Claudius Walker interview recording, 1994 July 20

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Tywanna Whorley	Can you tell me when you were born?	0:00
Claudius Walker	Yes. I was born in April the 26th, 1931 in Manning, South Carolina,	0:05
Tywanna Whorley	Manning, South Carolina. How long did you live in South Carolina?	0:08
Claudius Walker	Let's see. For the first 16 years of my life.	0:13
Tywanna Whorley	Can you tell me about it? The community that you lived in in South Carolina?	0:17
Claudius Walker	Well, the street I live on there, it's a small town, there was only two houses on the street in which I lived at the time. My house and there was a White family up at the other end of the street. And for, I guess, it was like this for maybe about until I was about 10 years old and other people started building houses in the area. At the time, was completely segregated.	0:22
Tywanna Whorley	Can you tell me about that?	0:52
Claudius Walker	Yes. Well, we had different schools, see? The Blacks went to one school, the Whites went to another school. And the two schools started at different times so that we wouldn't come in contact with each other. Yes.	0:53
Tywanna Whorley	When did the Black schools start?	1:11
Claudius Walker	Well, I'd say the White school started maybe like eight o'clock and we would come to our school about nine o'clock.	1:12
Tywanna Whorley	Wow. Do you remember the name of schools that you attended?	1:23
Claudius Walker	Yeah, it was called Manning Training School. That school burned down when I was in the third grade. Right after school, we think it was arson. And so, for the rest of my education I got going to church, in the church. Sometime outdoors and sometime in converted army barracks.	1:27
Claudius Walker	And the Supreme Court decision from 1954 to outlaw separate but equal schools was filed in my hometown. Some of my relatives filed to go to the White school because they never built our school back. They decided they would build separate but equal schools, which they did. They built some very good schools, but they sued. They didn't want separate but equal schools.	1:48
Tywanna Whorley	Can you tell me what the town was like? When you would travel into town—	2:16
Claudius Walker	Yeah. Well, it was segregated. We could not sit at a lunch counter. The bus stations were segregated. One side said White and the other said Colored. The water fountains had White and Colored. And if you should happen to drink, you'd get put in jail. It's that simple. A Black guy could not speak to a White girl. That was an offense.	2:21
Tywanna Whorley	When did you first become aware that there were differences between the two races?	2:54
Claudius Walker	Oh, I knew that very early. My mother and father told us what was going on.	2:54
Tywanna Whorley	What did they tell you? You remember?	3:00
Claudius Walker	Well, my father said that as soon as I got big enough, he wanted me to leave there because it used to hurt me. One of my father's jobs was painter. He had about 10 different trades, but he used to paint. I can remember this little girl, excuse me, was about 13 years old. And he called up Miss so-and-so-and-so, and it just broke my heart. I said, "I'm not going to do that. Going to say Miss so-and-so to someone that's much younger than me. She should be saying Mr. to you." And he said, "Well, you going to have to leave this town. You wouldn't be able to survive here." That's right.	3:04
Claudius Walker	So as soon as I graduated— Well, the year I graduated from high school, my daddy got his legs crushed at a canning factory that he was working at. And I had a sister here at Tuskegee, going to school, and I had another sister that was going to Shaw University. So I know my parents wouldn't be able to send me to college.	3:41
Claudius Walker	So the principal of my high school told me to write the President of Tuskegee, who was Dr. Patterson, and tell him the situation. So he wrote me back, told them to come down, he'd give me a job. And when I came here, they gave me a job working at the ROTC supply, being a supply clerk. Well, I kept that job for one year, but we had an annual inspection and the account was something like close to $2 million, and said I was too young to be responsible on account of that. So there I was without a job. So I don't know by fate or what, I started walking around to John Andrew Hospital.	4:00
Claudius Walker	And I went to see the Medical Director there. And come to find out that he was from little town that was 18 miles from where I lived. And he knew my people. And he said, "Well, I'll give you a job in the clinical lab." I said, "I don't know anything by chemistry. We didn't have a chemistry lab." And he said, "You come a good family. I know your folks, so you can make it."	4:42
Claudius Walker	And so, he gave me a job and on-the-job training to be a lab technician. So I changed my major. I was majoring in interior decorating, changed to chemistry. And I did graduate with honors, but I learned to be a lab technician, and I got my degree in chemistry, and I was also taking ROTC, so I got three vocations.	5:02
Tywanna Whorley	Wow.	5:27
Claudius Walker	Yeah. Well, when I came to Tuskegee, there were no White students here then. It was still segregated. First time I went to school with a White was when I went to flight school in the Air Force.	5:28
Tywanna Whorley	When was that? Sixties?	5:45
Claudius Walker	Right after I graduated. When I graduated. I graduated in 1954, I went directly into the Air Force.	5:50
Tywanna Whorley	How was it? When you came to Tuskegee, did you travel by train or bus [indistinct 00:06:02]?	5:56
Claudius Walker	By bus. By bus.	6:00
Tywanna Whorley	It was segregated?	6:00
Claudius Walker	It was segregated then. Yeah, they had a sign, maybe about four or five seats from the very back, saying Colored. And a couple times I was here, one of my friends, whose name is Frank Fornell, we went over to Atlanta. And this sign that said Colored, I remember we stole the sign. And I think he still has that sign.	6:04
Tywanna Whorley	What did you think about Tuskegee when you got here? And the area?	6:34
Claudius Walker	Well, I'd been home away from home a couple of times. I'd been to Baltimore. But I got homesick for a while. Well, my sister was still here when I first came here, but after about a month, she went to New York to join her husband. So I really got homesick. Well, that soon passed. And I kept busy working and going to school at night.	6:40
Tywanna Whorley	Did she ever write home to tell you about things that were going on at Tuskegee?	7:05
Claudius Walker	Did I do what? Huh?	7:08
Tywanna Whorley	Did your sister ever write back home to tell you what was going on here at Tuskegee? Or—	7:11
Claudius Walker	Yeah, she also worked her way through school. And she told me that she hoped I would think about coming to Tuskegee. That's another reason I did come.	7:16
Tywanna Whorley	Did she ever tell you why she chose coming to Tuskegee?	7:22
Claudius Walker	Same reason I did. She had the opportunity to work.	7:28
Tywanna Whorley	Oh. Do you remember the experiences that you had over at working in the hospital [indistinct 00:07:41]?	7:29
Claudius Walker	Well, each year we had to do blood work and urinalysis for the students as they came in. And that was rather interesting. I got to meet all the new freshmen and so forth, and it was quite interesting doing that. And I had a very good supervisor. Her name was Ms. Lucy Jones. She had worked her way through West Virginia State, so she was very supportive of my getting through school.	7:43
Tywanna Whorley	There was a question I wanted to ask you. Were there a lot of students working in the hospital?	8:12
Claudius Walker	Yes, there were quite a number of students. And during that period of time, that's one, and think Dr. Charles Goode Gomillion was Dean of Students, and he was trying to get the people here in Tuskegee to register to vote. And so, one time we had a rumor that the Ku Klux Klan was coming to get him. So, as I said, I was custodian with the military supplies. So we had guns and we were waiting for them to come. I guess the word must have gotten back to them because they didn't come. The administration didn't know that we were set up, because we had 50-caliber machine gun, BARs, and Bazookas. Just like the whole thing. Yeah. We were hoping that they would come through, but they didn't come through.	8:21
Tywanna Whorley	[indistinct 00:09:23]. How did word get here that the Klan was coming?	9:23
Claudius Walker	Someone told one of the instructors of the ROTC. I don't remember who the guy was downtown, but it was a White guy that had been in service with him told him this. And—	9:27
Tywanna Whorley	They said they were definitely coming out to get—	9:38
Claudius Walker	Yeah, they said they were going to get him. Yeah. They said that Tuskegee was nothing but a hotbed of radicalism in the South, anyway.	9:47
Tywanna Whorley	Were the students scared or were they just, like you said, ready to prepare—	9:55
Claudius Walker	Well, the guys were ready. I don't know how the young ladies felt about it, but we were ready. Everybody loved Mr. Gomillion. We were going to protect him.	10:01
Tywanna Whorley	Can you describe Dr. Gomillion? What the the students thought about Dr. Gomillion?	10:08
Claudius Walker	Well, he was a kind person. He always stressed to students the importance of getting an education, being the best that you can be. And he was active in Sunday school and stuff like that, YMCA. And he was very supportive of anything positive, he was for that.	10:17
Tywanna Whorley	When you first voted, was it here? Tuskegee?	10:38
Claudius Walker	No, I did not vote while I was at Tuskegee. I think it was after I went in service before I voted.	10:44
Tywanna Whorley	What did you think about him in terms of teaching with Tuskegee and then working in the community, trying to get people to register to vote, knowing that the KKK—?	10:51
Claudius Walker	Well, he was that type of person though. He had a conviction that something ought to be done, that we need our justice. And he's still living now too. He's in the Washington area. Yeah.	11:02
Tywanna Whorley	Did you ever take a class with him? Did you ever take a class with him?	11:15
Claudius Walker	No. No.	11:19
Tywanna Whorley	What I've asked people who went here is, do you remember how the school was back then in terms of the names of the buildings? Can you describe the area?	11:24
Claudius Walker	Well, this building was not here, for instance. Let's see, there were the four Emerys for males. And there was, let me see, they had a lot of veteran barracks. I can't remember the name of those, sort of in this location. There were barracks here. And we had a different chapel then. It was a very beautiful chapel, and it had mahogany beams, carbons and stuff like that. And while I was in service, that burned down. I think it was arson.	11:37
Claudius Walker	And let's see, Rockefeller Hall, Sage Hall. Phelps Hall, Huntington Hall. And then there was ag side of campus. I don't remember the name of the buildings there. Well, buildings have been built since I, of course, that's a long time ago.	12:09
Tywanna Whorley	Did you ever travel much to the downtown area?	12:35
Claudius Walker	Did I do what?	12:39
Tywanna Whorley	Travel down to the downtown area?	12:39
Claudius Walker	We used to go down to the movie. Yeah. It was segregated.	12:40
Tywanna Whorley	How was that?	12:45
Claudius Walker	Well, they had one side for the White, one side for the Colored. As we say.	12:48
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, on the same level?	12:50
Claudius Walker	Mm-hmm.	12:50
Tywanna Whorley	Not Blacks up top and Whites—	12:57
Claudius Walker	No, it was two different sides.	12:58
Tywanna Whorley	Oh.	12:59
Claudius Walker	Yeah.	13:01
Tywanna Whorley	How would y'all get to town? Walk?	13:02
Claudius Walker	Walk. Yeah. Very few of the kids had cars. Most of the time we'd walk. It's not too far.	13:07
Tywanna Whorley	Did you get a sense of what the relationship of the school was with the community?	13:11
Claudius Walker	Well, yeah. A lot of the kids from the community came to Tuskegee. So those persons who had time, did visit the community. I had very little time to— I did occasionally go out and in the community, but as I said, I was working most of the time, that I wasn't in school.	13:15
Claudius Walker	Yeah, the first two years, you worked eight hours a day and went to school at night. You couldn't take over nine hours. And then the other three years, you could take a full schedule and work part-time. So it really kept you very busy.	13:41
Tywanna Whorley	How was it trying to work and go to school at the same time?	13:57
Claudius Walker	Well, you have a goal, something you want to accomplish, you can do it. I'm very sorry that they cut this five-year plan out. I'm very sorry that they did that.	14:05
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, so the five plan consisted of working two years?	14:11
Claudius Walker	Oh, you worked full-time for the first two years, go to school part-time. Then the next three years you worked part-time and went to school full-time.	14:11
Tywanna Whorley	Wow.	14:30
Claudius Walker	Yeah, it took five years to complete the four years of education that way.	14:31
Tywanna Whorley	During the five-year program, were people just employed here at Tuskegee? Or were they employed out in the community? When they came to work?	14:37
Claudius Walker	For the most part, they worked here at Tuskegee. However, during the summer, some of the fellows went up to Connecticut to work in the tobacco fields. But they had to be sure that they were going to make as much up there, in most cases, and made even more as they would've made if they stayed here. They paid us 50 cents an hour to work in those days. Yeah, I think I made $94 a month. And then that was in, they paid us in vouchers except for $4. $4 was in cash.	14:44
Tywanna Whorley	Oh. How much did it cost? Do you remember how much it cost to go to Tuskegee around that time?	15:25
Claudius Walker	It cost about a thousand dollars per year for room, board, and everything. Books and all. And we had free laundry facilities. You take your clothes to the laundry twice a week. And they get furniture, clean bed linen.	15:26
Tywanna Whorley	Wow.	15:45
Claudius Walker	So it was quite different back then. That's one thing, you didn't have to worry about doing your own clothes.	15:45
Tywanna Whorley	Another question I wanted to ask you is when you came here, I think the time, about two years had passed since Dr. Carver died. Been a long time since Washington had passed. How were they able to preserve their [indistinct 00:16:15]?	15:50
Claudius Walker	Well, with freshmen, all freshmen were required to take a course. It's called orientation. And they made sure that they were well indoctrinated about Dr. Carver and Booker Washington.	16:14
Tywanna Whorley	Really?	16:31
Claudius Walker	Yeah.	16:31
Tywanna Whorley	You know what I mean? Do you remember what books you read?	16:33
Claudius Walker	Yeah. Yeah. Booker Washington, Up From Slavery was required. I don't know if that still is or not.	16:37
Tywanna Whorley	It still is.	16:40
Claudius Walker	Yeah. Well that's good.	16:40
Tywanna Whorley	It still is.	16:40
Claudius Walker	Yeah.	16:43
Tywanna Whorley	So how did it feel being here, knowing that it had so much history? At this [indistinct 00:16:53]?	16:47
Claudius Walker	It's a very good feeling. Very good feeling. My daughter was very elated. She went into the Carver Foundation the other day and saw things, all the fruits, canned goods that Dr. Carver had preserved, and some of his artwork. Have you been to the—	16:52
Tywanna Whorley	Yeah.	17:11
Claudius Walker	Oh, okay. You know about the— Yeah, I haven't been in it since I've been back. I hope I can slip away and go into it.	17:11
Tywanna Whorley	Yeah. Very multi-faceted.	17:22
Claudius Walker	Yeah.	17:22
Tywanna Whorley	[indistinct 00:17:25]. So when you graduated from here, you joined the service?	17:27
Claudius Walker	Yeah, I had to go in service. Yeah. I stayed in service for four years. And I got out after that. And I went to Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem and did research in radio isotopes. I was the first Black that they hired to work in a capacity like that.	17:30
Claudius Walker	And I was there for two years. Then I went to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda to do cancer research. I worked there for seven years and then I went to the Veteran's Hospital in Washington. I did kidney research there for about four years. Then I was out on disability for two years. I worked in private industry during that time. And then I came back into civil service to the Food and Drug Administration where I am now.	17:53
Tywanna Whorley	Wow.	18:28
Claudius Walker	Yeah, so I've been working now for 33 years.	18:28
Tywanna Whorley	Do you think what you've learned here, in terms of the philosophy that Booker T. Washington established here, you applied to your [indistinct 00:18:58]?	18:33
Claudius Walker	Yes. Yes.	18:58
Tywanna Whorley	In terms of when Patterson took over the administration, [indistinct 00:19:02] under his leadership?	18:58
Claudius Walker	Dr. Patterson was a very strong president. Everybody loved him. Yeah. And then Dr. Foster succeeded him. He was also the president. So I don't know too much about Dr. Payton. Well, I've met him, but I don't know very much about him.	19:03
Tywanna Whorley	No. I've heard about Dr. Patterson [indistinct 00:19:29]. Just one question about Dr. Gomillion. In terms of, was he accessible to all students when—	19:23
Claudius Walker	Yes. Yes, his door was always open. Yes. Yeah. He was more like a fatherly figure to a lot of his students. Yes.	19:40
Tywanna Whorley	Did you ever hear of any incidents in terms of the Black and Whites in Tuskegee, while you were here? Besides what happened with the Klan?	19:54
Claudius Walker	Not really. Because I was being in the hospital all day and in school for half the night.	20:01
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, yeah. One of the things that I ask people who were students here in terms of what were some of the practices here in Tuskegee? One was telling me about you had curfew?	20:13
Claudius Walker	Yeah. They girls had to be in, I can't remember the exact time. And the freshmen, they had to go to study hall each night. That was required. And I forgot what time they had to be in the dormitory, it's been such a long time. But they did have a curfew. There was no curfew for the fellows, but the girls had a curfew.	20:23
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, that's interesting.	20:49
Claudius Walker	And the chapel was segregated. Fellows sat on one side, the girls sat on the other side. And we had to march to chapel each Sunday. The girls wore black skirts, a white blouse with black capes. And I think they had, I forgot what kind of hat they wore. And the guys wore their ROTC uniforms. It was very beautiful, so people come from all over the country to see us march to chapel. I was very sorry when I came back and found out they had cut that out.	20:50
Tywanna Whorley	When you marched and it's segregated, the girls one side, the guys were marching side by side with each other?	21:25
Claudius Walker	Yeah. The guys were on the left side and the girls on the right side.	21:32
Tywanna Whorley	What time did you have to march?	21:35
Claudius Walker	Let's see, chapel was at 11 o'clock. And I think at 10:30 we had to, up from White Hall. At the intersect, White Hall and Carnegie Hall. Right in that area, where we would form to march.	21:38
Tywanna Whorley	Was the church where the church is right now?	21:56
Claudius Walker	That's right, it's the same place.	21:59
Tywanna Whorley	Same place?	21:59
Claudius Walker	Yeah. but just a different one.	21:59
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, wow.	21:59
Claudius Walker	Yeah. It's a very beautiful site.	22:03
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember any other practices that you would do as a group? Or just with the males?	22:10
Claudius Walker	Let me see if I can just— Curfew was the main thing, I guess. Oh, you had to go to chapel was required. You had to go on Sunday and on Wednesday night. They had vespers on Wednesday night. You didn't have to march to chapel on Wednesday night, but you had to go. And they'd give you demerits if you didn't go.	22:21
Tywanna Whorley	Demerits?	22:38
Claudius Walker	Yeah.	22:40
Tywanna Whorley	Wow. Goodness. In terms of the guys in ROTC, you always had to wear your uniforms on campus?	22:59
Claudius Walker	No, only, let's see. I had to wear them on Sunday. Let me see. A couple days through the week, I can't remember what days it was we had to wear them. But no, we didn't have to wear them all the time.	23:01
Tywanna Whorley	Can you talk about being in ROTC and things that you were doing?	23:12
Claudius Walker	Well, the part you learned how to drill. And my first year, we used to fire. Had a firing range where we learned how to shoot the weapons. But after my class, they stopped. That wasn't required anymore. I guess if it was too dangerous.	23:18
Claudius Walker	And for the guys who took— The first two years of ROTC were compulsory. If you go into what was called Atlanta ROTC, if you wanted. And they paid $27 a month for the guys who did take it. That was a lot of money back then. Like those us who didn't have any money, that was really a blessing.	23:41
Claudius Walker	And my senior year I was editor of the Campus Digest, that's the campus newspaper. And I was quite active in student activities. I made [indistinct 00:24:18] among students in American colleges and universities. In the YMCA. Attended Sunday school.	24:04
Tywanna Whorley	Did you join the NAACP while you were here?	24:35
Claudius Walker	Yes, I was a member with the NAACP. Yeah, I was a live member of the NAACP.	24:35
Tywanna Whorley	So you first joined when you got to Tuskegee?	24:36
Claudius Walker	When I got to Tuskegee, yes.	24:37
Tywanna Whorley	Can you tell me about that? Being a member during that time?	24:37
Claudius Walker	Well, we'd have discussions, that different speakers talking about equal rights. Let's see, we had a, no that's a Y conference I was thinking about, it was not an NAACP. That was the Y conference in Berea, Kentucky a couple times. I never went to any conferences for the NAACP. But all of the meetings that they had, we used to have some very good speakers. Yeah, we had Benjamin Hooks, Roy Wilkins, who was the National President. He came down once. Let me see, we had, oh gee, I can't remember his name, accused of being a communist.	24:42
Tywanna Whorley	Was he a White guy?	25:31
Claudius Walker	No, a Black guy.	25:35
Tywanna Whorley	Paul—	25:37
Claudius Walker	Paul Robeson.	25:38
Tywanna Whorley	—Robeson?	25:38
Claudius Walker	Yeah, Paul Robeson. Yeah.	25:39
Tywanna Whorley	How was that? Him coming to—	25:40
Claudius Walker	Oh gee. He came a couple times I was here. He was very dynamic, really beautiful.	25:44
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember, in terms of being in Tuskegee, what the [indistinct 00:25:57] he was doing? In the community?	25:52
Claudius Walker	Trying to get jobs for people, that Blacks would not ever have. And they were very instrumental in getting the Black mayor hired for the city of Tuskegee.	26:12
Tywanna Whorley	Did you ever sit in on meetings with the Tuskegee Civic Association?	26:23
Claudius Walker	No, I never had time for the Civic Association meetings. No.	26:29
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, were a lot of people from Tuskegee members of the NAACP?	26:34
Claudius Walker	Yes, quite a number. Quite a number when I was—	26:38
Tywanna Whorley	Wow. How was, I guess, the reaction to some of the things that were going on? Basically, probably describing the surroundings of the State of Alabama, that he had school desegregation cases popping up and the NAACP being part of it. Were people afraid here to join or even admit that they were a part of NAACP?	26:46
Claudius Walker	I don't, personally. I guess you would find that, but personally I never met anyone who didn't want to join. I'm not saying that it didn't happen. There might have been those persons who were afraid. The people that I came directly in contact with, they realized the importance of being a member of this organization. But I'm not sure, but I imagine there were some people who were hesitant. Maybe they thought it might jeopardize working for Ms. Anne, as we talk about.	27:11
Tywanna Whorley	What about just your own personal feelings about what was happening outside of Tuskegee and how it probably could affect Tuskegee?	27:45
Claudius Walker	Well, I know that there was discrimination. As I said, I lived at [indistinct 00:28:02] schools. And as I said, we couldn't go to lunch counters and stuff like that. That bothers people. At least it did me, as a small child. That I didn't have the same opportunity that Whites had. And back in Manning, the little old town, the NAACP was very active there and encouraging people to vote, stuff like that.	27:55
Tywanna Whorley	Yeah. So you were here when the case was found [indistinct 00:28:37].	28:33
Claudius Walker	Yes, yes, yes. Yes, I was here when there was—	28:36
Tywanna Whorley	What did you think?	28:36
Claudius Walker	Oh, I was very happy. As I said, my cousin was one of the ring leaders in that suit.	28:38
Tywanna Whorley	What's your cousin's name?	28:44
Claudius Walker	James Lee Miller. He died last year. I was thinking maybe I could get a copy of the letter of some of the literature that he wrote to the Board of Education.	28:45
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, yes.	29:00
Claudius Walker	If you'll give me an address, I'll see. I'm going through Manning this weekend, going back to Washington. I'll see if I can get a copy and I'll send it to you.	29:00
Tywanna Whorley	Yeah.	29:08
Claudius Walker	It might be helpful.	29:09
Tywanna Whorley	Man, I appreciate that. So when you found out the [indistinct 00:29:20], did you call back home and try to talk to people there?	29:20
Claudius Walker	No, I didn't call, but I wrote couple letters. How happy I was that it had come to pass. And it was really in the news. And I hoped everybody was very happy that this happened.	29:20
Tywanna Whorley	Well, is there anything else you can remember?	29:38
Claudius Walker	I'm trying to see if there's anything else I can think of.	29:43
Tywanna Whorley	A lot of people don't talk about, when I asked you about incidents that happened here in Tuskegee, [indistinct 00:29:50] really everything was pretty much low-key.	29:47
Claudius Walker	No, I didn't know too, as I said, I was confined. Only that one time we know about the Klan was supposed to come. Other than that, I never knew of any other incident.	29:58
Tywanna Whorley	Even after the Klan had came here and they didn't— They didn't come but were people, for a couple of days, were just on their toes—	30:13
Claudius Walker	Yeah, we were still very apprehensive. With this sergeant from the ROTC, we had to go in the community, myself and some other guys. And it was just about almost dark. And as we were going off the campus, he says, "Walker, you get down because they think you White, they might shoot you."	30:18
Tywanna Whorley	Yeah, I just thought that a lot of people would be on edge about the, before the Klan even thought about coming over here, low-key, and then afterwards having the Klan come here and then we just be on, not on edge, but just on—	30:54
Claudius Walker	Well, I guess everybody probably was a little cautious. But when they didn't come, we said, "I guess we [indistinct 00:31:16]." Well, they know we were ready for them.	31:08
Tywanna Whorley	Yeah. [indistinct 00:31:20]. When you said you only go downtown to the movie theaters, did you go any place else downtown?	31:17
Claudius Walker	No. I went to the movie and that was it. I got there very seldom. Amount of money. And—	31:26
Tywanna Whorley	You remember how much it cost to go the movies?	31:33
Claudius Walker	Probably about 35 cents. 25, 35 cents.	31:33
Tywanna Whorley	Wow. Do you remember, I guess, also near the school, do you remember any Black business?	31:43
Claudius Walker	Yeah. There was an area called "on the block". And that's where, let me see, that was right near where the alumni headquarters is. And a little further down there, there was a place there we used to go. It was called Shorty Millers. It's a cafe. And we used to talk about going "on the block", and come and get some chili or hotdog or something like that. That was very popular in those days.	31:47
Tywanna Whorley	Was there any more? Or—	32:15
Claudius Walker	There was a grocery store and maybe a variety store. About three or four different places, different things in that area.	32:17
Tywanna Whorley	Did you, yourself, or any students ever travel to Montgomery or places like that?	32:30
Claudius Walker	Yeah. Well, I went to Montgomery on Thanksgiving Day, the Turkey Day Classic. And some of the guys, veterans had cars and they used to go over there occasionally to one of the clubs. I wasn't able to do it. I didn't have the money. But some of my friends went over to beer garden and something like that.	32:36
Tywanna Whorley	When you go to Montgomery, especially on Turkey Day, in terms of traveling, knowing about, because I talked to people who had incidents with police officers, traveling from here to Montgomery [indistinct 00:33:15].	33:00
Claudius Walker	Yeah, they were very rough. I know that, yeah. I had a couple of buddies got arrested. They had beer in the car. And, well, they should have known that this cop looked for some excuse anyway. And Mr. Gomillion had to go and get them out of jail.	33:14
Tywanna Whorley	So they did allow you to make a phone call?	33:35
Claudius Walker	Yeah.	33:37
Tywanna Whorley	I guess just from the people that you knew, would they even travel that much from the school? Or you pretty much stayed here on campus?	33:42
Claudius Walker	Well, most of them stayed on campus.	33:51
Tywanna Whorley	Just two more questions. One is, did it feel like you were isolated, being here? The way it looks now, I guess from the outside, but it feels like it's isolated here. And that could be a good thing, that could be a bad thing.	33:55
Claudius Walker	Well, I was very happy in this surrounding. I didn't have to worry about bodily harm, for lack of a better word. That didn't bother me at all.	34:12
Tywanna Whorley	Well, thank you.	34:22
Claudius Walker	Sure.	34:27
Tywanna Whorley	I won't keep you longer. I know—	34:27

Item Info

Title:

Claudius Walker interview recording, 1994 July 20

Date:

July 20, 1994

Creator:

Walker, Claudius

Contributor:

Whorley, Tywanna

Description:

Name: Claudius Walker; Date of Birth: 1928-11-17; Place of Birth: Manning, SC; Occupation(s): armed services; health services; Residence: Tuskegee, AL [?]
Informant ID: 692; Interviewed by: Tywanna Whorley.

Occupation:

Location:

Format:

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

Series:

Related Resources:

See below

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-1627
c25e56d4-b9d7-49cb-aaba-52476ba4585c
behindtheveil
3a2cefd6-c6e5-478e-9811-2c93cc15dc07
ark:/87924/r43b67j18
3a2cefd6-c6e5-478e-9811-2c93cc15dc07

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https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r43b67j18

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Claudius Walker interview recording, 1994 July 20

Transcript

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1. Claudius Walker administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Claudius Walker interview recording, 1994 July 20

Transcript

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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