Alice Doctor-Wearing interview recording, 1995 July 06

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Mary Hebert	First thing I want you to tell me is your full name and when and where you were born.	0:03
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Okay. The name is Alice Doctor-Wearing, and I was born in West Hollywood, Florida, but I moved to Summerton at about the age of one.	0:07
Mary Hebert	Your parents went to Florida to work?	0:19
Alice Doctor-Wearing	My parents went to Florida to work, yes. My dad lived in Florida and my mom was from here and she moved with my dad to Florida.	0:22
Mary Hebert	Did they meet here in Summerton?	0:32
Alice Doctor-Wearing	They met here in Summerton, yes. Yeah.	0:35
Mary Hebert	What did they do for living after they moved back here?	0:38
Alice Doctor-Wearing	My mother did domestic work most of her life. She worked for a plant for a little while, but most of her life she worked as the housekeeper for the Dangles, which was like a tradition in the family because my grandmother worked for them prior to my mom working for them.	0:42
Mary Hebert	Would she ever take you there when you were growing up?	0:59
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yes. In fact, I worked there also a little while. I babysitted for the Dangles family, and yes we did go there sometime.	1:02
Mary Hebert	But did they apply the rules of segregation to your mother? Did y'all have to go through the back door to enter the house?	1:10
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yes, we always went through the back door. In fact, to the last day that my mom was working there, it was always that tradition that we went through the back door. Yeah.	1:17
Mary Hebert	Did you feel that your mother was spending more time there than she was with you? Or that she spending more time with their children than she was with you?	1:30
Alice Doctor-Wearing	There was always a lot of love for the Dangles children, who names were Rod Dangle and May Fran. My grandmother loved them very much and they seemed to, was very much attached to my grandmother. When she died a couple of years ago, they attended the funeral and they really had, seemed to had a lot of respect for her. Yeah. Grandma spent a lot of time with them, more time than my mother did.	1:38
Mary Hebert	They were grown when your mother —	2:04
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yeah, they were, yeah, older when my mother was there.	2:05
Mary Hebert	Would the Dangles ever give her clothes, food, that kind of stuff?	2:09
Alice Doctor-Wearing	They often gave her, my grandmother would cook dinner, and oftentimes she would bring home a little dish after the Dangles were served, she would bring home a dish of food. And clothing, I don't remember them giving her a lot of clothing, but certainly they did give some food.	2:13
Mary Hebert	Your grandmother worked for them also. What did your grandfather do?	2:29
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I don't remember my grandfather. He died I guess when I was very young, so I have no recollection of him.	2:32
Mary Hebert	What are some of your memories of your grandmother? Did she ever tell you stories about what life was like when she grew up?	2:39
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Well, she didn't tell a lot of stories. Oftentimes, we sat on the back porch and we would sing songs, little Christian songs. We would sing things like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, those kinds of things. And my grandmother was a very mannerable, respectable individual. She believed that kids should have a lot of manners and respect for the White people. We were always taught to respect them and have a lot of respect for them because I guess she felt that they gave her a lot, I guess. I don't know. Yeah.	2:45
Mary Hebert	Did they teach you how to behave around White adults? Were you taught, "Yes sir, yes ma'am," that kind of stuff?	3:25
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Oh yeah, definitely. You always said, "Yes, ma'am and yes, sir." You always had a lot of respect for them. Yeah. Yeah. And the only Whites that I really knew a lot again was the Dangle family, and that was because they were the ones who my parents worked for.	3:32
Mary Hebert	What neighborhood did you grow up in here in Summerton?	3:50
Alice Doctor-Wearing	We moved around a lot cause my grandmother didn't really own any land and so the family, my mother and my father separated, so the family lived with my grandmother and we would move. We lived out in the country, you know what we called the country, with the dirt roads and that kind of thing. And then from the country we moved into the city of Summerton and we moved several places in the city of Summerton after moving in into Summerton,	3:52
Mary Hebert	Which y'all rent the houses that you lived in?	4:22
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yeah, we often rent the houses that we lived in. And surprisingly the houses that we rent, the last few houses that I remembered belonged to a Black family. So we were renting from another Black family. I think the house that we lived out in the country belonged to a White individual, but in town the homes that we rented belonged to a Black family.	4:24
Mary Hebert	Do you remember, did anyone else live in your grandmother's home other than you and your mother?	4:48
Alice Doctor-Wearing	There was a time when there was a gentleman who rented the back part of the house. He came into town and he worked and he rented the back part of the house. Yeah.	4:54
Mary Hebert	Were you a child in the sixties? I mean, I don't know exactly what the timeframe on what you would remember.	5:07
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Let's see. Yeah, I was a child in the sixties, and yeah.	5:20
Mary Hebert	Do you remember how the Civil Rights Movement impacted Summerton?	5:21
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Well, I remember my grandmother talking about it a little bit vaguely. I remember her saying that the schools were going to be integrated and we were going to be going to the all, what was then the Summerton High School, but it was an all-White school and that we were going to be going there. The people who lived closest to there would go there and the ones who lived closest to Scott's Branch would go to Scott's Branch. And that's what I remember her saying. And I don't know if, I didn't think that the people that she worked for was supportive of this. I don't think that they were very supportive, as I remember vaguely my grandmother talking about it.	5:25
Mary Hebert	But that never happened. I mean, Summerton High was only integrated for, what, two years?	6:07
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yeah. They were integrated for two years and not many Blacks went there for that two years. There were only a few Blacks and they were, I guess the middle class Blacks who families seemed to have been much bolder and sent their kids there. But the poor Blacks, they continued to go to the old Scott's Branch High School.	6:13
Mary Hebert	Was there much of a class division in Summerton among Black families? Was there an upper class, a middle class, and then the lower classes?	6:32
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yes. There seems like there has been an upper class Blacks and they were, I guess the teachers, the principal that the school as I recall. Yeah.	6:41
Mary Hebert	Were there many Black business owners?	6:53
Alice Doctor-Wearing	There were some Black business owners. There were not a lot. There were the Tom Richardson cleaners when I was growing up, there was the Smith Grill, or it was better known as Bay Shop that was very popular for the young children. After school, they would go and buy soda pops, those kinds of things. There was the Cafe, Mary Oliver Cafe. There was Mrs. White's store, Mrs. Estelle White, and she sold sandwiches and soda pops, that kind of thing. And the elderly people would go there on the weekend and sit and have long conversation, those kinds of things.	6:56
Alice Doctor-Wearing	There was a place called the No Black Shop where I guess many of the people in the community hung out. The younger people, the more of the lower class people would hang out at the No Blacks. And then there was a famous cookie shop, who was my great-aunt, and that shop was very popular in the sixties. It was like a nightclub, but they also sold barbecue sandwiches and those kinds of things. And there were lots of family gatherings over there.	7:34
Mary Hebert	Were they all located on where Larry King Drive is now?	8:02
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Many of the stories that I talked about were located on Railroad Avenue. However, Smith Grill and Cookie Shop is on Larry King Highway, which is known as Larry King Highway today. Those two. And No Black Shop was near Wassau Street.	8:07
Mary Hebert	Well, where's Railroad Avenue exactly? I'm not sure.	8:23
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Railroad Avenue is where 15 — it's off of 15 and 301.	8:26
Mary Hebert	Okay.	8:32
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yeah, it's like a side street.	8:34
Mary Hebert	Was that where Mrs. Green lives or —	8:36
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Well, coming from Mrs. Green, you coming across 15. And then as you're coming off of 15, the first left turn there. Yeah, it's called Railroad Avenue.	8:40
Mary Hebert	Because people have mentioned it and I didn't know exactly where it is.	8:49
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Mm-hmm, I have to show you where it's at.	8:51
Mary Hebert	What White businesses did Blacks frequent [indistinct 00:09:03]?	8:56
Alice Doctor-Wearing	There was a place called Wells Grocers where you would go and buy your meats, and flour, and meal, and that kind of thing. And there was the Five & Dime store where you could buy little toys for children, clothing. You could buy a few clothing, and they sold what they called the famous little 10 cents Icees of Ice and Icees that was very popular where kids would go and buy. And there were a couple of other stores, I don't quite remember what the names were, but I remember very well because they used to come into the country with the cows and slaughter the cows on a certain day. It was like on a Wednesday, and they would take the slaughtered meat back to the store for sale. So I remember that store very well.	9:03
Mary Hebert	Were there any businesses that African Americans did not shop at? Chose not to shop?	9:53
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Not in my recollection. There was none that they chose not to shop. They really patronized them all.	9:59
Mary Hebert	But in that earlier period, I don't know if you've heard stories about when they had the signs for the Citizens Council in store windows, did you hear stories about people not shopping at those stores?	10:07
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I don't recall any of those times. I do recall though, when the Klans would ride out on a Friday or Saturday night and we would hear about them a day or two in advance that they were coming and we would run home because we heard that they were coming or they are riding around. So we would run home. I had a cousin who lived with me, my grandmother's grandson, who lived with us, and he would challenge them. He would throw rocks or whatever. He and a group of other guys, they would challenge the Klans. And I remember that vaguely because we lived in the same household.	10:19
Mary Hebert	Is that the cousin who was forced to leave town?	10:58
Alice Doctor-Wearing	No, that was another cousin. Yeah. Who's not around anymore. He died. That was another cousin.	11:01
Mary Hebert	And what was the Klan's reaction to their challenges? Do you have any recollection of that?	11:06
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I think that they would have chased him with the horses or used slang words, niggers, whatever, as I recall.	11:13
Mary Hebert	So they'd ride on horse back with the —	11:21
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yeah, they had the outfits on. Yeah. It was scary as a child, growing up, and I remember that.	11:23
Mary Hebert	How did the Civil Rights Movement in the sixties impact Summerton? Do you have any recollection Martin Luther King's impact on Summerton and how people felt about him?	11:36
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I remembered when he died that people felt very bad about that. They had a lot of respect for Reverend King, and that's pretty much all that I remembered about him. Yeah.	11:44
Mary Hebert	Where did you attend school? Did you attend Scott's Branch throughout the elementary school, and the middle school and high school?	12:03
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I attended Scott's Branch during my elementary school years and during my sixth and seventh grade year, I think I went over to the Summerton High School, which was then in all-Black school. The Whites had all left. So I went there for two years and then back over to Scott's Branch High School for the high school year, for my high school years.	12:10
Mary Hebert	Were there any teachers who impacted you, who were a big influence on you?	12:32
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yes. There was a young lady. She was from Sumter, and I cannot call her name at this time, but she was a great influence in my life. I liked her very much. She believed in me. She helped me to believe in myself. She had a lot of respect for me, and I liked that about her. And I went to her home and spent a couple of nights with her, and I cannot remember her name right now. It just slipped my memory.	12:37
Mary Hebert	How did you feel about the White kids all going to a private school and all the Black children going to the public school? Were you conscious of that segregation that existed?	13:11
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I wasn't that conscious of it. I didn't know really understood, I guess, what that was all about. And it did not really dawned on me until actually after graduating from high school that the White community just kind of all pulled out and it really had a bearing on the — it took a toll on the education in Clarendon County because it was like an unequal school system that we had.	13:22
Mary Hebert	Did you have older textbooks and poor lab equipment and things like that?	13:52
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Definitely. Definitely. We had no lab equipment that I recall, and the education just wasn't very good. It was very good, there are many stories that I hear even today about the quality of education that people received from Scott's Branch High School. In fact, this past weekend I met with a young lady by the name of Odessa, who moved to New York, moved to New York in the sixties. She was in the 11th grade when she moved there, going to the 12th. And she said she had all A's on her report card, she was an honor student, but when she got to New York, she was reading on a third grade level and she never really learned how to read and write very well. And it was a struggle for her.	13:56
Alice Doctor-Wearing	But she is a success story because she started working at Bloomingdale's as a gift wrapper and she's worked her way up to an executive administrator there at this point in time in her life. So there are many success stories from Scott's Branch School, but still you didn't get the quality of education. But because of the manners that many of the Blacks have and the respect that they have, a lot of times they managed to advance because of that mannerism.	14:44
Mary Hebert	Was manners very important?	15:15
Alice Doctor-Wearing	It was extremely important. It was one of the things that was taught in your home more than anything else. It wasn't about education many times, in the home, it was about manners. There were stories told, if you don't have manners, you're not going to get anywhere, and manners is worth more than dollars, whatever account for those kinds of things. So manners was stressed a lot every day.	15:17
Mary Hebert	You mother and your grandmother.	15:42
Alice Doctor-Wearing	And there was a lady who assisted in helping to raise me, her name was Ms. Esther Singleton, and I moved in with Ms. Esther at about the age of 13. 12 or 13. And Ms. Esther was a very classy Black woman. Her family was of a wealthier, higher class. They owned a funeral home and those kinds of things, and she taught me a lot. We would have the minister over on Sundays for dinner, that kind of thing. We would have the table set, we would say the blessing and those kinds of things. So Ms. Esther really taught me a whole lot. And that was one who talked about the manners every day. Yeah.	15:43
Mary Hebert	Well, why did you move in with her at 13? Was it [indistinct 00:16:28]?	16:24
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Well, it was because of her being an older lady. I think Ms. Esther was in her sixties, and all of her children had left and moved away to the city, and she had no one to keep her company at night. So she asked my mom could I stay with her at night. So it was supposed to be, whereas I would go and stay with her at night and then go home during the day. And it ended up with me going there after school, being there day and night until I was in high school. And my mother had several other kids, so Ms. Esther felt she could help out with just one.	16:28
Mary Hebert	Are you the oldest?	17:06
Alice Doctor-Wearing	No, I'm the third oldest. Yeah.	17:06
Mary Hebert	Was Ms Ester, did she encourage your education and that kind stuff?	17:11
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Well, she made certain that I was dressed for school, but it seems to me she was mostly concerned about studying the Sunday school lesson, and she was very concerned about having idle time. You could not sit around and do nothing, you had to sew or make the doll baby clothing or knit the stocking rugs, or do something, you just could not sit there and be idle. However, I don't remember a lot of time her pushing the fact that you need to study your homework or that kind of thing. I don't really recall her doing that.	17:16
Mary Hebert	Did she teach you how to sew and knit, or did you know how to do that before?	17:54
Alice Doctor-Wearing	No, she taught me how to do that. She taught me how to sew and to make the stocking rugs, and those kinds of things.	17:57
Mary Hebert	After you graduated from high school, when did you move on to Virginia?	18:07
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Well, after graduating from high school, I went to New York to work for the summer. I came back and enrolled at Allen University. I went there for a little while and then I became pregnant. And so I quit college and I started to work. And although I was out of high school, I could not let mom know that I was pregnant. So I hid that for a long time. Didn't really go to the doctor until about six months in my pregnancy because I didn't want mom to know that I was pregnant. So I was working at Goat Island. I went to work at Goat Island. I was determined to get a job, not ever wanting to be caught up in the welfare system because that was a way of life for many Blacks in the south, and my mother was also one who had received AFDC for a long period of time, so I did not want that.	18:11
Alice Doctor-Wearing	So I went to Goat Island Restaurant and I worked for the all White citizen council business. It was Mr. Davis' business. And his daughter, Anne Dobby, who is married to Jim Dobby, hired me. And she hired me, I went in to work as a dishwasher and I was very neat and clean, and again, mannerable. So she says, "Alice, I don't want you to be a dishwasher. I'm going to hire you as a waitress." So I think that I was one of the first Black waitresses that was hired there to work. However, they did not know that I was pregnant. So when I begin to show, Mrs. Dobby says, "Well, why did you do that?" Get pregnant, and she fired me because I was pregnant.	19:00
Mary Hebert	And this was in the late seventies?	19:46
Alice Doctor-Wearing	This was in the late seventies. And in fact, I graduated from high school in '76. So this was around '77.	19:50
Mary Hebert	You said you went to [indistinct 00:19:59] university for a while. Did you find that your education at Scott's Branch prepared you [indistinct 00:20:03]?	19:57
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Oh, it had not. Definitely, it had not prepared me for college at all.	20:03
Mary Hebert	What was Mr. Davis like? Did you know him?	20:10
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Mr. Davis, I don't remember him very well. My Aunt Tasa worked for him, but she said that he was a very nice gentleman. I don't remember Bill Davis.	20:15
Mary Hebert	He died, I guess right around the time you were born, actually. He died in the late fifties or something.	20:27
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Maybe I don't remember him. I just heard talk of him.	20:32
Mary Hebert	You were telling about your cousin who was forced to leave town.	20:36
Alice Doctor-Wearing	My cousin, Irvin. Irvin Wright, who was walking on one Sunday, he and a group of other guys, Steve Connor and a couple other people were walking in a White neighborhood, and — Well, not really in the White neighborhood, but they were on the east side of town, on Main Street, I guess, going home. And someone said that they were whistling at this White girl. And the girl, I don't remember who this White girl was, but they were harassed and arrested for whistling at this girl. So my Aunt Tasa had to really put him on a bus and get him out of South Carolina, out of Summerton because he was going to go to jail or be hung or something.	20:40
Mary Hebert	So she snuck him out on the bus?	21:26
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.	21:26
Mary Hebert	So you went to Virginia after your son was born?	21:30
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yes. I went to Virginia, I moved to Virginia in about 1979, after my son was born. I went there for better opportunities and work, that kind of thing. And I began working at the Washington Hilton Hotel. I worked there for many years as a waitress. And then I started to go to school at Northern Virginia Community College. And again, I find that Scott's Branch had not really prepared me even more so when I was at school. So I took remedial reading and writing, and those kinds of things.	21:39
Alice Doctor-Wearing	And then, from that point, I began to have a new sense of pride about who I was and what I could possibly do for my community. And that's when we started talking about organizing the Scott's Branch Foundation, was during that time when I was in Washington. And so in about 1989, yeah in about 1989, I guess after several years of being in Washington, about 1989, we started discussing organizing a group that could do something to improve conditions for our people within Clarendon County. And so we organized this group.	22:11
Mary Hebert	Growing up here, you didn't get that sense of pride in your community and —	22:59
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Not at all. Not at all. We did not, didn't get that at all. You felt inferior to the Whites, you just didn't have a lot of pride, it seems.	23:03
Mary Hebert	Is that one of the purposes of the foundation, to —	23:17
Alice Doctor-Wearing	To build a sense of pride in the African American people, to improve the condition, whether it's the living condition, the educational condition of the people that live in Clarendon County, and most specifically in Summerton.	23:20
Mary Hebert	What kinds of things have y'all done? I know you have the festival.	23:35
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Uh huh. We've created the first African American festival in Clarendon County, which is held every August. We have initiated a new health center in Summerton. We have an afterschool tutorial program, which is provided by South Carolina State University, provides the interns to do the tutorial program. We have established a clothes bank where people could come in and get clothing for those who needs it. And we provide lots of referral services to people in the community. And I could just go on and on and on about things that we have done for people within the community.	23:39
Mary Hebert	Are there a lot of people in need in this community?	24:18
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Oh, definitely. There are lots of people in need and there's not an agency in our community, in the Summerton community, that could assist the people here. If you need assistance for anything, you have to go 10 miles, 12 miles away. And when you're looking at a community that has very few jobs and people are extremely poor, they don't have cars and transportation to get around for the information that they need. So this organization provides a good service to this community.	24:24
Mary Hebert	How has it been received by members of the community? Are there some people that support it and some that don't?	25:00
Alice Doctor-Wearing	People have been very reluctant to supporting the organization, and I find in particularly the leaders of the sixties and seventies, the school teachers, the superintendents, particularly the African American people, have been very reluctant and keeping in mind that this organization has only done positive things. We have not taken anything away from the communities. We have not taken dollars, we have not really had fundraisers to take dollars away. We have provided a service that this community needs and have benefited from. And yes, we have not had great support from leaders within the community.	25:07
Mary Hebert	So people like NAACP leaders, things like that?	25:47
Alice Doctor-Wearing	That is absolutely correct.	25:52
Mary Hebert	Are not supporting it?	25:53
Alice Doctor-Wearing	That's correct. The NAACP leaders have not been that supportive of the organization. There is a new group that has been formed since this organization has been initiated. It's called the Briggs Delaney Group, which was formed by Ms. Dorothy Choice, who has not been very supportive. Mrs. Briggs, of course, has always been supportive and tried to help out in any way that she can, but there are other people who are leading her group that has not been very supportive and has not helped in any way.	25:55
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The school board people have not been very supportive, and you have 99 percent African American school board and they have not been supportive. There is an old school, the Summerton High School, which has been abandoned in 1989 for the past two or three years, the organization had tried to get that building to provide a multipurpose building where kids could have access to some type of recreational center or activity where the elderly could have a place to go, where we could do desktop publishing, those kinds of things. And the school board has the powers to release this building to a nonprofit organization or any organization within the community, however they have not, they have refused to do that.	26:29
Mary Hebert	Who helped you to start this organization? Were they people who were in DC with you?	27:21
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Actually the people who have helped me has been people out of Columbia, Cleveland Thomas, who works with the Governor's office and at Rural and Economic Development. Vandel Davis with PRT has been very supportive in providing technical assistance, he's been coming down doing some speeches. Dr. Toe from Washington. The National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise with Robert Woodson has been very helpful in terms of training me for six or seven months in leadership skills, teach me leadership skills. Let's see.	27:28
Mary Hebert	What about people within Summerton, within this community, how did you get them involved in it?	28:04
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The grassroot people have been the most helpful in this community because they're not involved in politics. They only want to do what's right and if they see that you are doing something right in whatever way that they can help, they will come in and assist. However many times the grassroot does not have the expertise that is needed to carry on certain missions. They don't have the computer skills, they don't have the writing skills and all of those kinds of things, so they aren't able to help that much. But in whatever way that they can do, they come in and help.	28:10
Mary Hebert	Who are the members of your board? Are they people you graduated from high school with?	28:52
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The members of the board are people who graduated from the '76 class and they also are a cross section of civic-minded people from the Summerton area or Clarendon County community. Dr. Edward Keith is one who is on our board who was one of the first Black doctors in Clarendon County.	28:56
Mary Hebert	And how did y'all get the idea for the festival?	29:20
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The festival was, we were brainstorming on some things that we could do to bring back a sense of pride, to help build a sense of pride within the Black community. And Vandel Davis from PRT, Park Recreation and Tourism out of Columbia came down and while we were brainstorming, he said that, "Hey, this is one thing that we might be able to assist you with," the African American Festival. So from that brainstorming session, we decided to put the festival together.	29:24
Mary Hebert	And what's the basis of the festival? What do you try to highlight in the festival?	29:57
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The things that we highlight in the festival is we focus on the Briggs archives. So many of the archives on Briggs is displayed at festival time. And we also display creations that are done by the African American people throughout Clarendon County.	30:02
Mary Hebert	What's the response to that? Do you get a lot of folk artists coming in to participate?	30:21
Alice Doctor-Wearing	We do. We do. We get a lot of people to come in and participate from Clarendon County, from Charleston, from Columbia, throughout the state of South Carolina. We get people to come in and participate.	30:25
Mary Hebert	What are some of the crafts that they exhibit?	30:38
Alice Doctor-Wearing	There are dolls that have been made, handmade by people who live within the community. There are quilts, there are puzzles that are on display. There was one gentleman by the name of Willie Evans, who lives in Clarendon and County, who does beautiful paintings, and he is a disabled person. And we were able, from our first festival, we had find this gentleman and we were able to get an art show for him with Benedict College after that. So he's done quite well since our festival by we exposing his artwork.	30:41
Mary Hebert	And what's the turnout like for the festival? Was it mostly people from Clarendon County or do you have people from outside of the county?	31:17
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Our first festival, there were people from all over the state of South Carolina. We had over 500 people attend. Our second festival, we had like a rainout, it rained quite a bit, so we didn't have the good attendance that we had the year prior. And this is our third annual festival coming up this August, and we're hoping to have a real good turnout.	31:22
Mary Hebert	You mentioned the Briggs case a few minutes ago. Did you learn about that when you were growing up? Did you know that?	31:42
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Not at all. I was not very familiar with what had happened in the sixties. Who initiated the fight. It did not, we did not have any readings, any information about that in the school. There was not anyone even talking about it. I did not learn about the Briggs case until later on in life. And it was like in my late twenties, early thirties.	31:47
Mary Hebert	So did you learn any African-American history at Scott's Branch?	32:13
Alice Doctor-Wearing	No, not at all. Not at all. Yeah.	32:18
Mary Hebert	Were there any signs and symbols of segregation left here while you were going [indistinct 00:32:27]?	32:21
Alice Doctor-Wearing	There was. There was the two separate doors that said the Black side, the White side, and they were mainly at doctor's office. When I would go with Ms. Esther, whomever, to the doctor, there were these signs. I don't remember the water fountains and stuff like that, where there were signs. I don't remember that. But certainly in the doctor's office there were. Dr. Kelly was one of the doctors who attended many of the Blacks in the area.	32:28
Mary Hebert	And were waiting room still segregated?	32:51
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The waiting room was still segregated, yes.	32:53
Mary Hebert	Did your family attend church while you were growing up?	32:57
Alice Doctor-Wearing	My family did attend. My grandma, in particular, we were members of Taw Caw Baptist Church. And again, as I stated earlier, I grew up with Ms. Esther Singleton who went to church every Sunday. And yes, I had to attend every Sunday also.	33:00
Mary Hebert	Taw Caw [indistinct 00:33:13].	33:12
Alice Doctor-Wearing	No, we went to St. Mark AME, and then later on I became a member of St. Mark AME.	33:13
Mary Hebert	Is that one of the most — has more — I'm Catholic — parishioners, people within the religious community. St. Mark does have a lot of people attending?	33:20
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Taw Caw has most people attending, and Liberty Hill AME church. St. Mark has a very small congregation.	33:34
Mary Hebert	Okay. Are there divisions within the churches within Summerton? Are there class issues you can tell who goes to what church?	33:43
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Normally the church is are a tradition. If your family has always gone there, then generally that's where you know would continue to go. However, I've noticed that churches have become quite political, and they are not really, again, the backbone of the community as they were in the forties and fifties.	33:52
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Again, using this organization as a prime example, I have gone to churches within the community during festival time to try and even get a chair or to borrow the bus so that we could pick people up to bring them out to the festival, we've been denied. And the churches just aren't as supportive as they once were and their focus seemed to me to be all wrong.	34:11
Mary Hebert	So they aren't really focused in on the community like they were?	34:37
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Not at all. I don't see that at all from the churches.	34:39
Mary Hebert	Have they been willing to work with the Scott's Branch 76 Foundation at all in helping to provide clothes for the community and those kinds of—	34:44
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I haven't gotten any of that out of them at all. They may have something private that is going on that they do, that I'm not aware of, but they have not been very supportive of the organization. Period.	34:51
Mary Hebert	Are there still divisions within the Black community here in Summerton, or are there divisions here now that didn't exist before?	35:04
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Yes, I find that to be the case. There is this, again, this upper class and this lower class, and the education, that kind of thing. So there is lots of division within this community in the Black community and it's really depressing.	35:10
Mary Hebert	So it's kind of a division between the well-educated, or the better educated, the ones who've had professional types of jobs.	35:28
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Supposedly. Supposedly. However, I find education, for someone who's educated would be more willing to help and not be insecure. And I find that these folks in this Summerton community seem to be very insecure and not willing to assist. And they are afraid of challenges.	35:35
Mary Hebert	Challenges, do you think to their leadership positions?	36:00
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Exactly, exactly. Yeah.	36:02
Mary Hebert	How has the argument, the foundation worked with the rest of the county, say Manning, have you had many contact with other parts of Clarendon County?	36:05
Alice Doctor-Wearing	With Manning, the organization, members of the organization has managed to become a part of many of the boards in Clarendon County. For example, the Clarendon County Cultural Arts Committee board, the planning boards, the foster care review boards. Many boards, members of the organization has been able to sit on, and not only sit on, but actually have an impact and a voice on, and has made a difference.	36:14
Mary Hebert	And does that help to advance your goals, the goals of the foundation?	36:43
Alice Doctor-Wearing	It does. It really does. For example, this year the Clarendon County Arts Commission had funded the posters for this event, whereas in the past they had not done that.	36:46
Mary Hebert	And now you have a member on their board and that's helped you [indistinct 00:37:03].	36:59
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Exactly, exactly.	37:02
Mary Hebert	So you find more acceptance on the county level than on the local level?	37:04
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I would say the state level than on the city level and on the county level, although they are some people in the county who has come around and has been supportive. But there is more support from the Columbia side, from the state side.	37:09
Mary Hebert	Is the foundation working or trying to work closely with Scott's Branch High School?	37:24
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Oh, definitely. Definitely. Because many of us graduated from Scott's Branch High School, and as it has been in the past, in the fifties, and sixties, and seventies, where you really didn't get the quality of education, the eighties and nineties is presenting the same kinds of things. This summer we've been able to work with Duke University on what we call the Community Stories project. And right from the very beginning, although we are working with the gifted and talented students, we find many deficiencies in their reading and writing skills.	37:28
Alice Doctor-Wearing	And so we've been able to go in and assist in that area and it's made a great difference, and a great difference. And also, as I stated earlier, we're working with South Carolina State University to provide an afterschool tutorial program for the students. And we were able also to get many kids back in school who had dropped out of school. So certainly we are working with Scott's Branch students in St. Paul and Spring Hill because these kids truly are the future, and members of the organization truly cares about the students and the people in Clarendon County.	38:04
Mary Hebert	Do many students here go to college? Many of the students go to college or anything?	38:42
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I'm not exactly sure what percentage of students are going to college these days, but there are some who are attending college. Yes. Many of them go to Benedict College. Benedict does a lot of recruiting in the area, so many of them attend Benedict.	38:47
Mary Hebert	Do you see the Foundation Office is kind of a hub for these kids to gather around and to come in and find a place where they can learn about Summerton?	39:02
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Sure. And their voices could be heard. They have a voice. Through our organization, they have a voice. In other organizations, they do not have a voice.	39:14
Mary Hebert	Where do the tutors tutor the kids? Is it at the high school?	39:25
Alice Doctor-Wearing	One year we tutored them at the 76 Foundation Office. The next year we tutored them at the Scott's Branch High School in the Scott's Branch High School.	39:29

Mary Hebert	How many of them participate in the tutoring program?	0:03
Alice Doctor-Wearing	In the After School Tutorial Program, unfortunately, this past year we didn't have a great participation for my high school students who really need the tutorial service desperately. But we had the elementary and junior high students who came in. And I think we had 25 to 30 students participated this year.	0:07
Mary Hebert	So, you're catching them up on the skills that they're missing, right?	0:28
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Exactly. Yes, they're writing, and reading skills, or math, whatever they need assistance in. We try to provide someone who has the expertise in that area.	0:32
Mary Hebert	Has Duke University come in and helped you advance the foundation?	0:42
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Oh, definitely. They have had a major impact on the organization, and not only on the organization, within the community. They've come in. They have assisted the kids with their writing and reading skills. They have, again, restored a sense of pride in them in who they are. And where they've come from is very important, not only for them, but for people throughout this nation. And kids have picked up on that and they're beginning to believe in that. And they have also learned how to go out and collect their own kinds of history, that kind of thing. So, they've been very motivated this year.	0:46
Mary Hebert	Are they excited about the history of the community?	1:24
Alice Doctor-Wearing	They are.	1:26
Mary Hebert	Is it something that they didn't know about?	1:26
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Well, these kids learned a lot more about their community and what happened in the 1950s and '60s than we had. And that's because we had the 40th anniversary of the Briggs [indistinct 00:01:43] where Ben Chavis and all of the members of the NAACP came down. And there was lots of press here interviewing them and talking about it. So, they learned a lot during their time at school than we did, mm-hmm.	1:29
Mary Hebert	Is the foundation also working with helping people to — If they have problems with their homes, do y'all help them do repairs on the homes?	1:56
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Oh yes, we do. We work with South Carolina State University in doing a survey on the housing needs within the Somerton area. And so, we have identified a number of people who need home improvement. And we have done the necessary groundwork to make certain that these people get that assistance that they need. So, there are many houses that are being fixed today because of that, mm-hmm.	2:05
Mary Hebert	Is there anything else that the foundation does that we haven't covered? Well, I know. How does the city government react to having the foundation here and having the foundation help out members of the Black community? Has the city government been supportive of you?	2:30
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The city government, no, has not really been supportive. In fact, every grant that we have applied for, they have been totally against it. They have not done anything to really contribute to this organization at all.	2:50
Mary Hebert	Is the city council mainly White?	3:04
Alice Doctor-Wearing	The city council is all White. It's an all White city council. However, I must say that they have a new city administrator by the name of Mark Myers, who has been much different. He has come in with a new attitude, very energetic, willing to help, willing to correct whatever problems there are, or at least try. And it doesn't matter, it appears to me, if it's Black or White, it's like whoever needs assistance, he tries. And this has been my observation from him, although he's only been here for six or seven months, but he's appeared to be a good asset to the community.	3:07
Mary Hebert	Do you see any changes in the White community, in how they treat African Americans here in Somerton?	3:48
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Since the organization has been organized, I have seen a change in the sense of there's a little bit more respect toward the African American people. There is sending letters out, letting people know what grants are coming in, what those grants are for, keeping the people informed like never before. So, I have seen that difference.	3:54
Mary Hebert	We hear a lot of, "Well, things really haven't changed here, changed all that much here." Have you noticed changes since you've been back?	4:19
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I have noticed a change in the attitudes, although there's still some reluctance. But it's like, there are certain laws and there are other people who are becoming more informed about what's going on, and how we should be doing things. So, we can't really do things the way that we've always done. So, there is some gradual changes. There's still the separate communities basically, and they still go to the diner for their dinners, and Blacks doesn't really go there, that kind of thing. But as far as keeping the people informed, they have tried to do that now.	4:27
Mary Hebert	So, do you think that there will be a change in this community at some point?	5:06
Alice Doctor-Wearing	I'm hoping. I'm hoping. Yeah, I'm hoping, but not only from the White community, but the Black community, African American community, too, has to change, and has to understand when new leadership come, and if they're trying to do the right thing, then they need to be more supportive.	5:15
Mary Hebert	Do you have anything else to add? Those are all the questions that I have. Is there anything else that you remember that you want to add or —	5:40
Alice Doctor-Wearing	Not that I remember right now.	5:43
Mary Hebert	I thought it was important.	5:46

Item Info

Title:

Alice Doctor-Wearing interview recording, 1995 July 06

Date:

July 6, 1995

Creator:

Doctor-Wearing, Alice

Contributor:

Hebert, Mary

Description:

Name: Alice Doctor-Wearing; Date of birth: 1911-09-22; Place of birth: West Hollywood, FLA; Occupation(s): community service; hotel manager; education; Residence: Summerton, SC
Informant ID: 1204; Interviewed by: Mary Hebert.

Occupation:

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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Related Resources:

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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.

Rights:

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-1478
078c7d8f-c055-4ef6-8b22-655dd204f60a
behindtheveil
1b86563e-d240-491a-856c-de0e536c4053
ark:/87924/r4rf5xr09
1b86563e-d240-491a-856c-de0e536c4053

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Alice Doctor-Wearing interview recording, 1995 July 06

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1. Alice Doctor-Wearing administrative file, 1995

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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