Oliver Hill

Oliver White was born in Richmond, Virginia, on May 1, 1907. His father, William Henry White Jr., abandoned his mother Olivia Lewis White Hill (1888–1980) shortly after the boy\'s birth, although W.H. White Jr. briefly returned six months later before leaving Richmond permanently. Though uncommon and difficult to obtain at the time, his mother thus obtained a divorce in 1911. When Oliver was 9 years old, after the deaths of his maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather, W.H. White Jr. returned briefly to Richmond and asked his son if he wanted to live with him in New York City (Oliver declined the offer).\n', '

Because Olivia Hill worked at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Virginia, during the spring and fall seasons, and a related resort in Bermuda during the winter, Oliver was raised by her grandmother and grandaunt in a small house on St. James Street in a predominantly Afri…