Hope Robinson
Transcript
April 3, 2024 (Transcribed April 20, 2024)
Carlehr: Okay...Okay. Aindrila, you want to start with the first question?
Aindrila: Yeah. So, I guess I’ll start at the start. Can you tell us a little bit about when and where you were born? So like about the place, the landscape in general.
Hope: I was born on October 18, 1971, in Albemarle County. Grew up in Keene, Virginia. So, yeah.
Aindrila: Thank you, yeah. Carlehr?
Carlehr: So what family do you have in Esmont and how did your family end up in Esmont? Or Keene? Or close to the area?
Hope: Okay, um. Even though I grew up in Keene, majority of my family resided in Esmont, that’s where a lot of our family settled, and they had purchased land after slavery. My maternal great-grandfather and paternal great-great-grandfather all settled in the Esmont Keene area. So, where I currently live in Keene, my house is currently built on family land that we’ve held since my great-grandfather, so it’s just stayed within the family. But as far as the Esmont connections, growing up I had, I feel like at some point everyone in Esmont was probably somehow related. Uh, cause there was just the overlap where people had married into different families, but the Gartner family, Copeland family, all settled in the Esmont area. I had aunts, great-aunts, uncles, cousins, I mean I could – a lot of those people have passed on – but pretty much every other house was someone related. And so, so that’s how we all ended up in Esmont. Well some of my family ended up living in Esmont.
Sophia: Thank you. Our next question is: what communities were you a part of, and could you describe the communities that you grew up in, or I guess those in Esmont that you were a part of?
Hope: Um, so, Esmont. Let’s see. There were a number of organizations that I was a part of growing up, like Girl Scouts. Yancey Elementary I guess was the focal point growing up 9. We had girl Scouts meetings there. We had a lot of the elders providing us opportunities to travel throughout the state, and then some of us even went out to the Midwest to Wyoming so that they were able to you know expose us to different things. The church played a large role in us growing up, with just providing summer camps, vacation Bible school, tutoring. We had a 4H club, Esmont Clovers, we were one of the only black 4H clubs across the state. So that provided us with opportunities to participate in public speaking, demonstration, my brother and my cousins they did agricultural so they had animals and sheep that they would show. The community back then was very tight knit and everybody supported each other.
Sophia: Just as a follow-up, 4H came up when we toured the Yancey Community Center. But I wasn’t sure what it stood for if you could elaborate on that.
Hope: Um, it’s part of, I guess Virginia Tech is behind it. It’s the agricultural – it’s changed a lot since I was a kid since that was a focal point for a lot of kids in different communities across Albemarle County – but they just provide, I guess you could say leadership skill building, they provided camps for us throughout the summertime – so that was the focal point, the 4H summer camp. That was like a week long. Basically, you just – Appomatox was one of the camps that we would frequent every year. I guess you could say social skill building. They provided cooking, showed you how to cook, exposed you to different recipes. Agricultural of course was a big one, just in raising animals and selling them you know, at the local county fair, or at some of the local farms.
Aindrila: Thank you. Yeah, I think you touched upon some of this already, but if we could ask about – I mean you talked about the church, the school, the camps, but were there other institutions or these staple institutions that were at the center of the community that held the community together, and if these are the institutions that you know you talked about – the church, the school – could you talk about some of your favorite memories, some ways that the community was brought together and held by some of these local institutions that you just talked about.
Hope: So one of the others is the Masons – is a masonic lodge. It’s not very many members there, but my dad was a member. They provided a back to school drive at the local park every year, they organized that to support families. As you are probably aware, there’s a lot of families living below the poverty line or at the poverty line, so there was a lot of support provided to families in providing childcare, free of charge, for us growing up. So there were camps we attended at Yancey, summer camps that were provided free of charge, and just opportunities for us to explore and travel to other areas of the state.
Carlehr: You mentioned church, what was the name of the church you went to?
Hoep: I went to Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Keene, and then New Green Mountain was where the 4H meetings were held growing up, and also the site of vacation bible schools.
Carlehr: So what places did you attend for fun, or for entertainment?
Hope: Well, there wasn’t a lot of places to go because you’re in the country. But I mean, as far as families we would go to the movies in Charlottesville. When I was in elementary school we didn’t have the mall or any shopping so we would have to travel to Waynesboro or to Staunton to purchase school clothes. So we would have to go across the mountain to purchase clothing and stuff like that. Going to the downtown mall, there was a lot of different stores where you could go in and get a free Coke in the summertime, and that’s one of the staples. Just trying to think. A lot of the time was spent with family, like summertime was just me and my cousins. My older siblings would kind of watch us, and we would camp out and have my brother enjoy cooking, so he would be experimenting, me and my cousin would be taste testers. I mean it was just – we were all – there was always something to do, spending time with my grandmother in the country, playing in the creek, those were just some of the memories I cherish growing up. Just that family connection because you were always with family at some point.
Aindrila: Thank you for sharing that. Can we ask about your schools – so what schools did you attend, and could you share some of your experiences in those schools?
Hope: Well, I attended Albemarle. I went to – because of the way the lines were drawn everybody in Esmont of course attended Yancey Elementary School. I was usually jealous of my cousins because they attended Yancey and they just had more opportunity, they had more fun. They had the jazz club and things like that, so things I missed out on. But I attended Scottsville, so there weren’t – so to increase diversity they bussed kids from Chestnut Grove to Scottsville, so I guess I would say it was more I guess – it was just a different experience because I think growing up, Scottsville wasn’t available for blacks to attend, so there were some comments kids would make. Like “whoa, I couldn’t go there.” You know, just things like that. So, I think the experience was a little bit different, because Esmont was predominantly black and you had black teachers, I didn’t have that experience at Scottsville. Maybe my fifth-grade year I was exposed to having a teacher of color that helped tremendously, I think just in the school experiences. I had a parent that advocated for me. I was quiet and shy, and so my mom advocated a lot for me because I had a learning disability and so I think sometimes people would overlook or just not push me. I was grateful for her, for that while attending Scottsville. I went to Walton Middle School, Albemarle High School, then of course for college I went to Virginia State University, which is a predominantly historically black college in Petersburg, and then I went to VCU for graduate school. So those experiences, I think just – I think in high school there weren’t a lot of black children placed in the higher-level classes so sometimes I would be the only one or two in those classes, so it was just the pressure to perform. I had to work harder to prove myself, which I know now that I don’t have to. But just those experiences really shaped me, it kind of prompted me in wanting to go to a historically black college just to have that experience because that was usually the – I was maybe one or two youth of color in classes. And so it can be isolating at times you know, during secondary schooling.
Sophia: Thank you for that. Also, if you want to talk more about any of our questions, these are sort of just like, starting points. So, feel free. Again, this question, if you could speak towards Esmont or just growing up – do you recall major historic events that affected Esmont, and how did they impact you, your family, friends and community? That could be government policies or development, changes in funding, yeah.
Hope: I would have to speak towards the more current. Something had happened but nothing was really officially changed during my time of attending Albemarle County schools. It was – I felt like it was almost every year Albemarle County was trying to have kids bussed from Keene and Esmont to Western Albemarle and that was a huge fight. It seemed like it came up every year. A lot of the elders in the community advocated against it. And then they would leave it alone for a period of time but then they would continually approach it again every year. So that was a major issue in just seeing the elders advocate for not making any changes in the school that I was attending and just brought everyone together. It made it to the newspaper because I think people were just getting tired and frustrated by that. But some of the positive changes with funding is the opening of the Simpson Park that was several years ago, but that’s just been a community staple because there were no parks available. We would either have to travel to Walnut Creek or go into Charlottesville to be able to swim or anything – we didn’t have swimming pools, but just activities for kids to be able to go outside and play or hop their sprinkling system. And then, I think also just Yancey, with that coming back, that has become the central point for Esmont again, just the activities available, the food bank to meet the needs of families locally versus them having to travel to Charlottesville to have to obtain any foods or anything to support their families. I think just the county putting more focus on Yancey Elementary School in making that a focal point, to meet the health needs of those in the community, provide the recreation with the opening of the exercise gym, I guess the mini gym, and have activities for families over the weekends – I think just speaks volumes that the county is finally recognizing Esmont has needs, like Southern Albemarle County in general is benefitting from that.
Carlehr: Thank you. I had a question that wasn’t on the sheet. But you mentioned going to church in Esmont, or 4H club, and you having family in Esmont. So, what would people say is like the relationship between Keene and Esmont?
Hope: It was tight knit, especially among the African American – well, black families, because a lot of us had family in Esmont. It was just – everybody was connected. We just all pulled together and everyone supported each other.
Carlehr: How was the distance between the two?
Hope: Probably half a mile – not even that – probably half a mile.
Carlehr: Okay, very close. Let’s see. So, what changes have you seen in your lifetime in your community?
Hope: I guess just the – a lot of the kids I grew up with, most of them have moved away or have somehow moved to Charlottesville. So just seeing that some people are not coming back to Esmont. It’s probably only me and a couple – probably five other people that actually stayed – you know, went away for college and came back here to settle. But um, just seeing the diversity and the neighborhoods are changing in Esmont and in Keene, especially as a lot of the elders have died and families aren’t coming back. So, I think just a change in the demographics.
Sophia: Thank you. So, our next question is what are some of your favorite places in Esmont? What memories, stories, or events do you associate with them?
Hope: I think – well, there’s several. Well, I spent a lot of time at my uncle’s house, he lived in Esmont. So me and my cousins spent a lot of time because we attended school together, so, growing up my cousins – we would have movie nights, they were Friday nights, so pretty much some of the kids in the neighborhood, we all just hung out there on Friday nights or we, for
Aindrila: I had a question about that, the community center, the Yancey community center. So you talked about how it has in recent years sort of become that focal point of community and coming together as a community. Is there a certain sort of demographic that you typically find coming together, or would you say it’s sort of like a mixed demographic of young people, or old people, of people of all ages, or is it?
Hope: I think it’s a mix, but the majority are probably older people of different backgrounds. Especially I think – it’s blacks and whites coming together more. Just building those core foundations and everyone staying connected and just having those additional supports.
Aindrila: Thank you.
Carlehr: Thank you. I think that is the end of our interview. Thank you so much Ms. Robinson, this was really great.
Hope: Okay, well thank you.
Carlehr: You’re welcome, it was good. Well before we go, can you state your full name and spell it?
Hope: It’s Hope Robinson. H-O-P-E R-O-B-I-N-S-O-N.