water,” Perry said.

She explained that a lot of families lost everything in the storm, and she knew of one Black family on Lewes Beach that had no other choice but to move following the storm.

She said the biggest changes she noticed came with “the field,” converting to Shipcarpenter Square. She, along with her mom and dad, lived in what was once the only house on “the field.” She said the roads have become foreign to her, and driving in Lewes is no longer as easy as it once was.

Perry now resides in Dover after retiring from her job at Sears in Dover and Salisbury. Her association with Sears started while she was in Annapolis, where the company transferred her to Dover. Perry’s mother worked at General Foods in Dover. Upon reporting to Dover, she was initially informed that no job was available for her, due to discrimination against her skin color by the secretary. Fortunately, a prompt phone call from the Annapolis store resolved the issue, and she was assigned to the children's department. After two weeks, she was assigned to assist in opening the new Sears store in Salisbury, Md., necessitating a daily commute from Dover.

While Perry was growing up, the African American community represented no less than 30% of the population in Lewes. These days, there are estimates of the African American population in Lewes being only as high as 5%, while some estimate closer to just 1%.