Charles LeRoy Lewis - Special Collections - University of Baltimore

LEWIS;099 II:2:64
look how many they can bring in here . . . I'm not talking
about these boat people . . . they bring in here now, and
yet we got unemployment, Then they tell our American girls
not to have children and then them people come in here
breeding families. I'm not trying to be nasty, I mean . . .
Hawes: What about besides politicians, beyond politicians
. . .who were the people in Hampden over theyears who you
remember that people turned to for leadership. Not necess-
arily political leadership?
Lewis: Well, you take Benson out there, T.C. Davis, Coleman,
a11 those businessmen would help the people out.
talk to those people and they took care of their own.
Hawes: Did they have any organizations. Were they in any
organization in any way: did they help each other?
Lewis: Well, most of the businessmen out here helped each
ather with the property improvement and the property.. You
take Benson's was a big factor here. They one time named a whole
row of houses down there back of Buena Vista Avenue
it was called Benson Street. It was before my time, but by the
time they -it burned out. And then their store was down
there on 36th Street. And they come up and took that
property over from Hickory Avenue to Roland Avenue and up
Roland Avenue up above where That was all
there. And they donated the ground for Grace Church. Of
course, they sold the ground Xnothe and built that Knothe
building there. That was in 1928.
Hawes: Benson donated the ground for . . .