Charles LeRoy Lewis - Special Collections - University of Baltimore

LEWIS; 099 II :1: 39
proud one . . . although we had St. Thomas's Church in
there for many, many years. But they never associated together
in those early days. Those days, Catholic boy went with Cath-
olic girls, Protestant boys wentwith Protestant girls. Of
course as you know, those things were all changed now. It's
time w ill heal and change all things, there's no question
about it. Not unusual for marriages now, inter-marriages in
the religious. . .as well as in some places of the races,
And the community has progressed right along. I don't
knsw whether it's any worse or any better off. And just like
our old merchants years ago, Kennedy - you had to belong
to the Catholic Church to work for him. McCormick's, Lever
Brothers, you had to be Protestant - if you wasn't Protestant,
you didn't work for them. And it was just like years ago when
L remember as a young boy first Jewish merchant we let come
in the neighborhood. It was Harry Hockrnanf little store
there just part of Cavacos . . . maybe eight foot wide, and
when he opened up there he had to close up and be out of the
neighborhood around 6 o'clock at night. And Harry
come out here fox years, and eventually came out here and
become one of our successful merchants and owned a lot of
property.
There were a lot of nice Jewish merchants out here, but in
those days prejudice was up again.
Hawea: When was that . . . when did Hockman's first open up?
Lewis : Hockman come out here I 'd say about 1910, 1912 . . .
in that area; I couldn't say exactly, and that was when 36th