Rose Nelson interview recording, 1994 June 20

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Rose Hall Nelson	You're reminded of it. Tell you the truth.	0:01
Paul Ortiz	Mrs. Nelson, I wonder if we could start by—I wanted to ask you when you were born and the area that you grew up in.	0:10
Rose Hall Nelson	I grew up right here in Birmingham. I went to this church on the corner. I lived on Seventh Avenue and that's a street over, avenue. I went to school here. I've been here all my life.	0:23
Paul Ortiz	You went to 16th Street?	0:35
Rose Hall Nelson	I used to go 16th Street Church when I was a little kid and I lived on Seventh Avenue, which is another street over. What did you want to know?	0:39
Paul Ortiz	What was the name of your school?	0:55
Rose Hall Nelson	The school I went to?	0:56
Paul Ortiz	Yeah.	0:57
Rose Hall Nelson	The elementary school was Slater, but it's no more. Then I went to Lincoln School and then the Industrial High School. That's on Eighth Avenue, but it's Parker now, it's not Industrial anymore.	0:58
Paul Ortiz	What was Industrial High School like?	1:12
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh, it was nice. It was nice. We hadn't come into nothing like that because I mean, we hadn't got into this when I was at Industrial High School. Now that's the school on Eighth Avenue and Smithfield, that's Parker now. But it used to be Industrial and they named it after the principal A. H. Parker after he died.	1:14
Paul Ortiz	What kinds of courses did you take then?	1:41
Rose Hall Nelson	I just took regular school, just regular geometry, algebra and all that stuff. And then I married later on, so I didn't finish high school.	1:43
Paul Ortiz	What year did you marry?	2:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Huh?	2:04
Paul Ortiz	What year did you marry?	2:05
Rose Hall Nelson	1940, what is it? '42 or—It was in the forties. I don't know. But it's in the forties.	2:05
Paul Ortiz	Early forties.	2:11
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah.	2:11
Paul Ortiz	Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about what it was like to grow up around this area?	2:11
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, when I grew up, played all around here and it was all right till this stuff came up about civil rights and equal rights and then it got rough. But all before then, we didn't know what had been happening until this civil—This stuff come up about I'm Black and you White and just all that mess and it just blow things out of proportion.	2:23
Rose Hall Nelson	Children, right down that park, right here. And I know some boy's cousin played out there, White and Black. Daddy had a store right on the corner, I mean down here. I don't know where it was on the corner, but they played out there and never no fighting, nothing. That was before this came about. One of the fellows, one of the White fellows run a shoe shop around there on Fourth Avenue, even now, Joe. And they played together all the time. Football, nothing happened.	3:00
Paul Ortiz	Over at Kelly Ingram Park?	3:32
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah, that park right there.	3:33
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	3:34
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. They'd be out there playing, folks don't pay him, wasn't paying him no attention. He got a shoe shop on Fourth Avenue, famous shoe shop now. Joe has. His daddy and all the old folks is dead now.	3:37
Paul Ortiz	He's Black?	3:48
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, he's White but he played with the Blacks. Oh, nobody paid no attention. Played out there for years.	3:51
Paul Ortiz	So did you see a lot of mixing of White and Black people when you were growing up in this area?	3:58
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. All these stores around here was, it was dagos. Well, they call them dagos then. Stores packed on every corner, children playing. Didn't nothing happen until this civil rights stuff came up and then they was killing and everything. I don't know. All everywhere, you couldn't go to town and there's too much hatred was in there because all that before then, that wasn't happening.	4:12
Paul Ortiz	What was your family life like that a young girl?	4:38
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, my family life was beautiful because my father and stepmother raised me and I had a beautiful life. Still is actually, because he took care of me and everything. So I didn't nothing to grumble about.	4:38
Paul Ortiz	And you said that your father's stepmother raised you?	4:43
Rose Hall Nelson	Yes. Basically.	5:00
Paul Ortiz	And your parents—	5:00
Rose Hall Nelson	My father was separated. My father and mother were separated, but he took me and I didn't even worry about it.	5:03
Paul Ortiz	Did your mother leave the area?	5:10
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know. She was around somewhere, but she was one of those people. We did not try to keep up with her. Yeah, she was in the city but I didn't never bother see her. Sometimes. Well, my daddy had me and I wasn't worried about it and I favored what I wanted because he worked for the Southern Railroad so I was able to have what I wanted and I didn't worry about it.	5:12
Paul Ortiz	Oh, your father worked for the Southern Railroad?	5:41
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. Went when he was 17 years old and worked till he died. He died in '48. So my life, the only thing that—See when they bombed the church, then they put the state troopers out there in that park. They slept out there about a month or so. And that was just burdensome. They slept in the park, had tents out there. The state troopers. Had some back here. Was a funeral home out there, done tore that down since they built this civic center. And they'd be out there all night long. I'm telling you, wasn't nowhere to go.	5:42
Rose Hall Nelson	And every time they'd see somebody, "Where you going, boy?" What such and such and such a thing. And I knew some fellows worked for Stockon and they got off one night coming home and the state troopers took their money, told me they didn't need nothing. Well, you can't fight people like that, you know. That's what happened. But I didn't know too much because I was working around on Fourth Avenue and so I'd go to work and come back home and I had to come up 16th Street. But my life was beautiful. I didn't have anything to complain about. Could have gone to any college, anywhere I wanted to go. Passed and didn't want to go. So that, that's all I could say about my life.	6:31
Paul Ortiz	When did you get your first job?	7:22
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh Lord, I don't know. First job I had was bussing dishes because I just stepped off the mat and that was in about '38 or '30—something. I don't know. That's when I got the first job right around there on Fourth Avenue.	7:26
Paul Ortiz	Do you remember the name of the business?	7:47
Rose Hall Nelson	Famous Cafeteria.	7:48
Paul Ortiz	Famous Cafeteria?	7:49
Rose Hall Nelson	Mm-hmm.	7:49
Paul Ortiz	Was that connected to the Famous Theater?	7:53
Rose Hall Nelson	Just named after, didn't have no connection.	7:54
Paul Ortiz	Oh, okay.	7:54
Rose Hall Nelson	Just people named something after it. But he wasn't connected. But the man that ran it, he been dead.	7:59
Paul Ortiz	What was it like working there?	8:09
Rose Hall Nelson	It was nice. I was a bus girl. That's all.	8:10
Paul Ortiz	Was it primarily Black people then?	8:18
Rose Hall Nelson	It was Black people. Then everybody was in their own corner. White up on 19th and 20th Street and Blacks down here. Yeah.	8:21
Paul Ortiz	Do you remember, did Black people go up to 19th and 20th Street much?	8:36
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. That's where all the stores were. Oh, they shopped. They shopped and went where they wanted to go. But there wasn't much mixing. No mixing. Yeah, before the malls were built, that's where you had to go, up there. You see all them decayed buildings, Loveman's, Pizitz and all them.	8:42
Paul Ortiz	Right.	9:00
Rose Hall Nelson	And all them stores. See they gone to the malls.	9:01
Paul Ortiz	Now during the thirties and forties, when you'd go shopping into the White section—	9:07
Rose Hall Nelson	It wasn't no White section. Anybody went where they wanted to go. Wasn't nothing, only till this came up. You went in any store and was treated just like people. Because I went in every store downtown when I wanted something. Loveman's, Pizitz, New Williams and oh, let me see. And Burger Phillips, all the stores were downtown. You didn't have nowhere else to go. But they didn't think about it in those times because you had to have customers.	9:12
Paul Ortiz	Do you remember ever feeling like you were treated by employees—?	9:50
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh no. Uh-huh, every store and anybody, every store we went in, you were treated like people. This hatred came after all this other stuff. You went to any store you wanted to and was treated. Because I didn't buy my clothes nowhere but at the best places, like New Williams and Loveman's and Pizitz and [indistinct 00:10:25] and all those places. Burger Phillips. All those was the leading stores.	10:01
Paul Ortiz	Right.	10:31
Rose Hall Nelson	No, I never have been mistreated. I never seen it in that way. But all this came about when this bombing, that's where it came from, the bombing. And I was fixing to go to church, getting ready to walk out the door to go to church. And it went off and it come over. You couldn't see the church and the impact knocked a lot of windows out. But it got me. But it didn't get me as bad by me being right up under there. But it got all the further down and all those people are dead now. And I'm saying it knocked one girl, I can't think of her name, but her husband was in a wheelchair and it turned the chair over when they bombed it. So it was kind of bad. But now sometime on the outskirts, they killed people and killed some boys on the bicycle and all that. But I didn't see that. I was right in here. And so I can't talk about nothing I don't know.	10:31
Paul Ortiz	Could you talk a little bit about the neighborhood you grew up in? Did your family have much contact with your neighbors?	11:57
Rose Hall Nelson	I grew up on Eighth Avenue and it was a nice neighborhood but it was all Black. But it was a nice neighborhood on Eighth Avenue and 12th Street. Is was very nice. I don't remember too much of nothing until this came about. Because we played and I used to play with the Dominic's children there on the corner and they were Jews or whatever they were, on that little street. And I played with them, Rose and Joe and all them. Go up in their house. It wasn't nothing until this came about. Right there on Evans Field and Eighth Avenue. They'd stay over late at night, we'd be out there with them. But all this came up. I still say, when it's bombing and all this and you couldn't go nowhere. And it was just pathetic. I just hate to even think about it, how it was. You used to could go window shopping at night, go get a bunch of girls, go window shopping. Couldn't go no shopping. It was just one of them things.	12:02
Paul Ortiz	But was that one of the things you do when you were not working, you would go window shopping?	13:03
Rose Hall Nelson	No, we'd be—No, that was at night. There's a bunch of girls would come uptown window shopping. No, that was in the evenings and I wasn't working then. When I was working, I didn't go no window shopping.	13:20
Paul Ortiz	What other kinds of things did you do for spare time during those years?	13:32
Rose Hall Nelson	I didn't do nothing but work. I said, I didn't do anything but work and go home and go to the movie. Because I was a movie freak then. I'd go to the movie. Maybe if I get off work, I'd go to two or three movies in one evening. The Frolic, the Famous and there was another one. But anyway or whatever. I never had no bad life until after all this all.	13:32
Paul Ortiz	What were your favorite movies?	14:13
Rose Hall Nelson	I ain't had no favorite. Just going to the show.	14:13
Paul Ortiz	Just going.	14:13
Rose Hall Nelson	Now the night they bombed, I was coming from work when they bombed the—They bombed this building over there on that corner. And they bombed because they thought King was in there, but he was in Atlanta.	14:24
Paul Ortiz	Right.	14:41
Rose Hall Nelson	And I was coming from work. I got right along there and boy, I run into something.	14:41
Paul Ortiz	Where were you working then?	14:46
Rose Hall Nelson	Right on Fifth Avenue, [indistinct 00:14:51] Fourth Avenue. Irene's cafe, called Monroe Steakhouse.	14:51
Paul Ortiz	Oh.	14:55
Rose Hall Nelson	That big place got burnt down about a few months ago.	14:57
Paul Ortiz	Now I've heard about Monroe Steakhouse. What kind of place was that?	15:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Nice place. Just a place that you could drink beers, they had vices, but it was a nice place. She live in there. Yes, sir. It was a nice place. All those places down there were nice. Little Bob Savoy, Monroe Steakhouse, all those places were nice.	15:00
Paul Ortiz	What was her full name?	15:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Who?	15:00
Paul Ortiz	Is it Mrs. Monroe?	15:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Irene Monroe.	15:00
Paul Ortiz	Irene Monroe?	15:00
Rose Hall Nelson	She's there now. She's still living where she lived.	15:00
Paul Ortiz	What were some other businesses around here, cafés or restaurants that you remember?	15:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Waiters and Bellman's Club.	15:00
Paul Ortiz	Which one?	15:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Waiters and Bellman's. That was a club. And Parkview Inn.	15:00
Paul Ortiz	Parkview Inn?	15:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Parkview Inn used to be on that corner down there on the next corner. Across where the courthouse is.	16:15
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	16:15
Rose Hall Nelson	Did I tell you Bob Savoy?	16:15
Paul Ortiz	The Savoy, that was a theater?	16:28
Rose Hall Nelson	No, that was his name. That's a tavern.	16:30
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	16:40
Rose Hall Nelson	That was the leading one. They had a lot of them around here, but some them, I can't remember because I didn't ever go in them. Bob Savoy was a beautiful place. I worked for him and [indistinct 00:16:50] worked for him.	16:40
Paul Ortiz	Oh, his name was Bob?	16:51
Rose Hall Nelson	His name was Bob. And he came from Chicago and named it after the Savoy Ballroom or something in Chicago.	16:52
Paul Ortiz	Oh okay.	16:59
Rose Hall Nelson	But he's dead now.	17:00
Paul Ortiz	What would you do? You mentioned that you would go to movies and stuff in the evenings. What other kinds of things would you do? Would you go out with friends?	17:05
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, that wasn't often. No, I'd go out with them sometimes. Sometimes I'd go home. Just caught it if something was playing. I didn't mix too much. And all my friends that I mixed with are in Chicago and New York and everywhere else.	17:14
Paul Ortiz	Uh-huh.	17:30
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh.	17:30
Paul Ortiz	Okay. When did you meet your husband?	17:30
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh, I don't know, at school time. But I don't know. I really don't know when I met him. I think I was going with my sister and I were friends but I don't know because I was a kid then. I didn't keep up with that.	17:41
Paul Ortiz	But you met him at Industrial High School?	17:59
Rose Hall Nelson	He wasn't even going to school, I was going.	18:02
Paul Ortiz	Oh, okay.	18:04
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't think he ever went to school.	18:07
Paul Ortiz	What was he doing? What was his occupation?	18:08
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know. He was working but I don't know where he was working. I wasn't that interested and I didn't ever think. But he was working somewhere because he wasn't going to school, but I was going to school. So it just one of them things.	18:11
Paul Ortiz	Where did you work when you were married?	18:30
Rose Hall Nelson	I was working at the cafeteria where I told about.	18:33
Paul Ortiz	Okay, you were working at the cafeteria?	18:34
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh,	18:38
Paul Ortiz	And where was he working?	18:38
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know.	18:39
Paul Ortiz	Oh, okay.	18:43
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know about him. It's been so long and I didn't used keep up with nothing then.	18:44
Paul Ortiz	Do you remember your grandparents?	18:52
Rose Hall Nelson	Mm-mm. They died before I was born, I think. I don't remember them. I don't remember nobody but my daddy and my uncle and my grandmother.	18:56
Paul Ortiz	Did you have sisters and brothers?	19:01
Rose Hall Nelson	Mm-mm. I'm the only child, no sisters and brothers. Not even half-sisters that I knew anything about.	19:01
Paul Ortiz	Now you mentioned you were going to the 16th Street Church when you were growing up?	19:28
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh. This church right here on the corner.	19:32
Paul Ortiz	Who were some of the pastors there?	19:36
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, the pastor I knew was A.C. Williams and then Reverend C.L. Fisher. They're the only ones I knew.	19:38
Paul Ortiz	[indistinct 00:19:46]	19:43
Rose Hall Nelson	A.C. Williams and C.L. Fisher. And they been dead.	19:48
Paul Ortiz	Were you involved in any other organizations, clubs, bridge?	19:55
Rose Hall Nelson	No, I didn't ever play bridge. We was having a club, it was called the In Crowd. I never was crazy about clubs too much. But we had a club, the In Crowd for while and it dispersed.	20:11
Paul Ortiz	What kind of club was that? Was that based—	20:26
Rose Hall Nelson	Social club?	20:27
Paul Ortiz	Was that based—	20:27
Rose Hall Nelson	Mixed, men and women.	20:30
Paul Ortiz	And it was just called the In Crowd?	20:34
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah.	20:35
Paul Ortiz	Did that come out of the church or—	20:37
Rose Hall Nelson	No, it wasn't no church social.	20:37
Paul Ortiz	Oh, okay.	20:37
Paul Ortiz	Do you know who organized that?	20:37
Rose Hall Nelson	We organized it.	20:44
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	20:44
Rose Hall Nelson	But I don't know. It was a song out, the In Crowd and we just named it the In Crowd and they finally dispersed. Some of them died and just dispersed, after about two years. But it was just something for fun. We'd meet in the taverns and have a drink or so and get tired and sleepy and go home. But it was club people. Like if you worked at a country club, that's the kind of people we were. Taverns and whatever. It was about 12 of us. But they're all gone now.	20:47
Paul Ortiz	When you were growing up, how did you get the news? Did you read papers?	21:18
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh, my stepmother always brought papers. We had a paper boy. Every day, our paper was on the porch.	21:18
Paul Ortiz	What kind of paper?	21:18
Rose Hall Nelson	Birmingham News.	21:18
Paul Ortiz	Birmingham News.	21:18
Rose Hall Nelson	Or the Post-Herald. Either one.	21:18
Paul Ortiz	Did you ever read Birmingham World?	21:18
Rose Hall Nelson	I read that sometimes, it's over there. I buy them sometimes. Birmingham World and the Times, get them at the drug store. But ain't often.The only paper I really read is the Birmingham News and the Post-Herald sometimes because they combine the papers. The daily paper, weekly paper with the Post-Herald on Saturday, you get one paper. Other days, you get two.	21:18
Paul Ortiz	When you were growing up, do you remember any signs of segregation?	21:18
Rose Hall Nelson	No, I saw [indistinct 00:22:48] those. They had a laundry truck said, "We wash for White people only." That's what was on the truck. "We wash for White people only." And I saw that in the Birmingham News the other day, that truck. It was on the truck. "We wash for White people only." Didn't wash for no Negroes, only wash White folks.	22:48
Paul Ortiz	What were some other signs?	23:06
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, that's all I could see signs, with "Colored Only," but I didn't come in contact with it. That was the only sign that I saw. "We wash for White people only." I think the laundry was down the street here, down here on 14th Street. But ain't nobody cause any worry about that. No.	23:06
Paul Ortiz	Do you remember before the civil rights started here, do you remember Black people who resisted segregation or fought against it?	23:06
Rose Hall Nelson	No. I don't know. Black people?	23:31
Paul Ortiz	Yeah.	23:31
Rose Hall Nelson	No. See, these people—I can't remember that. I don't remember that. Because they might have but I don't know. I never [indistinct 00:23:49]. Some of them, well, they was having a meeting every Monday night and all that. But I didn't ever go to the meeting because I wasn't interested in the way it was. But they'd have a meeting and they would demonstrate every day. I was downtown one day and they was demonstrating. They kept at—the park and go down there. But I never get into none of that. But I imagine it was something. Some people don't think you ought to do this. And I didn't say nothing and I didn't do nothing.	23:31
Paul Ortiz	When you were growing up and as a young woman, did you go to the park here much?	24:54
Rose Hall Nelson	The only park I ever went in. I'd go out there and sit [indistinct 00:25:03] right at it. And then sometime we had a park called Dozier Park where they have picnics and things. But that was way out, you had to go out, churches and things. I never go to no park too much because I'd be working.	24:58
Paul Ortiz	Where was Dozier Park at?	25:18
Rose Hall Nelson	Way over here [indistinct 00:25:27] back. It's not there no more. But it was over there in [indistinct 00:26:03]	26:02
Paul Ortiz	Were there other park closer that Black people were not allowed to go to?	26:02
Rose Hall Nelson	I didn't know. There was some, but I don't know where they were because I never kept up with them. But they were parks that they wasn't allowed to go in. But I don't know where they was because I didn't ever go too much.	26:04
Paul Ortiz	Did you ever attend any concerts or events at the Masonic Temple over here?	26:07
Rose Hall Nelson	Did I ever do what now?	26:07
Paul Ortiz	Did you ever maybe attend any concerts—	26:10
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh no.	26:13
Paul Ortiz	—the Masonic Temple?	26:16
Rose Hall Nelson	No. They had all this stuff out here. The pledges lined up from here to the courthouse. But no, that city stages or whatever they call it. And no, I never. I sit here yesterday and come from church and they was all up and down and the girlfriend I with, [indistinct 00:26:36], she went, she carried her grandchildren. But I don't—See, I live alone and I don't do too much going. Because I don't know. If I, maybe somebody was here and wanted to go, I might go, but I don't go.	26:19
Rose Hall Nelson	But I saw them because they was all down here from 16th Street to the 20th Street, I think it was. Three nights. You know about that, didn't you?	26:51
Paul Ortiz	Oh yeah. Right.	27:02
Rose Hall Nelson	And we had some children up there singing in the city stages. A lot of them went up there. But I just wasn't interested. I don't know. But they did all right. And so I just kind be alone or sometimes. I don't object to nothing, nothing nobody do. Because that's all right. But I just wasn't in for it yesterday.	27:04
Paul Ortiz	What kind of healthcare was available when you were growing up here? Say, if you got sick?	27:34
Rose Hall Nelson	I had insurances, but I don't know nothing because my father took care of that. Like I do take care of it now, myself. So I didn't know. I just see the man come there. I didn't know nothing.	27:42
Paul Ortiz	Oh, you would get house visits?	27:54
Rose Hall Nelson	No, I mean, he come collect.	27:57
Paul Ortiz	Oh.	28:00
Rose Hall Nelson	I didn't know. And I don't know nothing about what he did with the insurances or whatever. But I knew one man used to come there, Mr. Owens, he used to collect with my daddy. And that was, what? Tennessee National, I believe, one of those insurances. But anyway, I didn't, you know, playing, I didn't pay no attention. But I know I was covered.	28:00
Paul Ortiz	Right. What if you got sick? Did you go to a doctor?	28:26
Rose Hall Nelson	I never was sick. My stepmother gave me medicine once a month. And I never was a sickly child. I don't know. All the children I play with, they wasn't sickly.	28:31
Paul Ortiz	What kind of medicine would your stepmother give you?	28:46
Rose Hall Nelson	Castor oil. Just a home remedy. Wasn't serious. I never been sick in my life.	28:50
Paul Ortiz	But she would just give you castor oil once a month?	29:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Sometimes if I needed it. Sometimes. Whatever she fix, I take it.	29:02
Paul Ortiz	Do you remember any other kinds of home remedies?	29:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Mm-mm. I said some, but I don't know. That's been so long. I couldn't remember. I know she used to give me castor oil and what else? I know she gave me castor and three sixes.	29:02
Paul Ortiz	Three sixes?	29:27
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah, that's a medicine in the drugstore today.	29:27
Paul Ortiz	Oh, that's the name brand?	29:27
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah, three sixes. That's the name of it. That's the brand name.	29:27
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	29:41
Rose Hall Nelson	But see, in that time, I didn't know. I didn't—wasn't thinking about no medicine.	29:43
Paul Ortiz	Now you mentioned you would go shopping and told me about some of the places that you went to shop at. Where did you get your hair cut?	29:52
Rose Hall Nelson	My mother did it. My mother did my hair. I didn't know nothing about no barber shop. She did it.	30:03
Paul Ortiz	So did you ever go to a beauty salon?	30:12
Rose Hall Nelson	Since I've been grown, but ain't none of them down there now. People don't straighten their hair no more. White people, you'd be surprised. I went in the store one day, saw a woman getting fitted with a wig. And you see it, she didn't even look like a wig. They got shops, they go and fix them and they just roll their hair and brush it back and pin it on. Put the wig on, go about the business. That's right here in Birmingham. They got plenty of wig shops in the mall. In the mall.	30:16
Paul Ortiz	Did you ever attend any sports activities around here?	30:52
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh yeah, I used to go to ball games. I didn't like football. I'd go to baseball at the Rickwood Park.	30:57
Paul Ortiz	Rickwood Park. Which team would you see?	31:04
Rose Hall Nelson	I didn't care. I didn't even know. I just with the crowd, just with the bunch.	31:07
Paul Ortiz	Rickwood Park. Is that where the Birmingham Black Barons played?	31:13
Rose Hall Nelson	At that time. But they got mixed now. That's out here on Third Avenue West. And it was Rickwood Park. The Black played one time and the White. But now they don't have it like that. They are making a picture of Ty Cobb out there now at that Rickwood Park.	31:19
Paul Ortiz	What was it like to attend games out there?	31:46
Rose Hall Nelson	It was all right because I didn't care who won, who lost. I was just with the crowd. Yeah.	31:50
Paul Ortiz	Now you were living in Birmingham during the 1940s. Was there any change or any difference in life in Birmingham during World War II? You remember things changing around here?	32:01
Rose Hall Nelson	That's 1940. I don't know. Well, in 1940. I was trying to see, I was working in a drug store then. Brock's Drug Store on Fourth Avenue.	32:15
Paul Ortiz	You remember perhaps the Double V campaign. Any of your friends who might have served in the military or the service?	32:37
Rose Hall Nelson	No, my husband was in the Army. But I didn't—I knew plenty of them, but I didn't have nobody that I dealt with, no more than a customer. There was plenty of them down there was in the Army, but I just knew them and saw them and come in and wait on them and let them go. Because I worked all the time.	32:57
Paul Ortiz	Were there any places in Birmingham that you were told to stay away from that place? That's a bad place to go to.	33:21
Rose Hall Nelson	No, I've known places that it was really too—I didn't go myself in there, but nobody told me not to go. No. Every place that I went on the Avenue was safe as far as visiting was concerned.	33:36
Paul Ortiz	What were the rough places?	33:56
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know. I don't know where the rough places were. Because I was in a section right in this block here, over here by this. That's a senior citizen building down there. Freedom Manor, way down there. You see? That building down there, it's a senior citizen building. It's a Freedom Manor. That's the name of it. So you didn't have too many bad people.	34:00
Paul Ortiz	What used to be standing where Freedom Manor is now?	34:28
Rose Hall Nelson	It was a tavern and a club, Waiters and Bellman's Club and Gary Café, I think. It was Gary Café.	34:31
Paul Ortiz	What buildings used to be up where the Civil Rights Institute is now?	34:44
Rose Hall Nelson	Where it is? I lived there on the corner.	34:51
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	34:53
Rose Hall Nelson	There was apartments, six rows of apartments.	34:53
Paul Ortiz	Oh that's where your apartment was?	34:55
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh.	34:55
Paul Ortiz	Okay. Do you remember the name of that apartment?	34:55
Rose Hall Nelson	Well no, that was a real estate company that had them. And my apartment was 15, my number was 1531. But it didn't have no name for the building, just a real estate company put them in. There was six, I think it was six. One, two, three, four, five or six apartments. Because I was on the first one. I was on the corner and there was some behind me but it was apartments going on back to 15th Street.	35:01
Paul Ortiz	Oh, so they were apartments, they weren't houses?	35:34
Rose Hall Nelson	No, no.	35:34
Paul Ortiz	Your apartment?	35:34
Rose Hall Nelson	Apartments. Everybody had their own part. Just own porches and everything. It was a nice location but it was six, I think in it. And one, let me see. One, two, three, four, five. Five rows of apartments. That's what was back here.	35:35
Paul Ortiz	Were those owned by AG Gaston?	35:57
Rose Hall Nelson	No, no real estate company.	36:00
Paul Ortiz	That was a real estate company.	36:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Mm-hmm.	36:01
Paul Ortiz	What were some of the things that as a child, you enjoyed doing?	36:15
Rose Hall Nelson	I used to like parties, little club parties, little parties and go dancing. That was all right. I never was too much loose.	36:24
Paul Ortiz	Where would you go dancing at?	36:33
Rose Hall Nelson	We had little house parties, little 10 cents parties at different children's house.	36:34
Paul Ortiz	10 cent parties?	36:39
Rose Hall Nelson	Ain't but a dime to go in and yeah, somebody's house and stay to about 9:00, go home. That was when your mom would be asking for.	36:43
Paul Ortiz	So parents would help organize those parties?	36:55
Rose Hall Nelson	No, they were normally, you go to party, when that time was up, they going to come get you, if you wasn't at home.	36:57
Paul Ortiz	So a lot of the children went to—	37:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Your school pals. I was in elementary school at that time. When I got to high school, I used to go to high school plays sometime. I didn't do much getting around because I didn't have nobody with me and I didn't do too much going until I got grown and married and then I got a job. And when I got home from work, mostly if I didn't go to the show, I'd go home, sit on the porch or something. So it just one of them things.	37:02
Paul Ortiz	Where did you live when you were married?	37:49
Rose Hall Nelson	On Seventh Avenue. Down this street here. Jim Burke Buick got all that where them houses were. That's Jim Burke's Buicks. The automobile place.	37:52
Paul Ortiz	Oh, on Seventh?	38:05
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh.	38:05
Paul Ortiz	What kind of neighborhood was that like?	38:09
Rose Hall Nelson	It was all right, just people renting. At that time, all was rented houses. But they tore down the [indistinct 00:38:22] apartments and houses because Jim Burke, all down there was houses, all across the street. Everywhere was houses. Was houses then, wasn't no apartments like they got now. And Jim Burke Buick got all this and there was a car service he's got over there, over across the street. That's Edward's Motor Car. So it ain't nothing. Most everybody was living up there, they were kind of nice people and they had nice houses and there wasn't too many apartments. But they built those later down there on Sixth Avenue.	38:12
Paul Ortiz	What size were the houses on Seventh?	39:01
Rose Hall Nelson	They were big houses mostly. Most of those houses. Most of those houses on Seventh Avenue was owned because Bradford Funeral Home was what was there. And then all the way down to Pooles, all those were—Most people owned those houses.	39:05
Paul Ortiz	Did you own your house?	39:23
Rose Hall Nelson	No, I ain't never owned a piece of property. And the one we was in, my daddy, we rented it.	39:28
Paul Ortiz	Right.	39:32
Rose Hall Nelson	But we never owned none. In fact, it's been houses all up here. Before Gaston's was out here, there was a two-story house, right where that park is.	39:34
Paul Ortiz	Oh, do you remember that house?	39:44
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. Ain't that long ago.	39:44
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	39:45
Rose Hall Nelson	Where them tables are, that was a house. Was a big house there when he bought it. Houses all the way down, from here all the way down to 15th Street.	39:52
Paul Ortiz	Mainly Black people lived there?	40:03
Rose Hall Nelson	Huh?	40:04
Paul Ortiz	Mainly Black?	40:05
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, he bought it and made a funeral home out of it. And then he built it, moved here and built on Fourth Avenue.	40:06
Paul Ortiz	What was the name of the funeral home?	40:14
Rose Hall Nelson	AG Gaston's.	40:14
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	40:15
Rose Hall Nelson	It's still around there. Got two, got one on south side too. Got one, just go right through there and you go right into the funeral home and he bought it and built it.	40:23
Paul Ortiz	What did you think of AG Gaston?	40:40
Rose Hall Nelson	He's a wonderful person. He's beautiful. Everybody loves him. He got one leg now. He had a leg taken off, but he's doing all right. He's [indistinct 00:40:54] to his bank. That's his bank around on the 18th Street and Third Avenue. That's his bank. And he got one down on Midfield there somewhere. He's a beautiful person.	40:43
Paul Ortiz	Oh, one other question I wanted to ask about Industrial High School when you went there. Did they teach history there?	41:18
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't remember. History?	41:27
Paul Ortiz	Yeah.	41:29
Rose Hall Nelson	No, they taught that in elementary school.	41:29
Paul Ortiz	What kind of history did they—	41:32
Rose Hall Nelson	They taught geometry, algebra. To tell you the truth, I went to Industrial High School and I can't—But they didn't teach no history. I know they didn't. They taught history in the sixth and seventh grade at elementary school. But when you got to elementary, that's what they taught. If they do, I can't remember.	41:35
Paul Ortiz	All right.	42:00
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah, I don't remember. But my memory don't go—But I know I caught the devil about geometry and algebra, but them others now—but I was pretty good at, but if they had history, I can't remember no history. But I know I had history because I hit a girl with my history in the sixth grade (laughs). And I could remember that, or world geography and I was in the sixth grade. But I don't remember no [indistinct 00:42:44] but they didn't teach no history in Parker and Industrial.	42:06
Paul Ortiz	Who were your heroes when you were growing up?	42:50
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know. I didn't have none, I didn't have no heroes. I don't know. I can't even remember who the football stars were when I was going to school. I really don't know.	42:59
Paul Ortiz	But the football stars would've been—Do you remember having heroes who played football?	43:13
Rose Hall Nelson	I didn't ever like football. I wasn't ever interested in football. I just got to where I liked baseball later. I didn't care nothing about neither baseball or football. I guess I didn't have anybody around me that—Brother or nothing. And that made me not be interested in it.	43:23
Paul Ortiz	Uh-huh.	43:44
Rose Hall Nelson	I'd go down on 12th Street sometimes and they'd be playing ball. Just the boys and people would go down and see and play. But it wasn't nothing interesting. 12th Street and Fifth or Eighth Avenue. Well, that's all I know.	43:47
Paul Ortiz	But I mean, you've lived in Birmingham for a while. What have been the major changes that you've seen just in this area from the time you were a child?	44:11
Rose Hall Nelson	They built houses and tore houses down and put automobile places up here. That's one thing. And they built the Civic Center. [indistinct 00:44:37] Civil Rights Building because it hasn't been long finished and there's nothing else. Because all in here, as I told you, were houses. Wasn't no rented houses. I mean, there wasn't no [indistinct 00:44:54] houses. The nice houses all across the street, from there was houses. All of them gone, but that building on the corner. I mean, all the way up to that building there, it was houses when I was kid. All nice houses, wasn't no—It was apartment or flat or some along there somewhere. But they tore it down and built that building on the corner. So that's the way it is. That's all I know.	44:25
Paul Ortiz	What do you think about those changes? And you mentioned the car dealership moving in, is that—	45:27
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, it's just business section. It's a business section. It just be houses right across where that bank is. Where the bank is. I mean, not where the bank is, where the courthouse is up there. Well, when I was a little bitty kid, it was houses all along there. And in the alleys. They got rid of them. See, when they [indistinct 00:45:57] as long as they for business, them houses got to go. See all them people down there by where Jim Burke built, they had to go. It was houses all the way down to 14th Street.	45:33
Paul Ortiz	Where did those people go?	46:09
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know. I don't even know them. They found somewhere to go. No, when these people buy, then you got get out the way. And they had apartment right here where the Civil Rights Building, when I moved up here and they tore it down and put that Civil Rights Building. They didn't come all the way. It come from the alley up to this corner. It was a nice building. But now those were apartments, but they say Whites lived in them.	46:13
Paul Ortiz	Who did?	46:38
Rose Hall Nelson	White people was living in them. So they tore them down and next thing you know, up went that building, so [indistinct 00:46:52] all right.	46:44

Paul Ortiz	Mrs. Nelson, do you remember what life was like during the Great Depression for Black people?	0:07
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, it was pretty rough with food, getting food. And they had soup lines, but I wasn't in one. But they had what you call soup lines. But, otherwise, I didn't see no difference until they came up with civil rights stuff, but I know during the—I didn't have none because my daddy was working, and he worked until he died. He worked all through the Depression. So I just really don't know about the Depression because he worked the railroad and he worked all through the Depression and then everything they had. So I didn't know. I just see some people be begging bad, but I didn't beg any. And then I didn't come in contact with them, but I could see—Sometimes they say they going up and get some soup, soup line or something, but seeing it, I didn't know. So I was just a lucky person.	0:16
Paul Ortiz	Was he involved in any political activities?	1:17
Rose Hall Nelson	Who, my Daddy?	1:17
Paul Ortiz	Yeah.	1:17
Rose Hall Nelson	No. Nothing but life in general.	1:17
Paul Ortiz	Did he vote?	1:17
Rose Hall Nelson	Now, you know, I don't know. I don't know. He might have, but I don't know. He was my daddy but, I mean, he would be talking to my Mama, but I wouldn't know what they was talking about and I wasn't interested. But, now, he could have. I can't say he didn't, and her too, but I don't know so it's best to say I don't know. But I vote.	1:30
Paul Ortiz	When did you start voting?	1:53
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh, God. Long time ago, when they lifted all this stuff.	1:55
Paul Ortiz	So, you started voting right around the time of the Civil Rights Act?	2:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah, somewhere along in there. Uh-huh. Yeah. Oh yeah. It was, I know, I was about 40 something, I think it was, when I started to vote because you vote down here at school, down here on Fifth Avenue and Fourth Street.	2:05
Paul Ortiz	Okay. And what was your husband's name?	2:31
Rose Hall Nelson	Alfred. Alfred Thomas.	2:31
Paul Ortiz	Thomas was his middle name?	2:31
Rose Hall Nelson	No, that's all of it.	2:31
Paul Ortiz	Do you know his birthday?	2:31
Rose Hall Nelson	No, I sure don't. I used to but I done forgot it. I don't know his month or day or nothing. I forgot it. I don't know. He was in the Army. You can get it from there. He was a Veteran.	2:31
Paul Ortiz	Where was he originally from?	3:42
Rose Hall Nelson	Here. Right in Birmingham.	3:43
Paul Ortiz	Okay. And what year did you get married?	3:57
Rose Hall Nelson	Let me see. I think it was 30-something. November 30, 1930s.	4:10
Paul Ortiz	So, it was before World War II?	4:11
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh.	4:12
Paul Ortiz	And who was your mother's name?	4:12
Rose Hall Nelson	Mary. She's a Thomas.	4:12
Paul Ortiz	And her maiden name?	4:12
Rose Hall Nelson	Thomas. Mary Thomas. I don't know much about my mama. She was my Mother but my stepmother raised me and I don't know nothing about where she was born or nothing, my daddy's second wife. My mama, because she died. She showed up later but I didn't know that much about her.	4:35
Paul Ortiz	She showed up later?	5:04
Rose Hall Nelson	I mean, she came around. She didn't come by me but I learned her later but I don't know nothing about where she born, know nothing about her. Don't know nothing. I don't know her birthday or nothing because I never was interested.	5:06
Paul Ortiz	Right. How about your father's name?	5:22
Rose Hall Nelson	Clifton Hall. Clifton Hall.	5:26
Paul Ortiz	Clifton with an F?	5:28
Rose Hall Nelson	C-L-I-F-T-O-N H-A-L-L.	5:33
Paul Ortiz	Hall is his last name.	5:42
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh.	5:44
Paul Ortiz	And his date of birth?	5:49
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know. I really don't.	5:51
Paul Ortiz	And is he still alive?	5:55
Rose Hall Nelson	No, he's dead.	5:56
Paul Ortiz	What year?	5:57
Rose Hall Nelson	He died in '49. I don't remember when his birthday is. I don't know. I may have remembered it when I was a kid but I forgot already.	6:06
Paul Ortiz	And you said he was from Birmingham or was he—	6:15
Rose Hall Nelson	Well, he was from Meridian, Mississippi.	6:18
Paul Ortiz	Oh. Meridian, Mississippi?	6:18
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh. But he came to Birmingham later. But I wasn't down there. That's where he was born.	6:19
Paul Ortiz	And for his occupation?	6:38
Rose Hall Nelson	He was a railroad—He was a fireman, for Alabama Great Southern and he was until he died.	6:38
Paul Ortiz	And he didn't have sisters and brothers.	6:46
Rose Hall Nelson	No.	6:46
Paul Ortiz	How about, do you have children?	7:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-uh. I'm the only one. Nope, I'm the only pea in the potch, in the pod, patch.	7:02
Paul Ortiz	And you've lived in Birmingham from 1910 to present.	7:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh. Ain't going nowhere else. I'm going on a cruise and I'm trying to get myself together. I don't know, I done marked on that but I'll show you where I'm going. Every time somebody give me a number, I have a pen, I—But that's where I'm going. Up on the top.	7:32
Paul Ortiz	Oh, this looks like it will be a nice trip.	8:01
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah, on the cruise, they went on the Love Boat last year and I was sorry I missed it. A friend of mine. They got a club. It's going to be a good trip. Going still. I'm getting ready for that now.	8:01
Paul Ortiz	Are you going to San Juan?	8:20
Rose Hall Nelson	All those places. You going to stop at all of them.	8:21
Paul Ortiz	Oh, I see.	8:25
Rose Hall Nelson	Stop at all those places.	8:29
Paul Ortiz	It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun.	8:39
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah, uh-huh. Be 15 of us party.	8:39
Paul Ortiz	Is Mrs. Skipwith going?	8:40
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh, no, no, no. This is somebody at my church. They got a club and they're going.	8:41
Paul Ortiz	Actually, that's a question that I'm supposed to ask. Which church are you going to?	8:50
Rose Hall Nelson	Which church I go to? I go to Saint James Baptist Church down Twelfth Avenue and, wait a minute. You know where the social security office is? You're not familiar. This is my church right here. Saint James Baptist Church is on Twelfth Avenue and 1200 20 Street.	8:54
Paul Ortiz	Uh-huh. Okay. And have you always went to Saint James?	9:27
Rose Hall Nelson	No, when I lived there I went to Sixteenth Street.	9:34
Paul Ortiz	Okay. Have you received any awards, honors, things like that?	9:52
Rose Hall Nelson	No. Uh-uh. Sure haven't. No awards.	10:02
Paul Ortiz	Okay. Now you told me once and I've forgotten the names of your schools.	10:15
Rose Hall Nelson	I went to Slater School and Industrial High School.	10:18
Paul Ortiz	And then you went to Lincoln too?	10:24
Rose Hall Nelson	And Lincoln, yeah. They moved the school and I forget about it. I didn't go there but about a few months. I was skipped and they skipped me and I went into Parker.	10:27
Paul Ortiz	Okay. And Slater, you started Slater in first grade, or—	10:41
Rose Hall Nelson	I was supposed to go in the first grade but I was in there about a month and they put me in junior second because I was too advanced for being in the first grade.	10:54
Paul Ortiz	So, how old were you when you started?	11:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Where? I mean, how old?	11:26
Paul Ortiz	About six?	11:26
Rose Hall Nelson	I don't know. I guess. I don't know but I was old enough to go to school.	11:26
Paul Ortiz	Okay. And Was Lincoln kind of a middle school?	11:26
Rose Hall Nelson	Lincoln was just like Slater but you went from there to Lincoln. It's just an elementary school but I think they tore Slater down or they were going to tear it down because Slater was down there on Fourteenth Street and Fifth Avenue on the corner. I mean, that's where it was then but now it [indistinct 00:11:50] but, anyway, that's where Slater was and when they carried over to Lincoln, they tore it down, I think. I think they did. I can't remember because it's been so long. You know?	11:27
Paul Ortiz	Right.	12:02
Rose Hall Nelson	But I know they tore it down. It's torn down now because automobile place down there.	12:03
Paul Ortiz	What grades did you go to Lincoln? Was that like sixth and seventh grade?	12:11
Rose Hall Nelson	I think so because when I got to Lincoln—They skipped me and I went to high school a year before I was supposed to go. But, see, things is—You know, it's so long until you can't remember all those things. But I know I went to both of them and I know they skipped me and I went to Industrial High School. That's where I was. Oh, law. But some things I may remember, come to me later, but right then kind of hard to answer questions because sometimes you forgot about them.	12:15
Paul Ortiz	Yeah. I get a lot of that. What was the last job that you had?	13:07
Rose Hall Nelson	Last job?	13:07
Paul Ortiz	Yeah.	13:18
Rose Hall Nelson	I worked for Irene Monroe. Monroe's Steakhouse on Fourth Avenue.	13:20
Paul Ortiz	And you were a waitress?	13:29
Rose Hall Nelson	I did everything. I did everything. I did everything. Uh-uh?	13:30
Speaker 3	[indistinct 00:13:42]	13:33
Rose Hall Nelson	Who that?	13:41
Speaker 3	[indistinct 00:13:43]	13:41
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh, yeah. I ain't been over there today. Yeah. They was balling yesterday.	13:44
Speaker 3	[indistinct 00:13:50]	13:47
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. I told [indistinct 00:13:56].	13:50
Speaker 3	[indistinct 00:13:57]	13:51
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. They were there. I may go over there before they close.	13:57
Speaker 3	[indistinct 00:14:04]	14:02
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh yeah. Okay.	14:03
Speaker 3	All right.	14:05
Rose Hall Nelson	Okay, baby. I will go there just so they have a fit. Across the street.	14:07
Paul Ortiz	Okay, now, just a couple more. Okay, now. Waitress, Monroe Steakhouse.	14:11
Rose Hall Nelson	I did and worked the bar and everything	14:20
Paul Ortiz	Do you have about the date? How many years did you work there?	14:24
Rose Hall Nelson	I worked there until '73. 60-something to '73. I didn't work nowhere since.	14:29
Paul Ortiz	Where did you work before Monroe Steakhouse?	14:49
Rose Hall Nelson	I worked at Bob's Savoy, Brock's Drug Store.	14:54
Paul Ortiz	Rob Drug Store?	14:55
Rose Hall Nelson	Brock's.	14:59
Paul Ortiz	Oh, Brock's. Is that a Black-owned business?	15:08
Rose Hall Nelson	Oh, everything was Black. No White down here. Owned by Blacks.	15:09
Paul Ortiz	And at Bob's Savoy, you were working as a waitress?	15:16
Rose Hall Nelson	No. I was a food checker. I wasn't a waitress.	15:18
Paul Ortiz	A food checker?	15:19
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-huh. That was around the '40s?	15:22
Paul Ortiz	Uh-uh. That was in the '50s.	15:31
Rose Hall Nelson	'50s, yeah.	15:33
Paul Ortiz	And then Brock's Drug Store was during the—	15:33
Rose Hall Nelson	During the '40s. I sold cigarettes and cigars, cigarette counter at Brock's. Lot of places over there.	15:53
Paul Ortiz	And where'd you work before Brock's?	16:23
Rose Hall Nelson	Before Brock's? I don't know. I don't where I worked before I went to Brock's. I wasn't working nowhere. I wasn't working.	16:26
Paul Ortiz	Okay.	16:29
Rose Hall Nelson	Because the man as I knew was the kind to help sent him to tell my husband to tell me to come up there. He wanted me to work. That was right after the war started.	16:31
Paul Ortiz	And you mentioned you formed a club called the In Crowd. Were you involved in any other clubs?	16:46
Rose Hall Nelson	No, God. Don't want to be.	16:52
Paul Ortiz	You're kidding.	17:06
Rose Hall Nelson	Uh-uh. No, Lord. Uh-uh. I'm just like I want to be. I don't go nowhere. I don't care what nobody do and what I hear. Oh, boy, this [indistinct 00:17:11].	17:06
Paul Ortiz	What about political organizations?	17:10
Rose Hall Nelson	None. I don't follow politics. No. They always try to get at me, Mr. Arrington and all of them. I say, "Y'all have it." He's the mayor of Birmingham, Mr. Arrington is.	17:22
Paul Ortiz	Oh, do you know him?	17:34
Rose Hall Nelson	Yeah. I just know of him, now. I don't know nothing about him. He go in the drug store there where I go, but I don't know him. You know, nothing personal about him.	17:35
Rose Hall Nelson	And he said, "Come on here, girl." Said, "Where you going?" I said, "I'm going home from work." And he carried me home. Then I wasn't satisfied. I had a white uniform and I went in there and put on my uniform. And they tore this block up. Went down two stores around there, and some houses all on there.	17:47
Paul Ortiz	Who tore it up?	18:11
Rose Hall Nelson	The people fighting in the grocery stores here and they was run by Whites. Set them on fire. So, it just one of them things. So, when I come back, I went on in there and went to lock my door because I don't never stick my head out. A lady friend was over there at the project one day and somebody was fighting and she stuck her head out to see who it was. I think one of her boys was fighting, and somebody shot and shot and killed her. She got a stray bullet. I don't go in no excitement. I just got caught up on that. But I never was bothered. No one, nobody bothered. I ain't had no problem. But where I wasn't, somebody else was. You know?	18:12

Item Info

Title:

Rose Nelson interview recording, 1994 June 20

Date:

June 20, 1994

Creator:

Nelson, Rose Hall

Contributor:

Ortiz, Paul

Description:

Name: Rose Hall Nelson; Date of birth: 1910-08-29; Place of birth: Birmingham, AL; Occupation(s): waitress; restaurant worker; food service; Residence: Birmingham, AL
Informant ID: 723; Interviewed by: Paul Ortiz.

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Language:

English

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Behind the Veil

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Behind the Veil: Documenting African American Life in the Jim Crow South interviews, photographs, and project records, circa 1864-2011, bulk 1990-2004

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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.

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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.

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01b91566-4623-4424-bc45-0b90e770bd85
behindtheveil
64662762-6851-448f-8eeb-bfd86d50c9ec
ark:/87924/r4cf9wg1w
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Rose Nelson interview recording, 1994 June 20

Transcript

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1. Rose Nelson administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Rose Nelson interview recording, 1994 June 20

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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