Della Green interview recording, 1995 July 15
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| Paul Ortiz | When you were born and something about the area that you grew up in? | 0:00 |
| Della McComb Green | When I was born, that's the year. | 0:11 |
| Paul Ortiz | Yes ma'am. | 0:13 |
| Della McComb Green | I was born February the 8th. My mother says February the 8th, 1929. And a little town by the name of Tyronza, Arkansas. T-Y-R-O-N-Z-A. | 0:14 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, is Tyronza close to this? Close to Fargo? | 0:34 |
| Della McComb Green | I wouldn't call it close, but it's not all that far either. It was close enough that we heard about the school. That's how I got here. | 0:40 |
| Paul Ortiz | Okay. Mrs. Green, what was life like for Black people when you were growing up? | 0:45 |
| Della McComb Green | Okay. My mother and father separated when I was two. My sister was six months. My mother took my sister, my dad took me. And when I got old enough to chop and pick cotton, we was moving from plantation to plantation. But my dad always told the White man when school started, his daughter was going to school. He never kept me out to chop and pick no cotton, school was going on. Way back in those days some children didn't get to start the school till January and went to school January and February and had to go right back to the field. | 0:55 |
| Della McComb Green | But me, I went the whole term because my dad seen to that. He told his boss as they called him, except the boss man back in those days. The boss man that he was the farmer, not me. So he would take care of the farming and I would help until school opened. But when school opened, I always went to school. Now that's one thing my dad did. He wanted me to have an education. | 1:40 |
| Paul Ortiz | So Mrs. Green, now, during those days, the White boss really didn't care about whether Black children went to school? | 2:02 |
| Della McComb Green | Oh no. Why should he care? He had his cotton he wanted picked and his corn and his this and his that. That's what he wanted. | 2:12 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green. Now you said that your family moved a lot when you were growing up, was that because of the low prices? | 2:19 |
| Della McComb Green | No, no, no. Oh. I mean it would be on the same plantation but different. It was called straw bosses. Every plantation you move on, you'd have a different overseer. Within the Tyronza area you had a lot of farms, and each farm had a boss. But mainly all of it was mostly owned by one person. But he had it. What was just that, I don't know if they leased it or what, but you'd have a lot of little different bosses. | 2:29 |
| Della McComb Green | So each farm you moved on was probably owned by Mr. [indistinct 00:03:16] in my particular in Tyronza. Mr. [indistinct 00:03:16] owned all of it. But then he had, we had one man over the farm we was on named Mr. [indistinct 00:03:28] East. Now those are the two I remember Mr. [indistinct 00:03:32] and Mr. [indistinct 00:03:32] East. | 3:13 |
| Della McComb Green | It was some more, but each farm you moved on, the boss always wanted— if you had children, they had to work to farm. So we call them straw boss. They didn't own the land like Mr. [indistinct 00:03:53]. Mr. [indistinct 00:03:55] owned the land. But I guess they leased it or subleased or whatever you call it from him. | 3:32 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, what kind of people were the straw bosses? | 4:01 |
| Della McComb Green | Some of them was nice, some weren't. Just like today. Some people are decent, some are not. Some think if they got a nickel more than you that make them better than you. So that's the way it was with this straw bosses, as I call them. I don't know what we call them back in those days. I call them straw bosses because I done forgot all that stuff. But anyway, some of them are nice and some were not. That's all I can say. | 4:05 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, can you tell me about the Black community in Tyronza? What it was like, and did people shared things within the Black community when you were growing up? | 4:33 |
| Della McComb Green | When I was growing up in the community where I live, yes, it was. If you didn't have something your neighbor had, yeah, they shared. But mostly it was a religious community where we went to church, take me and my grammy after my dad went in service. So after he went in service, I had to stay with my grandparent. Not a grandfather, just a grandmother. So we went to church. If something was going on at night, we went. I learned how to walk in my sleep. Because you went to church no matter what. You was at church all day Sunday from Sunday school, morning worship, evening service, Sunshine band or BTU or whatever they had. At six o'clock, you were there and if they had choir practice on a Monday, you were there. If they had something else, Tuesday you were there. Whatever went on, you were there. I said, when I get grown, I'm never going to church. | 4:48 |
| Della McComb Green | At that particular time I meant that cause I was tired of going to church to everything. But now you can't beat me going to church. But when I was a child, I got tired of it. It was like a routine. But it was nice. I enjoyed my childhood because I never went without anything I needed. Maybe I went without some things I wanted but never what I needed. And we had a garden for the fresh vegetables and before we was able to have an ice box, my daddy used to dig a hole in the ground and put a— make a door to it and we put the vegetables in there to keep them for the winter. I forgot what you call it now. Oh Lord. That was before. | 5:57 |
| Della McComb Green | That was before we were able to have an ice box. We got able to have an ice box. We'd buy a lump of ice two or three times a week to keep the stuff. Went from there to the refrigerator. From there from the refrigerator. And I got in my home. I got two, three freezers, deep freezers. But that was as time progressed because when I was first born up till about when I come off up here to school, we were still using ice boxes. The ice man ran like three days a week. Like Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. You get a 50 pound, 75 pound, 100 pound block of ice. You put it in the top of your box and you put all your food at the bottom. That's how you kept your food fresh. And you never heard of icebox? | 6:50 |
| Paul Ortiz | I've heard of people burying food. | 7:46 |
| Della McComb Green | Yeah. Well that was the first refrigerator, the first food keeper I guess I should say. | 7:48 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, What did your house look like when you were coming up? | 7:58 |
| Della McComb Green | What do you mean? What did it look like? It was a house. What are you talking about? | 8:02 |
| Paul Ortiz | Well, how many rooms? | 8:04 |
| Della McComb Green | Oh, we had what was known as a shotgun house. | 8:11 |
| Paul Ortiz | Okay. | 8:13 |
| Della McComb Green | It was long like this. You walk in the front room, one bedroom, the kitchen and another bedroom. It was just long. Wasn't any bungalows or nothing. It was called a shotgun house. So therefore it was just straight, just a straight long house. | 8:13 |
| Paul Ortiz | And when you were growing up, did you have— what kinds of chores did you have? | 8:32 |
| Della McComb Green | Sweep the yard, pick up the chips, bring in the stove wood, that kind of stuff. | 8:43 |
| Paul Ortiz | And did you have brothers and sisters when were growing up? | 8:51 |
| Della McComb Green | No, it wasn't but two of us. And when my parents separated, one took one and one took the other. That was it. I grew up like an only child because my daddy had me and my mother had my sister. So they never went back together. So when I married, I married out of my daddy's house. For my sister Mary, she married out of my mother's house. | 8:55 |
| Paul Ortiz | This is great. Earlier you were saying that your father insisted that you go to school. | 9:20 |
| Della McComb Green | I was saying what? | 9:21 |
| Paul Ortiz | Your father insisted that you go to school. | 9:28 |
| Della McComb Green | Yeah. | 9:28 |
| Paul Ortiz | Okay. Which school did you attend? | 9:33 |
| Della McComb Green | What you mean which school? I attended whatever they had open in the neighborhood. And that was a church though. You went to school in the church. I went to Cherry Bean school. I went to Morning Star School, whatever the church was named. One of my teachers was named Miss Arielle Wheeler. One was named Miss, what was that lady name? I can see that lady, can't recall her name. Anyway, I had two teachers before I moved to Black Oak. Then when I moved to Black Oak, I had one named Mrs. Stella Jackson. That's who I finished the eighth grade under was Mrs. Stella Jackson. So, oh, almost recall that name again. Ms. Arielle Wheeler, and I can see that other woman. Oh Jesus. What was that name? Just had all classes was in this one room. This church house. So the school was called the same thing the church was. The church I went to in to Tyronza was Cherry Bean Missionary Baptist and the school was called Cherry Bean too. Cherry Bean. | 9:34 |
| Paul Ortiz | Okay. | 10:41 |
| Paul Ortiz | What were your favorite subjects? | 10:41 |
| Della McComb Green | I have to say reading. I love to read until this day. My hobby is reading. Every chance I get, I'm reading. Love to read. | 10:52 |
| Paul Ortiz | And Mrs. Green, what were your favorite books that you had to read? | 11:02 |
| Della McComb Green | Oh, coming up. I don't remember. I read anything I could get my hands on. But now of course my favorite book is the Bible. I read it a lot because I do a lot of writing from the Bible and stuff like that. But when I was a child I just read funny books. It didn't make any difference. Anything that was printed, I read it. Some school books, Sunday school books, Bible, didn't make no difference as long as I was reading. | 11:10 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green. When did you first hear about school here? | 11:39 |
| Della McComb Green | Okay, that takes me back to my cousin. My mother's sister's daughter graduated from the Fargo Agricultural School when it was very young. She graduated in '38. So in '44 when I was ready to come to high school, she told my people about this. That's how I got here. | 11:47 |
| Paul Ortiz | And when you first came here, did you have a scholarship? | 12:13 |
| Della McComb Green | No. When I come here you didn't have to have a scholarship. Didn't pay but $12 a month. | 12:17 |
| Paul Ortiz | Okay. | 12:23 |
| Paul Ortiz | What were your favorite subjects here? | 12:27 |
| Della McComb Green | I don't know if I had one by that time. Other than reading, I always did love to read and still do. But I was a pretty good student. I was an A-minus student. With the help of my girlfriend, she was an A student and she made me stay in my books. But I guess English. English Literature. | 12:37 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, could you describe a typical day here at the school when you were a student? | 13:01 |
| Della McComb Green | A typical day, you get up in the morning, you go to the washroom, you wash yourself up or take your bath or shower, what have you. You go down to breakfast. | 13:08 |
| Della McComb Green | I think class began at nine o'clock. By nine o'clock you had to be in the school, where you went to class. And we had a dean named Dean Alexander. His wife was home economics teacher. We had an English teacher, Ms. Gamble, Ms. Harris. Those were English teachers. President Brown didn't teach any the classes when I was here. I can't remember himteaching in the class. But he was always around. Him and that walking cane. | 13:20 |
| Della McComb Green | And we got demerits for certain things. If you said se'en instead of seven, you had to pay a dime. If you said 'leven instead of 11, you had to pay a dime. If you said fo' instead of four, you had to pay a dime. So it made you careful about your English a little bit. Because anything you did too far off, you had to pay for it. | 13:54 |
| Della McComb Green | So it was interesting. And I liked people, so therefore I had a good time because I was raised as an only child and then I had all these sisters in the dormitory with all these girls. It was good to me. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so I stayed over here in the summer and worked. | 14:21 |
| Della McComb Green | But then my dad got discharged from service and he made me come home for my senior year. See I didn't get to graduate from here. I went here three years and then I didn't get to graduate with my class. | 14:46 |
| Della McComb Green | But those are the breaks. | 15:04 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, what kinds of social activities did you have here at the school? | 15:19 |
| Della McComb Green | Basketball games, dances. We had socials. At night, we'd have a social, we called it social. And you was allowed to mingle with the guys for a couple hours. After the basketball game, you got to mingle. After the football game, whatever sport was in season. | 15:20 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, what kinds of skills were you taught here? | 15:41 |
| Della McComb Green | Cooking. Canning. Sewing. That's what the girls are mostly taught. I don't think we had any girls in shop, of course now we got girls taking shop. But I don't remember any girls taking shop when I was going to school here. So we had home economics. That was cooking and sewing and canning, that's still cooking. But that's what the girls was taught to my knowledge. Because the summer I stayed over here. I spent the whole summer, we canned food to feed the kids during the winter when they come in. | 15:47 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, what were race relations during that time? | 16:30 |
| Della McComb Green | I can't remember too much about that because mostly we stayed to ourself and they stayed to — they didn't bother us and we didn't bother them. If something come up and I guess they would just kill you and go about they business. But nothing else be done about to my knowledge. So they wanted us to say yes sir, Mr. Boss and yes ma'am, miss so and so and go on about your business. | 16:36 |
| Della McComb Green | I didn't like it, but I had to do it. I remember when I got married and my husband and I decided to move to Chicago and we come back down on vacation and I said, oh, when I get down I'm going to say yes ma'am and yes sir and all this stuff. And my baby got sick and I had to take him to the doctor and I forgot all of that. We took him to the doctor's office and I walked in there, the nurse asked me some questions. I said yes and no. And she was looking at me so funny. Well see, I was worried about my baby so I forgot yes ma'am and yes sir and all that crap. So she asked me, she said, "You don't live here, do you?" I said, "No, I don't." She said, "Where you live?" I said "In Chicago." She said, I thought so. And it hit me. I was saying, yes and no to her. And she was White and I wasn't supposed to do that. | 17:03 |
| Speaker 3 | I said, "Somebody in California." | 18:13 |
| Della McComb Green | No I don't have, | 18:17 |
| Speaker 3 | I needed one for here. | 18:18 |
| Paul Ortiz | I have an extra one ma'am. | 18:24 |
| Della McComb Green | Take the pen, [indistinct 00:18:29]. You didn't give it to me. | 18:26 |
| Speaker 3 | I took a second one. | 18:27 |
| Paul Ortiz | Don't even. You got it. | 18:27 |
| Della McComb Green | So I mean I forgot it. I forgot, yes and no. I forgot about it. Because I had been gone five or six years. I wasn't used to staying it anyway. So after I forgot it, I just went on talking like I've been talking. That was it. | 18:38 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, what year did you move to Chicago? | 18:53 |
| Della McComb Green | When did I move to Chicago? | 19:02 |
| Della McComb Green | '50 — I go Chicago, [indistinct 00:19:03]? '52? | 19:02 |
| Della McComb Green | She was my baby. She 43. | 19:03 |
| Speaker 3 | What year she born? | 19:35 |
| Della McComb Green | She was born in '52. No, when was Jean born? It was in the early fifties. It was '52 or '53. Tony was born in '54. So it had to be in '53. | 19:35 |
| Speaker 3 | She [indistinct 00:19:43]. | 19:35 |
| Della McComb Green | I guess so. | 19:35 |
| Speaker 3 | And I was telling [indistinct 00:19:50]. | 19:35 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green. When you were at the school, were you thinking in terms of a career? | 19:54 |
| Della McComb Green | When I was here? | 20:02 |
| Paul Ortiz | Yes. | 20:03 |
| Della McComb Green | When I was here I was thinking in terms of getting out of here. That's what I was thinking, graduating, getting out. I didn't have no other plan. Because I wasn't, I didn't, you mean did I want to be in this profession or that? No, I didn't have no thought for that. At that time. | 20:03 |
| Paul Ortiz | Were you thinking in terms of a career later on or? | 20:30 |
| Della McComb Green | Well, I got married and I was married to one of them old fashioned men that didn't believe in women working. My job was the children and the house. But then when he passed so early I needed a career and then I didn't know how to do anything. So I had to revert back to, I keep children. That's what I do now today. I have a nurse, so that's it. | 20:35 |
| Della McComb Green | I had to go into business after all. Wasn't my intention of course. But that's the way things happen. | 20:56 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, when you think back now on some of the toughest times you had when you were growing up? | 21:11 |
| Della McComb Green | Can you explain tough? Because I don't quite understand what you mean. | 21:26 |
| Paul Ortiz | Difficult living conditions, tight situations you were in. | 21:27 |
| Della McComb Green | Well see, I can't remember no times like that. Because if anything was ever tight when I was growing up, my dad took care of it. I didn't know anything about it. To me, life was fine. Show you what I know. | 21:36 |
| Speaker 3 | And you miss [indistinct 00:22:13]. | 22:12 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green. Has your family always lived in Arkansas? Have they moved? | 22:12 |
| Della McComb Green | You mean after I come in on the scene? My daddy came from Tennessee, but I think my mother was born in Arkansas. But my daddy had lived in Tennessee and I don't know how he managed to get to Arkansas, but he did. I think my mother was original Arkansas. My daddy came from Tennessee. | 22:12 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green. Do you remember your grandparents? | 22:34 |
| Della McComb Green | Sure. Grandfathers, I don't remember. But grandmothers, my daddy's mother and my mother's mother, both of them. | 22:39 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, would they tell you stories about when they came up and when stories passed down about their— ? | 22:48 |
| Della McComb Green | If they did, I'd forgotten it. After all you got to remember today, Mrs. Green is a senior citizen. It's been years ago, all that's gone. | 22:56 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green through your life, what have been the things that have inspired you to keep on striving and struggling to reach your goals? | 23:11 |
| Della McComb Green | Well now President Brown and he started this school, as they say, with $2.85 in his pocket. I always think about things like that. If you want something bad enough, work for it, you'll get it. President Brown has been an inspiration to me throughout my life. Because if he could take $2.85 and start something like this, like me, when my husband lost his eyesight, that's what he did. Before he passed, he lost his eyesight. I had five children. | 23:24 |
| Della McComb Green | Oh, I'm not trained for anything. I could have got on ABC like a lot of them and sat there and rolled a check. But I prefer not to do that. So I started keeping children. I started with one baby and I got 8 today that I'm still keeping at my age. I wash eight kids every day. Take a vacation once, twice a year. And other than that, I'm up every morning 5:00. So when you got somebody to tell you that you can make it and then you have to believe that you can make it. You just don't somebody say, Oh, you can make it. But somebody kind of show you the way by example. Somebody's going to already pull their self up by their bootstraps. And that's what President Brown did. He and Mrs. Brown, they started from scratch. By the time I left here, this was a booming place out in these sticks. Must still eat your hole but. | 23:58 |
| Della McComb Green | My dad was the inspiration to me because like I said, him and my mother separated when I was two and my sister was six months and he didn't give up and he didn't bring women in over me. He raised me. He'd go to field and work all day and come home, take his bath and sit me between his legs and leave the Bible to me until we got ready to go to bed. He didn't bring women and stuff in over men. He didn't run off and leave me with this sitter and that sitter. He took the responsibility. | 25:05 |
| Della McComb Green | Now what he did after I got old enough to take care of myself, I don't know. But when I was small enough to need his attention, he gave it to me. And that's the reason I know I hate to see a woman say a man can't help do nothing. Because if a man has the desire, he can do it. My daddy washed and ironed and sent me to school. I may not have had fancy clothes but I was always clean. So it's a lot of things that inspired me down through the years. Because see, my daddy raised me on his own. That was the inspiration. | 25:37 |
| Paul Ortiz | Mrs. Green, are there other stories that you'd like to share that you haven't touched on? | 26:17 |
| Della McComb Green | I guess not. Other stories, other stories, other stories. | 26:22 |
| Paul Ortiz | Experiences? | 26:31 |
| Della McComb Green | No, I guess not. | 26:31 |
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