The Old Dominion Dental Society holds its annual convention every spring in the host city of the local component. The ODDS convention of today starts on Friday with a golf tournament, Saturday is filled with continuing education seminars and ending Sunday with the business meeting. In previous years, the annual convention was more lengthy and extensive. From the early years until the mid-1970, the ODSDS meetings ran from Monday to Thursday with a dance being held on the Tuesday night. The organization routinely had 100% attendance at its meetings; all African-American dentists in the state would be present. Wherever the ODSDS convention was held it was the social event for the year in that community. Well-known local ministers would offer the opening prayer and local politicians would come and welcome the convention to their city.

Exceptional students from the local schools would be invited to show their skills in oratory, music, dance, and art. The influx of out-of-town guests would be enormous and most everyone in town would be looking forward to the ODSDS dance. The committee formed for the dance would hire a booking agent in New York, Philadelphia or Washington DC who in return would secure acts like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, and Louis Armstrong. On occasion when Count Basie was in town, an ODSDS member Dr. David McAllister would sit in and play bass with the Basie band. Dr. McAllister previously played with the band when he was a college student. The ODSDS dance tickets, sometimes referred to as the ODSDS PROM, were a precious commodity and the dance would attract people from all over the area.

During the early years, the annual convention would be held in strategic areas. African American travelers knew instinctively to be at their destination before sun down. Travel restrictions of the time made it somewhat difficult for travelers to make it to the convention. However, this was accomplished year after year. One problem that loomed into existence was the logistics of finding accommodations for a potentially large influx of African American professionals. Black owned hotels were available in every Virginia city since the Reconstruction era. They included Flagg’s Hotel in Richmond, founded in 1875, and the Miller’s Hotel established in 1903. Both had great reputations as wonderful and comfortable places to stay. The We-Us hotel in Newport News, Eggleston’s Hotel and Slaughter’s Hotel in Richmond, the Dumas in Roanoke, the Plaza in Norfolk, the Douglas in Danville, the Bay Shore in Hampton, the Rappahannock and McGuire in Fredericksburg were the largest Black hotels in the state. Even with the largest black-owned hotels having rooms available for ODSDS members for their annual convention, it still proved to be not enough. Most conventioneers would have to find private lodging in the Black community. Finding such accommodations would prove to be challenging if not difficult. Dr. Hugo Owens, an ODSDS member, often would say that before integration, things were dismal and “we had to stay in some of the worst dives and dumps that you could ever imagine.” Dr. Walter Claytor, another OSDS member, took a different view and reported, “Staying in private homes brought us closer. We had to get along because we all lived together. When a dentist would die, people would come from all over, because we had all lived together.” Dr. Claytor also pinpointed that often room charges were written off for exchange for a ticket to the ODSDS prom.

In 1962, the city of Norfolk welcomed the completion of its first Hotel since 1906. The Golden Triangle Motor hotel erected in the downtown of Norfolk, rising 170 feet with 400 guest rooms and 40,000 square feet of office space for meeting rooms. The hotel was also able to handle conferences of more than 1,000 people. Golden Triangle Motor hotel had the great distinction of starting off integrated. In April 1962, the ODSDS set up headquarters for their convention hosted by the John McGriff Dental Society at the Golden Triangle Hotel. This hotel became a staple point for all other prestigious black organizations to hold their conventions there because of their humane treatment of the ODSDS.

Parades
The ODSDS would motivate the communities in which their convention was held by sponsoring a parade. There would be several bands each with a drum major skillfully twirling a baton lining up for the parade procession. Colorful floats would also be part of the festivities along with the participation with fraternal organizations such as The Masons, The Knights and Sons of I WILL Rise, and Sisters of Ruth. Most ODSDS members belonged to one or more Fraternal order making the organization of the parade easy. Some ODSDS members would drive new shiny cars into town and become part of the parade. This was done to give the community a sense of pride and to see Blacks were able to become successful in a society that was restricted.

Bayshore Hotel/Resort
Bay Shore beach was adjacent to Buckroe Beach in Hampton, Virginia. It was founded in 1898 by several African American business men. It also was one of the most popular resort and vacation destinations in the Mid-Atlantic area for African Americans. Before Virginian Beach, there was Bay Shore Beach that welcomed people of color. In addition to standard beach activities, hotels, and restaurants, Bay Shore also had an amusement park. For numerous years, the ODSDS held their annual meetings there. This arrangement proved to be ideal since the resort was based on a European plan and included many amenities. The resort was of prime popularity between 1898 and 1933 until a hurricane devastated the coast line and eventually the hotel was destroyed.