Lawn Parties

In A Good Heart and A Light Hand (1968), Ruth L. Gaskins writes about lawn parties in the introduction 'A Negro Welcome'

These lawn parties weren't big affairs, and I doubt whether they added much to the church treasury, but they certainly did liven up a hot summer night in the city. Very often you wouldn't know that one was going on until friend ran by and shouted, "Get a dime and come on over to Ebenezer Baptist." You wouldn't stop to put your shoes on, because you were going to be on the lawn of the church. If you were going inside, you'd not only have to put on shoes, but your best dress and hat and gloves as well. Negroes save their best clothes for church, not for parties. Those were nice nights, but they've given way to movies, amusement parks and night clubs; all the things that weren't open to us then.

And so for day 498
24.04.2008