Collection

In the 1940s and 1950s much of the organized entertainment in Lakeland was provided by social clubs. These clubs met monthly at the homes of the members. Dinners were part of the gathering and provided the host an opportunity to showcase both their cooking ability and their tableware. The Duchesses and the Counts social clubs sponsored an annual formal dance at Lakeland Hall and sometimes posed for professional photographs. The Counts appear here in formal tails and white gloves. The gentlemen are, left to right (left row) Gasson Bradford Sr., James Weems, Anderson Walls, George Walls, Charles Carroll, and Harry Braxton Sr.; (right row) Mack Allen, John Webster, William Sharps, Aubrey Corprew, Chesley Mack, and Ashby Tolson.

Article from Greenbelt Cooperator

The Baltimore Sun February 27, 1945 Page 15 Lakelanders represented by Washington Attorney, Charles Houston to oppose inclusion in incorporation as part of municipality. Said tax burden would be difficult for residents due to their low income.

Washington Evening Star March 21, 1945 At a meeting with the Prince George's delegation in Annapolis individuals from Lakeland and Berwyn expressed opposition to the incorporation plan. Those present said the benefits for the measure did not outweigh the costs and not enough time was allowed to give the issue sufficient study. The mayor of Riverdale suggested the Calvert Homes section be come part of his town. A representative of the University of Maryland spoke in support of incorporation and stated it would be difficult not to include Lakeland due to its location in the center of the proposed town.

Baltimore Avenue at Navahoe St

College Park Dinner

Members of the “greatest generation” enjoy a day at Carr’s Beach in Annapolis, Maryland, during the 1940s. Carr’s Beach was a summertime retreat for African Americans from its opening in 1929 until the late 1960s. As part of the famous “Chitlin Circuit,” it attracted some of the era’s greatest African-American musical talent. The Chesapeake beaches were not racially integrated until the 1950s. (Courtesy of Pearl Lee Campbell Edwards and James Edwards III.)

Donor's mother (Irene Helen Smith, née Irene Russell), was physically born (with a midwife!) in 1928 and raised in Lakeland. She attended Lakeland High School.

Members of the Lakeland High School Dance Group in 1946. Group President Mary Day and secretary LaVerne Tolson are pictured, as are other members. They are shown in the school hallway. Dance, music, and athletics were offered at the school. Teachers donated time to the community and often taught extracurricular programs after school. Educators defined their roles as providing more than classroom learning; they worked to expand the cultural horizons of students, as well.

Coach Estee B. Wells and co-captains Robert Moore and Elijah Norris led the Lakeland High School football squad to a second undefeated season and the state football championship in 1946. Pictured on the field at Lakeland High School are the coach and members of the football team.

Rear of junior class photograph

Four Lakeland youngsters they are left to right rear Hattie Adams Wiliams, Mary Day front Maize Adams, Elmore Adams

From 1945-46 school year as student at Lakeland Elementary School

seated

cropped image of school picture 1946-47 school year

School picture

1946-47 School year picture

Lakeland Elementary School student during the 1945-46 school year

Elwood Gross grade 5 of Lakeland Elementary School with teacher B.R. Walters for the 1945-46 school year

Jean Gray's 8th Grade report card from Lakeland Jr Sr High School during the 1945-46 school year.

In a studio portrait as a young boy wearing knee boots and jodhpurs

Physician at Berwyn

Dr. Arthur O. Etienne

Lakelander Yearbook

Yearbook page

Lakelander Yearbook

Ninth Grade shown on page of Lakelander yearbook

1947 Lakelander yearbook page

1946-47 school year picture

(cropped)---1947 Lakelander Yearbook

Baseball was an important summer pastime among the African-American communities in Prince George’s County. Most of the communities had their own teams, which played each other. The baseball season was capped with a day of games and picnicking in Laurel, Maryland, to celebrate Emancipation Day, when Abraham Lincoln granted freedom to about 3,100 enslaved people in the District of Columbia, nine months before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. Norwood Walls was one of the young pitchers who participated in these events during the 1940s and 1950s. He is shown here circa 1947. (Courtesy of Diane Weems Ligon.)

Duchesses social club during a formal dance at Lakeland's hall

Yearbook cover

Lakelander yearbook

Lakelander yearbook

Lakelander yearbook

Lakelander yearbook

Children of James Henry Gray Standing are unknown, Luke, unknown seated are Pauline, William and Eliza.

Class of 1947

Lakelander yearbook

Lakelander Yearbook

Lakelander yearbook page

Page Lakelander yearbook

In 1947, James Henry Gray sat for this formal photo with, from left to right, his eldest son, William H. McKinley Gray (Will); grandson William H. McKinley Gray II; and great-grandson William H. McKinley Gray III (Butch). James H. Gray died in 1957. His family maintained the home on Pierce Street for two more decades. Will, following in his father’s path, was a successful interior painter and paperhanger in the District of Columbia. A World War I veteran, he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. McKinley owned PauMac Photographers in the District of Columbia and built an extensive archive of images. Butch died in childhood following surgery. (Courtesy of the Gray family.)

Lakelander, yearbook

Youth event Embry AME Church circa 1947