Bessie Harris interview recording, 1994 July 28

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Tywanna Whorley	What's your—Tell me where you were born?	0:03
Bessie Washington Harris	In DeLand, Florida. Volusia County.	0:07
Tywanna Whorley	What year?	0:10
Bessie Washington Harris	1920.	0:11
Tywanna Whorley	1920?	0:11
Bessie Washington Harris	Uh-huh.	0:11
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember your grandparents at all?	0:11
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh yes.	0:11
Tywanna Whorley	Can you tell about them?	0:11
Bessie Washington Harris	I can't remember my grandmother because she died before I was born, but my grandfather lived until I was 27 I think.	0:18
Tywanna Whorley	What did he do for a living?	0:33
Bessie Washington Harris	What did he do?	0:34
Tywanna Whorley	Yeah.	0:34
Bessie Washington Harris	He was just a farmer.	0:35
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, okay.	0:35
Bessie Washington Harris	In DeLand.	0:35
Tywanna Whorley	What did he raise on his farm?	0:39
Bessie Washington Harris	Well, vegetables of all kinds. And he had several horses and we didn't ever have any cows, but I would enjoy going with him on the farm, riding all those different plows he had, going through the town on the wagon. And my friends would say—They couldn't understand why I wouldn't be kind of skeptical about letting them see me on the wagon, but I thought nothing of it because I was with my grandfather.	0:41
Tywanna Whorley	Did he own his land?	1:20
Bessie Washington Harris	Yes. Yeah, he owned this land and he was able to have all—The cars that came out, we always had a car.	1:21
Tywanna Whorley	Nice. Do you remember any names of any of the cars that you had?	1:34
Bessie Washington Harris	There was the Ford and the Model T Ford. And what was so amusing about that was that you had to keep the battery up or else if you didn't, you had to get out and go ride in front. And my grandfather hated to be late to anything. And one Sunday we couldn't get the car started, my grandfather said, "I'm just going—He jumped the mule and, "Come on, let's go to Sunday school." Oh, he was a stickler about time.	1:36
Tywanna Whorley	Oh yeah? Was this your grandfather on your mother's side?	2:24
Bessie Washington Harris	On my mother's side.	2:26
Tywanna Whorley	Mother's side?	2:26
Bessie Washington Harris	I didn't know any of my people on my daddy's side.	2:29
Tywanna Whorley	Did you live on the farm with your grandfather?	2:34
Bessie Washington Harris	No, I lived with my mother in DeLand, but it wasn't as far out as my grandfather's house was.	2:36
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, okay. What do you remember about the county that you lived in?	2:43
Bessie Washington Harris	The county or the town?	2:54
Tywanna Whorley	The town.	2:54
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, the town. Well, DeLand was always a very clean place and oddly enough, Stetson University was White and none of us could go there to school. It had an effect, some kind of effect on DeLand, because even the people, they weren't rough. And there was a section of town that they all gathered in, but most of the people were very respectable people and they kept the town clean. We participated in voting and everything.	2:55
Tywanna Whorley	Voting?	3:41
Bessie Washington Harris	That's right. And my mother and my grandfather never missed paying the poll tax. And then whenever that ran out, then they registered so they could vote.	3:41
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember the first time you voted?	3:56
Bessie Washington Harris	Let me see. I know I sure can't. No, I sure can't remember the first time. But I always voted whenever I had an opportunity to do so.	4:04
Tywanna Whorley	I remember they said with poll tax, once you turned, I think it was 21, you had to pay back poll tax up to that point, which I think it was like $21.	4:12
Bessie Washington Harris	No, I don't recall that.	4:24
Tywanna Whorley	No?	4:25
Bessie Washington Harris	Uh-huh. But I know my mother always paid her poll tax and my grandfather too. I might not have been participating, but I know I remember her doing it.	4:29
Tywanna Whorley	The town that you just described, were there any Black businesses there that you remember?	4:41
Bessie Washington Harris	There were like cafes, and that's about all. Eating places. And it was in our section of town.	4:48
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember the name of the section?	4:58
Bessie Washington Harris	See, see, at that time, all Blacks lived in a certain section and all Whites lived in a certain section.	5:03
Tywanna Whorley	Did your certain section have a name to it?	5:13
Bessie Washington Harris	No, but about two or three streets down there, there was a name. Oh, Spring Hill was a section, and Red City. My grandfather lived in the section they called Red City. And oh, it's another section I can't think of right now. But now Spring Hill was the rough section. If you thought well of yourself, you didn't hardly go in that area. Oh, Dunn's Bottom was another one. But although the name sort of describes a rough place, it wasn't.	5:16
Tywanna Whorley	Which section did y'all live in?	6:08
Bessie Washington Harris	Our section then didn't have any name. Certainly didn't.	6:15
Tywanna Whorley	Can you describe the neighborhood that you lived in?	6:21
Bessie Washington Harris	Very quiet neighborhood, especially on our street. And I didn't live too far from the school and neither my church. It was just a block down the street. And of course I was always on time to school because all I had to do was run out the kitchen door and that's it. About a block.	6:28
Tywanna Whorley	And did your grandparents and your mom do for a living.	6:48
Bessie Washington Harris	My mother was a maid, and she did that type of work because she didn't finish high school. She went as far as the 11th grade.	6:55
Tywanna Whorley	Okay. I guess she worked as a maid across town?	7:08
Bessie Washington Harris	In the White section.	7:14
Tywanna Whorley	Did she ever talk about her job?	7:15
Bessie Washington Harris	Well, let me see. My mother was always attached to whatever her work was to do, she would do it. And she had to go to the back door of course. And one day a friend of hers became ill and she was the type of person who resented the way White people acted and she would react to them. And so my mother became ill and she asked this lady to go. So when she went to the premises, she went to the front door instead of going around to the back door where you supposed to go.	7:20
Bessie Washington Harris	My mother would go right through the back door. So the lady came to the front door, she said, "Maddy—My mother's name is Maddy. She said, "Maddy is ill today so she sent me." She said, "Well you come on around to the front door." The lady said, "Well, don't I have to come back to the front door to sweep off the front porch?" So she didn't go out to the back door. She went on the home. She told Maddy about it.	8:11
Bessie Washington Harris	Lord have mercy. My mother didn't ever go back to that particular lady's place because she had to get well. And by that time, she had found somebody else.	8:41
Tywanna Whorley	All the people that she worked for, were they basically kind to her?	8:57
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah. And this particular lady was very kind to her. Although see, my mother realized that she couldn't go in the front door, so she went to the back door, and she would be kind enough to bring her home. And even after she found out she was ill, she helped her. But it was just something about this front and back that the White people always wanted you to, you know? And right now I could have gotten my degree from Stetson University, had my skin not been Black.	9:04
Tywanna Whorley	I guess in Stetson, the school itself, a lot of Whites coming in from out of town to go to school?	9:43
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh yeah. And students right there in town. It's still an outstanding school. It has a very outstanding law school and a music school. And my grandmother, she felt like I was interested in music because I would get to the window and play on the window sill. And see, I could have gotten my degree in music right there at Stetson. But it's the color of your skin.	9:49
Tywanna Whorley	Did you live in a house in your community or was it—	10:24
Bessie Washington Harris	No, my mother and grandfather always had their own home. It wasn't a brick, but it was a nice wooden structure. In fact, my house now is the same house that I was born in and we have just kept it up. I had to renovate it I guess about four years ago.	10:29
Tywanna Whorley	How was she able to afford her own home?	10:58
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, well that's another thing about my mother. She could take a little bit of money, and just do wonders with it.	11:01
Tywanna Whorley	Was it like a two bedroom, three bedroom.	11:15
Bessie Washington Harris	Two bedroom, kitchen, dining room.	11:18
Tywanna Whorley	Wow. So you were an only child?	11:20
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah.	11:35
Tywanna Whorley	So you had your own room.	11:35
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah.	11:35
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, wow. Was the neighborhood you lived in close, in terms of with your neighbors?	11:42
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, yeah. Very close. And when I was a child, all neighbors were interested in me, and whatever they saw that I was doing wrong, any of them would say something to me and then go tell my mother. You see it's different now.	11:43
Tywanna Whorley	Mind their business. Another thing I wanted to ask you is, when did you first become aware that there were differences between Blacks and Whites?	12:04
Bessie Washington Harris	See, that's the thing. It's something about the way my mother carried me, the way I lived, they aren't any different from me. The only thing, I couldn't go to the front door. I have never felt under a White person. No, I have never. Now, there might be something wrong with me, but I have never.	12:17
Tywanna Whorley	No? No. A lot of times we ask people, not so much how they felt about how would White people try to do to them, but when was it as a child that you realized that you had to go in the back door or you couldn't sit at the counter or they would call you nigger and you didn't know why?	12:47
Bessie Washington Harris	Well, I don't remember anyone to my face calling me a nigger. Really though, DeLand was a nice place, and whenever you went in the store, you were waited on. But the only thing that I could detect when I think back, was the fact that you couldn't go in their front doors. Something about that front door. I guess they tried to make you feel unfit by asking you to go to the back door.	13:05
Tywanna Whorley	Did you ever talk with your mom about things that were happening?	13:47
Bessie Washington Harris	See, I never had anything to disturb me that the White person had done to me.	13:54
Tywanna Whorley	Did you ever hear about any racial incidents that occurred in town or around town?	14:01
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, yeah. Not particularly in DeLand, if I can recall, but it's a little place called, can't think of this place name. It won't come to me right now. But this young man, he didn't put his hands on this White girl, they say he only must have just looked at her, that's the way he gave it. But anyway, do you know they drug that boy threw the streets right in front of his mother, and they knew he didn't sexually—	14:06
Tywanna Whorley	Assault.	14:47
Bessie Washington Harris	—molest her. It was either a look or he might have slightly touched her in passing. And she was the one who—	14:48
Tywanna Whorley	Told?	14:57
Bessie Washington Harris	Uh-huh. Now, that was something. That's the only thing that I can remember.	15:07
Tywanna Whorley	What school did you go to?	15:15
Bessie Washington Harris	I went to Euclid High School. I graduated with honor, a Valedictorian of my class at Euclid High. And before I graduated, the president of this university, who was Dr. J.R. Eley, came to our school and he was just building up Florida Agriculture and Mechanical college. So I went home and I told them that I wanted to go to the AMC. And that has always been my desire. And although we were poor, well in high school I learned how to type very well and to take shorthand very well.	15:16
Bessie Washington Harris	So I wrote Mrs. Suki Russell, her name is on your list. And she aided me in getting a job. And I kept one until my junior year. And at that time then there was the World War I. Was it World War I or World War II?, One of the World War's. And we took a civil service test. And I went to Washington and I worked up there five years then I came back to Jacksonville, Florida. And I worked at the Afro-American Life Insurance Company. And when I went home, I wasn't doing too well. And I went in this doctor's office, a Black doctor.	16:02
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, speaking of doctors, there was no segregation there. You could have a White doctor. And so the young lady that was acting as secretary to Dr. Starks, said that she had just left Florida A&M, and that she knew of someone who really needs a good secretary. And I applied and that's when I became secretary to Dr. Marlin C. Rainey. He was then, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. And I finished my work toward a degree after I started working here.	16:58
Tywanna Whorley	So you worked part-time there?	17:47
Bessie Washington Harris	No, you could take a course. You could work full-time and take a course free.	17:52
Tywanna Whorley	Oh.	18:00
Bessie Washington Harris	And see, in my junior year, I only had my senior year to complete. So that's what I did until I got my degree.	18:00
Tywanna Whorley	So how was it going here? Was it different from being in DeLand than D.C.?	18:08
Bessie Washington Harris	Not that I could tell. When I came back to work here?	18:18
Tywanna Whorley	Mm-hmm.	18:20
Bessie Washington Harris	I couldn't tell any different.	18:22
Tywanna Whorley	How big was the school then? Was it [indistinct 00:18:31]?	18:29
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, about six or 800 students. It was enough that you really knew a lot of students. And it was real nice. I always wanted to go to Florida A&M because see, I could have gone to Bethune-Cookman. It was just 30 miles from my home. But I always wanted to go to Florida A&M.	18:33
Tywanna Whorley	Did you feel like you were isolated here from the community in terms of White people? Because I don't think you saw any White people on campus during that time, right?	18:58
Bessie Washington Harris	Mm-hmm. And when I went to town, that's the minute I saw them. Just going in the stores and when waited on. Well of course you couldn't sit at the counters. I can't remember, but I imagine I didn't want nothing at the counters. I can't remember them doing anything to make me feel real bad.	19:08
Tywanna Whorley	When you went to town, did you have a car or you walked?	19:40
Bessie Washington Harris	I walked.	19:48
Tywanna Whorley	Did you have a long—	19:48
Bessie Washington Harris	Most of the time. And then when I got on the bus, I didn't try to sit. I just went on and got a seat and I can't recall having been asked to get up.	19:49
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, but the bus was segregated?	20:00
Bessie Washington Harris	It was, when it first started out.	20:01
Tywanna Whorley	Did you see any signs that said Colored only, White only?	20:01
Bessie Washington Harris	No, I can't remember on the bus, but on the train now. You had to go sit in the back.	20:18
Tywanna Whorley	Were the accommodations different on the train from Whites and Blacks?	20:27
Bessie Washington Harris	I never tried to go to the dining car. I don't know how they reacted that way. But I noticed that our cars would always be closest to the engine. And you see, sometimes, you get all that dust and all that. They tried to make you feel very uncomfortable.	20:34
Tywanna Whorley	But you weren't having that, huh?	21:08
Bessie Washington Harris	Huh?	21:08
Tywanna Whorley	I said you weren't having that, huh?	21:08
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah, I felt uncomfortable in the situations like that. But I knew I had to go from DeLand to Washington. So I had just got on the train because I'm afraid of riding the airplane. Yeah.	21:08
Tywanna Whorley	How was it living in D.C. and working for the government?	21:27
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, it was all right because Whites and Blacks were in the offices, and, well, I had a White supervisor that was real nice. And if you did your work well, you were elevated. Because I started off as a CF-2 and I ended up as a CF-7.	21:37
Tywanna Whorley	What does CF stand for?	22:11
Bessie Washington Harris	Career. I don't know, it was a title given persons in the secretarial—Was secretary of training. I had a dear friend of mine who elevated herself to being a director of a division. If you were capable, they didn't stop you.	22:16
Tywanna Whorley	I guess the cafeteria or whatever, was that segregated?	22:48
Bessie Washington Harris	No. You could go. And I had the opportunity of working at the Pentagon. There's that five sided. And each floor had one and we just go in there and get our lunches, sit down and eat. We weren't segregated.	22:52
Tywanna Whorley	Where'd you live in D.C.?	23:13
Bessie Washington Harris	I lived northeast. Now, that was not an integrated section, but it was a nice place, nice area.	23:15
Tywanna Whorley	So how did you go about coming from a small town in Florida, going all the way up to Washington?	23:34
Bessie Washington Harris	I don't know. And I was so worried thinking that my mother wasn't going to let me go. And so she talked with Mr. Connolly, that was the person I had been assigned to work my way through as his secretary. And so he told her that you let this girl go because what she will learn in Washington will be nothing compared to what she will when she gets her degree, the experience I'd have. So she let me go and the Lord just helped me, that's all.	23:42
Tywanna Whorley	Was there someone there that you knew?	24:21
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh yeah. It was five of us that went from here. And one of the ladies' mother was already up there. So when we first started out, we lived in a house together.	24:23
Tywanna Whorley	How was it?	24:36
Bessie Washington Harris	It was nice, because we shared everything. And then as we started working, getting our monies and everything, then I got in an apartment by myself.	24:37
Tywanna Whorley	Did the rest of them do the same thing?	24:55
Bessie Washington Harris	They did. But we stuck together until we were sure that—	24:55
Tywanna Whorley	Could make it on your own?	25:01
Bessie Washington Harris	Mm-hmm. And the section was real nice. We all joined churches in our area.	25:07
Tywanna Whorley	I wanted to ask you, what was the name of your church in Florida?	25:12
Bessie Washington Harris	In DeLand?	25:13
Tywanna Whorley	Yes ma'am.	25:13
Bessie Washington Harris	Bethlehem Baptist Church.	25:18
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, okay.	25:22
Bessie Washington Harris	That's the church from which I was baptized.	25:22
Tywanna Whorley	It was?	25:24
Bessie Washington Harris	Mm-hmm.	25:25
Tywanna Whorley	So as for recreation, when you were in D.C. what did you do?	25:29
Bessie Washington Harris	It was during the war, so we would go to the, what's it called? The thing? Oh, I can't even think of the word now. But anyway, we went to entertain the soldiers.	25:33
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, that's what you just said.	25:48
Bessie Washington Harris	Let me see, what did they call that place? I can't think of it now.	25:51
Tywanna Whorley	Was it a club?	25:52
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah, it was a club place. And they played records, we'd dance, and then we had opportunities to become pen pals to soldiers. And I was a pen pal.	25:54
Tywanna Whorley	Did you get a chance to meet that soldier?	26:10
Bessie Washington Harris	No, Uh-huh, but sent me his picture.	26:12
Tywanna Whorley	Okay.	26:20
Bessie Washington Harris	I went to the movies a lot, and it was one theater had the big bands that would come every Thursday. Duke Harrington, and who's another name? Whenever I need to call something I can't call it. Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald. Yeah. Oh, and another recreation for a lot of us who came from the South, I imagine people who already lived in Washington, all those fine buildings that you could go in and see at the Capitol and all those other buildings. And during Easter time, we would go around the Washington Monument because they had, it was a flower, Japanese flower that would be blooming. You'd take a lot of pretty pictures.	26:21
Tywanna Whorley	Was D.C. segregated though? Could you tell it was everywhere?	27:32
Bessie Washington Harris	I imagine it was, but I can't remember anything. Oh, it was just one store that you couldn't go in the front door. But all the other stores, let me see if I can remember that store. I can't think of it. But it was very exclusive, you could tell. And of course you'd have to have money to go in, if you wanted to buy anything. But they didn't permit you to go in. But other than that, we been in all the stores. We spent up all our money.	27:37
Tywanna Whorley	How long did you stay in D.C.?	28:15
Bessie Washington Harris	Five years.	28:15
Tywanna Whorley	Five years?	28:15
Bessie Washington Harris	Mm-hmm. Came back to Jacksonville and I worked at Afro-American Life Insurance Company.	28:26
Tywanna Whorley	And how was that?	28:34
Bessie Washington Harris	That was nice. That's a Black institution.	28:35
Tywanna Whorley	So how did you feel working for a Black institution?	28:36
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, it was right down my alley. Because to tell you the truth, I don't hate White people, but little less I have to do with them it's all right with me because I really don't think they're sincere. Even now. They're not sincere. And my best teachers were Black teachers. Because they took time with you, and if they saw you didn't get it, they had you to come back and be sure that you got it.	28:43
Tywanna Whorley	How long did you work for the insurance company?	29:23
Bessie Washington Harris	Let me see. I guess it was about three years. Then I came on up here.	29:31
Tywanna Whorley	Were you secretary for the insurance company?	29:36
Bessie Washington Harris	Secretary of the Director of, let me see what it is. I can't think of the name of that department, but I was his secretary. Industrial. The industrial life insurance part.	29:40
Tywanna Whorley	Did they have a lot of clients?	30:02
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh yeah. That was a large company, but I don't think it exists now. I don't know what caused the reason why they had to fold up.	30:04
Tywanna Whorley	Was Jacksonville similar to D.C. and DeLand?	30:16
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah.	30:22
Tywanna Whorley	Community wise?	30:23
Bessie Washington Harris	Uh-huh. I always lived in a nice section. Wherever I lived, I lived in a nice section, and became—	30:24
Tywanna Whorley	How—Oh, go ahead.	30:35
Bessie Washington Harris	And became affiliated with the church.	30:36
Tywanna Whorley	Okay. How were you able to get that job? Did someone work in there that you knew?	30:38
Bessie Washington Harris	I sent an application because see, I wanted to come south to be at least in Florida near my mother because I knew I couldn't get a job DeLand. That's another thing. See, I could have applied to Stetson University and gotten a job, but I couldn't because my skin was Black. So I wrote to Jacksonville and got a job. So I would be close to her, closer than being in D.C..	30:44
Tywanna Whorley	So you worked there for three years and came back then.	31:19
Bessie Washington Harris	Florida A&M. And been here ever since. And [indistinct 00:31:29] would go home and rest.	31:20
Tywanna Whorley	What did you major here?	31:31
Bessie Washington Harris	Secretary of Science.	31:35
Tywanna Whorley	In terms of school, stay here three years. Did you get your degree in three years here or four years?	31:45
Bessie Washington Harris	No. No. See, when I left to go to Washington, I was a junior.	31:52
Tywanna Whorley	Okay.	31:57
Bessie Washington Harris	Then I came back and worked.	31:58
Tywanna Whorley	Then you finished up?	32:00
Bessie Washington Harris	Mm-hmm.	32:00
Tywanna Whorley	I wanted to ask you, do you remember the case of—Well, do you remember a man named Harry Moore?	32:04
Bessie Washington Harris	Mm-hmm. Wasn't he killed in his—	32:11
Tywanna Whorley	Home [indistinct 00:32:14].	32:13
Bessie Washington Harris	At his home.	32:13
Tywanna Whorley	Were you here when that happened?	32:13
Bessie Washington Harris	I can't think now.	32:13
Tywanna Whorley	It happened in '51.	32:13
Bessie Washington Harris	'51? No, I wasn't here because I came here in '53. I was in Jacksonville.	32:22
Tywanna Whorley	In Jacksonville? What do you remember about that?	32:27
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, it was just disturbing. That's the only thing. It was disturbing that he had to be killed defending his rights.	32:36
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember Blacks being scared that things about to run a muck, that White people were just bombing everywhere, and then now killing?	32:51
Bessie Washington Harris	I have never experienced our race becoming afraid. I think we would've stood up to whatever had happened.	33:04
Tywanna Whorley	What about the rape case?	33:18
Bessie Washington Harris	Huh?	33:22
Tywanna Whorley	You remember those, I think it was four—	33:23
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh yeah. I had never thought that it gone out of my mind. But it's just awful of what our Black men have had to undergo.	33:26
Tywanna Whorley	I guess—	33:36
Bessie Washington Harris	And it seems like if something happening to them now, again, it's just pitiful.	33:43
Tywanna Whorley	Another question I wanted to ask you, is how have you seen the school change?	33:55
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, let me see. Now, I'll tell you when I came to Florida A&M, we had some excellent teachers.	34:03
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember the names?	34:12
Bessie Washington Harris	Yes. Mrs. L.B. Clark, Dr. Lucy Rose Adams, Mrs. Kid. Let me see who was that in English that was so good? Dr. Langhorn. Well, I don't know, I hope you all have good teachers like they were. Those people, they saw that you got your lessons and you did them well. And I just hope that it's still in progress. And Dr. Stafford in history, she didn't teach me, but she's an excellent teacher.	34:13
Tywanna Whorley	What about the relationship that the school has with the community? Has that changed or stayed the same with the Black community?	35:08
Bessie Washington Harris	I guess it's about the same.	35:20
Tywanna Whorley	What about with say, White community here in Florida State?	35:21
Bessie Washington Harris	What you mean? What affect that-	35:35
Tywanna Whorley	I was talking to Courtney Walker and he was saying when he came here, the school had no relationship at all with Florida State. That's changed now to some extent.	35:39
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh yeah, I imagine. No, when I was in college, it didn't. It was just another school over on the other here. But as we grew, then they seemed to intermingle.	35:52
Tywanna Whorley	What about, I guess, in the community here? Have you seen changes? You've been here for a long time. With Whites and Blacks, and just in terms of race relationships. Have things changed?	36:08
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah, I guess so. It's calmer and some have joined White churches, but not in a great number though.	36:36
Tywanna Whorley	Do you remember the bus boycott that happened?	36:44
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh, yeah. Yeah, I remember that. I remember something very comical about the bus boycott. This man was a commentator, news commentator right here on the local TV. So he thought he would get on the bus and come through the campus to see how we were reacting. And when there were several football boys, when they saw him on the bus, they got to the bus before it started off, and then near about lifted that bus off. Oh, I never forget. Thought we was sitting on the bus. His eyes was. Ooh, you talking about red. And he didn't know what to do. And finally they let the bus down and they went home.	36:50
Bessie Washington Harris	But I bet he said, "Lord, I better stay off that campus." And my pastor at Bethlehem, he was very vocal. Reverend C.K. Steel, and very active in the boycott.	38:00
Tywanna Whorley	Did you at any time think that it wasn't going to be successful?	38:27
Bessie Washington Harris	No. I felt like it, but it probably ended quicker than I thought it was going to end.	38:38
Tywanna Whorley	Oh, I just have one more question for you, I know you go to go. At any time did you think things were going to change? So you were growing up in the thirties and forties, did you think in terms of racial relations that things would change, or the Blacks would get their rights someday?	38:50
Bessie Washington Harris	Yeah.	39:02
Tywanna Whorley	Despite the signs.	39:02
Bessie Washington Harris	Oh yeah. Yeah, I believe so. I believe I did. But I was just trying to make it myself. I wasn't going to let them keep me back. And still we got a long way to go. Do you think that?	39:07
Tywanna Whorley	Yes, ma'am.	39:29
Bessie Washington Harris	Got a long way to go. I hope we don't start regressing.	39:36
Tywanna Whorley	I hope so. I hope so. Well, thank you.	39:39
Bessie Washington Harris	You're welcome. And don't you put none of that stuff—	39:46

Item Info

Title:

Bessie Harris interview recording, 1994 July 28

Date:

July 28, 1994

Creator:

Harris, Bessie Washington

Contributor:

Whorley, Tywanna

Description:

Name: Bessie Washington Harris; Date of birth: 1920-12-07; Place of birth: Tallahassee, FL; Occupation(s): clerical; Residence: Tallahassee, FL
Informant ID: 418; Interviewed by: Tywanna Whorley.

Occupation:

Clerical

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-1530
8997234e-0192-4fca-9835-bcf16975e3c5
behindtheveil
4436c753-bb72-4af8-b844-d66326962abe
ark:/87924/r4cn7982z
4436c753-bb72-4af8-b844-d66326962abe

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4cn7982z

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Bessie Harris interview recording, 1994 July 28

Transcript

Item Info

1. Bessie Harris administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Bessie Harris interview recording, 1994 July 28

Transcript

Item Info

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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