Trick or Treat: Childhood Halloween Traditions
Trick or treating is a fun tradition that really encompasses childhood memories of Halloween. Deborah Prothrow-Stith (1954-), who President Clinton appointed to the National Commission on Crime Control and Prevention, recalls Halloween traditions in Hermer Circle: “Yes, Herman Russell, a black development and contractor, and I mean, they owned the land and built the houses and everything. So we lived on a cul de sac of basically middle class black families and, you know… Halloween was a big production on Hermer Circle. We not only trick or treated, but we trick or treated at certain times. So, it was divided by age groups, and then each age group had a house that represented the end of trick or treating and the parties. So for instance if you were you know three to five, then you probably trick or treated from three to five, and then at five you went to certain house and had your party and if you were five to eight you trick or treated the next you know and it was just the level of organization the--the neighborhood also had themes to Christmas.”[1] Similarly, Maxie L. Patterson (1944-), the former Executive Director of Texas Association of Public Employee Retirement Systems, notes: “I can remember Halloween when we used to go out trick or treating, and it was safe enough you could walk the streets and parents didn't have to go with you, and it was so entirely different in those days where it was really a festive occasion. And we would have these big brown paper shopping bags, and people gave you so much that you could fill them up, bring them home, drop it off and get another bag, and go back out, but you had to be careful because they would give you fruit… apples and oranges were big, and so they would weigh the bag down, and sometimes they would split out the bottom. But also, a lot of times, you would go to a house and they have a big tub of water in there, and apples would be floating in there, and you had to get on your hands and knees with no hands, and get the apple out with just your teeth… I have positive, fond memories of the neighborhood and, and the friends that I had.”[2] Jocelyn Dorsey (1950), a television producer and television reporter, furthers, “The name of the street… was Forest Park Drive and it was in Cincinnati, Ohio. And if you look now at the siblings, all of us that have grown up, it's amazing to see what we have all done with our lives. And we have often talked about writing about the street, because we all got together, we all went trick or treating together… The entire neighborhood were like brothers and sisters. So I grew up with people, twenty-five to thirty people, that today I can still call my brothers and sisters. You know, we have been in their houses; we know their parents; their parents know us. It was just an unbelievable childhood… I am just grateful that I had that opportunity to grow up in that manner.”[3] Audrey Peeples (1939-), who has served as the CEO of the YWCA, details: “We had hopscotch… The boys played sixteen and we played with a fourteen inch ball. And the playground had a maypole… And at Halloween time they'd have a huge Halloween parade… your mother would make your Halloween outfit and you would go down there...and we would put candles in the lantern and we would have a lantern parade around the neighborhood, and the merchants would give the playground donuts and cider and stuff like that and so when you did your trick-or-treating you didn't go to people's houses. All of the stuff was there in the playground and so you'd go down there in your Halloween outfit and drink your cider and eat your donuts and then you'd get all this trick-or-treat stuff. It was great. I mean, that was just great. The playground was the center of activity. So, those were the kinds of things I did.”[4]
Kevin Clash (1960-), the creator of Elmo on “Sesame Street,” describes how his neighborhood went all out for Halloween: “You know and the neighborhood was great with Halloween you know… it got scary because these idiots out here just you know, just made it that way, but I mean it was, it was a neighborhood you know… was always fun about Halloween. You know I think back then it was a whole neighborhood thing… you know parents would actually really go all out… make it like a haunted house… and they would just get a kick out of you know giving candy to everybody. That was always fun, and then laughing at you know what we would come up with as far as costumes and stuff. I was always winning because I was so, you know I was always so in art and creating and stuff like that. That I would make my costume and Pam's [Pamela Clash] costume, Georgie [George Clash, Jr.] and NeNe [Anita Clash] would do their thing… But for the most part there was no party; you just go from door to door, to door to door.”[5] Sharon Epperson (1968-), CNBC’s senior commodities and personal finance correspondent, shares: “Yeah, I mean it was an integrated school growing up. And my best friend in the second grade and probably my later years in elementary school, her name was Kerry Gallagher, nice Irish name. And we would go trick or treating together, dress up together for Halloween… So we did a big colonial production… I think--of course my parents explained to me what during the colonial period my people were doing versus other people. But I still wanted to wear my Holly Hobbie dress; I still watched ‘Little House on the Prairie’; I still wanted the brown braids like Laura Ingalls Wilder; and I wanted to wear the kind of red, white, and blue dress like she would… that's what I remember from that period of--you know, in terms of that was part of my education, but it was also a really fun time for me. I wore that costume for about two or three Halloweens. I loved it.’”[6]
Morris Robinson (1945-), economic development planner for the City of Evanston, Illinois, notes of the importance of trick or treating and giving food: “And we used to have the most, the greatest Halloweens over there because along Milwaukee Avenue there were nothing but storefront shops of all different kinds… we'd go trick-a-treating, and when we got home, we'd find in our bags not just fruit and whatever, we'd find meat (laughter), we'd find bratwurst, we'd find cheeses, we'd find all that kind of stuff. And I think if you look at it from a practical sense, these were immigrants from Europe who had just gone through the war [World War II, WWII]. And they knew hunger, and they knew all kinds of depravations. And one of the greatest gifts you could give anybody in a situation like that would be food. And then sometimes you'd find at the bottom of your bag pennies and what have you. Halloweens were a lot of fun. My kids never liked it, but growing up in that area was a lot of fun.”[7] Gwendolyn Mitchell (1955-), was the Third World Press editor, and adds on: “And one thing I worked on--for most of the time I was there we had a organization that organized the Harambee Festival, which was a community festival held around--at the end of October, around Halloween, which was really created as an alternative celebration to keep kids, you know, off the streets, you know so that they don't have to go door-to-door or do whatever crazy stuff that happens, you know, in our communities around that time.”[8] Jewell Jackson McCabe (1945-), was the founder of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women highlights, “Fried chicken, biscuits, you name it. But it started for me every Friday… my mother, as I said, she's a quintessential mother. She figured out things that I can't believe this was from reading. I think this is just how sharp and how smart she was. She knew I loved to show off and dance… I mean we did Halloween. I don't remember going trick or treating ever because… we had this great garden and great front porch, and she would hang, you know, all of the paraphernalia, whether it be the skeletons or the witches or whatever. And we'd have all the jack o'lanterns, which we'd all cut out, and we would go dunking for apples. And you know, god knows Kraft; we should own Kraft [Kraft Foods Inc.] stock 'cause she melted many a caramel to make those caramel apples. And it was always a party. And food, as in most African American homes, was… very much a centerpiece in our lives.”[9]
Barbara Heineback (1944-), was the first African American press officer to work under First Lady Rosalynn Carter, speaks highly of Halloween in her Port Washington, New York neighborhood: “And kind of fun having Perry Como, the old crooner. He and his family lived around the corner and didn't see much of him, he traveled and all a lot. But I recall that was the house to be at on Halloween night. And you'd go there and people would get fifty cents or a quarter when everybody else is giving, you know, couple of pennies or a nickel or candy. But we never wanted money, we want the candy. And there was one woman in the neighborhood who made jellied apples, homemade jellied apples, a little German lady. But that was downtown, that wasn't in my neighborhood. We'd comb our neighborhood first in the evening then… Mom [Robella Wilson Taylor] would drive us downtown and head out with another crew and we'd circle the downtown. It was one night of the year I could be out until about midnight or eleven. I mean you'd knock on the doors at Halloween until, you know, people really started to fuss. Maybe not midnight. It was probably more like 10:30 or so, but it seemed like midnight, you know, to us as children. Halloween was the best holiday of the year as far as I was concerned.”[10] Stanley Nelson (1951-), founder of non-profit documentary production company Firelight Media, contrasts NYC apartment building trick or treating: “I remember Halloween, you know, because we would just… trick-or-treat in our building because it was so big, you know. So we could just start, you know, from the top and work our way down to the bottom and, you know, and that was-that was trick-or-treating for us…”[11] Andrea Roane (1949-), a news anchor on WUSA-TV Channel 9 in Washington DC., illuminates caution against trick or treating: “And on the other side of us was another home--I can't remember that guy's name who lived next door to us, but my mother was very keen on knowing where her children were so there was a Page fence on one side and basically a wooden fence on the other side, and I would play with my friends through the fence; I never went into their yard or, or anything like that. She was mindful, even then, of where are your children? You know where your children are, keep them safe, keep them home. And it was a neighborhood of homeowners. Everybody--I think almost everyone owned their own home in the 2700 block of Peniston Street, and (laughter) for Halloween--she was not big into asking anybody for anything, including candy, so I didn't trick or treat… I would put on the little sheet and be a ghost or something or put on the cowgirl outfit that I might have worn at Mardi Gras, and I'd be there and I'd be on my front porch, but I'd give somebody else candy as they came along; she, she was not into that. You had the candy sales at school, we'd buy our own candy; we're not asking anybody for candy. That's the kind of people they were. And so that, that was the neighborhood. Again, lovely front stoops, porches, if somebody got an awning and you didn't have an awning, they would have an awning after you got the awning; if they painted the front porch this color, people over there they'd do the same. It was like a… one upping…“[12]
Notes:
[1] Deborah Prothrow-Stith (The HistoryMakers A2005.103), interviewed by Robert Hayden, December 7, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 2, tape 1, story 10, Deborah Prothrow-Stith describes Collier Heights in Atlanta, Georgia
[2] Maxie L. Patterson (The HistoryMakers A2007.060), interviewed by Denise Gines, February 9, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 12, Maxie L. Patterson describes his neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan
[3] Jocelyn Dorsey (The HistoryMakers A2004.175), interviewed by Jodi Merriday, September 23, 2004, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 9, Jocelyn Dorsey describes living on Forest Park Drive as a child in Cincinnati, Ohio
[4] Audrey Peeples (The HistoryMakers A2003.203), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 25, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 11, Audrey Peeples describes her childhood activities and interests
[5] Kevin Clash (The HistoryMakers A2007.268), interviewed by Adrienne Jones, September 21, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 10, Kevin Clash remembers the holidays with his family
[6] Sharon Epperson (The HistoryMakers A2014.062), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, March 17, 2014, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 4, Sharon Epperson recalls her elementary school education and her mother's impact on her education
[7] Morris Robinson (The HistoryMakers A2003.197), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 20, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 13, Morris Robinson describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood, pt. 2
[8] Gwendolyn Mitchell (The HistoryMakers A2003.304), interviewed by Larry Crowe, December 18, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 6, Gwendolyn Mitchell talks about her career and community activities after moving to Dallas, Texas
[9] Jewell Jackson McCabe (The HistoryMakers A2007.181), interviewed by Adrienne Jones, June 20, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 2, tape 8, story 6, Jewell Jackson McCabe describes her family's food traditions
[10] Barbara Heineback (The HistoryMakers A2005.181), interviewed by Jodi Merriday, August 2, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 7, Barbara Heineback remembers neighbors from her childhood in Port Washington, New York
[11] Stanley Nelson (The HistoryMakers A2006.059), interviewed by Loretta Henry, April 3, 2006, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 12, Stanley Nelson describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood
[12] Andrea Roane (The HistoryMakers A2014.039), interviewed by Larry Crowe, January 27, 2014, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 5, Andrea Roane describes the sights, sounds and smells of her childhood
