Hattie Simmons interview recording, 1995 July 28

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Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, where did you say you were born?	0:04
Speaker 1	Where were you born?	0:10
Hattie Manning Simmons	I don't know. That's where—I know where my papa.	0:16
Speaker 1	She says here in Moorhead, across the bayou.	0:16
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, yeah. Here in Moorhead, across the bayou, with the water got up [indistinct 00:00:24] when high water got up in Moorhead.	0:22
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	0:28
Speaker 1	So what you remember? What else? So after the water, then what?	0:30
Hattie Manning Simmons	I didn't do nothing then. After the water went back, we stayed in a, what is it? In a van. When the water was up, we stayed in the van till it went back.	0:38
Doris Dixon	You stayed in where?	0:55
Speaker 1	In a van.	0:58
Doris Dixon	A van?	0:58
Speaker 1	A van.	0:58
Doris Dixon	Van?	0:59
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	1:01
Speaker 1	Till the water went down.	1:02
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	1:03
Speaker 1	And then?	1:03
Hattie Manning Simmons	I stayed in Moorhead.	1:03
Speaker 1	She was here in Moorhead at that time. And then after that? You got married or were you married then?	1:09
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	1:13
Speaker 1	You was married during that time?	1:15
Hattie Manning Simmons	If I was married at the time? No, I wasn't married. I married after that. By Brooks Anderson, Brooks, I was married to him. He passed.	1:22
Speaker 1	Okay.	1:25
Hattie Manning Simmons	Then I married Ames.	1:25
Speaker 1	She been married five times.	1:25
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	1:36
Speaker 1	So then, after then, what'd you do?	1:56
Hattie Manning Simmons	I didn't do nothing but fish and hunt, trap. That's what I done.	2:05
Speaker 1	And?	2:14
Doris Dixon	[indistinct 00:02:15]	2:14
Hattie Manning Simmons	Catch coon, minks, possums, ship the hide. That's what I done.	2:15
Doris Dixon	How old were you when you were fishing and hunting and trapping?	2:26
Hattie Manning Simmons	I don't know if I was 18, 19 or what.	2:29
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, can you tell me something about your parents, your mother and father? What kind of people they were?	2:42
Hattie Manning Simmons	My father was named Edward Manning. My mother, Victoria Manning. Victoria. My mother. I had one child, one boy. His grandmother raised him.	2:49
Doris Dixon	You had one child?	3:30
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. One boy.	3:32
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm. What was his name?	3:33
Hattie Manning Simmons	Is he living?	3:36
Speaker 1	What was his name?	3:40
Doris Dixon	His name?	3:40
Hattie Manning Simmons	That boy name—I didn't raise him. Grandmother raised him.	3:50
Speaker 1	But you don't remember his name?	3:54
Hattie Manning Simmons	I forget it. His name—	3:55
Doris Dixon	Did your parents work hard? Were they farmers?	4:05
Hattie Manning Simmons	You say, did I farm?	4:06
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	4:06
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I picked cotton, farmed, hauled cotton. Mm-hmm.	4:07
Doris Dixon	Was it hard?	4:32
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, hauled it to the gin.	4:33
Speaker 1	Was it hard work?	4:34
Hattie Manning Simmons	Huh?	4:34
Speaker 1	Was it hard work?	4:34
Hattie Manning Simmons	Did the car work?	4:34
Speaker 1	Uh-uh. Was it hard? Did you work hard?	4:35
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah. Yes, ma'am. Sure did. Yes, ma'am. I'd kill a snake, fished and I'd walk up there and see a snake, I'd kill him.	4:36
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	4:52
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. The Lord blessed me. Didn't do nothing without the help of the Lord. But I wasn't saved at that time.	4:53
Doris Dixon	Yes, ma'am. When were you saved?	5:06
Hattie Manning Simmons	I was saved here in Moorhead.	5:07
Doris Dixon	What year?	5:07
Speaker 1	Do you remember what year?	5:12
Hattie Manning Simmons	Just about. I don't know what house now. They built these here since then, these buildings here. But I was staying close to the bayou side, over there where you at. They built these, then I moved over here. I don't know what year that was. I know it's been a long time. I was here when [indistinct 00:05:46] Howe was building that church. Saint Luke. I used to come over there and bring him some food. Of course, now he wanted me to do, when he was building the church. I don't know what year that was, but it's been a long time.	5:16
Speaker 1	But she want to know back before then. She want to know back a long time ago, before I even knew you. Now I knew you during that time.	6:17
Hattie Manning Simmons	Uh-huh.	6:19
Speaker 1	I was here at that time.	6:19
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah.	6:21
Speaker 1	So she want to know before then. She want to know how were you raised up and how did you work as a girl and a young lady and raise children.	6:23
Hattie Manning Simmons	Uh-uh. I didn't raise no children.	6:34
Speaker 1	Okay, you didn't raise no children.	6:34
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-mm.	6:34
Speaker 1	Okay, about your working?	6:36
Hattie Manning Simmons	I worked. Was never [indistinct 00:06:50] for me to do.	6:36
Speaker 1	So you worked. You fished, you trapped?	6:52
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. Sure did. I had a double-barrel shotgun. Sure did. The Lord bless me. Sure did.	6:52
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, I see Bishop Mason's picture on the wall.	7:09
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mason?	7:15
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh. Are you a member of the Church of God in Christ?	7:16
Hattie Manning Simmons	Sure is. Yes, ma'am.	7:17
Doris Dixon	How long you've been—	7:21
Hattie Manning Simmons	I learned about that.	7:22
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	7:22
Hattie Manning Simmons	I didn't know about it.	7:24
Doris Dixon	Tell me about it.	7:25
Hattie Manning Simmons	I was a Baptist.	7:27
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	7:28
Hattie Manning Simmons	But I learned about Holiness. Amen, said the Lord saved me at home when the lightning struck. Sure did. I heard the voice. He saved, sin no more. [indistinct 00:07:45] Saved and sin no more. [indistinct 00:07:46] to stop it. I had a husband at that time, but I was deep in sin. That warning, I took heed to that warning because that scared me. When that lightning struck, that close to me. Clothes were on the line, I had a dress hanging up on the line, set afire.	7:29
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	8:07
Hattie Manning Simmons	That scared me. But I seek the Lord then.	8:09
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	8:13
Hattie Manning Simmons	And he saved me. I heard the voice. You saved, sin no more. We went to Greenwood to see the Holy Ghost.	8:14
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	8:19
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. Been saved ever since. Got no other mind but I want the people saved. I tell anybody about Holiness. Hebrew 12:14, said for the peace with all men and Holiness without, you can't see the Lord. Hebrew 12:14. And I turn to Saint John 14. He said, "Ask anything in His name, He'll do it." That's what I believe. So I hurt, I say, "Stop that. Stop it." Ain't no failure in the word of God. Just like He say. That's what I want to do, I want to be. It don't be hear on it, but be receivers, receive the word on this don't just hear and don't do it. Be doers. Tell anybody what the Bible say. Mm-hmm. You don't know about Holiness, do you?	8:27
Doris Dixon	No, ma'am. Tell me about Holiness.	9:39
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. I'm telling you now.	9:40
Doris Dixon	Okay. Okay	9:44
Hattie Manning Simmons	You read that Hebrew 12:14.	9:45
Doris Dixon	Okay. Then what, Saint John?	9:46
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. Saint John 14:14. Read that. And then come to church tonight, because he said, "Tell the people to come out, have a revival." That's for them to be saved and see the Holy Ghost. I want you to come out there tonight.	9:59
Doris Dixon	Okay. I don't know if I can tonight, but I'll study on it. I don't want to make a promise and not keep my word.	10:12
Hattie Manning Simmons	I hope you can come tonight because revival has been going on this week.	10:19
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, how old were you when you were saved?	10:25
Hattie Manning Simmons	I was grown up.	10:28
Doris Dixon	Were you—	10:28
Hattie Manning Simmons	When I was saved, yeah, I was grown up.	10:28
Doris Dixon	In your 40s? Your 30s?	10:39
Hattie Manning Simmons	40s.	10:39
Doris Dixon	Your 40s maybe?	10:43
Hattie Manning Simmons	Might have been. I was grown up. Sure was. But I'm glad I took heed of that warning.	10:44
Doris Dixon	Yep. Now you said before that, you weren't though. Could you tell me about your life before you were saved?	10:54
Hattie Manning Simmons	What?	11:02
Doris Dixon	What was life like before you were saved?	11:06
Hattie Manning Simmons	I was in sin, I'd do anything. Man, woman husband, get in the bed with him. Do anything wrong. Anything wrong like that, (laughs) I'd do it. I was in sin.	11:10
Doris Dixon	Well, ma'am, I don't want to get into your business, what I want to know is what life was like back in those days.	11:26
Hattie Manning Simmons	Oh, like it is now, I reckon. [indistinct 00:11:40] to me like it is now.	11:35
Doris Dixon	Have you ever heard of the words Jim Crow?	11:45
Hattie Manning Simmons	Jim Crow?	11:48
Doris Dixon	Jim Crow. Do you know what Jim Crow means?	11:49
Hattie Manning Simmons	No. Where is that at?	11:53
Doris Dixon	Do you remember when Black people had to go in the Black doors of White people's houses and had to call little White children Miss and Mister and had to ride in the back of the bus? Do you remember those days?	11:55
Hattie Manning Simmons	I might have. I won't say I didn't, but I might have.	12:13
Doris Dixon	Do you remember when you had to go to the stores and you couldn't try on the hats and you couldn't really try on anything, you had to buy the clothes, but you couldn't take—That was in some places though. Do you remember back in those days when they had the White-only, Black-only signs?	12:19
Hattie Manning Simmons	Black?	12:37
Doris Dixon	White-only signs over the water fountains and the lunch places? Lunch counters? Okay. Can you tell me about the high water?	12:39
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I remember high water.	12:51
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	12:51
Hattie Manning Simmons	I paddled a boat then. I was big enough to paddle a boat. Because staying across the bayou, that water got up in the house.	12:57
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	13:03
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	13:03
Doris Dixon	Did you lose your house?	13:11
Hattie Manning Simmons	Did I move the house?	13:14
Doris Dixon	Did you lose it? Did the flood water take it away?	13:15
Hattie Manning Simmons	No, no. Uh-uh. It didn't take it away.	13:19
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	13:20
Hattie Manning Simmons	Just got up in there. We had to move the things out. Move the things out in the boat. I was big enough to paddle a boat. My pop was living and Mother was in Lexington. That's where she buried, in Lexington. I used to live there.	13:22
Doris Dixon	Did you like Lexington?	13:51
Hattie Manning Simmons	You say did I like it?	13:52
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	13:52
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I liked it. Mm-hmm.	13:52
Speaker 1	Well, [indistinct 00:14:00] the time of 1866 over to 19—	13:52
Hattie Manning Simmons	But I didn't stay there. I come here.	14:04
Speaker 1	[indistinct 00:14:06] that time. So she had [indistinct 00:14:10] time she got saved.	14:06
Doris Dixon	Okay.	14:06
Speaker 1	So it had to be back in—She was in Lexington around that time, had to be during the time of Bishop Mason.	14:13
Doris Dixon	Bishop Mason was in Lexington at the time?	14:16
Speaker 1	Uh-huh. Bishop Mason in Lexington, the founder of the Church of God in Christ and all that, so—	14:22
Doris Dixon	Before he was in Memphis?	14:23
Speaker 1	Well, I'm [indistinct 00:14:29] had to be because I think this was down in Lexington. That's where the home church was.	14:23
Doris Dixon	Home church is [indistinct 00:14:36]	14:23
Speaker 1	Right. In Lexington.	14:23
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, do you remember C.H. Mason?	14:39
Hattie Manning Simmons	Who?	14:43
Doris Dixon	Bishop Mason?	14:44
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah.	14:45
Doris Dixon	What kind of—	14:48
Hattie Manning Simmons	Bishop Mason. He was a Colored man. Yeah, I'd get up on a bench and listen to him preach in Lexington. Bishop Mason. Yeah, I remember him. He was sanctified. Mm-hmm.	14:56
Doris Dixon	So were you saved in Bishop Mason's church?	15:13
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-mm.	15:16
Doris Dixon	Where were you saved? In Greenwood?	15:16
Hattie Manning Simmons	In Greenwood, I went there to see the Holy Ghost while they were carrying on the revival.	15:19
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	15:26
Hattie Manning Simmons	In Greenwood. I didn't live there, I lived here in Moorhead.	15:28
Doris Dixon	Okay.	15:30
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I know [indistinct 00:15:37] Mason. Good preacher. I used to stand up on a bench and hear him preach.	15:36
Doris Dixon	Why would you stand up on a bench?	15:51
Hattie Manning Simmons	To get up there so I wouldn't be down where the [indistinct 00:15:57] Stand up there. I wanted to understand what he's saying.	15:52
Doris Dixon	Was it crowded? Lot of people?	16:04
Hattie Manning Simmons	Hm?	16:07
Doris Dixon	Were there a lot of people there?	16:07
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yes, ma'am. Sure was. A lot of people. I wanted to know what was right. I was a Baptist at that time. And I—	16:09
Speaker 1	Were you saved at that time, Ms. Simmons?	16:26
Hattie Manning Simmons	No, I wasn't saved then. I wanted to know.	16:26
Speaker 1	Oh, so you were just going to hear him preach?	16:31
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	16:31
Speaker 1	You didn't know about Holiness?	16:31
Hattie Manning Simmons	Uh-uh. No, I didn't know about Holy. I didn't see—	16:31
Speaker 1	So it was after you came to Moorhead—	16:41
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	16:41
Speaker 1	You accepted Christ and you've gotten saved?	16:41
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	16:44
Speaker 1	So you used to live in Lexington? You ever live in Lexington?	16:44
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I lived in Lexington.	16:44
Speaker 1	Okay, so you lived in Lexington when you were small.	16:54
Hattie Manning Simmons	Uh-huh.	16:55
Speaker 1	Then after you got older, you moved to Moorhead?	16:57
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah. Sure did.	16:59
Speaker 1	Okay, so you were small, you was a girl when you used to get up on the bench and hear him?	17:04
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. Sure was. I was a girl. But I [indistinct 00:17:15] about Baptist first. I got into Baptist. But I wanted to learn. He was preaching and I wanted to learn what was right. But I was a Baptist at that time. But I learned. And words that take upon you, learn. Have to be doers of the word, not hearers only. You have to do it with a willing mind.	17:06
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, can you tell me some of the things that you learned were right?	17:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	What?	17:56
Doris Dixon	What was right and what was wrong?	17:59
Hattie Manning Simmons	Uh-huh. Holiness is right.	18:02
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	18:03
Hattie Manning Simmons	That's the only way.	18:05
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	18:06
Hattie Manning Simmons	Jesus is the way. Without it, you can't see [indistinct 00:18:11] without Holiness. Mm-hmm. I learned that. Took heed to that. That's the reason I want you to come out here and hear that preacher. [indistinct 00:18:26] it take my yoke and learn.	18:07
Doris Dixon	Was your mother or father, were they in the church?	18:34
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-mm. They didn't accept it. Mm-mm. But I did. Holiness for everybody that will. There's no will, let him come. Mm-hmm. That's what I want, I want folks saved. Fact the Bible say that you can't make it without it. He coming back, He said, "Be ready." That's important, saving your soul. You don't want to be lost.	18:38
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	19:19
Hattie Manning Simmons	I know I don't.	19:19
Doris Dixon	Yes, ma'am.	19:19
Hattie Manning Simmons	No, I don't want to be lost. I don't want to go down there and burn. Uh-uh. I tell anybody how I want to [indistinct 00:19:38] Mm-hmm. Got my special [indistinct 00:19:45] peace of all men and Holiness. Without, you can't see the Lord. I want to do what He say. Be like He say. Sure do.	19:29
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons?	20:02
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm?	20:05
Doris Dixon	The people that I talked to, the other people that I talked to, tell me about the old days, how people used to help each other out and how people don't help each other out anymore. Do you agree with that? Did people use to help each other out a lot in the old days?	20:06
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, you help them. You help them one to another.	20:22
Doris Dixon	How?	20:27
Hattie Manning Simmons	I got candy.	20:27
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	20:27
Hattie Manning Simmons	Peppermint. Orange [indistinct 00:20:32] banana. I carry it to church. I give it to people.	20:37
Doris Dixon	You do that today?	20:41
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I got it in there now.	20:43
Doris Dixon	Okay. Okay.	20:43
Hattie Manning Simmons	You want some peppermint?	20:46
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	20:46
Hattie Manning Simmons	It's in there.	20:46
Doris Dixon	Okay. Yes, ma'am. I'll get some before I leave.	20:52
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	20:53
Doris Dixon	I'm asking about the old days. Did people work together in the old days?	20:55
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, they worked.	20:59
Doris Dixon	Together? I mean, they help each other, they share with you?	21:01
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, they helped.	21:05
Doris Dixon	Each other?	21:05
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. They helped, but they wasn't saved.	21:09
Doris Dixon	Okay.	21:09
Hattie Manning Simmons	They didn't understand.	21:09
Doris Dixon	Yes, ma'am.	21:09
Hattie Manning Simmons	All you're [indistinct 00:21:09] and didn't understand. Uh-huh, they helped. They didn't understand, pay heed to the right. Thank the Lord. He's so good.	21:09
Doris Dixon	Yes, ma'am.	21:21
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. I think the Lord has blessed me. Let me live.	21:21
Doris Dixon	It's a blessing.	21:21
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	21:21
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, you told me about fishing and hunting and trapping. What did you do for a living? How did you make money? Was that how you made money?	21:44
Hattie Manning Simmons	I'd pick cotton.	21:51
Doris Dixon	Okay.	21:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	21:53
Doris Dixon	[indistinct 00:21:54] tell me that.	21:54
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I'd pick cotton. Sure was. And haul cotton to the gin. That's the way I'd make money. Trap, make money trapping. Catch coon, minx, possum, ship the hide and they'd send the money. That's the way I made money. I thank the Lord.	21:55
Doris Dixon	Did you make a lot of money doing that?	22:26
Hattie Manning Simmons	Made some. Made some.	22:28
Doris Dixon	Enough to get by on?	22:34
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, I'd drink [indistinct 00:22:38] then. Mm-hmm. Gin, made enough money for that. Get something to eat. Sure did. I thank the Lord. He know what to do and how to do, when to do. Got all the power.	22:36
Doris Dixon	Were people different back in those days than they are today?	23:07
Hattie Manning Simmons	I don't know what you said.	23:16
Doris Dixon	Oh.	23:16
Hattie Manning Simmons	What you say?	23:16
Doris Dixon	Were people different, people behave different, did people act differently than they do today?	23:20
Hattie Manning Simmons	You said, did they act?	23:25
Doris Dixon	Did they behave differently? Were they different?	23:27
Hattie Manning Simmons	They just do like they want to do. Mm-hmm. Do like they want to do. Didn't pay heed to the word.	23:38
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	23:38
Hattie Manning Simmons	[indistinct 00:23:39] like they want to. I think the Lord has blessed me, to take heed.	23:38
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm. Ms. Simmons, can you tell me about Lexington, Mississippi?	23:40
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah, Lexington, I've lived there a while.	24:00
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	24:03
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm. In Lexington, my mother buried there. Victoria Manning.	24:03
Doris Dixon	Were was your mother from?	24:19
Hattie Manning Simmons	You said, where was she born?	24:20
Doris Dixon	Mm-hmm.	24:28
Hattie Manning Simmons	I don't know now.	24:28
Doris Dixon	Were your parents slaves?	24:30
Hattie Manning Simmons	Hm?	24:33
Doris Dixon	Were your parents slaves? Do you know if your parents were slaves?	24:33
Hattie Manning Simmons	We used to farm.	24:40
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	24:40
Hattie Manning Simmons	Cotton. Mm-hmm.	24:40
Doris Dixon	Ms. Simmons, did you know your grandparents?	24:51
Hattie Manning Simmons	Did I know what?	24:54
Doris Dixon	Did you ever know your grandparents?	24:56
Hattie Manning Simmons	I didn't have no grandchild. That boy died and got [indistinct 00:25:02] years old.	24:57
Doris Dixon	Yes, ma'am. But I mean, your grandparents?	25:02
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-mm.	25:05
Doris Dixon	So you didn't know your—	25:06
Hattie Manning Simmons	I didn't have no grandchildren, that I knows of. I don't know his wife. He stayed at Greenwood and I was here at Moorhead.	25:07
Speaker 1	Did you know your grandparents? Did you know your grandmother? Did you know your grandpapa and your grandmama?	25:12
Hattie Manning Simmons	No, I knowed my mother and my papa.	25:12
Speaker 1	Well, who raised your child?	25:25
Hattie Manning Simmons	His mother. His grandmother, that's who raised him.	25:26
Speaker 1	Oh, so your mother?	25:44
Hattie Manning Simmons	His grandmother.	25:44
Speaker 1	Your mother or your husband's mother? His daddy's mama?	25:44
Hattie Manning Simmons	That was his grandmother.	25:44
Speaker 1	But it wasn't your mother?	25:46
Hattie Manning Simmons	Who was my mother? My mother, they was together. They was together. But I was in sin. I did [indistinct 00:26:10] that child.	25:47
Speaker 1	Were you married when you had your child?	25:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-mm. No, I wasn't married.	25:53
Speaker 1	Were you married when you lived in Lexington?	25:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	Yeah. I married after. Who did I marry? Brooks, Anderson Brooks. He passed. He passed.	25:53
Speaker 1	But were you married to him in Lexington?	25:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	When I was staying in Lexington?	25:53
Speaker 1	Uh-huh.	25:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	I don't think I had no husband when I stayed in Lexington.	25:53
Speaker 1	You was a Brooks after you came over here, before you became a Simmons.	25:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	I don't think I had—I had a home there.	25:53
Speaker 1	[indistinct 00:26:54]	25:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	Where I stayed in, you know? I used to go to church there in Lexington. That's how I know Reverend Mason. I was young at that time.	25:53
Speaker 1	[indistinct 00:27:13] that knew her. They all dead now. Because I know [indistinct 00:27:17] I've just known her since the '70s, '75, '76.	25:53
Doris Dixon	[indistinct 00:27:23]	25:53
Hattie Manning Simmons	But I didn't want to live there. I'd come back here.	27:27
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	27:28
Hattie Manning Simmons	But she had children there and she stayed there with her children.	27:30
Speaker 2	[indistinct 00:27:34]	27:33
Doris Dixon	You didn't like Chicago?	27:38
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-mm. Not for me to live. Mm-mm. I like here better than I did Chicago. Mm-mm.	27:49
Doris Dixon	Why did you like here better?	27:55
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm?	28:10
Doris Dixon	Why? What did you like more?	28:10
Hattie Manning Simmons	I reckon I been here longer—	28:10
Doris Dixon	Uh-huh.	28:10
Hattie Manning Simmons	—than I was in Chicago. I just visited there. I didn't want to live there. Mm-mm.	28:10
Speaker 2	She's an outdoor person. In Chicago, she couldn't hunt and trap, and fish like [indistinct 00:28:21] so she down the South, she can [indistinct 00:28:24]	28:17
Hattie Manning Simmons	He know about me trapping and fishing. You know about it.	28:23
Speaker 2	Trapping.	28:23
Hattie Manning Simmons	Mm-hmm.	28:23
Speaker 2	An outdoor person. [indistinct 00:28:40]	28:23

Item Info

Title:

Hattie Simmons interview recording, 1995 July 28

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4zc8436g

Date:

July 28, 1995

Creator:

Simmons, Hattie Manning

Contributor:

Dixon, Doris

Description:

Name: Hattie Manning Simmons; Date of birth: 1894-01-07; Place of birth: Sunflower Co., MS; Occupation(s): agriculture; sharecropper; cotton picker; Residence: Moorhead, MS
Informant ID: 1175; Interviewed by: Doris Dixon.

Identifier:

RL00170-CS-0789
73ba2388-e281-4efe-850b-6b357af95866
behindtheveil
23965842-ff47-401b-b813-388412581eca
ark:/87924/r4zc8436g
23965842-ff47-401b-b813-388412581eca

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

Related Resources:

See below

Location:

Format:

Language:

English

Occupation:

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.

Series:

Type:

Sound

Sponsor:

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Hattie Simmons interview recording, 1995 July 28

Transcript

Item Info

1. Hattie Simmons administrative file, 1995

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Transcript

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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