From chickens to cheerleading, Tamara finds her way out of the country and into Churchland. Her love of I.C. Norcom continues in her work on the Portsmouth School Board.
From chickens to cheerleading, Tamara finds her way out of the country and into Churchland. Her love of I.C. Norcom continues in her work on the Portsmouth School Board.
Tamara Shewmake: I'm 42. I was born in Portsmouth General Hospital.
Nichole Hill: This is Tamara Shewmake. The team first met her while speaking with Sharlene in the last episode. If you haven’t heard that one, we recommend going back and starting there.
Tamara: Portsmouth General Hospital is no longer there. Now it's Myrtle Old Town Apartments. So, born there by my mother, who was a single mother.
We lived on Calvin Street in Douglas Park. And next door, it was a gentleman that was country. He was a little country. He had chickens. (sound of sheep) And I remember one time it was a sheep.
I thought it was something else. I thought it was a deer, but it was actually a sheep. And I went outside and I remember I told my mom, I was like, it's a sheep outside. I am so excited. I'm gonna go play with it. I'm gonna go play with it. And so I went to bed and then I heard some noise and then I was about to get up and my mom came in my room.
She said, "Go back to sleep. Go back to sleep. Next morning, I was looking for the sheep. He cooked the sheep. I was devastated. I was like, Oh my God, the sheep is gone. And so that, that kind of ruined me a little bit.
(Low base music)
Nichole Hill: Tamara’s mother, Mrs. Sharlene, grew up familiar with the ways of the country but by the time she had Tamara, they were living a very different life and so this world was a bit foreign to her.
(Base music ends)
Tamara: And so you have to, recognize that country people do country things.
And he would always go shooting and bring back deer meat. I think he had bear meat one time. We experienced some very country like things in Douglas Park with him.
So maybe he was,
Mrs. Sharlene: He was the landlord. (laughs)
Tamara: He was your landlord.
Mrs. Sharlene: Yes.
Tamara: I did not know that. (Laughs) So, so, okay, he was, so actually the, the country man I'm referring to was our landlord.
Calvin Street was really an educational moment for me. and Calvin Street is not the country at all, but we had a country feel.
Nichole Hill: Things that had been normal to Mrs. Sharlene became out of the ordinary just a generation later.
Tamara: I was the first in my family to do a lot of things. I was the first to graduate from college, the first to get a postgraduate degree... And that was, although it may look seamless, it was a little difficult. Because who do you go to? Who do you ask? Who do you inquire about? Am I doing this right? Is this going okay? And so for me, I knew I could be better and I knew I could do better. And I saw the good, the bad, and the indifferent of Portsmouth.
I wanted greatness. I grew up on, as they say, the other side of Portsmouth. So when we talk about the opposite side, the goal was to actually go live in Churchland. Churchland was the uppity side of Portsmouth. So the point where I know it was a council member years ago that tried to separate the two.
He tried to make Churchland it's own city outside of Portsmouth. So that's how different, over the bridge as they called it, was from the rest of Portsmouth. So actually my goal when I was in high school, I was like, you know what, when I get older, I'm going to own a house in Churchland.
I'm going to live in Churchland. And I did.
(Drum beats start, and fade under the following)
I attended I. C. Norcom High School. I went there two years to the old, two years to the new. The old I. C. Norcom High School is located on Turnpike. Turnpike was Also across from Jeffrey Wilson. And so the old Norcom, which was the best Norcom, although it was the best, it was the most raggedy.
We, we had to deal with if it rained outside, it rained inside. If it was hot outside, it was hot inside. If it was cold outside, it was cold inside. The roof was falling, but It was the best school. Of course, we had the best band.
I was a cheerleader. Those were some of the most wonderful moments of my life.
Nichole Hill: IC Norcom is not just any old High School. It was originally founded in 1913 as the first High School for Black students. It was named after it’s principal, Israel Charles Norcom, who was a visionary educator who sought to expand the academic offerings made available to his students.
Tamara: So here's the thing about the high schools back then. So we had I. C. Norcom, which was predominantly black. And is also now called the historic I. C. Norcom High School. You also had Cradock High School. Cradock High School back then was half and half. You had half white, half black. Wilson, Woodrow Wilson back then was half white, half black. Manor was majority black.
Churchland High School was majority white. There was a difference back then and I was in high school from 1996 to 2000. And so there was a huge difference in just the high school experience. For those who would come to I. C. Norcom, what I mean by that is they really would cut class. And they would know that we had a pep rally coming.
[00:34:38] So we would have a line outside of people coming from Wilson, coming from Manor, coming from Churchland. Just--and we even had people coming from Norfolk schools. To experience our Pep rallies.
(Marching band drum line with chant "I.C. Norcom")
What was so exciting about it? Our band and our cheerleaders, our band was the versatile 100. Why did they call it versatile 100?
Because we had 100 members. it was remarkable. It was a great experience as a cheerleader. We used to cheer in the aisles. There was no room because it was people from everywhere trying to pack in to the auditorium.
(Marching band fades into sweet strumming music)
The old I. C. Norcom had the heart and love of Portsmouth. So much that we have a heart of the school and we still have it now. If you were to go into I. C. Norcom, there would be ropes around the school. Now, I will tell you, back then we didn't need to have ropes. You knew not to step on the heart of the school.
So the heart, the heart of the school is actually a star. And even in the new Norcom, they took up the old heart. They, they cut it out and So when you first walk in, it's literally in the heart of the school. It's in the middle of the school.
The heart of the school dates back to the original building. And so There's a lot of respect behind that heart. And so much, I remember my freshman year and we all knew about the heart of the school prior to going to I.C. Norcom I mean, if you didn't know, then you must've been mistaken.
And my freshman year, I remember we had a principal Mr. Taylor God rest his soul. And he had people in the building. And he was showing them around and he stepped on the heart of the school, as the principal. And I stopped him. I said, "Hey, you can't do that. You're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to walk around out of respect."
He said, "Well, I'm not sure who you think you talking to. You need to go to the office." I said, "And that's fine, but you still don't need to step on the heart of the school."
And so I went to the office and I talked to Ms. Darden. And I told Ms. Darden what happened. She said, "Baby, go to class". (laughter)
(sweet strumming music swells)
So we have a lot of respect for Norcom. For, for those of us who went to the old Norcom, there's a tremendous amount of respect for what it means and what it stands for.
Things have changed a little bit, but even now the students know the alma mater. That's one of the first things that we learned when you attended IC Norcom. We sing that with so much pride. Because we have that much respect for our school.
(Tamara sings)
For you dear Norcom, we declare a love that's ever true. Allegiance, Alma Mater dear, We justly swear to you. Deep in our hearts, you hold a place no other school can hold. Forever and a day, we're yours, yes, yours, a thousand fold. Instructions you have given us, from us, will never depart. Intelligence you make us all. To love, you teach the heart.
Producers: Yeah! (applause)
(Sound of I.C. Norcom band playing alma mater swells and continues under the following)
I'm an elected official who would have thought, you know, who would have thought that the granddaughter of a cotton picker would be an elected official.
I love Portsmouth. I love everything about Portsmouth. I don't think people recognize the jewel. That is Portsmouth. we have the attitude of a city, a big city, but we're just an old country down home town. Everybody knows everybody. And overall we operate with love.
(Marching band music continues)
Nichole Hill: Visit our website Truthbetoldcommunity.com to find out ways to get involved, and share this episode with friends.
This series was written by Jackie Glass and Hannah Sobol, edited and hosted by me, Nichole Hill, Sound Design by Trendel Lightburn, and our work has been supported by the Virginia African American Cultural Center through a grant from Virginia Tourism Corporation. Follow our work by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. We couldn’t do this without people brave enough to share their experiences, so thank you Ms. Tamara Shewmake.