Willine Dow interview recording, 1995 June 21

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Blair Murphy	Okay. Here we go. Could you state your name and where you were born and when you were born?	0:02
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh. I'm Willine Dow— No, Bosier.	0:08
Blair Murphy	Okay.	0:12
Willine Bosier Dow	Born Pinewood [indistinct 00:00:28].	0:27
Blair Murphy	Okay. It was Pinewood?	0:31
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	0:31
Blair Murphy	And what year were you born?	0:31
Willine Bosier Dow	It was 19— I don't [indistinct 00:00:37] would have been 19 what?	0:32
Blair Murphy	1920?	0:41
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm. March the 5th.	0:42
Blair Murphy	Okay. How many brothers and sisters did you have?	0:51
Willine Bosier Dow	I had four brothers and three sisters.	0:54
Blair Murphy	What was it like in your house when you were growing up?	1:01
Willine Bosier Dow	It was hard, because [indistinct 00:01:07]. But we works on the farm and then [indistinct 00:01:14] washing [indistinct 00:01:18] cooking, that you'd wash, you had to wash— You had nothing but washboard and tub to know the—	1:06
Blair Murphy	So you had to wash down in the tub?	1:24
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah.	1:26
Blair Murphy	Did you have like a rub board?	1:26
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah.	1:27
Blair Murphy	And you had to ring it all out.	1:28
Willine Bosier Dow	With your hand.	1:30
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm.	1:31
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	1:32
Blair Murphy	And hang it up.	1:32
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah.	1:33
Blair Murphy	So did it take a long time doing the wash?	1:34
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. Mm-hmm. Take about a day to do all that, because it was eight head of us.	1:36
Blair Murphy	And what'd you grow on the farm?	1:43
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, cotton and corn.	1:46
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm.	1:48
Willine Bosier Dow	Oats and wheat.	1:49
Blair Murphy	Did you grow food for the house, vegetables?	1:52
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, yeah. Uh-huh. All of that. That'd be on. Collards, turnips, peas, and beans, tomatoes, and okras. We raised chicken. [indistinct 00:02:12] chicken.	1:57
Blair Murphy	And so you would eat what you grew.	2:15
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. Sometimes we had to have any extra money to go out and buy stuff [indistinct 00:02:25] eat more what you grow.	2:17
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm. And where'd you go to school?	2:30
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, we start school at a church, and then up to a school that's called Vinola School. Had to walk to school.	2:32
Blair Murphy	How far was the school?	2:44
Willine Bosier Dow	About two miles.	2:45
Blair Murphy	So were there a lot of children in the area? They would all walk too?	2:48
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. Uh-huh.	2:52
Blair Murphy	And you would meet them on the road?	2:53
Willine Bosier Dow	Yep.	2:54
Blair Murphy	And walk together.	2:55
Willine Bosier Dow	Go together. Mm-hmm.	2:56
Blair Murphy	So did you enjoy school when you were little?	2:59
Willine Bosier Dow	Not when I first started, but have to get used to it [indistinct 00:03:07] enjoy it.	3:03
Blair Murphy	What child were you? What number were you out of your brothers and sisters?	3:10
Willine Bosier Dow	[indistinct 00:03:18] the 4th.	3:21
Blair Murphy	So did you have to take care of your younger brothers and sisters?	3:24
Willine Bosier Dow	Right. I couldn't go to school the whole time because my mother got sick. Being the oldest girl, and I had to stay home to help—	3:29
Blair Murphy	Oh, okay.	3:34
Willine Bosier Dow	— her, like washing and cooking.	3:37
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm. So how old when you started doing that?	3:38
Willine Bosier Dow	I think about 12. Mm-hmm.	3:46
Blair Murphy	So you stopped school then?	3:50
Willine Bosier Dow	No, I went on. In the 5th grade when I stopped.	3:52
Blair Murphy	Okay.	3:56
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	3:56
Blair Murphy	And so you would work on the farm and in the house?	3:59
Willine Bosier Dow	Right. Mm-hmm.	4:04
Blair Murphy	And your brothers were older than you?	4:04
Willine Bosier Dow	One of the brothers was younger than me. Mm-hmm.	4:07
Blair Murphy	So would you go to town often?	4:14
Willine Bosier Dow	No.	4:15
Blair Murphy	Weren't you near a town?	4:16
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah, some of the— Pinewood would've been the closest one there. Summerton. Didn't have no traffic going through regular for some time.	4:16
Blair Murphy	So what times would you go?	4:29
Willine Bosier Dow	About the middle of the day.	4:30
Blair Murphy	And what church did you go to when you were growing up?	4:34
Willine Bosier Dow	Right there. [indistinct 00:04:38] Holiness Church.	4:40
Blair Murphy	The Holiness Church?	4:40
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	4:41
Blair Murphy	And so would you go there on Sunday? Would you go any other days of the week?	4:43
Willine Bosier Dow	[indistinct 00:04:51] children they go [indistinct 00:04:52] on Sunday, but the parents, they go to [indistinct 00:04:56] on Tuesday. And Friday night, my parents go, but our children don't go till on Sunday.	4:53
Blair Murphy	Okay.	5:03
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	5:03
Blair Murphy	And would you stay most of the day on Sunday?	5:06
Willine Bosier Dow	Yes. Oh, yes.	5:08
Blair Murphy	Did you enjoy church as a child?	5:13
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm [indistinct 00:05:17]. You didn't get no much of no food [indistinct 00:05:20], and they didn't used to cook on Sundays. They'd cook on Saturday and Saturday night, and [indistinct 00:05:22] on Sunday they don't have to cook.	5:15
Blair Murphy	Okay. So your family wouldn't cook on Sundays?	5:33
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-mm. They'd do all their cooking on Saturday and Saturday night to have for Sunday.	5:34
Blair Murphy	And so did you get married?	5:43
Willine Bosier Dow	Married?	5:44
Blair Murphy	Yeah.	5:44
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah, I was 20 when I get married.	5:46
Blair Murphy	You were 20.	5:49
Willine Bosier Dow	Hmm?	5:49
Blair Murphy	And where'd you move?	5:51
Willine Bosier Dow	I ain't move out their [indistinct 00:05:56]. There's a house about, I think, about a half a mile from here.	5:54
Blair Murphy	And did you move to land that you owned or that you rented?	6:02
Willine Bosier Dow	No. No. That's my parents' land, but [indistinct 00:06:09] now.	6:06
Blair Murphy	Okay. And your parents owned this land?	6:11
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	6:12
Blair Murphy	Do you know how they came to own the land?	6:14
Willine Bosier Dow	How they do?	6:16
Blair Murphy	Yeah.	6:18
Willine Bosier Dow	Just buy it from one of their friends.	6:20
Blair Murphy	Oh.	6:22
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	6:22
Blair Murphy	Were your grandparents alive when you were little?	6:26
Willine Bosier Dow	All of them gone.	6:28
Blair Murphy	Gone. Okay. Did you have children when you got married?	6:41
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah, I got three. I got two boys and a girl. One of the boys are 52, and the girl 50. And my younger son is 42.	6:55
Blair Murphy	Okay.	7:00
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	7:00
Blair Murphy	And so when you had your children, did you go through the doctor or did you have—	7:06
Willine Bosier Dow	There at the house. The youngest one at the hospital, but them other two at the house.	7:10
Blair Murphy	With a midwife.	7:16
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	7:16
Blair Murphy	And did most people have their children with midwives?	7:20
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. [indistinct 00:07:24].	7:22
Blair Murphy	What church do you go to now?	7:29
Willine Bosier Dow	Right there. The Holiness Church.	7:31
Blair Murphy	The same church?	7:32
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	7:33
Blair Murphy	Okay. How has this area changed in your lifetime?	7:35
Willine Bosier Dow	How do you mean?	7:37
Blair Murphy	How is it different from when you were little? Because you grew up right there.	7:46
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, yeah. We'd visit different churches, but that is our membership right there. We'd visit different churches.	7:49
Blair Murphy	How has the county changed, the area changed?	8:01
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh. It changed a lot now. The times when we come up it was tough, but now it got better now.	8:04
Blair Murphy	It's better? How is it better?	8:15
Willine Bosier Dow	Because we don't have to work on the farm no more. Mm-hmm.	8:17
Blair Murphy	It was real difficult working on the farm?	8:23
Willine Bosier Dow	Yep. It was hard. Had to work and come home and had to get on the wood stove and cook dinner, and then when you're done cooking you had to go right back into [indistinct 00:08:38] and work. There's a big difference.	8:25
Blair Murphy	So the wood stove, you'd have to put wood in it?	8:42
Willine Bosier Dow	Put wood in. Mm-hmm.	8:43
Blair Murphy	And keep the heat a certain temperature.	8:46
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah.	8:48
Blair Murphy	And when you were growing up, did you have a bathroom in the house or did you—	8:53
Willine Bosier Dow	No.	8:57
Blair Murphy	Outhouse?	8:58
Willine Bosier Dow	Outdoor. Mm-hmm. It is a big difference now because we have running water. Used to be in them times a well and pump and stuff like that.	8:58
Blair Murphy	So there was a well around here?	9:10
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. They covered it up now.	9:12
Blair Murphy	Where was it?	9:14
Willine Bosier Dow	Right over there.	9:14
Blair Murphy	Okay.	9:14
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	9:14
Blair Murphy	Were there anything that was more positive about when you were growing up? Was there anything that was better when you were growing up than it is now?	9:20
Willine Bosier Dow	No. No way. [indistinct 00:09:35] from the time [indistinct 00:09:38].	9:28
Blair Murphy	Did White people ever do anything to bother people in your community?	9:40
Willine Bosier Dow	[indistinct 00:09:50] very well, but they ain't like— you know. Like it is now. You see, they lived better. Sometimes so like a slave to some of them. But now, they ain't hardly— Some of them, they ain't got no money either.	9:51
Blair Murphy	No.	10:16
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	10:16
Blair Murphy	So is there a little bit more—	10:16
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah, because all the time in that time back, all of them are dead and gone, so most of them now they're our age now.	10:16
Blair Murphy	Okay.	10:17
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	10:17
Blair Murphy	Like you said, a lot of people were like slaves to certain people.	10:22
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah, some people. They treat some of them like slaves. But all of them gone now.	10:26
Blair Murphy	And they had to work?	10:30
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah.	10:31
Blair Murphy	For the same [indistinct 00:10:33].	10:32
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	10:32
Blair Murphy	And had a lot of people, like their grandparents, had they been slaves to the people in this area?	10:37
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah.	10:45
Blair Murphy	So do you remember when they brought the desegregation in the '50s? What kinds of things happened then?	10:54
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, when segregation start?	11:04
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm.	11:06
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah, fighting and hitting one another. It was bad. Especially in Summerton. That's about the worst place it is yet.	11:06
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm.	11:15
Willine Bosier Dow	All the other little towns, they'd work together good all the summer, of some of them [indistinct 00:11:24] Black people.	11:17
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm. So do you remember anything happening to your family?	11:30
Willine Bosier Dow	No. Nothing happened to our family.	11:33
Blair Murphy	But in general, things got bad.	11:38
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	11:40
Blair Murphy	Do you remember, during World War II, or during the Hoover days, did things get real hard then?	11:42
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, food [indistinct 00:11:53] hard. Hard to get. One time, you used to have to work, get some kind of stamp and stuff to buy food one time.	11:51
Blair Murphy	And they didn't have too much to choose from?	12:02
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-mm.	12:03
Blair Murphy	Was it hard to find work during that time too?	12:08
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, yeah. And all that [indistinct 00:12:16].	12:09
Blair Murphy	And did people have cars too much before?	12:23
Willine Bosier Dow	Not too much. You had to go, really go [indistinct 00:12:29] in a wagon.	12:25
Blair Murphy	You to be in a wagon.	12:25
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	12:25
Blair Murphy	So would your parents, if it was raining, would your parents take you to school in the wagon, or—	12:34
Willine Bosier Dow	No.	12:38
Blair Murphy	You had to walk anyway.	12:38
Willine Bosier Dow	Walk or don't go. [indistinct 00:12:44] people the school like it is now. People go [indistinct 00:12:48] something like that. But now, you can tell that people send their children to school. That make a lot of people [indistinct 00:12:58] how to read and write. And you can tell them to go.	12:42
Blair Murphy	Okay. So a lot of kids didn't end up going to school very often?	13:05
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	13:07
Blair Murphy	Because they didn't have to go?	13:09
Willine Bosier Dow	No.	13:10
Blair Murphy	So you did domestic work? When did you start doing that?	13:17
Willine Bosier Dow	Oh, a long time now. About 30 years, I guess.	13:23
Blair Murphy	Okay. You still do it?	13:25
Willine Bosier Dow	Every other week I work one day.	13:27
Blair Murphy	Oh, okay.	13:31
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	13:31
Blair Murphy	And you work in people's homes and—	13:34
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-mm. I [indistinct 00:13:39] house cleaning.	13:37
Blair Murphy	House cleaning?	13:40
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	13:41
Blair Murphy	Okay. And who would you do it for?	13:42
Willine Bosier Dow	[indistinct 00:13:45] Manning, come out here and fix me up every other Thursday.	13:43
Blair Murphy	She's from Manning?	13:51
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	13:54
Blair Murphy	Is she a White woman?	14:02
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm. I've known her ever since from children.	14:02
Blair Murphy	Oh, really?	14:02
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	14:02
Blair Murphy	And so did you— You like doing it, or—	14:03
Willine Bosier Dow	Yeah. It's something to keep me from sitting down all the time.	14:03
Blair Murphy	Mm-hmm. So you just work for that one woman?	14:08
Willine Bosier Dow	Mm-hmm.	14:13
Blair Murphy	Okay. Well, I guess that's it. [indistinct 00:14:21].	14:17
Willine Bosier Dow	Thank you.	14:19

Item Info

Title:

Willine Dow interview recording, 1995 June 21

Date:

June 21, 1995

Creator:

Dow, Willine Bosier

Contributor:

Murphy, Blair

Description:

Name: Willine Bosier Dow; Date of birth: 1957-10-28; Place of birth: Pinewood, SC; Occupation(s): agriculture; domestic; Residence: Pinewood, SC
Informant ID: 1205; Interviewed by: Blair Murphy.

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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

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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.

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

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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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RL00170-CS-1479
af3c92f4-18dc-4eef-a5ba-0687b919cdfc
behindtheveil
887fc876-1189-4faf-ad65-f7b52b6c5a82
ark:/87924/r47d32h3h
887fc876-1189-4faf-ad65-f7b52b6c5a82

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Willine Dow interview recording, 1995 June 21

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1. Willine Dow administrative file, 1995

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Willine Dow interview recording, 1995 June 21

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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