Oral History Interview with Almore Dale

Almore Dale, an African American man born in 1911, discusses growing up in Anacostia when the neighborhood unofficially was segregated. Dale says the neighborhood is home to a considerable number of government employees as well as business owners, farmers, and other professionals. Dale, like many of his friends in Anacostia, attended public school at Birney Elementary School. Dale later attended Howard University, and the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He talks about the typical family structure and dynamic, with most families having two parents with two to three children. Dale remembers how the community worked together to help raise the neighborhood children. Most families attended church, and he names Our Lady of Perpetual Help as the most popular church when he was growing up, and he describes the Anacostia Bank (now the Anacostia National Bank). Dale talks about how politics was not a huge part of the community; how most of the community did not have the right to vote until a few years before the time of the interview; and how community associations and civic leadership helped shape Anacostia. Dale particularly emphasizes how women in the neighborhood, including Mrs. Webster and Jessie Bray Banks, provided charitable services, and bought property to help the community grow. Almore Dale was interviewed by Irene White and Marlene Corbin on November 23, 1970. Digital audio files include white noise and static; interviewee can be heard clearly for some parts.