WEBVTT 1 00:02.000 --> 00:06.000 Well, the first question I have is, are you originally from Charlotte? 2 00:06.000 --> 00:43.000 Yes, I am. I was born right here in Charlotte on January 10th, 1933, at the same place that I lived for many, many years. I was born in that house on, let's see, the address there was 616 East Stonewall Street. And that's where I was born, at that particular house. And of course, the house had made some changes over years. But I do have a picture that I'll share with you. 3 00:43.000 --> 00:45.000 What neighborhood did you live in? 4 00:45.000 --> 01:13.000 I lived in a section called Brooklyn. Another name for, it was Second Ward. And it was one of Charlotte's Black neighborhoods, one of the sections that was geared toward businesses and entertainment and that kind of thing. Our school, only Black high school, was located in that same neighborhood called Second Ward. 5 01:13.000 --> 01:20.000 Now, who called it Second Ward and who called it Brooklyn? Was there a difference? 6 01:20.000 --> 02:11.000 We never have really, really found out how Brooklyn got its name. I have heard some people say that having gone north or to some of the entertainment cities or whatever, that Brooklyn may have gotten its name that way, but I never have been quite sure of that. But Second Ward was the name that it was given. The neighborhoods were named First Ward, Second Ward, Third Ward, and of course, Fourth Ward is in existence now, but it wasn't early years. So, that's how. I'm not sure about how it really got its name Brooklyn, but that's the way we always referred to it, as Brooklyn. 7 02:11.000 --> 02:14.000 Can you describe the neighborhood? 8 02:14.000 --> 04:02.000 Well, Brooklyn consisted of all types of homes, all kinds of people lived there. You had some doctors, some teachers, some people that worked in service. And it was just a neighborhood of all kinds of people. You had large homes, you had small homes and some referred to some of the homes as shotgun houses. It was just a neighborhood that consisted of all kinds of homes and all kinds of people lived in that neighborhood. We had one elementary school, which was called Myers Street. And all of us, well, we lived close enough to walk to Myers Street, of course, Second World was just a couple blocks away and we walked to school each day. And of course, the streets were not—some of the streets were paved, some of them were not. Stonewall Street was not paved. But my early years, Alexander Street, where the school was located was a paved street, first street. A street that led from downtown. We had what we call The Square, that where Trade and Tryon and cross each other downtown. That was kind of the dividing point of the sections, of the areas. And of course, the paved streets were the ones from downtown where the buses traveled, or trolleys before that. 9 04:02.000 --> 05:24.000 They were like the main streets. They went through the section of Brooklyn. Of course, the side streets were dirt streets, and other roads. Very close together. I can remember when it changed, in the late 40s. You may be familiar with Independence Boulevard, now. This was—I never have understood how we changed from living on East Stonewall Street to South Independence Boulevard, but we did. They changed. They moved the houses back and of course, Stonewall Street became Independence Boulevard. There's a short section of Stonewall Street still in existence that's near the Observer now. But the street, the houses were well-kept. We didn't have grass and stuff like people do now. Most of the time houses didn't. I can remember our house had a wooden fence around it. We had a nice, clean dirt yard that we kept just like people keep the grass. We swept the yard nice and clean. Then when we finished, we took the point of the broom and decorated it real pretty. (laughs) 10 05:24.000 --> 06:00.000 So, people took pride in their homes even though they didn't have grass or flowers. But when the boulevard was open, the house was moved back and of course, we—my dad planted grass and we had had a little low hedge that went around the yard at that time instead of the fence. I can remember when, well, our house I'd say stood about middle ways to the boulevard. That's where our front steps— 11 06:00.000 --> 06:36.000 In fact, at our back steps, we had, what was it, a fig tree right outside the back steps. Of course, when they moved the house back, they moved the house back so far that that fig tree came up in the front yard eventually. But it was interesting to see them move those houses. And we lived in, I guess maybe 10 rooms in that house. 12 06:36.000 --> 07:33.000 It was a two-story house, a very big cold house in the winter. But they put that house on rollers and that was something that people came from all over to see them move. And of course, when they moved our house, they didn't get it finished before quitting time on the afternoon. And of course, my grandmother told the men they were working, said, "Please let me know when you get here in the morning." Said, "I want to be out of here when you decide to move this house." And of course, when she went to the door, well, we was still in bed and she was fixing breakfast. And when she went to the door to find out if they were ready to start moving the house again, moved it so easily that when she got to the door before she could ask the man about it, he said, "How'd you enjoy your ride?" So, they had already moved the house. 13 07:33.000 --> 08:45.000 But it was interesting to see that. And you could look out and see houses. A lot of people had their homes that didn't have space to move them back, had moved them to other sections of town and you could see them. They put those houses on a truck or flatbed or whatever you call it. And you could see a house going down the street some days. So they even moved a stone church that they turned around. It was a huge thing. They turned facing Stonewall Street to facing the other street. So, that was really something to see. But our house, when we were growing up was where we had the backyard. I was telling you how large the yard was and how far they moved the house back. We had the space to move. But my mother and father were both teaching school, but we had had chickens and we had pet rabbits. And of course, the chickens were not all pets. They weren't pets. They were for our livelihood. 14 08:45.000 --> 10:15.000 And they had a garden where they planted beans. And a lot of people did that. I remember when they got ready to open the boulevard, when they had to move the houses back, we had to do away with the chickens and all. We had had one rooster for a long time. And I can remember my dad, we didn't want to kill the rooster, but he had to be killed. So, we had to do away with all the chickens. So, this one rooster, I remember him ringing his neck. And I don't guess he wanted to leave either, so he had a tall basket. They used to ring the chicken's necks and put them in the basket. And he put that rooster in the basket. And he did that that morning. And when night came, he was still jumping. He just did not die right away. And of course his neck was broken, but he was still fluttering and had the basket going all around the yard. Because we watched it and cried. And my mother made chicken salad out the rooster and we didn't want to eat it. Because we loved the rooster. So, I guess enough about the chickens. Oh, but can you ask me another question here now. 15 10:15.000 --> 10:18.000 Who were your neighbors? 16 10:18.000 --> 11:09.000 Oh, let's see. Across the street from us, one of the ladies that was a school teacher, she taught first grade at First Ward. And she may have taught [indistinct 00:10:33] Harris. I remember her, because I used to go and visit with her. Her husband was a lawyer. And of course, he would go away on trips and every time he'd go away, I'd get to go spend the night with her. So, I'd pack my suitcase like I was going out of town. And I go and spend the night with her. And in fact, she said she couldn't even finish. She had to make sure she finished her work before she even stuck her head out the door, because soon as she put her head out the door, I'd stand out there waiting for her to open the door. Said I'd call her Lees. Her name was Louise. 17 11:09.000 --> 12:37.000 But I remember him going away. Well, when he would come home from work, I would be there and she had fixed dinner. And she still laughs about this with me. She said, I'd tell her husband, whose name was Pete, said, "Come on. Come on, Pete." Say, "Lees got meat for dinner. Lees got meat." So anyway, we'd have birthday parties for her and carry cookies and punch and I did all that. This was across the street. We had another family that lived up the street from us that had a lot of children. And the street was our playground, more or less, because they didn't have places for us to go and play like they do now. So, it made it nice, because we were surrounded with people with a lot of children. And we'd play in the street. We'd have softball games or what we'd call roll a bat. You hit the ball, then you roll the ball to hit the bat, that kind of thing. So, we were just surrounded with all kinds of people. We were not separated like the teachers and all lived on one street and somebody else lived on another. But we were just all mixed up. 18 12:37.000 --> 12:40.000 Were there any altercations between the children in the neighborhood? 19 12:40.000 --> 13:01.000 Oh, yes. Like always. You'd have your little petty arguments and fights, but they didn't ever amount to anything very much. They would just be childlike things. 20 13:01.000 --> 13:08.000 What were the boundaries of the neighborhood? The boundaries of Brooklyn? 21 13:08.000 --> 14:32.000 Let's see. I guess Brooklyn was started from, I would say Brevard Street after you left the main Street, Trade, the bus turn at Brevard, and of course Brevard Street all the way to the creek where Cherry began on the other side of the creek, going that direction. And then it extended from that same area all the way out to Trade Street. And on the other side of Trade Street was First Ward. Before you get to Cherry, there was another section, a part of Brooklyn called Blue Heaven. And that extended to Mulhair Street. Extended on that end to Mulhair. So, it was just kind of like a big square area. I don't know how to describe it, but that's the best I can do. Those streets I know are not familiar, but. 22 14:32.000 --> 14:39.000 Now, what were the bad sections of town? 23 14:39.000 --> 15:33.000 A part of Brooklyn was considered a bad section of town, McDowell Street. And that's just a portion of it because we had a lot of churches that were on McDowell Street. But there was one corner that I can remember growing up that they would call, I think they called it Murder Corner or something like that, because it had a lot of things that happened that was near the corner, 1st and McDowell, in that area. And just below that, well, it was like between where my street school playground was and going toward [indistinct 00:15:22] Street going toward downtown, but just in that one short area. You are referring to the bad sections of Brooklyn? Or just any section— 24 15:33.000 --> 15:37.000 Any part of the city. 25 15:37.000 --> 16:43.000 Any part of the city?n Third Ward was—I don't think any of them really bad sections. I didn't get that impression. We had as children, and I think adults too, that we had neighborhood little fights and things. But the kids from Third Ward would always run you back home if you were over there. Especially if we were talking to some of their boys or girls, boyfriend/girlfriend kinds of thing. If you'd go over to visit them, and of course, they'd run you back home, but nothing like now. It's just rocks and running. But we would just have those kinds of fights. But now, there's a part of 2nd Street, I think I mentioned, that was referred to as the block. And of course, they may have had a lot happening there on the weekends. There were restaurants, they called them cafes during that time. The theater was there. 26 16:43.000 --> 17:53.000 And of course there was, I guess an entertainment area that was called the Green Willow Garden. And it was behind the fence, because that was off limits to us. But as children, we'd always try to find a peephole to see what was going on behind the fence. But there you had your dancers and they would have on weekends, gay parties. We'd sit on the sidewalk on Friday and Saturday night and watch them dress up. We knew some of the ones. You knew who they were. And of course, they had our men's clothing all week, and on Saturday nights, they dressed up in high heels and went to the Green Willow Garden to their parties. Of course, we never got a chance to see, except through the fence. But I imagine you might have heard a lot of things happening on the block, but it still wasn't bad in comparison. 27 17:53.000 --> 19:07.000 Things have just gotten worse over years. But those are the only bad sections that were just referred to as being bad. Of course, I think Brooklyn just may have gotten the name of being bad anyway, just period. How some sections, for instance, second Ward was the first high school. And when they opened West Charlotte in later years, in the late 40s I believe, then we became great rivals. Kids from this side of town and the kids from the other side of town. Of course, they referred to us as being the bad kids from Brooklyn. And we'd always have fights over games, over the boys and girls, or whatever. But in fact, the two high schools were great rivals. They had scheduled games with the high school, the other high schools around, but they eventually had to stop Second Ward and West Charlotte from playing, because of the fights. 28 19:07.000 --> 20:10.000 And usually, it was not the students that were doing this. It was other people in the neighborhood. Those younger men or people that were not even in school, but we got blamed for it. But like I said, Second Ward was always the bad section. Eventually, they stopped us from playing for a few years because of fighting. And so then in the middle 40s, somebody got the bright idea that they decided to let us play again and played at Memorial Stadium and called it the Queen City Classic. That was with Second Ward and West Charlotte football teams. And they still did the same thing after one of the [indistinct 00:20:01]. I can remember being at a game, and of course then as I mentioned before, it was just like rock throwing. Breaking out windows in the bus and things like that. 29 20:10.000 --> 21:01.000 But in the mid 40s they had the first Queen City Classic. That was an exciting thing because in 1948 they decided to have a queen for the Queen City Classic. And that was rivalry again between the students from Second Ward and West Charlotte. And I was the first Miss Queen City. And that was in 1948. But I don't remember if they fought that year or not. I always got away from it, if they did. But those were, I guess, trouble spots in the area, in the city. And of course you had your outlying areas like Greertown and places like that where you were very seldom—They were more or less in the county, didn't hear about too much going on. At least I didn't. 30 21:01.000 --> 21:15.000 Did the different neighborhoods or the different wards have different reputations? Were they different from each other? 31 21:15.000 --> 22:45.000 They were. Excuse me. Well, we all started out basically in the Brooklyn area. People moved out, as it happens now. But for instance, this side of town, the people that moved away from Brooklyn moved to Biddleville. And of course, they consider themselves the upper crust of Charlotte's Black neighborhoods. They were better than we were. Like I said, Second Ward always got the bad name, but they were the ones that always would start things, really. But they thought they were better. And of course, they took the teachers from Second Ward school. A lot of people say they took the better teachers and your better students moved out and moved to this side of town. Of course, that was not necessarily true to my mind, because there were a lot of families left in Brooklyn. 32 22:45.000 --> 23:41.000 These children did not come from professional homes, but they were good children, smart children. And we felt as though we were just as good as the others. Of course the ones that lived in First Ward thought they were a little better than the others too, so. And then of course, they looked at the people from Greertown as coming from the country, more or less. But all of us, it was a class kind of thing. They always felt they were better from First Ward and Biddleville. And Greenwood was from the project mostly, during my time. Of course I know it wasn't that way. I remember when the project was built. But it was different kinds of people. At least they thought they were different. We were all basically the same, just living in a different section of town. 33 23:41.000 --> 23:49.000 What about Cherry? What kind of an area was Cherry? 34 23:49.000 --> 24:59.000 Cherry was an area that had the same kind of thing. Now, they didn't have as many businesses, but they had the elementary school, they had churches, they had all kinds of homes, they had all kinds of people that live there. The story has been told sometimes that Cherry was built because of the affluent neighborhood Myers Park, for their maids and butlers and whatever to live. But that was not, to my mind, necessarily true, because those people, a lot of them never worked in service. We had a lot of teachers that lived there, had doctors, and they had, like I say, their own businesses, like little grocery stores and beauty parlors and things like that. So, it was not necessarily just built for—Now a lot of them may have lived there and were able to walk there. But that was not the sole reason that I think Cherry was really built. 35 24:59.000 --> 25:10.000 In addition to places like the Green Willow Garden, I think that's a wonderful [indistinct 00:25:04], were there other places you were not allowed to go? 36 25:10.000 --> 26:31.000 Some of us were not even allowed to go to Second Street period, except on the block. But they had all those restaurants, until you were older that you were able to go in those cafes. They had a Pool Room that was in that same area. They had another place that was called Sis's Place? I think it was a log cabin, it was called at one time. And we weren't allowed to go there. And then there was a cafe called Fred Kemp's Cafe. I think before that it was Fred Patton. And then another owner was Fred Kemp. But McDowell Street was not a good place until later, when they opened the theater. We had a theater on Second Street, which was called The Lincoln, and another theater, eventually, on McDowell Street. That was after the streets got better. They weren't as bad as they had been, I think, in some earlier years. But there was, what was the name of the theater there? Savoy. 37 26:31.000 --> 27:37.000 Of course, we had our own theaters, because I can't remember, but I have heard older people talk about going to the movies downtown, like The Carolina, they have a White movie that they would allow Blacks to come in and sit upstairs. But during my time, they had stopped Blacks from coming to the movies. From what I understand, they would throw popcorn stuff down on the kids. I don't know how bad that was, but I imagine they did. But they had stopped them from going to the movies. And I can remember having to go, to see really good movies, we went as far as Concord, that's a place about 20-something miles from here. And then we went in the White movie, but we had to go down the side of the movie and go upstairs. But they would allow us to come. And that's where you got a chance to see the late movies. 38 27:37.000 --> 28:46.000 Now, of course the Blacks theaters would have your chapter pictures. They'd call them serials. You'd go see them every week and see what happened last week, that kind of thing. But we were not allowed, there was a place called, well, it's now called the Grady Cole Center, and it was called The Armory when I was growing up right near the Memorial Stadium. And that was called The Armory. And that's where they used to have all the dances. The bands would come and they'd have the big dances. And course, we weren't allowed to go. And you'd have few shootouts and stuff when somebody stepped on somebody's foot. I remember somebody getting shot one time, but that's why our parents didn't allow us to go when we got older, because you know we tried to slip off and go. So, that was one place we weren't allowed to go until later, when we were old enough to get our own tickets and go. But— 39 28:46.000 --> 28:49.000 What movies did you go to see? 40 28:49.000 --> 30:08.000 Oh, let's see. Hopalong Cassidy. All the westerns, Johnny Mack Brown. Some of these you never heard of, I'm sure. Superman. He is been around for a long time. They had another one called Captain Midnight. There were a lot of continued pictures. I can remember going to the movie. We went to the movie just about every Saturday to see the serials, especially. We called them chapter pictures. And my brother and I both still love popcorn and my mother just could not stand the smell of it. But anyway, you know the big brown grocery bags that they have now? My brother would pop a grocery bag full of popcorn and go to the movie on Saturday. And he would go in there and spend the day. And it started getting dark. I'd go home, I think, sooner than—He'd stay in there all day. I don't know how they ever made the money, because the kids would go and spend the day. But I'd have to go back and get him. And my mother said, "It's time to come home." Stay in the movies and eat popcorn all day. 41 30:08.000 --> 30:45.000 And later, we were able to catch the bus and come out on this side of town. There was another theater called the Grand Theater that's down there near Smith. That building is still standing there. And we were able to catch the bus and come to this side of town and we'd see a little better movies sometimes. It was a little quieter, a little cleaner, and that kind of thing. On this side of town where the ritzy Blacks lived, we get to come over here and see the movies. And then there was an old, I think he was Jewish, but he was real nice man. Mr. Nougie, I think. 42 30:45.000 --> 31:10.000 But anyway, Mr. Nougie would come down here, had a flashlight that he'd shine in your face, especially if you were making too much noise. And he'd shine the light and he'd come down the aisle and say, "Vermelle, your mama said catch the next bus. Come home." He knew everybody by name. He'd come in there and get you and tell you, "It's time for you to go home. Your mama said for you to come home." But— 43 31:10.000 --> 31:13.000 Was the Grand Theater Black owned? 44 31:13.000 --> 31:41.000 No, it wasn't. I don't think any of them really, really Black owned. But they had Blacks that worked the—I don't know who was upstairs working in the movies themselves, but they were in the ticket windows and the concession stands. But out here, Mr. Nougie and his wife ran the Grand Theater. There were two Whites. 45 31:41.000 --> 31:43.000 Were there movies with Black movie stars? 46 31:43.000 --> 32:12.000 The only movies I can remember were Cabin in the Sky with Lena Horne. And very few that I can remember. Trying to think what else I remember from a long time ago. That's one that sticks in my mind, I know. 47 32:12.000 --> 32:18.000 What were the other gathering places? 48 32:18.000 --> 33:38.000 On Second Street, again, we had soda shops to open up. It was like a pharmacy and drugstore where we would go on Sundays for entertainment. We'd do that and we'd catch the bus and there was another grill called Sportsman's Grill on this side of town. It's up near where Excelsior Club is now, just before you get to there, called Sportsman's Grill. That's what we would do on Sundays. We'd catch the bus. Bus fair was, what? Like, seven cents. And we'd go for bus rides on Sunday and go to the soda shops and meet your friends and talk. There was a place that was right over here called Sunset Park, which was kind of like a dance hall at night and a club where they had lots of entertainers to come into. Like James Brown and some of the big name stars now that have come through here. It's almost unbelievable that we saw them at Sunset Park. 49 33:38.000 --> 34:43.000 But they built a swimming pool there, too. And of course, that's where I learned how to swim. But I went with the Boy Scout troop. My girlfriend and I both had brothers that were scouts and of course, we begged the Scout Master to let us go. We had to get up five o'clock in the morning. Buses didn't start running until 6:00. So, we would walk from my house to downtown to Square and sometimes we'd walk all the way, because we'd save our money and go to Krispy Kreme, buy donuts. But we took swimming lessons with the Boy Scouts. They didn't have any classes for girls during that time. So, two of us did learn how to swim, then at the end of the swimming, swimming class they have closing at the end and they show off all the things that they had learned. I even took lifesaving course while I was in that class with them. He just let us do the same thing the boys were doing. 50 34:43.000 --> 35:11.000 Of course, when time came for the closing, he made us get in the closing exercise, too. Of course we were the laughing stock. We were almost ashamed. All these boys and two girls with the Boys Scout troop in the water closing. But it was fun. At least we learned how to swim and we had a good time. Let's see, other places that we used to go, things like that? 51 35:11.000 --> 35:20.000 Was that swimming pool publicly owned or privately owned? 52 35:20.000 --> 35:42.000 I think it was privately owned, I believe. Because later we had one called—at Double Oaks, which was publicly owned. But this one was private, I think, because the people owned the club and I think the swimming pool. And it was Black owned. 53 35:42.000 --> 35:42.000 [indistinct 00:35:44]. 54 35:42.000 --> 35:46.000 Mm-hmm. 55 35:46.000 --> 35:47.000 Do you remember when the Double Oak swimming pool was built, originally? 56 35:47.000 --> 37:30.000 Oh, let's see. That's going to be a guess. I would say I started seeing in 50s, early 50s, I believe. Because Double Oaks Housing Project was open during that time. And I started to work, started teaching in 1953. And at that time, most of the teachers that came here from out of town lived in Double Oaks area. And they were real nice apartments. And that's where you had most of your teachers to live before they bought homes. Some of them got married and bought homes and stayed here. But I would say that pool probably opened sometime in the 50s. But the other one was open way—Because I imagine it was probably closed by that time. That place was still there. It changed names from Sunset Park to—We would go there, they could had a area around where you could have picnics too outside, around on the grounds. But that was in the 40s, that I remember. And it was there before that, I think. I can't remember when it opened though. 57 37:30.000 --> 37:38.000 Well, what were your earliest childhood memories? 58 37:38.000 --> 38:39.000 Oh, earliest childhood memories. Well, I can give you one example of when I first started at school. That's a real comical one. I started school when I was four. The mother had a real good friend that taught first grade at Myer Street. And she took me to school with her. And of course they had already been teaching me how to do things at home anyway, so. And then we had a neighbor, I think the lady had had a baby about the same time her mother had had me. So, she knew exactly how old I was. So, of course, she told on me and they put me out of school. I got put out of school when I was four years old. But I had a birthday in January. But they didn't have the rules now. You had to be six. You're supposed to be six years old. But now they extend it to the middle of October October 15th, 16th or something like that. 59 38:39.000 --> 39:30.000 But anyway, after I had my birthday, which was in January, I don't think they realized I was four. They probably thought I was five. Anyway, she took me back after I had my birthday. I went back to school and I stayed there after five years, when I became five. But they had told me at home, "If anybody asked how old you are," I was really actually four years old, and I think you could ride the bus for free, you didn't have to pay, if you weren't over five, and six years old I had to be in school. So my mother had told me, "You're four at home, five on the bus, and six in school." 60 39:30.000 --> 40:27.000 So, of course, anytime you say, "Vermelle, how old are you?" I say, "Four on the bus, five at home, and six at school." I told all of it. She says she going to kill me, every time I said it. But that's what they had taught me. Four at home, five on the bus, and six at school. So, that was my age. I can remember my brother being hard to dress. He didn't ever want to put on clothes and go to church. I could see him standing on the dining room table with his clothes on. They'd have to dress everybody first and then try to work on him. And he would put his little white shoes and tap dancing on the dining room table, trying to keep him still until time to go to church. 61 40:27.000 --> 41:17.000 And we'd go downtown. And I can remember my mother saying, the clerks in the stores, "Bring those children in here and let us see them." And he would just act up. And she'd spank him. I have told her many times that if they had child abuse laws when we were growing up, they'd have put you and my daddy away for life. Y'all would never get out. But she'd spank him, because he'd never—and he would go through the house and if you came to visit us, you had to turn the chair up in order to sit down. We had to keep chairs turned down, because he would go through the house and pull down—You see why he didn't even want to talk about it. Pull all the chairs down. He just go through the house and pulling chairs down. 62 41:17.000 --> 42:20.000 So, we just kept them turning down. My mother just kept them turning down. I have a picture I'll share with you too. There was an insurance company that used a family for a calendar, and for some of the insurance brochures that they had. And of course, we went to have the picture made, and they had a book for me to look at with my mother. And of course, my brother was on the floor. They sat him on the floor and he had a calico dog that was on the floor beside him. And I remember he always did a love money. He still does. But they had to put a penny on top of the dog's head to make him sit still long enough to take the picture. 63 42:20.000 --> 42:43.000 So, we had fun growing up. Of they couldn't leave us alone very much either. We'd fight. But yet, if anybody want to bother the other one, then we'd fight together. So, those are some of the early things that I can remember. 64 42:43.000 --> 42:48.000 You remember your grandparents? 65 42:48.000 --> 43:43.000 Yes, my grandmother and grandfather. We grew up with them. They were more like mother and daddy. The rest of us were more like the children. My mother and father. This is my daddy's mother and father. They were the ones that built the house that we lived in. And my grandfather, years ago before we came, well, I guess he was still driving. He drove what they call a hat, like a taxi from this railroad station, and he worked for the drug stores carrying packages and carrying passengers back and forth. He had horses and he had bulldogs during that time. 66 43:43.000 --> 44:57.000 I can remember my mother talking about the bulldogs and how smart they were. And she was expecting one of us, they were big dogs and real heavy. But I think she always felt like they knew that she was pregnant. And when the dog was running one day and was about to run into her, he just slid, put on brakes to keep from hitting her. He would've knocked her down. But you'd leave home sometimes and you couldn't get back in the house, because they weren't sure who you were. My granddaddy would have to leave us on the corner and then he'd go home and get the dogs calmed down so we could get in the house. But my grandmother was with us. My grandfather died when I was in about sixth grade, I think. And my grandmother lived to be 91 years old. She lived here in this house with us before she died. And we moved here in 1962. 67 44:57.000 --> 45:59.000 But my mother and father both were teaching. Of course, during that time my father taught at Second Ward. And at that time, they would not hire two people from the same family in the same school system. So, she had to get a job in another county. She worked for Mecklenburg, the county. The two schools had not merged during that time, city school and county school. So, she worked in the county under different superintendents. They're separate all together. So, she went from Charlotte to a place called Cornelius, North Carolina to work every day. And plus, the school at Cornelius was called Ada Jenkins. And then after integration, they moved to Davidson. 68 45:59.000 --> 47:21.000 I don't know whether they were integrated then or not. I don't think so, after school's merged. But anyway, she went to Davidson to work and of course, from Davidson to after integration, she worked here in the system. Things had changed. Well, my father had retired too, he was not here. But she worked at Barringer in later years after integration, until she retired. My grandmother taught school years ago. But during that time they didn't have high schools and colleges. I guess it is almost like anybody could teach if you could teach children how to do anything. So, she worked at a little place called Laslow, teaching school. And after that, she was a beautician. You've probably heard of Madam CJ Walker Beauty Products. She's one of the first ones. And I have a copy of her certificate that she got from Madame CJ Walker when she came through Charlotte. I'll share some of those things. One of the things that my granddaddy was carrying, had to have a permit to carry on the hat, he had a—