Mildred Rousseve interview recording, 1994 June 22

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Kate Ellis	Are there three, or were there three Rousseve brothers?	0:02
Mildred Rousseve	There were five.	0:05
Kate Ellis	Oh, okay. And yours was—	0:06
Mildred Rousseve	Mine was Charles, and the second one was Ferdinand Rousseve, and the third one was Numa Rousseve.	0:10
Kate Ellis	Which is Mrs. Evelyn Rousseve's—	0:19
Mildred Rousseve	Brother-in-law.	0:24
Kate Ellis	— brother-in-law.	0:24
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	0:24
Kate Ellis	Okay.	0:24
Mildred Rousseve	He's my brother-in-law too.	0:24
Kate Ellis	Okay. And so who was she married to?	0:26
Mildred Rousseve	She was married to Numa Rousseve.	0:28
Kate Ellis	Okay. Right.	0:31
Mildred Rousseve	And then there was— Rene was last. Who else did I say?	0:32
Kate Ellis	There were, you said Charles, Ferdinand, Numa, Rene.	0:40
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	0:44
Kate Ellis	Was there a fifth one? You said there was a fifth.	0:46
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, there were five. Charles—	0:48
Kate Ellis	Was there a Norman Rousseve?	0:50
Mildred Rousseve	No.	0:52
Kate Ellis	Okay. A son of a Rousseve that was named Norman?	0:53
Mildred Rousseve	Not that I know of.	0:58
Kate Ellis	Okay. Okay.	0:59
Mildred Rousseve	Do we need to know all their names? I can get them again for you.	1:01
Kate Ellis	No. Oh, no, that's fine.	1:03
Mildred Rousseve	I have them, 'cause I was just sending a picture of them to—	1:05
Kate Ellis	Oh, really?	1:07
Mildred Rousseve	— to a daughter of mine in California.	1:08
Kate Ellis	Oh. Well, I would love to, maybe later on, look at some of your old photos. I bet you have a lot of old photographs. Or I'm just looking at what you have here.	1:11
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, this?	1:21
Kate Ellis	Who is in this picture?	1:21
Mildred Rousseve	Those are my children. They were absent from home for the first time. They had married. See?	1:23
Kate Ellis	Oh.	1:31
Mildred Rousseve	This one is a twin, and this one is a twin. They're not identical twins. I'll show you their pictures, but they're not identical. And they had each married. No, not this one, he hadn't married yet. And they came home for Christmas.	1:31
Kate Ellis	When was this?	1:46
Mildred Rousseve	1955. Christmas morning at 1317 Columbus Street. We lived in another house at the time, and that's where it was. And this was my son, and this is his brother. Twins. They're twins. You'll see them together.	1:53
Kate Ellis	Okay.	2:07
Mildred Rousseve	And this is our daughter, Yolanda. She was a baby.	2:07
Kate Ellis	Beautiful.	2:11
Mildred Rousseve	This is Leonie, Mr. Rousseve's sister. And she was a school teacher, she was dealing. This is Genevieve, Roland is married to Genevieve and there's the baby.	2:12
Kate Ellis	There's their baby.	2:23
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	2:23
Kate Ellis	So this is your grandchild?	2:25
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Yes. Right here, Eddie. And now I encourage him to go back to school and get his PhD.	2:26
Kate Ellis	Wow.	2:35
Mildred Rousseve	And he's going to get it in August. And he's going to work somewhere, it's out of Chicago.	2:35
Kate Ellis	Wow.	2:43
Mildred Rousseve	And he's crazy about it, but he wanted to stay here in the South and work at Southern University. But they called him for an interview after he had signed up to go up in—	2:43
Kate Ellis	To Chicago.	2:55
Mildred Rousseve	— Chicago.	2:55
Kate Ellis	Oh. You mean Southern University called him—	2:57
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	2:59
Kate Ellis	— after he'd taken a job in Chicago?	2:59
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, that's right.	3:03
Kate Ellis	I see.	3:03
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And this is Yolan, my daughter, and this is her husband. He has his PhD too.	3:06
Kate Ellis	Wow.	3:10
Mildred Rousseve	But he's a in pharmacy.	3:11
Kate Ellis	Oh.	3:16
Mildred Rousseve	He taught up in—	3:17
Kate Ellis	And then, is that you? Who's that?	3:18
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Let's see.	3:19
Kate Ellis	The person handing the gift?	3:21
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	3:22
Kate Ellis	Okay.	3:22
Mildred Rousseve	I'm handing that gift to Ronald, one of their sons.	3:23
Kate Ellis	Right. Oh, lovely.	3:24
Mildred Rousseve	We used to exchange gifts on Christmas morning.	3:27
Kate Ellis	Looks like a nice group.	3:31
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, they were lovely.	3:33
Kate Ellis	That must have been a nice Christmas.	3:35
Mildred Rousseve	It was a lovely Christmas. She was teaching, Yolan was teaching there at the time. She went to be with her husband and she got a job. And when Christmastime came, they didn't want to let her go. And she said, "Mr. I love my job and I love all the people here, they've been lovely to me. But I have to go home for Christmas. Nobody knows the Christmases we have and I want to go home. And I'll be back, just let me go for Christmas." And the superintendent gave her permission to go.	3:36
Kate Ellis	Now, where was she when she was asking for permission?	4:12
Mildred Rousseve	She was in— Where is this school? I can't think of it. I could get it from my sister-in-law.	4:15
Kate Ellis	What state was she— She wasn't in—	4:28
Mildred Rousseve	She was in Michigan, near Michigan.	4:31
Kate Ellis	Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Well, let me back up for a minute. I just have to announce on the tape that this is Kate Ellis interviewing Mrs. Mildred Rousseve on Wednesday, June 22nd, 1994.	4:32
Mildred Rousseve	That's right.	4:48
Kate Ellis	That's right. Okay.	4:49
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	4:49
Kate Ellis	So you grew up in New Orleans?	4:54
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, I did.	4:55
Kate Ellis	You were born in New Orleans?	4:56
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	4:57
Kate Ellis	What was your family like? Who did you grow up with? And—	4:57
Mildred Rousseve	I grew up with— I don't remember my father. I was born after my father died. I didn't ever know him. But they never told me anything. I knew about him, but I didn't know about grandparents. They never told me anything about my—	5:01
Kate Ellis	About your grandparents.	5:25
Mildred Rousseve	Uh-uh.	5:26
Kate Ellis	Huh?	5:26
Mildred Rousseve	Never. Now my mother was my color, but my grandmother that I knew, was Black. And they came from out in Houma, Louisiana.	5:26
Kate Ellis	Houma.	5:38
Mildred Rousseve	So I have an idea that my grandfather was White. They never told me that, but I believed it because my mother was very pretty. And so—	5:39
Kate Ellis	And she was—	5:54
Mildred Rousseve	She was called Laura Donis. That's what they called her. What looked like the rest of my grandmother's children were Black. And she came to New Orleans, I don't know when, but I can remember being with my mother, my grandmother, and an old lady who was a friend of my grandmother's. And she was a Black lady. And they reared me, they reared my brother Harold, who was also very fair. They called him sheep, S-H-E-E-P.	5:56
Kate Ellis	Did they really?	6:30
Mildred Rousseve	For short.	6:30
Kate Ellis	You mean, because he was light skinned?	6:31
Mildred Rousseve	I guess. And his hair was blonde.	6:34
Kate Ellis	Oh, so they thought he looked like a sheep.	6:39
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. And I guess it was nappy.	6:42
Kate Ellis	But nappy blonde hair and light skin.	6:45
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	6:48
Kate Ellis	Was it just the two of you by your mother?	6:49
Mildred Rousseve	By my mother at that time. But my mother remarried.	6:53
Kate Ellis	And so you had other brothers and sisters.	6:57
Mildred Rousseve	And their names were Granderson and they were different.	7:00
Kate Ellis	Their last name was Granderson.	7:03
Mildred Rousseve	Granderson.	7:05
Kate Ellis	What was your last name? What was your—	7:05
Mildred Rousseve	Robichaux.	7:06
Kate Ellis	Robichaux. Okay.	7:07
Mildred Rousseve	R-O-B-I-C—	7:09
Kate Ellis	Which is a French name.	7:09
Mildred Rousseve	— It is.	7:10
Kate Ellis	I see.	7:10
Mildred Rousseve	That makes me believe that, that's where my roots are in Houma—	7:11
Kate Ellis	Right.	7:17
Mildred Rousseve	— and French.	7:17
Kate Ellis	So you're saying that your grandmother was Black?	7:18
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	7:22
Kate Ellis	You think that your grandfather was White.	7:22
Mildred Rousseve	Was White.	7:24
Kate Ellis	Although you never knew about him.	7:25
Mildred Rousseve	Never. Nobody told me anything about him.	7:26
Kate Ellis	Nobody ever said anything. Did you ever ask?	7:27
Mildred Rousseve	I did.	7:30
Kate Ellis	And they'd sort of—	7:31
Mildred Rousseve	They just sort of ignored it.	7:33
Kate Ellis	As only adults can do.	7:35
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Yes.	7:37
Kate Ellis	But your mother was light-skinned and that's what made you think—	7:39
Mildred Rousseve	But now my husband, his grandfather was from France.	7:42
Kate Ellis	Oh, really?	7:47
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Charles's grandfather.	7:48
Kate Ellis	And he, Mr. Rousseve senior.	7:52
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	7:54
Kate Ellis	So he was—	7:55
Mildred Rousseve	From France.	7:57
Kate Ellis	And where was his mother from?	7:59
Mildred Rousseve	Right here. She was pretty too. She was a pretty woman. Look at that picture over there behind that lamp.	8:02
Kate Ellis	Okay.	8:07
Mildred Rousseve	Let me see if I can get it.	8:08
Kate Ellis	If you can stay there, 'cause I've got you on the microphone. Oh, this is her?	8:09
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	8:14
Kate Ellis	Can I bring it over here?	8:15
Mildred Rousseve	Certainly. That's Mr. Rousseve's mother. She spoke French. My husband spoke French until he was seven years old.	8:17
Kate Ellis	Oh, really? That his father taught him? That they taught him.	8:25
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, they taught him. They spoke only French in the family.	8:27
Kate Ellis	So did he call himself— He must have called himself Creole.	8:33
Mildred Rousseve	Creole, he called himself.	8:37
Kate Ellis	Did you call yourself Creole?	8:38
Mildred Rousseve	No, I didn't. Uh-uh.	8:40
Kate Ellis	What did you call yourself in your family? Or what did your—	8:41
Mildred Rousseve	I was just a mulatto.	8:45
Kate Ellis	Okay.	8:45
Mildred Rousseve	That's what I call myself.	8:47
Kate Ellis	Right. She was beautiful.	8:50
Mildred Rousseve	She was a pretty lady though.	8:51
Kate Ellis	Yes.	8:52
Mildred Rousseve	And a lovely personality. And she'd laugh and talk. She'd just bubble and cheeks would get so red. She was just a lovely lady.	8:53
Kate Ellis	That's nice. So I want to get your family. What was the question I just had in my mind about— Oh, what did you know about your father? I mean, you knew your mother was light-skinned, you knew something about her background.	9:02
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	9:24
Kate Ellis	What did you know about your father's background?	9:25
Mildred Rousseve	Is this on now?	9:26
Kate Ellis	Yes.	9:26
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	9:26
Kate Ellis	It's on.	9:26
Mildred Rousseve	I knew that he was light-skinned too. But the only thing I knew was that he had a job working as a— I don't know what, on the riverfront, I think. But I had his picture, but I gave it to my children.	9:27
Kate Ellis	Oh, you did?	9:42
Mildred Rousseve	And I had my mother's picture, but I don't know if I have it now. I gave it too, to them. I didn't know all of this was coming up.	9:43
Kate Ellis	Oh, well, that's— This is not a test.	9:51
Mildred Rousseve	But I knew this—	9:54
Kate Ellis	You don't have to—	9:55
Mildred Rousseve	— I knew that they lived on Liberty Street and that my father— Liberty Street. My father died in May of the year I was born, and I was born 1905.	9:57
Kate Ellis	And he died that year.	10:18
Mildred Rousseve	It was how many months?	10:20
Kate Ellis	He must have been young when he died.	10:22
Mildred Rousseve	I was.	10:24
Kate Ellis	I mean—	10:25
Mildred Rousseve	But I wasn't born.	10:25
Kate Ellis	No, he must have been young when he died.	10:26
Mildred Rousseve	He was.	10:27
Kate Ellis	Wow.	10:27
Mildred Rousseve	He was.	10:27
Kate Ellis	How did he die?	10:29
Mildred Rousseve	Of a stomach ailment.	10:30
Kate Ellis	Oh, dear.	10:36
Mildred Rousseve	And at that time, it must have been cancer if it was a stomach ailment. That's what I told them. I don't know what else it could have been, but that's what he died of. So he left two children, my brother Harold, and I were the only two from him.	10:36
Kate Ellis	So how did your mother get along without him? How did she raise you?	10:51
Mildred Rousseve	My grandmother lived with my mother and she was working. And she told my mother, "Laura, don't go out and get a job. You stay here." She said, "You are very pretty and if you go and get a job, somebody's going to take advantage of you." So that's what made me believe that someone had taken advantage of my grandmother. Years ago, when pretty women were working in the households of Whites, some of the men did fall in love with them and had children for them. So I believe that's what happened to my grandmother. Nobody ever told me, never said anything about it. I knew my mother was pretty, she had beautiful hair. When I was a little girl, I had long hair.	10:56
Kate Ellis	You have beautiful hair now.	11:49
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, that's what they tell me.	11:50
Kate Ellis	Well you do. Yeah.	11:55
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Well, and I just paid attention to the things they said and what they didn't say. They didn't tell me and I didn't push it any further. So my grandmother said that she would help to take care of her. And so her friend, we call her friend, Aunt Tom. And she was working, she used to wash for very wealthy people, linen blouses and beautiful stuff, things that you had to do by hand and fluff by a machine. The lace, I forget what they call it.	11:57
Kate Ellis	I don't know.	12:28
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. But there was a certain call. And so the two of them took care of us. My mother and the two of us, the two children.	12:29
Kate Ellis	Two of them being your grandmother—	12:39
Mildred Rousseve	And then her friend.	12:40
Kate Ellis	— and her friend. And so you all lived in the same house together?	12:42
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. Three rooms and a kitchen. Yeah.	12:44
Kate Ellis	What street did you live on?	12:47
Mildred Rousseve	Delachaise Street. Up on Uptown.	12:51
Kate Ellis	Uptown.	12:52
Mildred Rousseve	Often I've gone there. I've just gone by there in a car and looked at the house. 2116 Delachaise, because I knew I was reared there and I wanted to go there. We had box steps. We didn't have any porch or anything.	12:53
Kate Ellis	What was your neighborhood like where you grew up?	13:11
Mildred Rousseve	All Black.	13:13
Kate Ellis	Really?	13:14
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, in my neighborhood. Yes.	13:15
Kate Ellis	Were you among the more, so it wasn't— Now, when you say all Black, are you distinguishing that from Creole? You know what I mean?	13:17
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. I guess I was.	13:30
Kate Ellis	I mean, I ask it only because some people I talk to will say, "Well, I lived in a neighborhood where there were a lot of Creoles." And so when you say that, I guess what I would— Were you one of the only Creole families—	13:34
Mildred Rousseve	Well, I lived in—	13:46
Kate Ellis	— in the neighborhood?	13:49
Mildred Rousseve	— I lived in a neighborhood now or later, as I grew up, on Columbus Street, I lived in a neighborhood there with Creoles, but I was grown then.	13:50
Kate Ellis	Oh, okay. Was that with Mr. Rousseve?	13:54
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	13:54
Kate Ellis	And that's where that picture was taken?	13:54
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	13:54
Kate Ellis	The Christmas picture?	13:55
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	13:55
Kate Ellis	Okay.	13:55
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, on Columbus Street.	13:59
Kate Ellis	Okay. But when you were growing up, it was on Dela—	14:13
Mildred Rousseve	It was on Delachaise.	14:17
Kate Ellis	How do you spell that?	14:17
Mildred Rousseve	D-E-L-A-C-H-A-I-S-E.	14:20
Kate Ellis	Oh, okay.	14:24
Mildred Rousseve	You going to remember that?	14:27
Kate Ellis	Now I will. Oh, I just wrote it down.	14:28
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, yeah.	14:30
Kate Ellis	Yeah.	14:31
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. Delachaise.	14:32
Kate Ellis	It's actually, it's a beautiful name.	14:32
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, Delachaise.	14:33
Kate Ellis	Yeah. So you lived in that neighborhood, it was—	14:36
Mildred Rousseve	And they were Colored, Colored people, some Black and some fair. The Smiths lived at the corner and they were fair. I remember two or three of the sons became mail carriers. Their mother looked something like my mother-in-law, had beautiful black hair, and she lived on the corner.	14:38
Kate Ellis	Were there any White people living in your neighborhood?	14:58
Mildred Rousseve	Not at the time.	15:01
Kate Ellis	I ask because as, I'm sure—	15:03
Mildred Rousseve	That's all right, honey. Ask it anyway.	15:04
Kate Ellis	Oh, okay.	15:06
Mildred Rousseve	I'm not thinking anything about it.	15:07
Kate Ellis	No. And I wasn't expecting you, just one thing I hear so much down here is people always say, "You know, there were a lot of integrated neighborhoods in New Orleans." And there was segregation and there was Jim Crow.	15:10
Mildred Rousseve	Right.	15:22
Kate Ellis	But the neighborhoods were integrated.	15:23
Mildred Rousseve	I don't know about the neighborhood. Not all the neighborhoods were integrated.	15:26
Kate Ellis	And it sounds like yours was not.	15:29
Mildred Rousseve	No, it wasn't. It wasn't integrated. They hadn't started this integration business then. They were all Negroes, most dark people and some fair like I was, 'cause I can remember, and my hair was very long, and I remember a little girl used to pull my hair. And one time she hit me. And I remember my mother said, "Mildred don't hit anybody when they call your name. Just go on as though you don't see them or haven't heard them." She said, "That's all right. Because she doesn't have the hair that you have and that's why she's telling you that, that she thinks she's something because she has long hair." But it wasn't that at all. I was never prejudiced toward anybody. Not ever.	15:31
Kate Ellis	I believe that.	16:18
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	16:18
Kate Ellis	The person who pulled your hair, she was—	16:20
Mildred Rousseve	Dark.	16:23
Kate Ellis	Oh, I see.	16:24
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	16:24
Kate Ellis	And she resented you.	16:25
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	16:26
Kate Ellis	Your hair and—	16:26
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, and color. Yes. But the people in the neighborhood grocery store, they were White. They ran a grocery and they were very nice to us.	16:27
Kate Ellis	But they didn't live in that area?	16:46
Mildred Rousseve	No, they didn't live in that area.	16:46
Kate Ellis	Is there somebody coming in?	16:52
Mildred Rousseve	Nanie? They can't get in, but she has a hearing aid.	16:58
Kate Ellis	Okay.	17:02
Mildred Rousseve	And maybe it made a sound.	17:02
Kate Ellis	Do you want me to— Do you need— So where did you go to school?	17:02
Mildred Rousseve	I went to school at McDonogh number six school, a public school out on Napoleon Avenue. It was segregated and we had Colored teachers, Black teachers. But lovely teachers, good teachers. And they taught us everything. And right up there on the Napoleon Avenue, right near a public library. But at that time, we couldn't even go in the library.	17:09
Kate Ellis	They wouldn't let any—	17:36
Mildred Rousseve	Blacks. No.	17:37
Kate Ellis	— any Blacks in the library. So was there a way that—	17:38
Mildred Rousseve	The public school was just for Blacks up there at that time?	17:42
Kate Ellis	Oh, the public, you mean the public—	17:45
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	17:46
Kate Ellis	— the public—	17:46
Mildred Rousseve	School that I attended, McDonogh number six.	17:47
Kate Ellis	So what did the teachers teach you when you were there, when you were in school? And were they able to provide you with books that you couldn't get in the library?	17:51
Mildred Rousseve	No, we didn't have to, we had our school books, that's about it. And these were very good teachers. So they were in the public school system. So they were smart.	18:08
Kate Ellis	Yeah.	18:20
Mildred Rousseve	They knew. They taught us well. Because I went to the grade school at number six school. And when I finished eighth grade, I went to McDonogh 35 High School. And that school was provided by John McDonogh, who left schools for White and Black in the city. And I had very good high school teachers. And if your grades were good, when you graduated from high school, you would be recommended and invited to go to the teacher's normal school. That's where they taught the young ladies to be teachers.	18:21
Mildred Rousseve	And so all along, I had good teachers, all Negro teachers, but they had been educated, some at Southern, some at Alcorn and somewheres in the South, but they knew their business. They were very good. And when I graduated from McDonogh 35 High School, my grades were higher, I finished with honors and I was invited to go to the teacher's normal school. And I had to go to the teacher's normal school two years, and I became a teacher.	19:02
Kate Ellis	Oh. Now what year was that, that you became a teacher?	19:33
Mildred Rousseve	Oh Lord, I can't remember now. I'll have to go back and see.	19:37
Kate Ellis	You were born in 1905. Were you about— Something that can even help you figure it out. So you were 10 years old in 1915?	19:40
Mildred Rousseve	I was about 16.	19:49
Kate Ellis	When you finished high school or when you finished the normal school?	19:51
Mildred Rousseve	When I finished high school.	19:55
Kate Ellis	Okay. And so about 18 when you became a teacher?	19:57
Mildred Rousseve	Older than that nearly, because I went to the normal school and I became a teacher. 25, I think. At 25.	20:02
Kate Ellis	Okay.	20:11
Mildred Rousseve	Because I married Mr. Rousseve in 1931.	20:13
Kate Ellis	Oh. So you taught. How long did you teach for?	20:16
Mildred Rousseve	At the time that I taught, you could not be a teacher and marry.	20:21
Kate Ellis	Oh.	20:30
Mildred Rousseve	So when I met Mr. Rousseve, he asked me to marry him because he needed a wife. He had two children from his first wife and she had died. And in the process now of sending the children their pictures that I've had all these years. I can show them to you.	20:30
Kate Ellis	I would love to see them.	20:52
Mildred Rousseve	And I had to give up my job as a teacher.	20:58
Kate Ellis	And had you been teaching in the elementary school?	21:01
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. I was teaching second and third grade in elementary school, but I had to give it up when I became a teacher.	21:03
Kate Ellis	When you married him?	21:10
Mildred Rousseve	When I married him. And so I stayed at home quite a long time. I taught his children at home and they went to a private Catholic school.	21:11
Kate Ellis	What school was that?	21:22
Mildred Rousseve	St. Louis School. That went with the church, Holy Redeemer Church. And that was St. Louis School. And that's where they went?	21:23
Kate Ellis	St. Louis School.	21:33
Mildred Rousseve	And when my children came along, they were older, Charles and Theresa. They had gone to Xavier Prep at the time.	21:34
Kate Ellis	This is Mr. Rousseve's first two children?	21:46
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And— Where was I now?	21:48
Kate Ellis	You were saying that then your children came along after they—	21:56
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	21:58
Kate Ellis	— those two.	21:58
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	21:58
Kate Ellis	And where did they—	22:03
Mildred Rousseve	They went to Craig School.	22:03
Kate Ellis	Okay.	22:03
Mildred Rousseve	And Valena C. Jones Public Schools. They went to those two schools. And as they went up in school from Craig, they went to the prep where Charles and Theresa first went.	22:04
Kate Ellis	Xavier Prep.	22:21
Mildred Rousseve	And went where their father went. He finished high school there in 1925 or 19 something.	22:23
Kate Ellis	So were you and Mr. Rousseve about the same age when you met? Or was he a bit older than you?	22:34
Mildred Rousseve	He was a bit, three years older.	22:40
Kate Ellis	Okay.	22:43
Mildred Rousseve	For instance, he died at 91.	22:44
Kate Ellis	And you're—	22:45
Mildred Rousseve	I'm 88.	22:46
Kate Ellis	— 88 now.	22:46
Mildred Rousseve	He died last December. This past December.	22:48
Kate Ellis	Yeah.	22:50
Mildred Rousseve	At 91 years old. That's his picture up there, getting his PhD. Xavier awarded him that picture.	22:52
Kate Ellis	This one here?	23:01
Mildred Rousseve	See the one in the middle?	23:01
Kate Ellis	Yes, I do.	23:02
Mildred Rousseve	You see the other man shaking hands with him? That's the president of Xavier. That's Norman Francis.	23:03
Kate Ellis	Okay.	23:14
Mildred Rousseve	And they awarded Mr. Rousseve an honorary doctorate.	23:14
Kate Ellis	Oh, that's lovely.	23:22
Mildred Rousseve	But he finished. He finished, I think it, in 19 what? I forgot.	23:22
Kate Ellis	What, you mean from Xavier?	23:30
Mildred Rousseve	Xavier Prep.	23:31
Kate Ellis	Oh, okay. How did you and he meet?	23:32
Mildred Rousseve	We met. I didn't know him, but he was teaching at 35 and I didn't even know him while I was attending.	23:39
Kate Ellis	While you were attending there—	23:46
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	23:46
Kate Ellis	— he was teaching there.	23:46
Mildred Rousseve	But I didn't know him. But I had a friend, Mary Jones, who was getting married, and she wanted me to be in her wedding. So I was in her wedding. Take it off, honey. That's all right, it's hot in here. Leonie, is the air condition on? Put it on. You are warm?	23:47
Kate Ellis	I'm fine, now that I took my—	24:12
Mildred Rousseve	All right. And I was in the wedding. And another young man, a teacher at 35, had asked to take me home from the reception and I had accepted. But the night of the wedding, Mrs. Jones, who was the mother of the bride, told me her father was a bishop. So it was a nice wedding. They had means. And the mother told me, "No, Mr. Jackson is not going to take you home tonight, Mildred. I made arrangements, Mr. Rousseve is going to take you home." And later I found out why she did it. Because she had too, had married a man who had two children.	24:13
Kate Ellis	Oh.	25:02
Mildred Rousseve	And she wanted to get me married like that. That's why she did it. But it was all right, I'm glad she did, because he was a wonderful husband, a wonderful father, a wonderful man, a wonderful educator and everything. So I was glad it happened like that, but I wasn't glad at the time because I didn't know.	25:03
Kate Ellis	You didn't know him.	25:23
Mildred Rousseve	I didn't know him.	25:24
Kate Ellis	How was he to take you home? Did he have a car then or what happened?	25:26
Mildred Rousseve	He did have a car at that time.	25:30
Kate Ellis	Wow. Because that was—	25:32
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. He had a car.	25:32
Kate Ellis	— that was sort of in the— 'Cause you said you— Go ahead.	25:32
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. Early.	25:32
Kate Ellis	Early '30s.	25:32
Mildred Rousseve	But he bought a car.	25:32
Kate Ellis	Okay.	25:32
Mildred Rousseve	Because he was already teaching a while, you see?	25:41
Kate Ellis	Oh, so he was able to take care of himself.	25:43
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	25:46
Kate Ellis	Wow.	25:49
Mildred Rousseve	So we met that night. He took me home. I lived up on Baronne Street at the time, and I was so excited. Mrs. Jones, the mother of the bride, had prepared for all of the girls in the wedding, a nice box of sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres, nice—	25:52
Kate Ellis	To take home with you?	26:10
Mildred Rousseve	— To take home with us. Yes. From the reception. And I was so excited getting out the car and dropped it all right there at his feet. I said, "Oh, Mr. Rousseve, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to drop that." He said, "I know you didn't." And from that time on, we became friends and we married a year and a half later. He wanted to marry right away.	26:11
Kate Ellis	Did he?	26:36
Mildred Rousseve	Because he had those two children you see, that he knew his mother couldn't take care of them. And I loved children. And so he wanted to marry right away, but I told him, "No. I'd rather wait until I had taught nearly three years so I could be [indistinct 00:26:56] in the public school system." In case I needed to go back and work, I could get back.	26:37
Kate Ellis	And that took three years—	27:01
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	27:03
Kate Ellis	— to get?	27:04
Mildred Rousseve	And that's exactly what I did.	27:04
Kate Ellis	So then you said that you married, and so you quit working and raised—	27:07
Mildred Rousseve	Took care of the— Raised his children. Took care of them.	27:14
Kate Ellis	And your children too then?	27:16
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. So I had five altogether.	27:17
Kate Ellis	So two of his—	27:20
Mildred Rousseve	And three of mine.	27:22
Kate Ellis	— and three of yours.	27:22
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And that's my daughter right there. Sitting up there, my daughter.	27:24
Kate Ellis	The wedding picture?	27:28
Mildred Rousseve	Up there on the— Yeah. Yeah.	27:29
Kate Ellis	Beautiful picture.	27:29
Mildred Rousseve	And I have one of Theresa I can show you, but if I can get it I'll—	27:34
Kate Ellis	Yeah, I would love to. Maybe when we turn off the tape recorder, you can show me different photographs.	27:37
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, I will.	27:41
Kate Ellis	That'd be great.	27:42
Mildred Rousseve	Now that's her picture up there, Yolan. That's the daughter I had. And over here is the daughter she had. Look over there where I'm pointing, near the window. Look.	27:44
Kate Ellis	Oh, there. Okay.	27:55
Mildred Rousseve	Jane.	27:55
Kate Ellis	I see.	28:00
Mildred Rousseve	She's a doctor in Atlanta now.	28:00
Kate Ellis	Wow. So you have some— Sounds like a lot of people in your family are very well-educated.	28:00
Mildred Rousseve	They are. They all were. Yes. Yes.	28:04
Kate Ellis	So, and then the twins. So you had a daughter and then two male twins.	28:07
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. But Leonie is a twin too, but she's from her father's side, you see?	28:15
Kate Ellis	But Leonie is—	28:19
Mildred Rousseve	Mr. Rousseve's sister.	28:20
Kate Ellis	Sister. Okay. Right. So getting back to what your life was like when you were young and you were in school—	28:22
Mildred Rousseve	It was pleasant. The school was segregated. Only Colored girls or boys went to the school. But I never suffered from any integration. I really didn't. I hadn't known anything else. And I didn't want to be with the others. I just knew that we couldn't go to the same school. That's all.	28:35
Kate Ellis	Right. Do you remember, did your teachers ever talk about it?	28:58
Mildred Rousseve	No, not my teachers. They never did. No.	29:06
Kate Ellis	Was it something around the people that you spent time with, whether in your neighborhood or in your family—	29:09
Mildred Rousseve	No, they didn't—	29:18
Kate Ellis	— that people talked about or sort of made— How did people talk about the fact that there were places that you were to go to and places that White people were to go to?	29:19
Mildred Rousseve	They didn't talk about it. It just happened.	29:35
Kate Ellis	It's just what you knew.	29:38
Mildred Rousseve	It's just what I knew. You just knew you weren't supposed to go there, so you didn't go, to have people insult you.	29:39
Kate Ellis	Right.	29:47
Mildred Rousseve	You see?	29:47
Kate Ellis	Because if you went, you would be insulted.	29:48
Mildred Rousseve	Insulted, yes. So at that time, this integration hadn't started, but Mr. Rousseve started it. I wish I could show you some of the pictures. I think I have it in the paper that he saved for Amistad. See, a lot of his things have gone now since he died.	29:50
Kate Ellis	Gone to Amistad?	30:08
Mildred Rousseve	And they went to Xavier and they went to Amistad. I think I have a paper. You better take this off.	30:11
Kate Ellis	Okay.	30:17
Mildred Rousseve	So I can get the paper of the man who knew all about the integration at that time.	30:19
Kate Ellis	Do you mean in the '50s or the '60s or—	30:26
Mildred Rousseve	Uh-huh, when they started.	30:28
Kate Ellis	I don't want you to—	30:33
Mildred Rousseve	I won't step on it.	30:33
Kate Ellis	Well, you can step on it, I just don't want you to trip.	30:34
Mildred Rousseve	No, I won't step on it.	30:35
Kate Ellis	Okay.	30:37
Mildred Rousseve	Take a mint then, that's nice for you.	30:39
Kate Ellis	That's okay. I'm fine. That juice was perfect.	30:42
Mildred Rousseve	All right.	30:44
Kate Ellis	So here we are back again an hour later.	30:46
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	30:50
Kate Ellis	Let me collect my thoughts for a minute. Well, there are a couple things that we talked about while we were looking through photographs that I'd love to follow up on, on tape.	30:53
Mildred Rousseve	What are they?	31:05
Kate Ellis	One thing we've been talking about today to some extent are the different shades of people in your family, in Mr. Rousseve's family. And you were mentioning that you knew of people who were so light-skinned that they moved to California.	31:08
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	31:32
Kate Ellis	And went for White.	31:32
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. And they're on the other side. I have a friend out at the nursing home, she was a music supervisor here in the city for years and years. And she had three or four sisters. And they all went away from here, went to California, to pass for White. And they've given her up, they don't go to see her anymore. They don't even come down here. Yes. A lot of them went to California. Don't you tell them I said it?	31:33
Kate Ellis	I won't. Yeah. Because they obviously wouldn't want their—	32:03
Mildred Rousseve	Identity known.	32:07
Kate Ellis	— identity known.	32:08
Mildred Rousseve	But she's out of the nursing home now.	32:10
Kate Ellis	Why didn't she go for White? Is she something—	32:12
Mildred Rousseve	She was doing, she was working here. She was a supervisor of music in the system. And she'd leave her job.	32:14
Kate Ellis	Was she light-skinned as well? Could she have done that?	32:21
Mildred Rousseve	Yes she was. She could have.	32:24
Kate Ellis	And she chose not to.	32:25
Mildred Rousseve	At that time, yes.	32:25
Kate Ellis	When was that, when you say at that time?	32:27
Mildred Rousseve	But her other sister, Robin, looked just like White. And she was married to a man, Mr. Minor, he looked just like White.	32:29
Kate Ellis	So they moved to California together?	32:36
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	32:39
Kate Ellis	Around, could you say that was in the '50s or the '60s or the '40s or what? The—	32:39
Mildred Rousseve	'50s.	32:44
Kate Ellis	And what did people say about that when that happened?	32:48
Mildred Rousseve	They didn't say anything. When they found out, they just went.	32:52
Kate Ellis	They would just leave.	32:55
Mildred Rousseve	They out there. They just left. They didn't say what they were going to do. But that's what they did.	32:56
Kate Ellis	What do you think of their decision to do that?	33:02
Mildred Rousseve	Well, I thought it was wrong because I could have done it too at that time, because I was fairer than I am now. But I didn't want to give up my mother and give my stepbrothers and sisters that I had from when my mother remarried. I couldn't give them up. I'm too loyal to my family to do that. I couldn't do that.	33:05
Kate Ellis	You were saying that Mr. Rousseve was really proud of his Black identity.	33:34
Mildred Rousseve	He was. He was. He belonged to the NAACP. He joined. And so was his father, they joined every Black movement that came.	33:42
Kate Ellis	Really?	33:52
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm. He was. He was very proud of his NAACP, because they worked for the Blacks.	33:53
Kate Ellis	They worked for—	34:01
Mildred Rousseve	They wanted recognition, you see?	34:04
Kate Ellis	You mean they wanted recognition—	34:08
Mildred Rousseve	What did you say before? What came on before? Before something started?	34:15
Kate Ellis	Before the civil rights—	34:20
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	34:20
Kate Ellis	— movement started.	34:20
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. That's what I wanted to say. Civil rights movement.	34:22
Kate Ellis	You're saying the NAACP—	34:26
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	34:27
Kate Ellis	— worked for Blacks—	34:28
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	34:30
Kate Ellis	— before the civil rights movement.	34:30
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, before that. Yeah. His father was the one who worked for Blacks too.	34:31
Kate Ellis	Did he?	34:35
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	34:35
Kate Ellis	What did he do?	34:37
Mildred Rousseve	Well, he was in an association, you see? And that's how they work.	34:37
Kate Ellis	What do you mean?	34:42
Mildred Rousseve	You can't get anything unless you have a group of people who are going to agree to you with those things. You see? That's what he did.	34:43
Kate Ellis	So his father would organize Black people?	34:51
Mildred Rousseve	He was with the group. I don't say that he'd organize Black people, but he was with them. Those men you saw in that thing, they were all fair in that paper, they were working for civil rights.	34:53
Kate Ellis	In that history of, that Black History in Louisiana paper?	35:06
Mildred Rousseve	That I showed you. Yes.	35:10
Kate Ellis	Right. That Mr. Rousseve had stayed?	35:12
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	35:13
Kate Ellis	They were all working for Black people.	35:14
Mildred Rousseve	All working for Blacks. Yes.	35:16
Kate Ellis	And that was important to you and important—	35:19
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	35:20
Kate Ellis	— to Mr. Rousseve.	35:21
Mildred Rousseve	Very important to me. Now, when my grandmother died, my mother remarried. I told you I was being taken care of by my grandmother and the lady who lived with her, and they were taking care of us. And she was working. And she died. She was working as a cook—	35:22
Kate Ellis	Your grandmother was?	35:48
Mildred Rousseve	— for wealthy people. My grandmother was. And they came and said she had died in this doctor's home. And he thought a lot of my grandmother and gave us a lot of money when she died. Well, anyway, later on, the gentleman across the street, his name with Mr. Granderson, he had never married. And he knew my mother was alone. My mother was still pretty. And he knew that she was alone and she needed help. And she had these two children, she had Mildred, and she had Charles, and she had Harold, by my father. But he asked to marry her and he married her. And from his marriage to my mother, they had three children. Everett, John, and Clara.	35:51
Kate Ellis	What year was that around? About how old were you when they got married?	36:34
Mildred Rousseve	Now how old? I really don't know now. No, wait, let me see.	36:42
Kate Ellis	Oh, I could say, were you in elementary school or in high school?	36:45
Mildred Rousseve	I was in elementary school.	36:50
Kate Ellis	Okay. But so just to get a general.	36:52
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. I was in elementary school and he married my mother. And so he used to pay my car fare down to the school to 35, 'cause I didn't walk down there. But I walked home in the evening. But he gave us a good living. He bought us a good house. And when I started teaching, when I finished high school and I started teaching, I mean, the normal, and everybody wanted me to come and live with them. And I didn't want to live with them because I had my stepfather who had taken care of me. And so I stayed there until I married. And that's what I wanted to do.	36:54
Kate Ellis	Was to stay with them until you—	37:32
Mildred Rousseve	Huh?	37:35
Kate Ellis	Was to stay with your family until you got married?	37:35
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. It was the only family I knew.	37:40
Kate Ellis	Sounds like he was a good man.	37:43
Mildred Rousseve	Very good. And the children were good children. I stayed there long enough to help to send my oldest brother to college. He went to New Orleans University. And that's why I sort of reluctantly didn't want to marry, because my brother wasn't going to go back to school.	37:45
Kate Ellis	You mean if you had left—	38:08
Mildred Rousseve	To college. Yes.	38:08
Kate Ellis	— Oh, because you would stop providing income?	38:08
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Provided his tuition up at the New Orleans University.	38:12
Kate Ellis	So what happened when you did get married? Did he actually stop going to college?	38:18
Mildred Rousseve	He did. But he became a mail carrier, a postman. And he had a good living. So he turned out all right.	38:21
Kate Ellis	Did you have people in your neighborhood who you had ever noticed passing for White?	38:35
Mildred Rousseve	No. Not at that time. When I was a girl, no.	38:40
Kate Ellis	What about when you were, I don't know, in your twenties or when you were teaching?	38:45
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, yes. So a lot of them at that time. But you said nothing about it, you didn't know what they were going to California for, but later we learned why they were there.	38:49
Kate Ellis	What about people— I heard about people who, as I'm sure you well know, there were jobs that Black people could have say in department stores if they passed for Whites.	38:59
Mildred Rousseve	They did.	39:12
Kate Ellis	And they'd lead a double life in a sense.	39:12
Mildred Rousseve	They did. That was true.	39:15
Kate Ellis	And how would you interact with them if you knew?	39:20
Mildred Rousseve	Well, I had a friend who was very fair, Rachel Adams. And she worked as White. And I'd meet her on Canal Street and we'd both go to the show for Whites.	39:24
Kate Ellis	Oh, really?	39:35
Mildred Rousseve	And they would never know.	39:37
Kate Ellis	Like the movie theater?	39:38
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And when it was time to go home, she would go up and sit in front the screen and I'd sit behind, but we didn't care.	39:39
Kate Ellis	Now, why would you sit behind and her in front if you both could pass for White going into the theater?	39:46
Mildred Rousseve	Well, I wasn't passing for White, but Rachel had a job as White, and so she had to sit above the screen.	39:51
Kate Ellis	Oh, otherwise they would've found out?	39:59
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	40:01
Kate Ellis	And would you pretend to not know each other on the—	40:02
Mildred Rousseve	We didn't talk.	40:05
Kate Ellis	— when you got on the train.	40:10
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	40:10
Kate Ellis	So it was sort of your little secret.	40:10
Mildred Rousseve	And she made my dress when I married Mr. Rousseve.	40:10
Kate Ellis	Oh, really? But when you said that you'd go to the show, you'd go into the White section together.	40:13
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	40:18
Kate Ellis	And nobody stopped you.	40:18
Mildred Rousseve	Nobody knew.	40:21
Kate Ellis	Right. Sounds like that was something, and many people did if they could.	40:22
Mildred Rousseve	They did. Many people did.	40:30
Kate Ellis	And it was sort of— Sounds like a lot of times it was sort of unspoken.	40:33
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. It was. It was.	40:37
Kate Ellis	That people, you were just kind of subtle.	40:40
Mildred Rousseve	Right.	40:42
Kate Ellis	You mentioned earlier when we were talking that the one time when there was a girl who was darker than you, who came and— Did she pull your hair?	40:46
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	40:55
Kate Ellis	And so maybe she resented.	40:57
Mildred Rousseve	She did.	40:59
Kate Ellis	Do you think that there—	41:00
Mildred Rousseve	But later she became my friend.	41:01
Kate Ellis	Really?	41:03
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	41:03
Kate Ellis	Do you think that there were times when there was resentment among people who were darker who couldn't pass?	41:06
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, yes. I know there was. I know that. Yes, there was resentment.	41:14
Kate Ellis	How would that be expressed? How did that show itself?	41:19
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, just in meanness, or not speak to them or not want to, certain things.	41:21
Kate Ellis	What do you mean?	41:29
Mildred Rousseve	Just didn't want to be friends with them.	41:33
Kate Ellis	So meaning you mean the darker skinned wouldn't want to be friends with— Did you think that sometimes, like did the lighter skinned people tend to keep more to themselves?	41:36
Mildred Rousseve	Sometimes.	41:48
Kate Ellis	And the darker skinned kept—	41:48
Mildred Rousseve	Sometimes. But it didn't prevent people from doing well. It didn't prevent them from becoming educated. You see the Perrys, their mother was very fair, Mrs. Perry, Lillian Perry and the twins and all of them. And all of them were educated. It didn't harm us. It didn't harm me one bit.	41:50
Kate Ellis	Right. Yeah.	42:10
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, they were. But I was friendly with everybody, Whites and Black. And my mother told me to be good to everybody, and I would get along and I did. I spoke to everybody. Talked to everybody. We had White neighbors at one time. We have a White neighbor right now, right next door.	42:12
Kate Ellis	Oh, really?	42:30
Mildred Rousseve	She's still there. Ms. Swab, and one across the street. And we're on speaking terms, we're just as nice. They wouldn't think of moving from there.	42:31
Kate Ellis	Yeah. Sounds like there are some neighborhoods where Whites did move.	42:42
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, they did. Now, when we moved here, more than 25 years ago, they were living next door, had been there. They started this settlement. Her father planted those trees out there, those oak trees, because he worked at Parkway Commission and they were all White. And they became friends with us, you can't imagine. He came in our yard and planted rose gardens, planted trees around the walk. They were lovely people.	42:44
Kate Ellis	Well—	43:11
Mildred Rousseve	We all alike.	43:14
Kate Ellis	Yeah. No, I mean, of course it goes without saying, I believe you and I agree with you. It also sounds, just from what you're saying, that sometimes you wouldn't necessarily always expect that from White people.	43:15
Mildred Rousseve	No.	43:35
Kate Ellis	That sometimes, I mean, you said earlier that you knew not to go to some White neighborhoods because you'd be insulted—	43:36
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	43:47
Kate Ellis	— if you went there. And I know that despite that, and despite knowing that, I know that it sounds to me that you've had a lovely life.	43:48
Mildred Rousseve	I have.	43:59
Kate Ellis	So I'm not—	43:59
Mildred Rousseve	I have.	44:02
Kate Ellis	— I'm not here to have you tell me, "Oh—"	44:02
Mildred Rousseve	No. No.	44:03
Kate Ellis	— "My life was ruined because of racism."	44:05
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, no. I didn't think about it.	44:06
Kate Ellis	Really?	44:09
Mildred Rousseve	I got everything I should have had in life. My mother couldn't provide me. I didn't have a Christmas tree until I married.	44:10
Kate Ellis	Really?	44:18
Mildred Rousseve	But I had other toys. And I got those toys, it was the doll and toy fund that they had here every year in New Orleans.	44:18
Kate Ellis	What's it called? Doll—	44:28
Mildred Rousseve	Doll and toy fund. People give to that here every Christmas, to give poor children the toys that they would like to have.	44:30
Kate Ellis	And so you—	44:37
Mildred Rousseve	I was one of those children. Yes. We got toys. And I didn't know where they came from and didn't worry about it.	44:39
Kate Ellis	You got toys.	44:46
Mildred Rousseve	A beautiful doll. Yes. And this old lady who helped my grandmother take care of us, she was lovely to me. Aunt Tom, we called her.	44:47
Kate Ellis	Oh, the one that you lived— What did you call, Aunt Tom?	44:57
Mildred Rousseve	Her name was Thompson.	45:00
Kate Ellis	Oh.	45:02
Mildred Rousseve	And we used to call Aunt Tom.	45:03
Kate Ellis	I see.	45:04
Mildred Rousseve	I've had a very good life. Very good. And if I had to do it over again, I'd be happy to do it over again. I came in contact with good people. I came in contact with people who loved me. Maybe there were some people who didn't. Maybe there were some people who were jealous of me, but I didn't care. Didn't worry me, I didn't know they were jealous of me. I didn't know that. But I have had a very good life. And when I married Mr. Rousseve, Mr. Granderson, my stepfather came to visit me. He gave me away as a bride.	45:08
Kate Ellis	Did he?	45:45
Mildred Rousseve	And I was happy to have him do so. I didn't miss anything.	45:45
Kate Ellis	Yeah. No, that's—	45:54
Mildred Rousseve	I didn't have a big house. My mother didn't have a big home like this, and neither did we, when we first married. But we were living in Rousseve's home over on Columbus Street. If I had time, I'd take you and show you the house, it's right by McDonogh 35 school.	45:56
Kate Ellis	On Columbus Street. So the house that he grew up in?	46:13
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	46:16
Kate Ellis	So that's where you lived first, and then eventually you moved?	46:17
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. No, not here. We moved on Humanity Street. We built a house on Humanity Street.	46:20
Kate Ellis	And then from there you moved here?	46:26
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	46:27
Kate Ellis	Okay. Did you ever live outside of New Orleans?	46:29
Mildred Rousseve	Never.	46:31
Kate Ellis	No. Did you travel much?	46:31
Mildred Rousseve	I did after we married. Yes.	46:34
Kate Ellis	Where did you travel?	46:35
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, one year, Mr. Rousseve went to school at the University of Chicago. And his last month there, my daughter and I went and spent two weeks with him and then came home with him. And then we went to see Ferdinand when he—	46:38

Mildred Rousseve	I went to Houston. We visited Houston. We visited Boston.	0:03
Kate Ellis	When you were traveling before the 1960s, did you have to make special arrangements as far as where you stayed, how you traveled? Again, because of the laws of segregation?	0:11
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, but I didn't go to any hotels myself. I didn't want to take a chance. I went to my friend's homes and lived with them.	0:21
Kate Ellis	Uh-huh, so, you had—	0:28
Mildred Rousseve	And to Ferdinand's home and lived with him.	0:30
Kate Ellis	Mm-hmm. Take a chance as far as being turned away?	0:31
Mildred Rousseve	That's right. I never did do that.	0:34
Kate Ellis	Mm-hmm. Sounds like you were, just from what you're saying, it just sounds like you had a very good idea of where you'd go, where you couldn't go. And you didn't push it, in a sense.	0:36
Mildred Rousseve	I didn't.	0:49
Kate Ellis	Not that you were passive.	0:49
Mildred Rousseve	No, no.	0:49
Kate Ellis	I don't mean it like that, but you just sort of said, "Okay, I know that they might turn me away here, so I'm going to make arrangements and stay with a friend."	0:52
Mildred Rousseve	That's right. Yes.	0:57
Kate Ellis	Sort of a tactical plan.	0:57
Mildred Rousseve	I knew of so I did, yes. Yes. Now, there are many people who are here who did not have the experiences I've had. Louise Bush was one, she didn't have the experiences I had because she had her mother and father. All of them are there. They could go where they wanted but I didn't care. Didn't worry me. I don't want to talk about them.	1:09
Kate Ellis	No, no. I'm sure you don't. But without talking about them, what do you mean when you say that your experience was different? I mean—	1:32
Mildred Rousseve	Well, she just had her mother and father all of her life, I didn't. That's a great difference. I didn't know my father. A lot of people might have thought that I was illegitimate, but I wasn't because I have my mother and father's tone marriage license right now.	1:47
Kate Ellis	Oh, you still have it?	2:07
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. I still have it.	2:08
Kate Ellis	I see.	2:11
Mildred Rousseve	To prove that my mother and father were married. Because when I say my father died before I was born, they might think that I didn't have a father, but I did.	2:14
Kate Ellis	And that would be considered a sort of—	2:24
Mildred Rousseve	Disgrace. They don't think it now, though.	2:28
Kate Ellis	I'm sure they don't.	2:31
Mildred Rousseve	Because they're having babies now and they're not married and they want the babies, but they don't want to be married.	2:34
Kate Ellis	Yeah, yeah, things are a little different now. Yeah. Yeah. You had said a little while ago, again, on the same sort of topic, that Mr. Rousseve was really committed to giving his children, to giving your children an education.	2:43
Mildred Rousseve	All of our children.	3:05
Kate Ellis	Mm-hmm. All of your children because you said of the pride that he felt. And because of his Black racial heritage. Can you say a little bit more about that? Just what his ideals were or—	3:06
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, he had strong ideals. He really did. But he wanted the children to be well educated and we sent them to— They did well in school from the grade school up. And when they went to Xavier Prep, well, they didn't win scholarships like their father did there, but they did go into music at Xavier and both of the boys won a scholarship in music. And so that tuition was paid. Now, Yolande didn't have a scholarship, but we were able to pay for her.	3:19
Kate Ellis	For her college?	3:52
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, mm-hmm. And the boys, Roland went to LSU, was the first one to go there as a Black and into the music school.	3:53
Kate Ellis	How was that for him to be the first Black student?	4:10
Mildred Rousseve	Huh?	4:12
Kate Ellis	How was that for him to be the first Black?	4:12
Mildred Rousseve	Well, he just applied. He went and applied and he applied in a band. And he had played with Xavier's band and the instructor, Xavier's band recommended him. And he was White.	4:13
Kate Ellis	The instructor was White and recommended him for LSU?	4:26
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And he went there and he got his master's in music	4:29
Kate Ellis	There?	4:33
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm.	4:34
Kate Ellis	How was it for him to be the first Black student there?	4:35
Mildred Rousseve	It was pleasant. He was like I was, they didn't do anything. They were not ugly to him. He could play well. He could succeed them.	4:40
Kate Ellis	And they respected that.	4:51
Mildred Rousseve	They respected that, yes. I didn't meet any discord anywheres in my life in saying that, "Well, you can't do this because you're not White."	4:51
Kate Ellis	I know what I was going to ask you, just about when you used to go to the Municipal Auditorium.	5:05
Mildred Rousseve	Auditorium. We were segregated then, and we had to go— When I first married, Mr. Rousseve, we had to go way upstairs before we could sit on the first floor.	5:09
Kate Ellis	To listen to the opera.	5:20
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm. But it didn't worry us. We went to see the opera. We wanted to see the opera. We don't care where we'd sit and we'd dress up. And after that it's the funny thing. I was in a club with all Whites at one time, right here. They— Community concerts. The lady asked me to join the club. She was in charge of some of the things that they were doing. And she said, "Come and join with us."	5:22
Kate Ellis	I think it was like a social— It was a community social club.	5:50
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And we met at different homes. And I went into these homes. They received me beautifully. They knew who I was, they knew I was Black, mm-hmm, but it didn't affect me one bit.	5:53
Kate Ellis	Yeah, yeah. It's interesting, go ahead, please.	6:09
Mildred Rousseve	I'm just saying I've had happy life, even though they had segregation here. I didn't get any of that ugliness of it.	6:13
Kate Ellis	But you knew of other people who did experience that?	6:21
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah.	6:24
Kate Ellis	Did you ever hear stories or—	6:24
Mildred Rousseve	Hm?	6:26
Kate Ellis	What were you going to say?	6:27
Mildred Rousseve	I don't know.	6:27
Kate Ellis	Did you ever hear stories about what other people had experienced?	6:30
Mildred Rousseve	No, I never did.	6:36
Kate Ellis	Yeah. I mean, just I can just—	6:38
Mildred Rousseve	Being ugly to them or so?	6:41
Kate Ellis	Yeah.	6:41
Mildred Rousseve	No, I never heard of that because I knew there was some things I didn't do and I couldn't do. And it didn't worry me to talk about it or even go there. But when we could go to the auditorium and buy tickets, if you bought your ticket, you went anywheres you wanted to go but you were segregated in seating. Excuse me. Mm-hmm.	6:45
Kate Ellis	Hm, yeah. Sounds like everybody, people that I've spoken with, even just so far, everybody's had profoundly different experiences with it. I mean, some people I've talked to I think really suffered. I mean, suffered from the segregation, suffered from the mistreatment and others didn't.	7:06
Mildred Rousseve	I didn't though.	7:30
Kate Ellis	And others didn't.	7:30
Mildred Rousseve	I didn't. And neither did Mr. Rousseve's people,	7:30
Kate Ellis	Mm-hmm. I mean, his family.	7:35
Mildred Rousseve	And he was respected by Whites, everybody, when he became a principal. Oh, they loved him very much. Mm-hmm.	7:35
Kate Ellis	Yeah. Sounds like they did, yeah. Sounds like your whole family's really respected.	7:44
Mildred Rousseve	They did, mm-hmm. How did Ms. Bothers get you to come to me?	7:51
Kate Ellis	That's a good question. How did she? She just said that you were an interesting woman, that you come from an interesting family and that you'd be good to talk to, so, and she—	8:02
Mildred Rousseve	It it true?	8:13
Kate Ellis	Of course it's true. Of course it's true. Yeah.	8:13
Mildred Rousseve	I had the letter and I thought I had to write and give you an answer and I was going to tell you I couldn't do it.	8:20
Kate Ellis	No. And well I know we talked on the phone yesterday and you told me that—	8:24
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, I couldn't come to wherever you all were meeting. You see, because I don't have a car no more, and I can't drive anymore. Because sometimes I get dizzy, and if I turn too quickly, I can easily fall from this blood thickness.	8:27
Kate Ellis	Yeah, yeah. No, you don't want that.	8:41
Mildred Rousseve	So I told you that I couldn't, and you said, "Well, you don't have to."	8:45
Kate Ellis	If I come to you.	8:48
Mildred Rousseve	So I'll [indistinct 00:08:53].	8:48
Kate Ellis	A little fishy.	8:48
Mildred Rousseve	He had many sessions like this though.	8:53
Kate Ellis	Really? Where people would come and interview him?	8:54
Mildred Rousseve	With people who come to interview him. Students from away, from France.	8:55
Kate Ellis	Really?	9:00
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	9:01
Kate Ellis	Would come to talk with him.	9:01
Mildred Rousseve	Different places, they'd come and talk with him.	9:01
Kate Ellis	Now, did he remain fluent in French all his life?	9:03
Mildred Rousseve	He could still, yes.	9:06
Kate Ellis	He could still—	9:07
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm. He didn't speak as much French in the end of his life as he did before. But he spoke French until he was seven years old and never a word of English until he was seven. Now you're going to talk to me.	9:08
Kate Ellis	I'm going to ask you. All of a sudden I thought, "Oh, I have these forms to do." Let me just ask you one other thing. I just noticed, and I didn't know this earlier, or if I knew it, I forgot it, that you were a librarian?	9:19
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	9:29
Kate Ellis	At the— Now, which public library in New Orleans was it? It said something like, "You were the first librarian at—"	9:29
Mildred Rousseve	On the Bookmobile.	9:37
Kate Ellis	Oh, okay.	9:39
Mildred Rousseve	I'll show you some material I have on it. I think it's in a room over there. I'm not sure.	9:43
Kate Ellis	Well, should we wait until—	9:47
Mildred Rousseve	Tomorrow?	9:50
Kate Ellis	Well, not until tomorrow, but until after I do these forms, just so I don't have to unhook you and I don't want you to have to get up all the time. So let me just— Some of this stuff I can fill in.	9:51
Mildred Rousseve	I was a librarian.	10:01
Kate Ellis	How long were you a librarian for?	10:03
Mildred Rousseve	About 22 years.	10:06
Kate Ellis	So when did—	10:07
Mildred Rousseve	After I married. Mr. Rousseve didn't want me to marry at first, didn't want me to work at first. But I convinced him that after the children had gone to school, that I could do my work and work and help and I did. I was a strong woman. I was a strong person.	10:08
Kate Ellis	Yeah. Well—	10:29
Mildred Rousseve	And I took care of my home. But my mother-in-law was living next to me.	10:30
Kate Ellis	Your mother-in-law was?	10:33
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And we had doors between, we went between. And if the children got home early, they told them what to do. And they were very obedient children.	10:34
Kate Ellis	So she could sort of keep an eye out for them?	10:45
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, until I got home. Yeah.	10:47
Kate Ellis	So when did you, after your last child was born, which was Yolande? Yolande was the last child.	10:50
Mildred Rousseve	Yolande was my first. No, yeah, she was the last. The twins were first.	10:56
Kate Ellis	Because the twin came first. How long after that did you start working?	10:59
Mildred Rousseve	After they were all old enough to go to grade school. I taught them first grade at home. I had a little table. I had a room. I had a little classroom.	11:04
Kate Ellis	And you would teach them everyday.	11:14
Mildred Rousseve	Every day.	11:15
Kate Ellis	That's great.	11:16
Mildred Rousseve	And I taught them at home. So when they entered school, they entered the second grade at Corpus Christi School. That's a Catholic school. They didn't go through first grade. And then after that, I began working at Craig School. It was a public school, not too far from my home.	11:17
Kate Ellis	You said you began working there?	11:32
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	11:34
Kate Ellis	As a teacher?	11:34
Mildred Rousseve	It was substitute work. That's how I came back into the system.	11:34
Kate Ellis	You started doing substitute? And then?	11:40
Mildred Rousseve	And what else was you asking?	11:43
Kate Ellis	Well, then you became a librarian.	11:46
Mildred Rousseve	I became a librarian after I was there a few years. Ms. Dedeaux, the teacher you thought was Louise. You said, "Is this Louise?" I said, "No, that's Maude Dedeaux." She was the principal of the school. And one day she said, "Mildred, I want to make a library out of those rooms upstairs, and I want you to organize it." I said, "But I haven't had library science, Maude." She said, "That's all right. I'll arrange for you to get what you need to do." And Ms. Dedeaux got all of the books that I should have had if I had gone to school and had taken library science formally. And she got them.	11:48
Mildred Rousseve	And she also had Evelyn Peters, who was then the White librarian over all the Colored schools. And she observed me and came to see what I was doing. And it was right. She went and told Ms. Dedeaux I knew it and I was doing it. I learned how to catalog books. I learned how to do this. Everything I did, I learned to do.	12:30
Kate Ellis	You taught yourself.	12:50
Mildred Rousseve	Taught myself. But she bought the books for me and yeah, I organized it. I wish I had the pictures to show you. I don't, though. I don't know what they did with it when they— I organized it at those two rooms together. And the children used to come up there to borrow books. And another thing they did, at the noontime, when the big children were having recess, I was having the little children in the room upstairs for storytelling in the library.	12:51
Kate Ellis	And you would tell them stories?	13:33
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And then one year I had a program and I invited the city librarian to come and visit us. And I had a little play. And he was impressed by that play and everything that I had done at Craig's school. And the next year, he offered me a job. And I hated to leave Ms. Dedeaux because she was the one responsible for it. But I did because I was going to get more money.	13:36
Mildred Rousseve	So I went and I became a librarian part-time at the branch. And after that, Mr. Jacobs went into the Army who was acting as librarian. He was librarian and Mr. Logan took over. George King Logan took over and he became the librarian. And he said, "Ms. Rousseve, we going to come and see about you starting the bookmobile." I said, "Mr. Logan, I don't know anything about a bookmobile, working on a bookmobile." He said, "But you know how people sell bread and sell commodities from a truck, don't you?" I said, "Of course I do." He said, "That's what you got to do with the books." And after that, they called me a missionary for books.	14:11
Kate Ellis	Really?	15:07
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm. And my first stop was in the Magnolia Project, right up town where they have a lot of trouble now.	15:08
Kate Ellis	What's it called? Magnolia?	15:15
Mildred Rousseve	Project. That's where I went the first time that I worked on a bookmobile. I stood up at the back of the bookmobile and told the children where I was there, and I gave them cards to sign. And they signed the cards and from then on—	15:17
Kate Ellis	They'd come and get books?	15:35
Mildred Rousseve	They'd come and get books. I went to so many stops a day. Who told you I was a librarian?	15:37
Kate Ellis	I read it. I read it, I think it was in the little passage that was written— The book that you showed me that was written by somebody whose name I can't remember. Something Peters?	15:43
Mildred Rousseve	Peter Clark.	15:54
Kate Ellis	Peter Clark? And then he was writing about your husband? And I think that that's where there was something about you in there too.	15:55
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, I guess so.	16:01
Kate Ellis	Yeah. And it said that you had been the first librarian for, again, the name escapes me. But it was for this bookmobile.	16:02
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, bookmobile. And then—	16:08
Kate Ellis	Was that in the fifties?	16:10
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And I worked at different branches then. You see, when they found out what I was doing, they put me everywhere.	16:12
Kate Ellis	Now, when you say different branches, you mean you went around in the bookmobile to different communities?	16:20
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, yes. Well, I always went to different communities.	16:24
Kate Ellis	Uh-huh. But shat do you mean different branch? Oh, different branches. Did each branch have a different bookmobile?	16:27
Mildred Rousseve	No, each branch had a different librarian. And they were mostly White.	16:32
Kate Ellis	So were you one of the first Black librarians?	16:37
Mildred Rousseve	I was. No, I wasn't the first Black.	16:41
Kate Ellis	But you were—	16:45
Mildred Rousseve	Ms. Johnson was the first Black.	16:45
Kate Ellis	But you were among a few?	16:47
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Don't say I was the first Black librarian because I wasn't.	16:49
Kate Ellis	I won't say that. I won't say that.	16:55
Mildred Rousseve	No, I wasn't, dear.	16:56
Kate Ellis	I will not, no, I didn't mean to ask it.	16:57
Mildred Rousseve	No. That's all right.	16:59
Kate Ellis	In a way that sort of said, "Is this your new title," or anything. I just meant—	17:00
Mildred Rousseve	No. No. Uh-huh.	17:03
Kate Ellis	I couldn't remember if I'd read in that booklet that that's what it had said. Because I didn't think that's what— It didn't say that in the book?	17:03
Mildred Rousseve	No.	17:07
Kate Ellis	Okay. But you had just said a minute ago that it was mostly White librarians?	17:09
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, at these branches, all the different branches. And later on, they respected my work that when they needed someone to go into the branches, they would send me, because I could do the same work those other librarians were doing. And I stayed there for about 22 years.	17:13
Kate Ellis	Oh, so when did you retire from that? Did you retire in the seventies from that work?	17:35
Mildred Rousseve	No, sixties, I think.	17:43
Kate Ellis	In the sixties?	17:44
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm. I think so.	17:45
Kate Ellis	Okay. Yeah. So you were a working mother for quite a long time.	17:50
Mildred Rousseve	Long time. But I had obedient children and they listened to me. I never had to whip my children, none of us. We didn't whip my children. Sometimes I'd just look at them if they did things I didn't like.	17:55
Kate Ellis	That was enough.	18:10
Mildred Rousseve	And I was taking them somewhere. Now, one time we got on a bus, this is the only time I experienced segregation. And I got on the bus on Esplanade and Marais, I can see it now. And my children were very well dressed. They had white shoes and nice suits and everything. And one of them asked me, "Mother dear, why we have to sit in the back like this?" And so I said, "Because it's the law. Someday you'll learn why." And that's all I told them. And when I got home, I explained it to them. And as I got off the bus, the bus driver said, "You told it to them in a beautiful way." He said, "Somebody else would've made a big fuss on this bus if the children had say, why we have to sit way in the back?" I said, "Because that's the law right now. And we have to sit back here." And every time they'd see me, they'd all tell me how pretty my children looked.	18:11
Kate Ellis	Oh, really?	19:11
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, mm-hmm. That's why I got that baby picture out there. You see my two boys on there?	19:12
Kate Ellis	Those are the pictures? Yeah. Those are your boys?	19:17
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. When there were little boys coming up, that's my girl on the side.	19:21
Kate Ellis	So people would compliment you on your—	19:23
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, on the children. And let's see what, yeah, when Charles and Mr. Rousseve died, I had those pictures put up. I didn't have them out. I had their late pictures put out of the children. So I said, "They're getting all their baby pictures out. I had pretty babies so I'm going to get my baby pictures out." So I got Yolande's picture and those two boys, and showed it to them.	19:25
Kate Ellis	When you got home, do you remember how you explained it to them?	19:49
Mildred Rousseve	I told them that that was a rule of the city. It was a segregation rule. And the Whites couldn't go where the Blacks were and the Blacks couldn't go where the Whites were. And they didn't say anything. They just said, "But why?" I said, "It was just a rule and we abide by the rule, but someday it may change." And Ronald was able to go up to Notre Dame when he went to school up there and mixed with all of them. And they didn't do him one thing. And Roland went on to LSU. They didn't do him anything. And the law hadn't passed, but they did it.	19:52
Kate Ellis	Right? That was before, yeah.	20:31
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm. It was there. I think their actions and their character, that's what did it. I didn't fuss about it or didn't say call them names or do this or do that. We didn't do that. We weren't people like that. A lot of people make a big fuss over things. We never did.	20:32
Kate Ellis	Yeah, go on and live your life.	20:56
Mildred Rousseve	You got this episode?	21:00
Kate Ellis	Uh-huh, that's okay. What?	21:03
Mildred Rousseve	Who's going to listen to it?	21:05
Kate Ellis	Probably people doing research who want to know what life was like before the 1960s. Nobody from the press.	21:10
Mildred Rousseve	Well, that's good.	21:19
Kate Ellis	Nobody from the television stations.	21:20
Mildred Rousseve	That's good.	21:21
Kate Ellis	Nobody making any movies.	21:22
Mildred Rousseve	Now, that's my oldest son, Charles' first boy over there, the big one. And the other two are Roland and Ronald, my twins. And you see the little twins on the side in those little white suits?	21:25
Kate Ellis	Yes.	21:37
Mildred Rousseve	Those are my twins.	21:37
Kate Ellis	Oh, cute.	21:38
Mildred Rousseve	They look like little teddy bears, didn't they?	21:39
Kate Ellis	Yes, they do.	21:41
Mildred Rousseve	And at the bottom, there's Yolande, there's her daughter Jan. There's Gail in the middle, and Lisa's on the side. And that's Lisa's little girl on a picture right in front of her. The last one over there.	21:42
Kate Ellis	Yeah. To the right?	21:55
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. And so there we are at the bottom again, Charles and I.	21:55
Kate Ellis	Well, I can see that.	22:01
Mildred Rousseve	So we had a very good life, segregated, set up. It was all right. Not then, oh, it was passed then.	22:01
Kate Ellis	Yeah. Well, let me ask you these questions here, because by the time we get finished with this, you're going to be tired of talking I'm sure. What is your middle name?	22:09
Mildred Rousseve	Mildred Celeste Robichaux. But after I married, I didn't go by Celeste, I went by Mildred.	22:20
Kate Ellis	Will you spell Robichaux for me?	22:33
Mildred Rousseve	R-O-B-I-C-H-A-U-X. And there are plenty of White Robichaux in the city here too.	22:35
Kate Ellis	There are? And what is the street? Is this 3525?	22:42
Mildred Rousseve	Touro Street. T-O-U-R-O.	22:48
Kate Ellis	What's your zip code?	23:02
Mildred Rousseve	70122.	23:03
Kate Ellis	Okay. And your date of birth?	23:04
Mildred Rousseve	September 20th, 19 five.	23:10
Kate Ellis	19 five. 19 five? 1905.	23:10
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm. 1905.	23:12
Kate Ellis	And you were born in New Orleans?	23:22
Mildred Rousseve	In New Orleans.	23:23
Kate Ellis	Okay. And your principal occupations? I mean, the work that you—	23:31
Mildred Rousseve	I was a teacher and later a librarian.	23:37
Kate Ellis	Okay. Okay. Okay, can you tell me precisely how you would like your name to appear in written materials? Now, written materials, that means with the tape of our interview, there'll be a sheet that just says your name, who it is and when the interview took place and a few other things, but—	23:46
Mildred Rousseve	That's all right. The tape is all right.	24:21
Kate Ellis	Okay. What's your full, middle, last name? How would you like it to appear?	24:24
Mildred Rousseve	Mrs. Charles B. Rousseve.	24:30
Kate Ellis	Okay. Mrs. Charles B.?	24:45
Mildred Rousseve	B. Rousseve.	24:49
Kate Ellis	Okay. Your spouse's name was?	24:53
Mildred Rousseve	Hm?	24:56
Kate Ellis	It was Charles?	24:57
Mildred Rousseve	Barthelemy Rousseve.	24:58
Kate Ellis	B-A-R-T-H?	25:02
Mildred Rousseve	H-E-L-E-M-Y. T-H-E-L-E-M-Y. Barthelemy Rousseve.	25:03
Kate Ellis	Barthelemy. And do you remember his date of birth?	25:18
Mildred Rousseve	November 4th, 19— He was 91 when he died.	25:21
Kate Ellis	So was he '02? Was it 1902?	25:32
Mildred Rousseve	He was three years older than I.	25:35
Kate Ellis	And you were born in 1905.	25:36
Mildred Rousseve	Five.	25:36
Kate Ellis	So he was 1902.	25:36
Mildred Rousseve	Two.	25:36
Kate Ellis	And then he passed on the 28th?	25:42
Mildred Rousseve	Of December, 1943. 19—	25:45
Kate Ellis	Mm. '93.	25:45
Mildred Rousseve	Three.	25:45
Kate Ellis	And he was born in New Orleans?	25:54
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	25:55
Kate Ellis	And his principal occupation?	26:03
Mildred Rousseve	School teacher and school principal. He loved music and he loved his American history and certainly loved his— What was actually called it? Black history.	26:05
Kate Ellis	Did I call it? Yeah, or—	26:25
Mildred Rousseve	No, we didn't say Black history now. What do we name it now? It used to be Black history.	26:27
Kate Ellis	You mean his, oh, Black heritage?	26:35
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. He was proud of his Black heritage.	26:37
Kate Ellis	So I'm writing here, "School teacher and principal, musician, historian."	26:42
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, good.	26:48
Kate Ellis	Okay. Now this is about your parents. What was your mother's full name?	26:49
Mildred Rousseve	Wait there, Laura, as far as I know, before she married Mr. Granderson, it was Laura Daunis Robichaux.	26:55
Kate Ellis	How do I spell Daunis?	27:07
Mildred Rousseve	D-A-U-N-I-S.	27:08
Kate Ellis	D-A-U-N-I-S.	27:09
Mildred Rousseve	Robichaux. Then after she remarried, it became Laura Granderson. She married John Granderson.	27:16
Kate Ellis	Okay. I think for these records, if it's okay with you, I'll keep Robichaux.	27:31
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	27:39
Kate Ellis	Okay. And then her maiden name? Do you know her maiden name?	27:42
Mildred Rousseve	My mother's maiden name? Oh, didn't I say Daunis? Laura Daunis?	27:47
Kate Ellis	So that is Daunis? Daunis was the maiden name?	27:49
Mildred Rousseve	Before she got became to Robichaux, yeah.	27:52
Kate Ellis	And do you know her date of birth?	27:57
Mildred Rousseve	I have it down and I'll have it for you tomorrow because I have it down. I'd have to get up and go look for it.	28:03
Kate Ellis	Okay. And do you know when she died?	28:08
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. I have all that. I can give it to you tomorrow. Because I have to get up and go look for it.	28:12
Kate Ellis	Okay. And then where was she born?	28:15
Mildred Rousseve	In Thibodaux or somewhere outside there in the country. I've forgotten. Thibodaux, or wait.	28:24
Kate Ellis	I'll say Thibodaux.	28:31
Mildred Rousseve	Thibodaux, Louisiana.	28:36
Kate Ellis	And you told me that she used to, she had work, you said. What was her occupation?	28:38
Mildred Rousseve	My mother never did work that I know of.	28:44
Kate Ellis	Okay. Right. So should I call her housewife?	28:49
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	28:52
Kate Ellis	Okay. And do you remember your father's full name?	28:53
Mildred Rousseve	All I remember is Samuel Robichaux. S-A-M-U-E-L R-O-B-I-C-H-A-U-X.	29:02
Kate Ellis	Do you know where he was born?	29:13
Mildred Rousseve	Out in the country, somewheres.	29:15
Kate Ellis	Somewhere in the country.	29:16
Mildred Rousseve	Say Thibodaux or Homer.	29:18
Kate Ellis	Homer.	29:20
Mildred Rousseve	Homer.	29:21
Kate Ellis	H-O-M-E-R?	29:25
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. Or H-O-U-M-A it might be. I don't know when was it.	29:25
Kate Ellis	Okay. And I think you said that he used to work along the river?	29:29
Mildred Rousseve	Yes, he did.	29:34
Kate Ellis	But you're not sure what that was that he did?	29:35
Mildred Rousseve	No, I don't know.	29:37
Kate Ellis	Okay. I'll say he worked along the river.	29:38
Mildred Rousseve	For an organization, it was an organization.	29:41
Kate Ellis	And you said that he died before you were born?	29:59
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. He died in—	30:04
Kate Ellis	So that was in?	30:06
Mildred Rousseve	In May 19 five. And I was born in September 19 five.	30:06
Kate Ellis	And do you don't know his date of birth or around the time that he was born, do you?	30:13
Mildred Rousseve	No.	30:16
Kate Ellis	Okay. Okay. Now were you the first, the second born of your mother? Was Harold older or younger than you?	30:30
Mildred Rousseve	Harold was older than I.	30:37
Kate Ellis	So you were the second born. So this is asking you about your sisters and brothers. Can you give me Harold's full name? It was Harold.	30:41
Mildred Rousseve	I don't know his middle name.	30:49
Kate Ellis	So Harold Robichaux.	30:50
Mildred Rousseve	Robichaux. Then Mildred's the last Robichaux.	30:51
Kate Ellis	What year was Harold born?	30:56
Mildred Rousseve	He was about two years older than I was, so.	31:00
Kate Ellis	So 1903?	31:03
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	31:03
Kate Ellis	And when did he pass?	31:05
Mildred Rousseve	Oh, I have it down. I have to get it.	31:09
Kate Ellis	Okay. And he was born in New Orleans?	31:10
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	31:12
Kate Ellis	Yeah. Okay. And then what about the sisters and brothers that came?	31:18
Mildred Rousseve	Well, they were Grandersons.	31:25
Kate Ellis	Okay. And what were their names?	31:28
Mildred Rousseve	The first one was Everett.	31:29
Kate Ellis	Everett?	31:33
Mildred Rousseve	Everett. I know his middle name, but I can't think what.	31:34
Kate Ellis	That's okay.	31:39
Mildred Rousseve	Everett Granderson.	31:39
Kate Ellis	Granderson. I'm going to spell that just the way it sounds.	31:40
Mildred Rousseve	G-R-A-N-D-E-R-S-O-N.	31:43
Kate Ellis	Okay. And—	31:43
Mildred Rousseve	He was born in New Orleans. All of them were born in New Orleans.	31:47
Kate Ellis	Okay. And—	31:50
Mildred Rousseve	And the next one was John Granderson. He was named for his father. And the next one was Clara Granderson. C-L-A-R-A, named for my mother's sister.	31:54
Kate Ellis	Do you remember the general years that they were born? Okay. But it was after 1905?	32:10
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, I might have them with the other things tomorrow.	32:17
Kate Ellis	Okay. Now your children. And I guess with your children, I don't know whether you want to include— I mean, if—	32:20
Mildred Rousseve	Charles and Teresa?	32:36
Kate Ellis	Yeah. As far as your own. I mean, what do you think?	32:37
Mildred Rousseve	Well, I was not their mother. I was their stepmother.	32:45
Kate Ellis	Right. Maybe we could write them down and I'll say "stepmother."	32:48
Mildred Rousseve	Yes.	32:51
Kate Ellis	Just because they were— Okay, so.	32:52
Mildred Rousseve	That's true. And I was a devoted stepmother too.	32:56
Kate Ellis	Yeah, I'm sure you were. Okay, so Charles?	32:58
Mildred Rousseve	S. Rousseve. He was born the day after Christmas, I think. Wait, [indistinct 00:33:15]?	33:01
Speaker 1	Yes.	33:11
Kate Ellis	In New Orleans?	33:11
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah, in New Orleans. Was little Charles born the day after Christmas or before?	33:20
Speaker 1	Two days after Christmas.	33:26
Mildred Rousseve	Two days after. I have the dates, but I have to get them tomorrow.	33:26
Kate Ellis	Okay. But it was Charles?	33:29
Mildred Rousseve	Yeah. And Teresa was born February 6th.	33:31
Speaker 1	He died.	33:35
Mildred Rousseve	I have them all. I have them, Lanee. You have what?	33:36
Speaker 1	The 27th. [indistinct 00:33:43] died on the 7th.	33:38
Mildred Rousseve	What you're saying, Lanee?	33:43
Speaker 1	He died on 28th.	33:43
Mildred Rousseve	Who?	33:44
Speaker 1	Talking about my dad, Charles.	33:44
Mildred Rousseve	I'm not talking about Charles.	33:48
Speaker 1	You said you did.	33:50
Mildred Rousseve	My husband, I'm talking about Charles Jr.	33:51
Speaker 1	Oh my goodness.	33:54
Mildred Rousseve	No, I don't want you to tell me that. I'll have those dates for you tomorrow. I know when Charles's died.	33:55
Kate Ellis	Right. Of course you do.	34:03
Mildred Rousseve	You made a mistake. I made a mistake.	34:05
Kate Ellis	Okay. So Teresa?	34:07
Mildred Rousseve	I meant Charles Jr. Teresa was born February the sixth, and I forgot. I'll have it tomorrow.	34:08
Kate Ellis	What's Teresa's Middle initial?	34:15
Mildred Rousseve	Dorothy, D.	34:17
Kate Ellis	Okay. I'm going to put here "Stepchildren." Okay. And then there was Roland and Ronald?	34:23
Mildred Rousseve	Ronald was a set of twins born in New Orleans. I'll have to get that date too. I know it was August the 31st.	34:33
Kate Ellis	Okay. You don't remember the year?	34:39
Mildred Rousseve	Well, I have to look it up.	34:48
Kate Ellis	Yeah, that's fine. That's okay.	34:49
Mildred Rousseve	And Yolande Marie Rousseve.	34:51
Kate Ellis	That's Yolande.	34:51
Mildred Rousseve	She was born soon after them because they were just 15 months old when she was born.	34:57
Kate Ellis	Yolande?	35:01
Mildred Rousseve	Yolande?	35:01
Kate Ellis	Is is Y-O-L-A-N?	35:04
Mildred Rousseve	Yes. Y-O-L-A-N-D-E. Yolande Marie Rousseve. And she was the last because I didn't want more children.	35:05
Kate Ellis	Mm-hmm. How many grandchildren do you have?	35:17
Mildred Rousseve	I wrote it yesterday in writing my obituary. I think we have about 18 or 19 grandchildren, about 15, 16, great grand. That's including Teresa's children too, because they are mine and I still attend to them. When it was time for her to enter the nursing home, they called me, "Mother dear, we need some money to help get to Teresa in the nursing home."	35:21
Kate Ellis	She's in a nursing home?	35:48
Mildred Rousseve	Mm-hmm.	35:49
Kate Ellis	All right. Because she's— Oh, I guess she in her seventies?	35:51
Mildred Rousseve	Sixties.	35:56
Kate Ellis	Sixties? Okay, so. Okay. Oh, I can—	35:56
Mildred Rousseve	Well, now as I pass through this land only once, I have tried to live and love my fellow man no matter who he was. No matter who he—	36:07

Item Info

Title:

Mildred Rousseve interview recording, 1994 June 22

Date:

June 22, 1994

Creator:

Rousseve, Mildred Robicheux

Contributor:

Ellis, Kate

Description:

Name: Mildred Robicheux Rousseve; Date of birth: 1905-09-20; Place of birth: New Orleans, LA; Occupation(s): educator; librarian; Residence: New Orleans, LA
Informant ID: 591; Interviewed by: Kate Ellis.

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Location:

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Language:

English

Digital Collection:

Behind the Veil

Source Collection:

Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South interviews, photographs, and project records, circa 1864-2011, bulk 1990-2004

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Provenance:

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired the Records of the Behind the Veil Oral History Project from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002.

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

Copyright for content created by the Behind the Veil project is held by Duke University and made available to the public using a Creative Commons Attribution / Non-commercial (CC-BY-NC) license.

Identifier:

RL00170-CS-1261
3145dcdd-0b0f-45b3-b844-84d6341c79da
behindtheveil
11775866-8bf0-47a9-985f-0fe458d27bf4
ark:/87924/r4348tr3n
11775866-8bf0-47a9-985f-0fe458d27bf4

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Mildred Rousseve interview recording, 1994 June 22

Transcript

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1. Mildred Rousseve administrative file, 1994

2. Mildred Rousseve slides: Baby picture of Mildred Robicheaux (Rousseve), circa 1906

3. Mildred Rousseve slides: Charles Rousseve, standing, 1890s

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Mildred Rousseve interview recording, 1994 June 22

Transcript

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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