1953 Goss St. - Anthony Ray

Anthony Ray was born in 1926, one of seven children born to Alfred and Carrie Morrison Ray who lived at 1953 Goss Street. He was the brother of Delbert Ray who operated Ray’s Inn one block east that you previously visited. Like many in his family, Anthony was musically inclined. He majored in music at CU and, according to a Daily Camera article, “was perhaps best known for his ability to tickle the ivories of both a piano and an organ.” He received several music-related awards including being chosen as canebearer at his 1948 graduation. He also served in the infantry in combat in Korea and in Fort Knox, Kentucky where he served as assistant to a Catholic chaplain, shown in the third photo above, and taught Latin to altar boys.

Anthony wrote a summary of life on Goss Street and in the Boulder community prior to and after World War II. Here are some of the more memorable quotes from that summary.

“ There were no restaurants on ‘The Hill’ that would allow us to dine unless we were in the company of whites. The stores would sell us soft drinks, but we had to either drink them in the back or take them out! Somers Sunken Gardens [known as The Sink today] would not allow us in. The Cosmopolitan Club, a club peopled by foreigners and blacks decided to challenge the practice … They broke up into small groups of 4 -5 students and each group had at least one Negro. They invaded The Sink … Our home was the employment agency for whites who needed or wanted black help …Mom called Mrs. Somers [the owner] the next morning after the invasion and said ‘is it true that Negroes are now being served at The Sink?’ Mrs. Sommers had a conniption!”

Anthony also addressed the lack of housing for Black CU students. “[The University of Colorado] would accept Blacks as students but had no living facilities for them … [W]hen my parents started accepting roomers [and] boarders in 1941 we were paid $7.00 per week! I do know that my grandmother [Alice Baskett’s] fee was much lower . She paid my sister, Eujetta, $20.00 for ten weeks of being a maid, waitress, and dishwasher. That $20.00 went a long way for her.”

The Ray household hosted Paul Robeson who gave two concerts in one day at Macky Auditorrium. Anthony states, “The space of time between the concerts was spent by him in our home … the local hotels would not allow him to register! Many of the concert persons had to room in our homes because of the situation.”

Directions to Stop 9: Walk west on the north side of Goss Street. Stop 9 is a backlot house behind 1935 Goss Street.