WEBVTT 1 00:02.000 --> 00:10.000 Uh-huh. What I'm saying, he could keep up with his business. Mm-hmm. Yeah. 2 00:10.000 --> 00:15.000 Were there other Black farmers like you who could really— 3 00:15.000 --> 00:17.000 It was one or two others, but most of them had help. Yeah. One or two. 4 00:17.000 --> 00:26.000 Yeah. Who would help them when it came time to do those things? 5 00:26.000 --> 00:49.000 Well, sometimes the wife would help them, because most of them wives could read, because at that time quite a few of them had been to Tuskegee normal school. See, Tuskegee had a high school at one time, and a lot of them had already been to Tuskegee and back. 6 00:49.000 --> 01:17.000 Mrs. Wright, what would happen if a Black farmer who was sharecropping went to go settle up with a landowner and that Black farmer said, "You're not giving me the right price," or, "You didn't weigh the cotton correctly"? 7 01:17.000 --> 01:49.000 Well, he'd end up moving. The man would put him off his place. You wasn't supposed to disagree with whatever he said. See that's when a lot of them never did — Well, you almost got out of debt this year, and maybe next year you'll come out. So that was a settlement. They didn't give you figures. And if you disagreed then they'd tell you to find you another place to go. And most times, you weren't going to disagree if you didn't have no place else to go. 8 01:49.000 --> 01:58.000 Would families move around sometimes to try to find better places to go or— 9 01:58.000 --> 02:33.000 Well, that didn't happen too often because, you see, the White people were together, they always stuck together. And wasn't any point in you leaving Mr. Jones' place to go to anybody else's place because they really wouldn't want to accept you because you leaving the other fella. So you just about stayed put. Unless you did something and he's trying to put you off. Now, they would accept you if you was getting put off sometimes of somebody else's place. But most time, the people just stayed where they were. 10 02:33.000 --> 02:44.000 And what year did you start going to Tuskegee for your study? 11 02:44.000 --> 02:46.000 Well I came to Tuskegee in '32. 12 02:46.000 --> 02:48.000 '32. 13 02:48.000 --> 03:08.000 That's when I first came to Tuskegee, in 1932. And from '32 to '47 to get out of college. Because part of the time I was in school and part I was out. But I got out of college in 1947. 14 03:08.000 --> 03:10.000 And you were working during those years, you said? 15 03:10.000 --> 03:19.000 Uh-huh. Worked in the families. I was the housekeeper. 16 03:19.000 --> 03:21.000 Did you work mainly for White families? 17 03:21.000 --> 03:30.000 No, I've never worked for any White people in my life. Always been Colored. 18 03:30.000 --> 03:30.000 Was that something that you did on purpose, that you did that? 19 03:30.000 --> 04:08.000 Well, I never had the opportunity, and I didn't never want to work for any of them because daddy said down when — See, he moved by the time I was 15, and he would never let us go and work for any White people. And if we insisted on going to work for the White people, the next year he'd clean up some more new ground, and so we'd have to stay home and work. He always kept work for us to do because he didn't want us to work for them because sometimes they're kind of mean to you. And he always kept us at home. And when I'd want to go so bad, I'd see everybody going to pick cotton and getting money, and Daddy would clean up another new ground. So we stopped wanting to go. So I've never worked for a White person. Always worked for the Colored people. 20 04:08.000 --> 04:18.000 And your grandparents lived in Macon County? 21 04:18.000 --> 05:17.000 Mm-hmm, Macon County. As I say, Hardaway and Macon County, [indistinct 00:04:23] Hardaway. My grandmother lived with my daddy, and her mother lived with her. And as I can remember, she came from Virginia here. I don't know how she got here, but that's where she said she came from. And she and her husband came in from somewhere. Her husband was an Indian. But she had a lot of Indian her. She was of one tribe and he was from the other tribe, if you understand what I'm trying to say. But as I said, when I found them, when I saw them, they were here. But I don't know — That's the only thing I can remember about my great great grand mama, she said she came from Virginia. 22 05:17.000 --> 05:25.000 Now, do you know much about your grandparents' upbringing? Would they talk about it, or would your parents, your father talk about it? 23 05:25.000 --> 05:48.000 No, they'd never say too much about that, really. Other than how the grandparents used to make them do things that they were supposed to do, and respect people, and all that kind of stuff. But I don't know too much about [indistinct 00:05:41] anything else about it. Because I said they never talked about it. 24 05:48.000 --> 05:56.000 So you came to Tuskegee in 1932. Did you know somebody in Tuskegee? 25 05:56.000 --> 06:16.000 Not really. That's why I told you Mrs. Wheelis brought me up to the families and introduced me, and she just left me here, and I stayed with the people. And as I say, that's why I was trying to get this thing in her honor because I thought she didn't have to — She brought about five or six of us down there, and that's why we all getting together— 26 06:16.000 --> 06:16.000 I see. 27 06:16.000 --> 06:26.000 — to do something in her honor. But I didn't know anybody in Tuskegee because I hadn't been to Tuskegee too many times. 28 06:26.000 --> 06:35.000 And when you started working for Black families in Tuskegee, was it lived in work? 29 06:35.000 --> 07:08.000 I lived in. All the places I worked, I've always lived there. And when I got to Miss Callaway's house, it was just like at home. The rest of them, it was a little different. But when I met Miss Callaway, she was a real mother to me. That's why I went to California five times to see her, because she moved out to California. And when I was a little girl, I used to pray that something would happen so I'd get a mama. And when she came in, I said, "Well, the Lord gave me to you and I belong to you." And she treated me just like I was her child. 30 07:08.000 --> 07:15.000 Now you said that she was a very good person. 31 07:15.000 --> 07:48.000 Mm-hmm. Yes she was good. She was the pharmacist at Tuskegee Institute. Pharmacist, Uh-huh. Yeah, she was real good, real person. She treated you like a real person. So many times, even though you work with Colored families, you can't sit to their table, even though you cook the food. You have to eat yours in the kitchen. But she wasn't like that. All of us sat to the table and all of us ate. 32 07:48.000 --> 07:51.000 But some of the other families that you worked with weren't that— 33 07:51.000 --> 07:56.000 No. 34 07:56.000 --> 07:56.000 — way. Yeah. 35 07:56.000 --> 08:24.000 No, they wasn't that way. So that's one of the reason I didn't worry about whether I was working for White people or Colored people. I'd say, "You can't get treated any worse." If I had been working for White, I would've expected that. But I was working for my people, and I didn't expect it, but I got it. But I accepted it because I wanted to go to school and I wasn't going any place. I was going to stay here. I told them I didn't care what they did, unless they killed me, I wasn't going back down in that field. No, sir. Because daddy was still cleaning up new ground. 36 08:24.000 --> 08:33.000 And that was something that you wanted to get away from. 37 08:33.000 --> 08:43.000 Mm-hmm. Yes, sir. I was 16 when I left and I didn't go back. Stayed away all the way — been away ever since. 38 08:43.000 --> 08:54.000 Who were some of the families that you worked for in Tuskegee? 39 08:54.000 --> 09:22.000 When I first came to Tuskegee, I was with the Callaways, and I worked with the Birminghams, and then I worked for the Callaways again, different Callaway. They were related, but different. Then I worked for the Logans. And then I went back to the Callaways. 40 09:22.000 --> 09:27.000 They were the best, seemed to be the best. 41 09:27.000 --> 09:32.000 Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. 42 09:32.000 --> 09:52.000 It must have been quite a change to come to Tuskegee after living in Shorter. Were there new things that you were experiencing at that time that— 43 09:52.000 --> 10:33.000 No, it didn't make such a big change because, see, I was working most of the time anyway. But I got to go to chapel every Sunday morning, and chapel every Sunday night, and the movie Saturday night, and that was it. That was the round to go. The rest of the times you had to work. You didn't have time to do anything else. So you had the games, and football games, basketball games, and things like that. So that's how you got your entertainment. 44 10:33.000 --> 10:39.000 And when did you start classwork? 45 10:39.000 --> 10:58.000 Well I was doing some classwork while I was working, but I went to school at night. When I went to adult school, I went at night. And then the other times I would go to classes when class was, then come back and get my work done, and then go to class like that. 46 10:58.000 --> 11:04.000 Now were you working on particular subjects? Were you still working on home economics? 47 11:04.000 --> 11:06.000 No, I registered in home economics— 48 11:06.000 --> 11:08.000 You registered— 49 11:08.000 --> 11:28.000 — for the four years. And that gave me all the cooking, and so on, and all that. Art, math, English, physics, geography, all that stuff, whatever you was going to take in that field. 50 11:28.000 --> 11:41.000 Did you have favorite teachers, teachers you thought were better, or you really— 51 11:41.000 --> 12:15.000 No, there wasn't — A particular teacher don't really stand out in my mind right this minute. I guess if I thought about it real hard, I might could get one. But as I say, this Ms. Wheelis is the person that I thought more about in school because she was so kind enough to help us to leave from the country and come to what we call the city. Just 12 miles away, but that was still good. 52 12:15.000 --> 12:39.000 When you were taking the night courses, did you see, throughout those years you were going to Tuskegee, through '32 and '47, did you see changes happening in Tuskegee through those years? 53 12:39.000 --> 13:18.000 Well, yes, because the schools were changing. Lewis Adams School at that particular time was on the campus and then they moved out from the campus and moved out and built a school out here. So they were really improving all along. And that was when they had the adults to come up at — A lot of them hadn't finished high school, and they was trying to get them to finish high school. So where they had the Lewis Adams School, and they had the adults to come up to that section and use that to go to school. So they had some of the same teachers up there to teach them. 54 13:18.000 --> 13:26.000 Were there a lot of things happening at the institute at that time? 55 13:26.000 --> 13:30.000 Like what? 56 13:30.000 --> 13:34.000 Now, you talked a little bit about the changes. There was some changes happening. 57 13:34.000 --> 13:35.000 Mm-hmm. 58 13:35.000 --> 13:45.000 And did it seem like there were a lot of exciting things happening? 59 13:45.000 --> 14:22.000 Right through in there, things were kind of on the quiet side. As I say, we went to movies on Saturday night, or the game or whatever they had on Saturday night, and chapel Sunday morning, and chapel Sunday night. Wasn't anything else for you to do, really. Time to go back home, then. The early part. But by that time you look like you knew everybody on the campus. You didn't actually know them by name, but you saw them enough to know. But after they kept changing it, people kept coming in and it got so you didn't know anybody. It was almost like a strange place. 60 14:22.000 --> 14:49.000 And that's the way it is now. Because at one time if you [indistinct 00:14:24] — I guess that's why I can't give too good of directions because we gave directions then by the road and who lived next door to who. And I knew who lived next door to this one and next door to the other one. But at that particular time, we didn't even have streets. They had the streets but they weren't named. Because I helped to name the streets, and then I told them after I helped name them, I didn't know where they were after I got through with helping them name them. 61 14:49.000 --> 15:14.000 One young lady had the job, and she used to carry me around with her, and we'd tell this person. And you just went and told the person, "You live on such and such street." But they didn't put it on the house, they just knew where they lived at first. And then about three or four years later, they sent you a name out, what street you live on. But that was in your house. See what I'm saying? 62 15:14.000 --> 15:14.000 Yeah. 63 15:14.000 --> 15:31.000 And then later on, they put a name just like [Gomillion 00:15:19] is up there. It was a long time before they got the signs up. So I think that's why I can't know — I just say I remember over on the other side. Well, we did it by churches. As you say, you know— 64 15:31.000 --> 15:32.000 Okay. 65 15:32.000 --> 15:52.000 Or whatever was near. And that's the way we used to do. But now they got streets out there, and they got the numbers, and everything, which is nice. I just got my house number. I haven't had it but about four years. I guess that's why I can't remember it. I know what it is, but I can't remember it. Sometimes when somebody ask me, I get it mixed up with the others. 66 15:52.000 --> 15:58.000 So people would pick — Would people go down to the post office to pick up their mail, or— 67 15:58.000 --> 16:14.000 Mm-hmm. I still pick up mine at the post office. They bring it out here. But, I'm gone so much, and I don't want to have to stay home to wait for the mail man. So I just let them put in the post office. I still get mine at the post office. 68 16:14.000 --> 16:28.000 During that period of time, say during the thirties, and forties, and fifties, did the institute have a contact with the communities in Tuskegee, in Macon County? 69 16:28.000 --> 17:04.000 Mm-hmm. Yeah, because the people from the county and all around, when they'd have commencement, everybody from everywhere — Now, that's one thing the White people would do. They would let you off for commencement, and they close up everything. And everybody would come to commencement. And at that time, that was before my daddy got his car. He had a two mule wagon, and he'd hitch those two mules to that wagon and get all the community wanted to come, and they'd hitch up those wagons. Boy, we had a ball. 70 17:04.000 --> 17:39.000 And they would get along the road, and everybody had good mules and wagon, they would raced up and down the road just coming to Tuskegee. Once, the man thought Daddy's mules was running away. But Daddy was making them outrun the other man. And the man went up there and stopped those mules and call his self saving all them women in that wagon. And Daddy said, "Well, they safe." He said, "Man, I thought the mules was running away." He said "No, they not running away. I'm making them run." But we used to say where they have cars now, they used to have horse and buggies, and mules, and things tied around those trees up there. 71 17:39.000 --> 18:13.000 And we'd come up in the morning, oh about seven o'clock, leave home early, and come to the campus and stay all day long. And they would give you free lunch, and they would have fish fries or hamburgers and all that out on the lawn and you could go buy and buy your — because they didn't cost — I think daddy would give us 50 cents a piece and that would last us all day. We'd have plenty of stuff to buy. Because you could buy things for a nickel, and a dime, and all that. And we'd just have a ball. And that's one time they'd really turn out to let you come to Tuskegee. 72 18:13.000 --> 18:51.000 Because I say in Tuskegee and the whole surrounding Macon County was connected, and I thought it made it much better for knowing who's around than we have now. See, they cut that out, oh, about in the fifties, I believe. So they don't come in. They come in cars and things, and a few of them come in. But I think when they stopped letting them go where they could be free and have that free dinner, then a lot of people stopped coming. In fact, the older people started dying out that used to come up, and that made a whole lot of difference. And the young people just didn't — they didn't go for it. 73 18:51.000 --> 19:13.000 So we don't have a lot of people coming from — Unless you got somebody graduating, then they don't come anymore. But they used to be a close-knit thing because they are talking now about trying to get the community back into the campus because now a lot of people haven't been to Kellogg Center around in the community. They don't even know about it. But it's a beautiful place. Have you been in there? 74 19:13.000 --> 19:14.000 Yes, ma'am. 75 19:14.000 --> 19:25.000 It is beautiful. Because a lot of people in community haven't seen it. 76 19:25.000 --> 19:28.000 Mrs. Wright, when did you get married? 77 19:28.000 --> 19:35.000 1950. 78 19:35.000 --> 19:39.000 And where did you meet your husband at first? 79 19:39.000 --> 19:52.000 On the campus, Tuskegee Institute campus. He got out of the Army and came here, and I met him as a freshman. 80 19:52.000 --> 19:54.000 So he had served during World War II, or— 81 19:54.000 --> 20:02.000 Uh-huh, War II. 82 20:02.000 --> 20:07.000 Were there a lot of veterans going to Tuskegee during that— 83 20:07.000 --> 20:52.000 Mm-hmm, quite a few. Quite a few of them came back to Tuskegee to go to school. Because in 19 — When did they — '40 — Well, I don't remember now. But anyway, the men, they took all the men folk away. When my class graduated in '47, I think it was about four men that graduated in it because they had all our fellows and gone. So then they came back and was going to school. Because didn't nothing graduate in our class but girls, look like. I think about four or five fellows. Because now when we go back up there, we don't have nothing but girls. All the guys either passed or they don't come back because there wasn't too many of them. 84 20:52.000 --> 21:02.000 When you were going to school and working during those years, what were your main goals, your aspirations? What were you working towards? 85 21:02.000 --> 21:41.000 Well, I was just wanting to get me an education so I could get me a job, make me some money, and get me a house. That was the main thing I wanted to do. As I said, as a little girl, I said I wanted to build me a house. And that was about the only way that you could get something done. So when I started working, I tried to save my little money. And it was kind of hard to get — You had to have X number of dollars in order to get your house started. I could never get my hands on them, X number of dollars to start it. 86 21:41.000 --> 22:15.000 So I talked to my brother one day. Now they had it on the campus so if you were in a certain field up there, architecture, you could go to school, and then if you could buy your material, you could get the students to come out and help you to build your house, if you could get the material, for practice. So I had thought once of going back to school and getting in whatever course, because I had to have that house. I was just determined to get me a house. 87 22:15.000 --> 23:10.000 And I talked to my brother one day, and he's a bricklayer. So I told him what I was interested in doing. And he said, "Well, I tell you what. With you and I together, I'll help you." So we started. And what I did first, I went out and talked to the lumber man, as I call him, and told him what I had on my mind. So I told him that I didn't have enough money to hire somebody to watch my material. So what I wanted him to do is to let me have what I wanted. I said, "I'll pay you for it, and let me pick it up as I need it." So we did that for a while. We got the foundation. 88 23:10.000 --> 23:43.000 And I don't know, the man had got crazy or something, something happened to him. So when I went back down there to get some material, he started charging me for each thing I picked up, and the fella picked it up twice. And so I went down there with him and talked with him, and he said, well he didn't understand. He understood, but he was just going to keep me from building my house. So I went on to another fella and we got all the material from him. And my brother and I put this house that you see here now up, and we laid the bricks. 89 23:43.000 --> 24:25.000 My husband said it was impossible, and he wouldn't help me do a thing. He said, "Now, you got the money. You can take my money, but I ain't going be in it." I said, "Well, if you just let me have enough money, I'll fix something. If you don't want to come in there, we'll tear it down and build it again." So this is what we did. We started off with that part, and this was supposed to be the garage, going to drive the cars up in here. And everybody at the church wanted to drive up in here in the shade. So I just fixed it in so they couldn't drive in here out the shade because I got tired of coming out here and somebody's car parked there and somebody's parked there. So that's how I got my little house. 90 24:25.000 --> 24:31.000 And you started building during the 1950s after you were married or— 91 24:31.000 --> 24:38.000 Yes, after I got married. We started on it in 19 — I believe it was '61. 92 24:38.000 --> 24:41.000 Okay. 93 24:41.000 --> 24:44.000 '61, '71 — yeah, '61. 94 24:44.000 --> 24:46.000 But you had been saving up money all this time? 95 24:46.000 --> 25:02.000 Well I'd save what I could, but I couldn't get enough to give the builders. No, they had to have X number of dollars, then you have so much on the side. So I took mine and bought what I would — I paid for it as I went. 96 25:02.000 --> 25:06.000 And then you and your brother actually laid the foundation? 97 25:06.000 --> 25:55.000 We laid the foundation, and after we got the foundation, we hired us two other guys to put the top on. So now all we have is the top and the foundation. Then after we got that, then we put this other stuff around it. He and I did that with one other guy. And then we put our felt down, and then he start laying the bricks. We laid bricks every evening. Boy, you should've seen us. I didn't know whether I was the brick, I got so much mortar on me. My husband came out here one evening and said, "Child, what are you doing?" I said, "I'm laying these bricks." So I'd get up on the scaffold. My brother would straighten the brick up, and I would put the mortar up and hit it in the middle. And all he had to do was to put the brick around and lay it up, and I did all the other stuff. 98 25:55.000 --> 25:59.000 But, now, at first you said your husband was pretty skeptical? 99 25:59.000 --> 26:22.000 Yeah, he said we couldn't do it. When he came to the house to see — He used to slip fellas out here, but he never did tell me, to see how we were coming. And they would say, "Well, man, what you complaining about? It's doing all right." So he came up Friday evening, I was out there on that — up on the scaffold, and he had a fit. Tried to find out what was I doing. I said, "Watch me." And we finished up that Friday afternoon. 100 26:22.000 --> 27:01.000 He was really disgusted with us because he hadn't helped. He said if he had known it was going to turn out that good, he'd have been glad to help. So we hadn't been having no problem. [indistinct 00:26:32] What can he do? Told him, "Nothing now." So we got it fixed up. And since he said he didn't like it, I locked it up, put the key in my pocket, took out the insurance on it, and walked around three months. Wouldn't let nobody come in it. So in November he said, "Well, I'm not going to pass that house another night." So we stopped and came in, been in here ever since. 101 27:01.000 --> 27:06.000 So, you had a bit of a — There was a bit of a disagreement over that? 102 27:06.000 --> 27:22.000 Well, yes, because he thought it couldn't be done. I had the access of all his little money, though. So that was a big thing. I didn't have to worry about that little bit. And I tried to fix it so that when we got through, we was through paying for it. 103 27:22.000 --> 27:26.000 Now where had you been living right before that? 104 27:26.000 --> 27:37.000 On Gregory Street in my mama's house. I was renting from her. She had gone to California, and I was living in her house. And I moved from up Gregory Street out here. 105 27:37.000 --> 27:39.000 So both you and your husband were living there? 106 27:39.000 --> 27:44.000 Uh-huh. 107 27:44.000 --> 27:48.000 So it must have been exciting to move from Gregory Street out to [indistinct 00:27:48]. 108 27:48.000 --> 27:59.000 Oh I liked it. Yeah, I liked it out here. He did, too, because he got him some dogs, and got him some cows, and things like that. That's what he wanted. 109 27:59.000 --> 28:01.000 Oh, and they were kept right out here? 110 28:01.000 --> 28:05.000 Uh-huh, down there in pasture. 111 28:05.000 --> 28:10.000 Do you still keep livestock out there? 112 28:10.000 --> 28:17.000 Mm-hmm. Got the cows out there. 113 28:17.000 --> 28:25.000 When you were talking about trying to save up money, where would you keep your money at, or where were you saving that? 114 28:25.000 --> 28:33.000 In the bank. Put it in the bank. Every time he gets a little check, he'd put it in the bank. 115 28:33.000 --> 28:34.000 Was it at the Alabama— 116 28:34.000 --> 28:51.000 Alabama Exchange Bank 117 28:51.000 --> 29:13.000 Now you said that you first — Let's see, now. You told me, and I already forgot. You told me you tried to register in '51, that you started trying to register in the early fifties? 118 29:13.000 --> 29:13.000 What for? 119 29:13.000 --> 29:16.000 [indistinct 00:29:15] 120 29:16.000 --> 29:20.000 Yeah. Uh-huh. 121 29:20.000 --> 29:25.000 Was that part of an organized effort? 122 29:25.000 --> 29:51.000 Yeah, they had a place downtown where you go and take your test. You had to answer questions, and if you didn't answer the question correctly, then you'd have to go back the next time, something would happen and you'd have to go back. Because I think I went back twice, at least I know I did because the first time that fellow messed mine up. 123 29:51.000 --> 30:06.000 Now, you told me earlier about race relations in Shorter when you were growing up. What were race relations like around Tuskegee during, say, the thirties and forties? 124 30:06.000 --> 30:33.000 Well, I didn't have too much connection with anybody because most of the people here were Black at that particular time. Only people you would come in contact with were the people that would come to chapel to speak or something like that. Because I didn't come in contact with any of them. Because they always act different when they came on the campus anyway, the ones that would come in. You know what I'm saying? 125 30:33.000 --> 30:34.000 How would they act different? 126 30:34.000 --> 31:14.000 Well they didn't have time to take advantage of anything because the only time a person would come in, if somebody knew him, they'd have him come in and speak to the students. And that's the only time any of them was here. Because all the students were Black, and the people around Tuskegee, mostly, except downtown. And we didn't come in contact with them, unless you go to the store or something like that. And if you went down to the store and bought what you was going to buy, they wouldn't bother you. They were nice to you if you mind your own business. You didn't have no problem with them. Some of them was real nice. 127 31:14.000 --> 31:18.000 So having the institute here made, would you say, a big difference? 128 31:18.000 --> 31:59.000 Yeah, it did. It made a big difference. Made a big difference. Because, see, as they say, they were on your turf, so to speak, and wasn't anything else for them to do but be nice when they come to you. And as I say, I always said if it was one-on-one, you didn't have no problems. But you had a problem if two or three others were looking. Because, see, when the White person got back, he'd have to go with his people. It was hard on them, too, because his people would criticize him for talking to these people over here. So if you could get them one-on-one, they were just as nice as they could be. 129 31:59.000 --> 32:52.000 Because it was a particular fellow that — Mr. Daniel downtown, every Saturday he would give me ice for the students. Because I worked at the concessions, and if the ice plant was out, he would come back and unlock his place and let me have ice free, and never would charge me for it, for the students, as long as it was for the students. And anytime you went to town, and you could go down there and say, "Well, I'm doing this for the students," and they would give you whatever you was doing for the student, they'd give it to you. They were real nice when it come to things like that. I didn't have any problem with them at all. As long as it was for the students, they would let you have it. 130 32:52.000 --> 33:11.000 Now, you told me that when you were in Shorter, when you talked about the law enforcement, and that the sheriffs didn't seem to be in control in Shorter, that it was more of the Ku Klux Klan that was in control during your childhood. 131 33:11.000 --> 33:26.000 Well, I would say it was like that, but I couldn't — The policeman were there. But I think the policeman had control of the — I mean, the Klans had control of the policeman. That's the way I understood it. 132 33:26.000 --> 33:34.000 Now, what about after you moved to Tuskegee, and how about conditions in this area as far as law enforcement? 133 33:34.000 --> 33:55.000 I didn't ever have any problems with them, see, because I was living with the families, and I never had any problem with the law enforcement. 134 33:55.000 --> 34:02.000 And during these years, and after you were married, were you going to church? Were you always going to the chapel? 135 34:02.000 --> 34:32.000 I went to chapel. Went to chapel until — My husband was working down in Camden, Alabama. And he went to church down there, and then he got a job at Auburn. Then we went back down to the church. I stopped going to chapel then. Went back down to the country church, down to Wayman Methodist Church. 136 34:32.000 --> 34:37.000 Okay. And what kind of work did your husband do? 137 34:37.000 --> 34:43.000 Teacher. Taught social studies. 138 34:43.000 --> 34:45.000 And that was in high school? Was he teaching high school? 139 34:45.000 --> 34:53.000 Uh-huh. 140 34:53.000 --> 34:57.000 And what kind of work were you doing after graduation? 141 34:57.000 --> 35:06.000 Recreation center, Auxiliary Enterprise. 142 35:06.000 --> 35:07.000 At the institute? 143 35:07.000 --> 35:14.000 Mm-hmm. Worked there 32 years. 144 35:14.000 --> 35:22.000 What were some of your job responsibilities? 145 35:22.000 --> 35:37.000 Well, my job responsibility, I was in charge of the news stand, Tuskegee student industry, and the snack bar and all auxiliaries outside, like the games and all that, I had all of that. That was under Auxiliary Enterprise. 146 35:37.000 --> 36:09.000 Do you remember who would be some of the people on campus who would be just outstanding to work with, people who were— 147 36:09.000 --> 36:59.000 Mr. Fernandez, Dave Fernandez. Mr. Walter Pitts, he's passed. Mrs. Elizabeth Wright, Ms. Ethel Larkins, Ms. Betty Whitehead and Mr. Reynolds. Those are the people we worked together with. And Mrs. Willis. And Collins, Olivia Collins. 148 36:59.000 --> 37:14.000 You were working there. Well, you saw a few different presidents at the institute in your time in school. 149 37:14.000 --> 37:31.000 Dr. Moten, Dr. Patterson, and Dr. Foster. And I left when Peyton got there, I was gone. But I worked on the three presidents. 150 37:31.000 --> 37:34.000 Who would you rate as being the best out of those? 151 37:34.000 --> 38:09.000 Well, I would say Patterson because I knew more about him, because Moten was about ready to go when I got there. So I would give Patterson credit because he was always kind, and I think he and I opened up the campus every morning. Every morning he'd speak, because I was going to work and he would be going to work. So he used to tell me all the time, "I think we opened up the campus." And he was always kind, and would recognize — Sometimes the presidents don't have time to speak, but he always had plenty of time to speak. So he was my president. 152 38:09.000 --> 38:37.000 Okay. And if you were asked to make, say, a critique or some — if you had to think about some things that could have been done better during those years, what would you say? 153 38:37.000 --> 39:24.000 Well, the thing I always wanted to see them do was for the institute to get a little bit more interested in the students from the standpoint of giving them something at the end, or something like that, if you understand what I mean. If I need something, just let me have it. I don't mean the tuition or anything like that. But sometimes the students would need just a little something, and that would've put the students more interested in doing something back for Tuskegee. 154 39:24.000 --> 40:15.000 See now, I used to go to each one of the stores downtown and ask them for some little gift to give the students at the end of the school year. And we would have what we call a student party. And I would always ask for the smallest item that the store could give. And the reason I'd ask for the smallest one, I could give it to more students. And they used to give me a lot of penny items, and in that way I could give everybody something. So the students used to look forward to that going away party, I used to call it, and we'd give them something. So I used to try to get Tuskegee to come in with me and to help me to do it, but I could never get a push from them. 155 40:15.000 --> 41:16.000 And I really thought that when they graduated, this would've been on their minds. Now I can't go anyplace out of town, I'm going to find one or Tuskegee students, they going to come to me. They still kiss me on the jaw, and they hug me, and they pat on me, and they tell me — I don't believe them, though, but they say, "You remember that hotdog?" I don't remember it. But that's what they always say. Or one girl came up to me and said, "I didn't have enough money to pay for my cap and gown, and you gave me the rest of it." Now I really had forgotten all about that. But that's what I was trying to get Tuskegee to do. See? And they would've had more students, I believe, giving to Tuskegee. See what I'm saying? That one little deal could have made them say, "Well, yeah, I'm going to contribute because —" But I couldn't get nobody to go along with me on that. And that was the only thing I kind of regretted. 156 41:16.000 --> 41:41.000 But everywhere I go, they know Ms. Wright, "Hey, Ms. Wright." I just be so happy sometime to go somewhere. My son say, "I know you going to find some of your children." He call them my children. He's jealous because I got more children outside. He said, "That's your outside children." But they were always nice, and they are just as nice to me now. Everywhere I go, I find one. 157 41:41.000 --> 42:17.000 I'm known here as George's mother. And when I go someplace else, they know me as — I belong to George and George belongs to me down here. All the people down here say, "Yeah, I know your son." They don't know me, but they know my son. But the other folks don't know my son, but they know me. So that would be the only thing I would say. If they had injected that into the program, to me, it would've made a difference. And that's what I always thought. 158 42:17.000 --> 42:36.000 What were some of your fondest memories of being at the institute as a student and as an employee there? 159 42:36.000 --> 43:00.000 Right now, I can't think of any because I worked all the time while I was there. Because when I first started work, we worked from seven in the morning all the way down to ten o'clock at night. And that's the only thing, they worked me to death. 160 43:00.000 --> 43:02.000 And that was when you were working at Auxiliary— 161 43:02.000 --> 43:09.000 Mm-hmm, Auxiliary Enterprise. 162 43:09.000 --> 43:15.000 What were the favorite parts of that job that you liked in particular? 163 43:15.000 --> 43:31.000 I guess the responsibility. I liked that because I had what I say good boss men. I knew what they wanted done, and they let me do it. And I enjoyed doing that. 164 43:31.000 --> 43:37.000 Now, at Auxiliary Services, is that an independent part of the institute? 165 43:37.000 --> 43:58.000 Well, yeah. They have different things set up. They had the bookstore, and they have Auxiliary Enterprise, and they had the cafeteria, and recreation center. And Auxiliary was just another one of them because that's where all the selling went on. 166 43:58.000 --> 44:01.000 Were you working under a dean? 167 44:01.000 --> 44:03.000 Mm-hmm, I had a supervisor. 168 44:03.000 --> 44:09.000 Okay. 169 44:09.000 --> 44:17.000 And I worked with the students. See, the students had to help me with the work. 170 44:17.000 --> 44:40.000 Were there parts of Tuskegee during those years that may have been outside the institute, that were considered to be low income areas or people who were trying to get a start? 171 44:40.000 --> 44:56.000 I can't answer too much for that because, as I say, I was kind of nailed up on the campus and I didn't get to know about too many people like that. If so, I didn't come in contact with them. 172 44:56.000 --> 45:11.000 Because I've heard now, some people have told me about that there were places like — Well, they've named different parts, like they named Greenwood, Green Lake, Rockefeller— 173 45:11.000 --> 45:14.000 Rockefeller Hall — I mean Hill. 174 45:14.000 --> 45:15.000 Hill. 175 45:15.000 --> 45:16.000 Zion Hill. 176 45:16.000 --> 45:19.000 Zion Hill. 177 45:19.000 --> 45:33.000 Yeah, they were there, but as I say, I can't speak too much for them because I don't — 178 45:33.000 --> 45:46.000 What have been the biggest changes in Tuskegee that you've seen over the years from the time you just came here? 179 45:46.000 --> 46:22.000 Those changes don't come to my mind right now other than changing with the times. And people coming in from different places, and that always makes a change.