William Harding interview recording, 1994 August 08

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Michele Mitchell	Whenever you're ready, sir.	0:03
William Harding	Okay. My name is William Harding. I was born and raised in Jeanerette. My birth, May the 7th, 1938.	0:04
Michele Mitchell	So you worked at the mine during high school?	0:14
William Harding	Before I got hired permanent. Mm-hmm. It was 90 days. You wait 90 days, they let you off, then you go back 90 more. I worked three times that way, before I got hired permanent.	0:19
Michele Mitchell	What sort of work did you start off doing when you were in high school?	0:34
William Harding	Well, what it was throwing, it was lifting sacks, you see? It was cleaning yard, lifting sack, cutting grass.	0:37
Michele Mitchell	Now, how did you start doing that? How'd you find out about it?	0:51
William Harding	Well, my dad. The family worked out there. My dad was a miner, he went before us. And he just asked the man, can he get some help and he asked for one of us. I had a brother worked out there too.	0:54
Michele Mitchell	Your brother did too?	1:15
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	1:17
Michele Mitchell	Now, did y'all ever live on Weeks Island?	1:17
William Harding	No. Never lived.	1:19
Michele Mitchell	Really?	1:20
William Harding	Mm-mm.	1:20
Michele Mitchell	None of your family ever did?	1:22
William Harding	No. No. They call us, "Over-the-road, the people from out there." They call us over-the-road people.	1:23
Michele Mitchell	Did you ever find out from your father why you never lived on Weeks Island?	1:33
William Harding	Well, my father was from— He was raised on— Not Glencoe. What they call that other place, out there? God, I can't think of it.	1:35
Michele Mitchell	Not Four Corners?	1:50
William Harding	Not Four Corners, but Cypremort, right by Cypremort Point. Mm-hmm. And we would know the people from Weeks Island, in and out, but we never lived out there. And I was so excited to get out there, to work, it was a big thing at that time. You know? But you ain't have no other big jobs or nothing going, but the salt mine, at that time. And it was really something, making $3.60 a day.	1:51
Michele Mitchell	That's what you started making?	2:25
William Harding	Yeah. Uh-huh. $63.00 a week.	2:26
Michele Mitchell	When you were in high school?	2:26
William Harding	Yeah. That's what I was, $63.00 a week, that's what we would make after the cut, you see? That's what you'd take home. But it got better. After years went, it got better. Union came, it got stronger. And we got good raises. We got better. I got up to the biggest, I got up to $12.40 an hour, and that was great, over the years. I really enjoyed it. But to start off, we had some rough times. We couldn't drink the White fountains, when I first got there. There was Black, White, White-only. The toilets was White-only, you couldn't use them. It was rough.	2:29
William Harding	But you had to have a willing mind, you see? Because they would use you like a tool there. A Black man was like a tool to them. They would look at you like a tool, they would use you like a tool. And then, and if you stand up, you was a trouble-maker. If you take a stand, you was a trouble-maker there. You had to go to the office and you got to be a, "Yes, sir," man. All they wanted to hear, "Yes, sir. No, sir."	3:18
William Harding	But it was all right. You have to have a willing mind to work. You know? If you wanted to stay there, you had to have to a willing mind, that's all there is to it. But no, I thank God I made it. I made up my mind I had to work, I went through it. God blessed.	3:49
Michele Mitchell	Yes. This is a beautiful house.	4:05
William Harding	Oh. Yeah. It's pretty. 32 years of working. Mm-hmm.	4:06
Michele Mitchell	I think I got this somewhat straight, by taking to Mr. [Raggette 00:04:21] and Mr. [Sun 00:04:23] [Thompson 00:04:23]. I think I got it somewhat straight.	4:18
William Harding	Mm-hmm. Yeah. He was one of those now.	4:24
Michele Mitchell	They closed, they put people off the island in '68?	4:27
William Harding	Yeah. Right.	4:30
Michele Mitchell	Now, the mine is still out there, right?	4:31
William Harding	Yeah.	4:33
Michele Mitchell	So when did you stop working there?	4:33
William Harding	I stopped working there a year ago. I didn't retire until about a year and two months, something like that. But Sun was one of those working with me, along that time. He'd been there a long time. He lived on the island. Mm-hmm. Yep. This was a— They remove them off, they say on account of the crude oil. They had to put it all, store it all in the mine. And that's the reason they get them out of there. I don't know. But it helped a lot because some of them, I think, wouldn't have ever owned a home, if they wouldn't have. Because, see, they was home, they thought, already. You know? And some of them didn't know what owning a home was, but it helped a lot of them out, by doing that, going that way, from my point of view. You know?	4:35
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	5:26
William Harding	That's the way I see it, I said, because a lot of them was so— I don't know. The kind of people, you don't push them, they don't something. So that's the way I look at it. And some of them was happy, after they left. Some of them was sad. But they own something of their own, that's what a lot of them are glad about.	5:26
Michele Mitchell	Oh. Yeah.	5:49
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	5:49
Michele Mitchell	Now, you mentioned that you were working and the union came in and things got better. So you were working there before the union came?	5:55
William Harding	No. The union was there, but it wasn't as strong. Through the years, it got stronger. People— Well, our people said, "You got more out of it." You know? Before, it was just one-sided. The picture got better for our people, as the years went on. But it's good now there. It was rough back then. Some of things I think about, I get mad.	6:02
Michele Mitchell	How rough was it?	6:33
William Harding	Well, we just didn't have no voice. You just— They wouldn't believe you. You tell them something, they wouldn't believe you. You know how it is?	6:38
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	6:46
William Harding	It's just, everything had to be their way. You know? And then some people got angry and just walks off the job. Some of us was— You had to take the bitter with the sweet to make some days. It was rough. And some of our young people, I'm glad they did, some of then I was thinking they'd never make it because they can't take orders. You know? And that's one of things, when they tell you to do something, they want you to do it. Regardless if you're right or wrong, you don't argue.	6:46
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	7:18
William Harding	Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that's what some of the mistakes they made, they had to let a lot of them go because they couldn't take orders. That's about it.	7:19
Michele Mitchell	Hmm? Now, I guess, maybe this is silly of me, but I'm sort of surprised that since it was a union shop, that you talk about having Colored bathrooms and water fountains, that surprises me.	7:41
William Harding	Oh. Yeah. Well, you see, the way they looked at it, that's private property, what they own, you see? That make a difference, you see? People can't come in and out of there, like they want, to investigate. But they would do some things there. You couldn't even— A Black man couldn't even use a forklift, they would tell you, "That's too dangerous for you to use." Or someone older and Black, like my daddy.	7:57
William Harding	My daddy couldn't hardly stoop over no more, he had been there all those years. And the younger people come up behind him, White, and get the forklift, and they wouldn't give it to him. No, they wouldn't give it to a Black man. They couldn't use them, until for years. But he got it, after he was almost ready to retire, he was in his 60s. People started coming around and checking. And we got a Black president, after that, and things got better.	8:27
William Harding	But you couldn't do noting. The only thing you could do out there is pick up heavy weights and to use a shovel, that's the only a Black a man, like a tool out there. But after the '70s, it got better. During the '60s it was rough. They had a lunch, a cafeteria, up over here by the office, you couldn't go. You'd have to go to the backdoor, bring your lunch back to the mill and sit on boxes to eat your lunch. The Black people couldn't go up there.	9:00
William Harding	And, well, after they stopped buying, they stopped getting their lunch from up there, after the Black people in the neighborhood, would have houses out there, started selling hot lunch. Our people went with the Black people, bought our hot lunch from them, instead of going to the backdoor up there. But you couldn't go up there, for years. They had the diner and you couldn't go. You could go get your lunch to the backdoor and come right back to the mill with it and sit in the mill and eat it, but you couldn't go up there, no. And that went on for years. And a lot of young people couldn't understand that, "Why?"	9:33
Michele Mitchell	When you say, "That went on for years," when did it stop?	10:21
William Harding	In the '70s, about '78. Yeah. About '78, '76. Oh. Yeah. And they'd tell the people— Well, you see, after the people moved, it got better. Because, you see, they had to tear down all that. After the people moved, it got better. They had to tear down all them buildings and move the houses. But that's the way it was.	10:24
Michele Mitchell	But, sir, you said that a lot of times the Black people who lived there would offer hot lunches.	10:58
William Harding	They would sell hot lunches. Yeah.	11:02
Michele Mitchell	They would sell hot lunches?	11:04
William Harding	You would order your dinner and they would bring it to the mill.	11:05
Michele Mitchell	And that continued, after they moved people off?	11:12
William Harding	No. No. Not after. That was before. That was before they moved. Mm-hmm. That was before. But after the people moved, it was nothing to see people who catered food out there, then. They would bring the food from town, from [indistinct 00:11:24], you order from Lydia, and they bring it and trade. A lot of people would sell it. They still sell, bring hot lunch. But that was the only way you'd get a hot lunch out there, there's nothing there but vending machines. There's no progress on that, at all. It's always been like that. I don't know why, they can't have a cafeteria or nothing for people to eat. I'm telling you, that's the way it was.	11:12
Michele Mitchell	When did the separate Black bathrooms and water fountains stop?	11:59
William Harding	Well, in the '70s.	12:02
Michele Mitchell	You have got to be kidding.	12:03
William Harding	I'm telling you. It was about around '74 or '75. When I got there in '62, it was going strong. Because I know of some people drunk at the White fountain, they brought them to the office. Some Black people drunk out the White fountain, they brought them to the office. That's right.	12:06
Michele Mitchell	Would their jobs be threatened, if they did that?	12:28
William Harding	Well, I guess, if they keep doing, they'd do it. They'd tell them, if they do it again, they'll— Oh. Yeah. But, until the union got stronger and stepped in and started doing something for the Blacks, that's what happened. Before, they wasn't doing nothing, because you had a racist president, at the time.	12:31
Michele Mitchell	This was in the '60s?	12:54
William Harding	Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.	12:54
Michele Mitchell	I guess, once again, I know I'm going to seem really ignorant.	13:03
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	13:07
Michele Mitchell	But some folks, before I came here, told me that this local was different because it was interracial from the beginning and Blacks and Whites worked together.	13:07
William Harding	Yeah. They did, after they started giving us, the Blacks, attention out there. But, like I said, it was a private property. You didn't used to see nobody come out there and check on nothing. And they'd just take for granted that everything was going smooth, with the president you had, because he wasn't pushing nothing, for you. But, like I said, when they put me out there, I lost my job [indistinct 00:13:47] in the evaporating plant. I was supposed to go back to my slab belt, no lose no time, according to the contract. That's what the contract read, but he didn't push it. He let me stay there as a laborer with a cut pay. See, I was supposed to go back right where I left from because they discontinued the job, I didn't quit, they discontinued it.	13:21
Michele Mitchell	This is when they cut the shift out?	14:15
William Harding	Yeah. They cut the shift out. I was supposed to go back, where I left, with no cut in pay, but he wouldn't push. They read it in black and white, in the contract, he wouldn't push it, so I went back to labor, where they would move you around. Had me coming home at 11:00, going back at 3:00. See, that was the kind of thing he was doing, you see?	14:16
Michele Mitchell	How long did that last, having to do that, going back and forth?	14:41
William Harding	That last for two weeks, until the electric job came up and I bid on the electric job. And see, I had the years on them, that's what got them. They didn't think I was going to bid on that job. If they thought I was going to bid on that job, they would've never post it. That's the type of people they was. But they thought I was scared to do electric work, I couldn't do it, you see? But I said, I didn't have nothing to lose.	14:43
William Harding	I did that for two weeks, that leave at 11:00 and go back at 3:00. But after I signed on that job, I got that electric job, they was all done. They didn't think I was going to take that. They couldn't believe it. Mm-hmm. I said, "Take a shot, take away, when you're trying to scheme against a person and you're trying to mess up a person's life." They thought I was going to get discouraged, the way they was working me, and get discouraged and leave and quit. See, that's what they wanted, but I didn't.	15:08
Michele Mitchell	Was that because, I mean, was the dispute— You said that you got into a dispute with your boss at the plant?	15:40
William Harding	Well, the boss in the evaporating plant, me and him had a dispute. You know, when you stand up and you talk back, you's a trouble-maker.	15:44
Michele Mitchell	— So you spoke out?	15:51
William Harding	Yeah. I spoke out. Mm-hmm. That's what caused the shift to— That's how he got back at me. That's how he got back at me. That would cause the shift to change, to cut a shift off. You see, they was in cahoots with everybody. You know how they do—	15:52
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	16:10
William Harding	— when they get together on you? And that's what happened. And, like I said, they put me back in the mill as a laborer. And I was supposed to go back to the slab belt, without a cut, according to the contract. It read it in the contract. When I got to the meeting with the president, had it, I showed him it so many times, all for weeks. Two weeks that went on. He said nothing he could do. Yeah, so I caught blocks. I'd catch blocks, salt blocks, until 11:00. I'd come back home, I'd go back at 3:00, work until 11:00 that night.	16:11
Michele Mitchell	Hmm?	16:50
William Harding	And that went on for two weeks, until that job came up. I said, "Well, I got enough of this. I ain't got nothing to lose," so I signed on the electric job. And I've been happy ever since.	16:50
Michele Mitchell	Now, how much did they cut your pay, when that happened?	17:00
William Harding	I forgot what it was. We wasn't making that much. Hmm? I guess we was making about $7.00 something and hour, or $6.00 something an hour. And I went back to labor, it had to go back to $6.00 something. I must've been making about $8.00 in the evaporate plant. But that's the way it was, you couldn't— You didn't have nothing to fight for you, you see? Because you had, like I said, a racist president, at that time. But after, as the years went on, things got better, when you changed your president. They wouldn't honor the contract. They'd honor it for the White, but they won't honor it for the Black.	17:04
Michele Mitchell	Hmm?	18:01
William Harding	That's the way it was.	18:02
Michele Mitchell	Did you have somebody who was like been there for a long time and was Black and would speak out and would do things?	18:04
William Harding	Yep. Yep. I sure did. We all— Even Raggette tried. We tried. We showed them, in the contract, they wouldn't do nothing. They wouldn't do nothing about it. And we tried showing him that it was wrong, what he was doing, but he ain't done nothing because I talked back to White men, that's why he didn't nothing about it, you see? They stick together. I talked back to the man, I deserved that, the way he was saying it, because I spoke up. And when you speak up, you was a trouble-maker.	18:09
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.	18:54
William Harding	Can take a stand.	18:54
Michele Mitchell	Hmm? So what year did Raggette become president?	18:56
William Harding	I don't want to— Hmm? I think in the '80s, early '80s. The '80s or the '70s. '78 to '79, something? I wouldn't know.	19:08
Michele Mitchell	No. That gives me a good idea, though.	19:22
William Harding	Mm-hmm. I'd say about '78, I would say. '78. '78, '79.	19:24
Michele Mitchell	So if they were trying to, like you said, trying to make you leave—	19:34
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	19:42
Michele Mitchell	This happened in the '70s?	19:42
William Harding	Early '70s.	19:43
Michele Mitchell	This is early '70s?	19:43
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	19:46
Michele Mitchell	So if they were trying to make you leave in the 1970s, was it any better, when you first started working in the late '50s, when you were in high school, was it somewhat better?	19:48
William Harding	Well, no. They had— Well, they wasn't no better. Because I went right back after high school, got my diploma, find the same way, when they was there. You couldn't go to the White fountain, you couldn't go to the White bathroom. The White coffee pot, you couldn't go.	19:59
Michele Mitchell	A White coffee pot?	20:13
William Harding	I'm telling you. You better not go over there. So the Blacks got together and made up their own coffee club. That's the way it was.	20:17
Michele Mitchell	So, I mean, when you were young, what was it like working with Whites out there? I mean, how did they treat you.	20:34
William Harding	Some of them— No. They'd treat you already, when it's through just talking. But when— You know? It's through all right, just talking, on a job, they're there talking with you. You meet them on the street and they turn their head. They don't stop and talk to you, when y'all away from there. When they with their family, they don't know you. I've met a lot of them, work right with them every day, and you meet you them, when you out there somewhere on the street, they'll turn their head, they won't speak to you. But that's the type of people they are, they don't want to be bothered with you. And they give you a front, that's all they do, it's nothing but a front. And on a job, boy, they're the best people going, laugh, talk. But when it come down to the the nitty-gritty, they ain't with you.	20:42
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	21:36
William Harding	They're not with you. And I done learned that the hard way. They're not with you, when you back to get to the wall and you want them for a witness, I guess, a White man, you can forget about it. Yeah. They ain't going to be with you, they're going to be with that White man, I done learned that.	21:36
Michele Mitchell	When you learned it the hard way, was that all throughout. Or—	22:05
William Harding	Well, it was through working with them, being with them. You know? Learning their ways. You know? And when you try to get them to witness that somebody said something, they ain't going to do it. You know? Like the guy come in and give you orders in the car box and you'd do what he tell you and it come up wrong and he right there with you, when the guy tell you that. And you try to get them to go along with you, and they ain't going to go along with you.	22:09
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	22:37
William Harding	He ain't going stand up and tell that other White man that I'm right and he's wrong. They'll tell you— They'll get together on you. That's the way it is, I learned that by storing. You see, you got you— You see, when you they put you in the car box to store, you got a check sheet. You check everything off and they'll tell you how to load it. And if he tell you to put the blocks first, and you put the sacks first, just the opposite, he going to come on you. You know?	22:39
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	23:18
William Harding	And you and your partner, there's two of y'all working on a car box, a Black and a White. And that White man always right, he's never wrong. That's how I learned them.	23:18
Michele Mitchell	Now, did you ever talk to your father about how things were for him? Because—	23:42
William Harding	Oh. Yeah. He had it rougher.	23:46
Michele Mitchell	So, at some point, you were working there at the same time?	23:48
William Harding	Yeah. Mm-hmm. When I first started.	23:51
Michele Mitchell	And so, you think he had it rougher?	23:53
William Harding	Oh. Yeah. Oh. Yeah. I know he did, from the way it was. I tell, from the way, just through hearing them talk how they had. See, because they couldn't use the forklift, you see? And they had so many cars to load a day. And they didn't get no coffee breaks. They didn't have all that, coffee breaks. And at the same time, you could go to the restroom. You could go to the restroom, but no breaks, hardly. And they had to load something like six cars a day. That's a lot of salt.	23:57
William Harding	And we got there, it was down to three. Three cars a day, sometimes two, so they had it rougher. And [indistinct 00:24:51], before my time, and before the forklift came, they got the first forklift, they had to roll the sacks to the car box by hand, with hand trucks, push trucks. And you had to get out the way because the man behind me would run on your heel, that's what they would tell us, or run over you, if you're too slow. You had get them from that slab belt, like I told you we was raking and put them on a 200 pound sack. Put them on a truck and you roll them to the car box. You know how many trips that'd be?	24:34
Michele Mitchell	Hmm?	25:26
William Harding	To load a car box with that? Hmm.	25:26
Michele Mitchell	How many trips did it take?	25:27
William Harding	I don't know.	25:27
Michele Mitchell	Just back and forth?	25:27
William Harding	Yeah. It'd take a lot. A lot out of a man in a day's work. They had it rough. Because when I got there, the forklift was there, but the Black people couldn't use them. Couldn't touch the steering wheel, alone. That's sad. I think about that a many days, I say, "You know what? Where we done come from?" Yep. White man sure had us buffaloed, scared to drive. They had people there with 30, 35 years, 20, 28 years. They'd take them young White boys, come there, 20, 19, and 30, and they'll get on a forklift before a Black. And the Blacks, some of them was scared. They had buffaloed them, they was so scared, they didn't want to drive, they told the man they didn't want that. That's how they had it, they us believing the White man. That's the way they had us buffaloed.	25:31
William Harding	But it changed, after— It took a couple of them to get on there, then they seen. That's when all the people were— After two or three got on a tractor, they see where it wasn't as bad as the White man was saying, then they wanted the job. They have some now, still don't want the tractor. When I left there, I think two of them, they offered them the tractor, they don't want.	26:50
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	27:12
William Harding	They say it's too much responsibility. You know? You bust a sack and then they say something to you. Well, I would say, "Hey. Everybody else busts them." You know? But they're just some of our people. They'll let them young boys come in there and get the job over them, when they could've been on a tractor, but they're scared, scared of responsibility.	27:15
Michele Mitchell	Well, it sounds like some of these young men were as old, as some of the older Black men had been there?	27:44
William Harding	Yeah. We have some now, don't want a tractor because they think they're going to bust sacks or run into something. Now, who going to run into more stuff out there than the White? You see? But they don't want that responsibility. And it'd make their job so much easier than picking up sacks. And I went to them, before I left there, I told them, I said, "Man, you ought to take that tractor, there." A job come up on the board, they let them young people come in there, young White boys come in there and get them. They don't want to take the job. I don't told a lot of them that. They just stay away.	27:46
Michele Mitchell	Hmm? Hmm? When did you father start working there, about?	28:30
William Harding	Oh, Lord. That was in the '50s, early '50s.	28:32
Michele Mitchell	What did he do beforehand?	28:45
William Harding	He would work at the foundry. He was at the foundry, before he left to go to Weeks Island. When Daddy was there, I was in 10th grade.	28:49
Michele Mitchell	Now, are both your parents from this area?	29:07
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	29:09
Michele Mitchell	You said that your father was from around Cypremort?	29:10
William Harding	Yeah. Cypremort.	29:11
Michele Mitchell	And your mother?	29:11
William Harding	Oh. Right here, in Jeanerette.	29:11
Michele Mitchell	So you basically grew up in Jeanerette?	29:21
William Harding	All my life.	29:23
Michele Mitchell	Now, when you were little, what was Jeanerette like for Black people?	29:25
William Harding	Oh. Wasn't nothing but mud and fields. Where this was, wasn't nothing but a— It was a sugarcane field. All this here, nothing but field.	29:29
Michele Mitchell	All of this?	29:40
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	29:41
Michele Mitchell	You mean—	29:41
William Harding	Yep. Across there, nothing but field. We played ball, across there, where the projects, when we was small. On the corner there, they had three little shops here and a house, that's all they had. Nothing but mud and fields. We used to could cut across here and go straight from where my mother's place was, all that was field. Got corn field, cane field. We used to cut grass, blood weeds, over here, for the cows and things, cut grass. Over the years, things built up.	29:42
Michele Mitchell	— That's hard to imagine—	30:22
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	30:23
Michele Mitchell	— this being nothing but cane and corn.	30:24
William Harding	Mm-hmm. Yeah. That was nothing but a pasture over there. And you used to could see my church, Calvary, right across from that pasture, the graveyard. And this here, we used to play ball, right across here. Nothing but field, all that. You see all them houses?	30:27
Michele Mitchell	Yeah.	30:41
William Harding	All that was nothing but field, right here. And we used to run up and down these fields, playing, all the way. Yep.	30:41
Michele Mitchell	Now, if there were a whole bunch of cane field around, did anyone in your family ever have to cut cane?	30:54
William Harding	Mm—hmm. I cut too.	30:58
Michele Mitchell	Did you cut?	30:58
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	30:58
Michele Mitchell	How old were you?	30:59
William Harding	Well, I was in school. I would, for Christmas, that's the only way we would get what we want for Christmas, to get out two weeks and go cut cane. But they had the cane cutter when I started cutting cane. And we used to have cut the fly rows.	31:02
Michele Mitchell	The fly rows?	31:22
William Harding	Yeah. They call that row on the end, by the ditch.	31:23
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	31:26
William Harding	See, the cane cutter couldn't get there to cut it, so you had to cut it by hand. So that's what we used to do, when I started. And I used to miss school on Friday and go work on the weekend, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, to get what I want. And that's how we did. My mama cut cane, too, right over there where that airport was. Because we was still small, we used to go stand on the headline and look at her. All this here was a field.	31:27
Michele Mitchell	So if you were cutting on those little fly rows, on the end, was that hard work?	32:03
William Harding	No. It was just cane. You'd cut up the cane, cut it, top it, throw it in the row. It was easy. It wasn't— It just was the early getting up. You had to be out in the field 5:00, 6:00. It was just— Well, it was fun for me. There was some days you had to scrap cane behind a loader. Now, that was bad.	32:08
Michele Mitchell	Scrapping cane?	32:28
William Harding	Yeah.	32:28
Michele Mitchell	Now, once again, I'm ignorant. Could you tell me what that means?	32:32
William Harding	Scrapping cane is behind the loader. The loader pick it up, load it on a tractor. It moves down. All the cane it leaves, you got to pick it up, and scrap it behind the loader. But when they pick it up, all that soot fly in your face, you have to wear goggles. So that's what they call scrapping cane.	32:34
Michele Mitchell	So that was really hard work?	33:00
William Harding	That was hard. That's a lot of stooping.	33:01
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	33:01
William Harding	Every time it moves, you have to bend over and pick all that cane up and throw it in the tractor. But that soot was the thing, oh, it'd blow, and dust.	33:06
Michele Mitchell	Now, how old were you when you started doing this?	33:20
William Harding	I was about 17.	33:21
Michele Mitchell	So you started cutting cane when you were 17?	33:28
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	33:29
Michele Mitchell	And how much would you get?	33:33
William Harding	Well, in them times, wasn't nothing but— I forgot what it was. I done forgot. I'd say about $3.50.	33:41
Michele Mitchell	So you got about the same amount of money that you would get when you started working in high school, then?	33:49
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	33:57
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	33:57
William Harding	That time's a sad time, it was about the same. Certain job's you do, the more you get paid. But the scrapping more. I think scrapping was $4.70 a day because account of the dust.	33:58
Michele Mitchell	And besides cutting and scrapping, where there other jobs that you would do?	34:24
William Harding	Oh. I would rake leaves for White folk's yards, when I was young. Pile leaves up, pick up leaves.	34:29
Michele Mitchell	Did they pay you well?	34:40
William Harding	No. No. Oh. Or washing windows. About $.75 cents a day, to pick up leaves, all them leaves for $.75 cents. I thinking about it, "Lord. Lord."	34:46
Michele Mitchell	So did you go to the school where Matthew Polk was principal?	35:12
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	35:16
Michele Mitchell	Now, did it used to be called Boley?	35:17
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	35:20
Michele Mitchell	And when you went there, what was it called?	35:21
William Harding	Boley.	35:22
Michele Mitchell	It was called Boley?	35:24
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	35:37
Michele Mitchell	What do you remember about that school?	35:37
William Harding	Hmm? Everything. Some good years there. We had a wonderful basketball, football, team. Polk was a good principal, excellent principal. They had some good teachers too.	35:38
Michele Mitchell	So that was a really nice place to be?	35:56
William Harding	Oh, yeah. I don't know. It just, really like a family up there. It's like a family. Because we say that every time we meet one another, "It's like a family," so glad to see one another. Some nice people. [indistinct 00:36:21]. I don't know. Like I said, like it cut a part of your heart out, just something you have to give up, I guess.	35:59
Michele Mitchell	Now, I've been talking to a lot of people and a lot of people say they remember the all Black schools as being something special.	36:37
William Harding	Oh, yeah. Yeah. It's something— It's like the integration took something out of it. I don't know. It's— It don't feel the same. I used to love to go to the football game, the jamboree. And as soon as integration hit, I don't feel like— I don't go no more.	36:54
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	37:04
William Harding	I enjoyed it better, otherwise. I don't know. I guess, that's the price we had to pay for it, but it really hurt it, it hurted us. It took a lot out. I don't enjoy the games no more. It don't look like— You know? Not that I'm being prejudiced about anything, but it just don't feel the same. You know? I mean, I guess, you were brought up— All my years, I played, and we would do the thing different. Then you have to change and go the other ways. I can't get the feeling of it, just something about it. I can't put my finger on it yet.	37:07
Michele Mitchell	But it's different?	38:07
William Harding	Yeah. It's different. Oh, Lord, is it different. Yep.	38:10
Michele Mitchell	What are the things, I mean, were really special, when you were in school, that were at school or church, or other things that you remember?	38:12
William Harding	Mm-hmm. Well, I remember, the thing I used to— Oh. I couldn't get through my head why we had to— If we were playing football, we couldn't buy the suits, we couldn't buy cleats. It was '56, '57, before we was able to buy a new basketball uniform. And we used to get the uniforms from the White school, Jeanerette High, the raggedy suits. We'd go home and Mama would have to sew them, had to patch them. The cleats was all bust. That's what we had to play in. And it was hard for me to understand that, why we couldn't get new football equipment? We couldn't buy it, we had to use what they had. Before we got a gym, we played outside, on the ground. Basketball, our first game was on the ground at Boley.	38:20
Michele Mitchell	Really?	39:23
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	39:24
Michele Mitchell	Wouldn't it be kind of cold?	39:24
William Harding	Well, the days we played was a little chilly, but we played on the ground. We were so excited to be able to play. But no, we never play [indistinct 00:39:42] had a school. I mean, [indistinct 00:39:42] on the ground. Oh. We played that day. And when we got a gym, Lord. Whew. We thought we had died and went to Heaven. That gym was— Ooh. That was a precious gym. We thought that was it.	39:26
Michele Mitchell	So you got a gym on the late '50s?	40:07
William Harding	Yeah. Oh, Lord, yeah. Very late. Too late. Lord. Wore them old raggedy football suits, but we made it. We had some good players. Everybody was dedicated. We was happy, like a big family.	40:09
Michele Mitchell	So you played basketball and football?	40:31
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	40:32
Michele Mitchell	All through high school?	40:33
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	40:34
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	40:34
William Harding	Yep. I was big. They put me in there. They put me in the basketball and football when I was in 9th grade, before time, because I was big, they stuck me in.	40:36
Michele Mitchell	So it was 10th through 12th grade then?	40:55
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	40:56
Michele Mitchell	So if you were playing basketball and football, does that mean that you went to other schools in the area to play games?	40:59
William Harding	Mm-hmm. Yeah.	41:05
Michele Mitchell	What was that like?	41:06
William Harding	Oh. That was fun, especially Mr. Polk enjoyed the night we Henderson on their Homecoming, Henderson High.	41:08
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	41:14
William Harding	Oh. We put it on them. Football. Football. Oh. We beat them that night. Mr. Polk still talk about that, look at pictures. They was all done. "Maybe old Jeanerette will come ahead whip y'all." Yep. Went there with our raggedy suits and put it on them. I'll never forget that night, boy. I thought Mr. Polk was going to have a heart attack.	41:14
Michele Mitchell	So he was really there, just—	41:44
William Harding	Oh. He was all over, running up and down the field. He went running up. You know the front of the stand, he went running up and down every time we'd make a big play, just a jumping and hollering. Oh. He enjoyed that. He still talk about that. And Mr. Henderson, he'd tease Mr. Henderson about it, Henry Henderson.	41:46
Michele Mitchell	— Mm-hmm.	42:04
William Harding	Every time he see me, "Remember that time—" He call be Big Bill. "Remember that time how Big Bill ran over y'all for that homecoming?" We had a good game that night. Oh, boy.	42:09
Michele Mitchell	So Mr. Polk must've been a really special principal to just be there and be excited?	42:19
William Harding	Oh, yeah. He was always like that. A basketball game, he was always there. He always did show his concern about everything. Boy, what a sweet person, very nice.	42:30
Michele Mitchell	I mean, that's unique. You know?	42:56
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	42:57
Michele Mitchell	Because, I mean—	42:57
William Harding	Yeah. He's just that type of person. Yeah. He showed everybody that he cares.	43:05
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	43:09
William Harding	And if somebody die in your family, he there. He there, regardless, he there. We see him more at funerals and wakes, he always there to lend a hand.	43:10
Michele Mitchell	So he was there, more than just being in school?	43:34
William Harding	Oh.	43:36
Michele Mitchell	He was in the community?	43:36
William Harding	He was in the— Just like a family. That's what I say, he's just like in the family. He just down to Earth. I don't know. There's something special about him.	43:37
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	43:48
William Harding	He's a special person. And everybody love him.	43:48
Michele Mitchell	Now, you went to school earlier in Jeanerette, too, which schools did you go to?	44:02
William Harding	Oh. I went to— Well, I forgot. I went to Canal Street Elementary and we had a big school.	44:08
Michele Mitchell	Canal?	44:16
William Harding	Canal Elementary. And I went to— Oh. I forgot. Number 5 Hall, that's by the track. I went there for Number 5, or the Number 6 Hall. I don't know what grade those was, I don't remember. That's all I remember, Number 5, and Number 6, and Canal Street. And that was— And I went [indistinct 00:44:48] first, the third, the second, fourth. I don't know. I forgot how it was.	44:18
Michele Mitchell	Now, when you say Number 5 and Number 6 Hall, where these Benevolent Society Halls?	44:56
William Harding	Yeah. They were used to us as our schools.	45:00
Michele Mitchell	And this is unfair of me, but do you know which Benevolent Societies they were?	45:05
William Harding	No.	45:08
Michele Mitchell	Oh. Someone told me that they were numbered, that they were called Number 5, Society, Number 6.	45:12
William Harding	Yeah. Number 6 and Number 5. And Number 2 is right here, on Trappey Street. Well, they still use that. Did some of the people say that? But those Society Halls. But we used to use the other one by the track, uptown, the gray one, that was the schoolhouse for school. And that's the one or two I remember going to and Canal Street.	45:17
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	45:42
William Harding	Mm-hmm. And all I remember is 8th and 9th, going to Boley.	45:51
Michele Mitchell	So Boley had grades 8 through—	45:58
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	46:00
Michele Mitchell	— Was it called the Junior and Senior High School, or just the Senior High School?	46:04
William Harding	We had another building on the side, I think that was the Junior School. We had another white building, like those halls, on the campus. And I remember going to that [indistinct 00:46:26]. I think that was a Junior High. Junior High, I think they called it.	46:07
Michele Mitchell	And the Number 5 and Number 6, these were buildings, and there were how many grades?	46:40
William Harding	Well, there was one grade, you went to one class. I think we used to march on the track. They'd line us up and we'd go [indistinct 00:46:58]. We had a class on the track, walking. We didn't have no buses then, we had to line up, like soldiers. That's all I remember about it, this many years ago.	46:46
Michele Mitchell	Oh. No. You told me a lot.	47:15
William Harding	Yeah.	47:16
Michele Mitchell	Let me see, here?	47:25
William Harding	I remember, back here, you used to have an old coal shoot, where they used to keep the coal for the furnace in the school. I remember that good because we used to shoot marbles in the front of the coal shoot. We used to play marbles outside at recess. That was an old coal shoot and it used to be—	47:25

Michele Mitchell	— The part where you said that you used to have concerts. I'm not sure though.	0:01
William Harding	Mm-hmm. We used to have concerts. We used to see who had the talent. It was a talent show like. And it was fun. We used to dress different, we had clown clothes. We used to have talent shows, sing or dance. We used to have some fun with that. And kids used to love it.	0:04
Michele Mitchell	You sound like you had a lot going on back then.	0:28
William Harding	Oh yeah. I was a busy body back then, yeah. Yeah, we had some days. Well, you had to make your art or music. You had to be, yeah, didn't have no radios or nothing like you have TVs like you have today. We had to make our own toys. We made scooters, we made rubber guns, we played spinning tops. We had to—	0:47
Michele Mitchell	How did you make rubber guns?	1:02
William Harding	With a stick, you carve it out and you put a clothespin— You get one of them clothespin and you open the clothespin, and shoot a rubber. Oh yeah. Yeah, we had all that made up. We used to go around, there were people looking for skids to make scooters. We used to make scooters with skids, regular skids. We used to have some scooters. We used be on the sidewalk getting it. Well, after the built the sidewalks because we had nothing but dirt roads then. When they put the sidewalks, that's when we used the sidewalk.	1:05
William Harding	Well, that's the way it was. You had to make your own toy. And this was up in the field, we played with rubber guns all and down the— And we made bow and arrows, played cowboy and Indians. They used to have to call us in at night. After we cut our grass, we had to make sure those cows and hogs was fed. Cut grass and feed them, then we go ahead and get to playing.	1:39
William Harding	We built some little tents. We make teepees out in the field. We used to play out there. Then they'd come get us sometimes at night. But it was fun, that's the only thing we had to do. We had nothing else to do. We used to run up to bed soon as we getting out, after we be in, we run up to bed because they kept up on the kerosene in the lamps. They were lamps, no electric lights.	2:17
Michele Mitchell	So, there were kerosene in the lamps all through when you were growing up?	2:49
William Harding	Mm-hmm. Oh yeah. That way kerosene in— We had the wood stove, but we still had the kerosene for the lamps, the light.	2:53
Michele Mitchell	It really sounds like you were really able to amuse yourself.	3:08
William Harding	Oh yeah. Well, you learn when you got to do something, you do it.	3:11
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	3:17
William Harding	You ain't had nothing else, you had to— Lord, yeah.	3:17
Michele Mitchell	Now, when you said that you had to feed the cows and the hogs—	3:24
William Harding	Mm.	3:28
Michele Mitchell	— did you and your family live on somebody's place, did you have your own farm?	3:28
William Harding	Over there. All this here was to the—	3:34
Michele Mitchell	Oh.	3:34
William Harding	— Over there was my mama back yard, big back yard. We had the cows and hogs there.	3:34
Michele Mitchell	So, your mother's yard had cows and hogs—	3:38
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	3:38
Michele Mitchell	— that were her own?	3:38
William Harding	Yeah. Right. She bought her— We tore my daddy house, my daddy's mama house. He used to stay side by side. So, we tore down her house and built that house you see there now. But that was a, it was a nice size house, but we had all that in the backyard. Everybody had that in the backyard.	3:44
Michele Mitchell	Everybody?	4:00
William Harding	Who were living here. But you see, they didn't have all those houses down there you see, you had a few houses. But most everybody had them a cows and hogs, and chicken. Mm-hmm. But, I had to milk in the morning, milk in the evening, the cow. My daddy, when daddy go to work, I had to get that milk. Milk the cow, yeah. He showed me how to milk it, I was small. And, feed the cow in the morning, feed him in the evening. Then we play.	4:03
Michele Mitchell	Now, was there ever a point— It sounds like you just cut cane just to make money. So, but there was never a point that during the time that people were making grinding that you had to miss school?	4:41
William Harding	No, no, no, no. I missed school on account, I wanted something for Christmas. But, I wanted more than what they was able to give me. That's why I got out of school. I think I wanted a hat, I wanted a suit or something. I got out and went to work for it.	4:49
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	5:10
William Harding	But that's how I made it. I would do that every Christmas. You see, they had no restrictions then. But, I used to get out on a weekend every Christmas and do that. But, a lot of Blacks have done that in there time because the boys all about, we all done that. The last two weeks or the last three weeks before Christmas, you get out of school to go to work to get what you want for Christmas. And that's the only way you get it too.	5:14
Michele Mitchell	Well, that means that, when you work for something, that was something that you wanted.	5:52
William Harding	Oh yeah. That's right, that's right, that's right. We wanted to dress, you see. We wanted, well, a hat was popular in them times.	5:56
Michele Mitchell	So, you'd buy hats and suits?	6:09
William Harding	Mm-hmm. Shoes.	6:10
Michele Mitchell	It just sounds like coming up, it was a very, very full life for you.	6:17
William Harding	Yeah, it was. I enjoyed my childhood. I remember a lot about my childhood, what I had to do to make it. Mm-hmm. And, some of it was easy and some of it wasn't easy. You had to take the bitter with the sweet. You had to take a wrong sometime and live with it. But, we made it. That's what I tell a lot of the youngsters out there, you got to learn to humble yourself a little bit. When you do that, you're going to make it. But a lot of them can't do that. They like to, when they want something, they want it right now. And they don't like, they don't have the patience to wait. Sometimes you got to wait on things until it develops. But, they don't, [indistinct 00:07:15] a lot of them— Well, I've been across some that understand and they'll go along with me a while. But yeah, because see, they lose courage, you know?	6:20
William Harding	But then you got to start talking to them again and give them strength. Once they get that strength, they going to make it. Some of them make it. See, you just got to wait on things. See, things ain't going to stay the same, you see. One time if a person tell you no, don't give up, just keep trying. If you want something bad enough, wait for it, just go ahead on. But, and some of them just, they just give up. But you, I tell them all, "Now, you can't do that in life. If you want something bad enough, you hang in there, you'll get it. Just wait hard for it." I try to tell them, but they just, they are— They understand, some of them. I got to give them credit for that. Some of them really, they really try. I like to see them make it on their own.	7:27
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	8:27
William Harding	It means something when they do something like that.	8:27
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm. You're right.	8:28
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	8:28
Michele Mitchell	You're absolutely right. I just need to ask you a few questions about your parents' names and your brothers', and sisters' names, if you had any sisters.	8:39
William Harding	Yeah. I have four sisters. Which one do you want first?	8:53
Michele Mitchell	Well, first of all, your wife's name is Gloria?	8:55
William Harding	Gloria Harding, Gloria M. Harding.	8:57
Michele Mitchell	Emma?	8:58
William Harding	M. Gloria Mae.	8:58
Michele Mitchell	M.	8:59
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	9:02
Michele Mitchell	What's her middle name, maiden name again?	9:03
William Harding	Who, mine?	9:06
Michele Mitchell	Hers.	9:06
William Harding	Oh, Mae. Gloria Mae Harding.	9:06
Michele Mitchell	Okay. What was her name before she married?	9:11
William Harding	Gabreal.	9:12
Michele Mitchell	Gabreal?	9:12
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	9:12
Michele Mitchell	How do you spell that?	9:16
William Harding	G-A-B-R-E-A-L.	9:16
Michele Mitchell	Okay. And, when was she born?	9:22
William Harding	Mm, December the 23rd, I don't know the year.	9:24
Michele Mitchell	You were born in '38, so is she younger?	9:31
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	9:34
Michele Mitchell	So, two years younger?	9:35
William Harding	Yeah, two years younger.	9:37
Michele Mitchell	And, was she born here in Jeanerette?	9:41
William Harding	Let's see. Gloria. Gloria.	9:48
Gloria Harding	Yes?	9:52
William Harding	You born here in Jeanerette? You were born in Jeanerette?	9:57
Gloria Harding	Yeah.	10:08
William Harding	Yeah, uh-huh.	10:11
Michele Mitchell	Okay, thank you.	10:11
Gloria Harding	Because my parents [indistinct 00:10:24]—	10:23
William Harding	Yeah.	10:23
Gloria Harding	Yeah, I was born here.	10:23
Michele Mitchell	Yeah? And this is Saint Mary or Franklin?	10:23
Gloria Harding	This is Iberia.	10:23
William Harding	Yeah, Iberia.	10:23
Michele Mitchell	This is still Iberia?	10:23
William Harding	Yeah, this is Iberia 'til you get to that other street here, right here. You're almost to the border line.	10:23
Michele Mitchell	That's what I thought, because I'm driving out here say it's got to—	10:25
William Harding	Yeah.	10:27
Michele Mitchell	— it's got to be coming soon.	10:27
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	10:27
Michele Mitchell	Now, you were born in Jeanerette.	10:30
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	10:33
Michele Mitchell	Okay. And, y'all have children?	10:41
William Harding	Mm-mm, no kids.	10:41
Michele Mitchell	No kids? Okay. Okay.	10:49
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	10:50
Gloria Harding	That's it?	10:50
Michele Mitchell	That's all I had to bother you for.	10:52
Gloria Harding	Oh, okay. Would you care for a soda pop or something?	10:53
Michele Mitchell	Oh, that would be fine. Just whatever would be fine.	10:58
Gloria Harding	Okay.	11:00
Michele Mitchell	Mrs. Harding, you work outside the home?	11:03
Gloria Harding	Mm-hmm. I work at, I'm a teacher in the Iberia Parish school system.	11:04
Michele Mitchell	Do you teach elementary, or?	11:14
Gloria Harding	Elementary, and in the special education department.	11:15
Michele Mitchell	Thank you.	11:28
Gloria Harding	Mm-hmm.	11:28
Michele Mitchell	And sir, your mother's name?	11:28
William Harding	Hazel Harding.	11:28
Michele Mitchell	I didn't get the first name, I'm sorry.	11:33
William Harding	Hazel?	11:35
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	11:35
William Harding	Okay.	11:35
Gloria Harding	You need a pop?	11:35
William Harding	No, no, mm-mm, I just had one.	11:39
Michele Mitchell	Now, before she married what was her name?	11:40
William Harding	Williams.	11:46
Michele Mitchell	And, did your mother work outside the home? I know you told me that she cut cane.	11:55
William Harding	Oh, that was when I was a baby, yes. But, she used clean the house, [indistinct 00:12:05], a White lady house. However many years ago she stopped.	12:00
Michele Mitchell	And, you told me where your mother was born and I'm going to have to look for it again.	12:16
William Harding	She was born here in Jeanerette.	12:18
Michele Mitchell	But your father was born by—	12:18
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	12:18
Michele Mitchell	— Sycamore.	12:18
William Harding	Yeah, mm-hmm.	12:18
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm.	12:18
Gloria Harding	Oh, Louisa.	12:18
William Harding	Louisa, no, yeah.	12:31
Michele Mitchell	Louisa is where he was born?	12:34
William Harding	Louisa.	12:36
Gloria Harding	Louisa.	12:36
William Harding	Louisa. Mm-hmm.	12:36
Gloria Harding	Louisa, Louisiana.	12:36
Michele Mitchell	Now, that is Saint Mary, right?	12:36
William Harding	Yeah, that's Saint Mary, mm-hmm.	12:40
Gloria Harding	Okay, you want Diet Coke, caffeine-free Coke, or Sprite?	12:45
Michele Mitchell	Caffeine-free Coke sounds fine. Thank you so much. So, your father worked at the foundry and then at the mine.	12:51
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	12:57
Michele Mitchell	And your father's name?	13:05
William Harding	Lionel Harding.	13:06
Michele Mitchell	And I'm going to ask you two unfair questions. Do you remember when they were born?	13:10
William Harding	June the 12th.	13:15
Gloria Harding	Let me get it.	13:15
William Harding	Daddy, June the 12th.	13:21
Gloria Harding	I know both of them, I just have to get our records.	13:29
William Harding	And, Mama the 25th of July.	13:37
Michele Mitchell	Okay. Now, I'm going to ask you for your brothers' and sisters' names, and if you remember their birth dates, approximately the years, just approximate—	13:48
William Harding	Well, Louis Harding, he's May the 9th, his birth date.	13:54
Michele Mitchell	May the 9th?	13:56
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	13:56
Michele Mitchell	Okay.	13:56
William Harding	Sandra [indistinct 00:14:07] is May the 14, Saturday, because I went there after mine. I remember then, the week after mine. And, let me see. Lynn—	14:05
Michele Mitchell	Lynn?	14:26
William Harding	— Carolyn Sue, mm-hmm. I don't know her. I don't know her and I don't know Anne.	14:27
Gloria Harding	Sadonia.	14:37
William Harding	Sadonia, yeah, I don't know her. Them the three I don't know.	14:41
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm, okay. And then, you had a brother too?	14:49
William Harding	Hm?	14:49
Michele Mitchell	You had a brother?	14:49
William Harding	Yeah. Wilbur, Wilbur Roy Harding. I don't know him.	14:51
Michele Mitchell	It's fine, I'm just, their names are important.	15:02
William Harding	Yeah.	15:06
Michele Mitchell	When were you born? I mean, are you the third, the fourth?	15:07
William Harding	I'm the third.	15:11
Gloria Harding	And your brother that passed.	15:12
William Harding	Oh yeah, Lionel Junior.	15:12
Michele Mitchell	And he's deceased?	15:25
William Harding	Mm-hmm. My daddy too is deceased.	15:26
Michele Mitchell	When did they both pass?	15:30
William Harding	Four years apart. Do you have there, daddy's, the picture thing in there?	15:33
Gloria Harding	Yeah. Your brother [indistinct 00:15:42].	15:39
William Harding	Oh yeah, we just had been married when my brother got killed.	15:45
Michele Mitchell	Mm.	15:49
William Harding	That was the '60s. That was in the '60s, around '64, '65.	15:53
Michele Mitchell	And then, your father died earlier than that?	16:03
William Harding	Yeah, two years ago.	16:05
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm, two years ago?	16:07
William Harding	Mm-hmm. She coming with the day.	16:09
Michele Mitchell	Okay. And all y'all were born here in Jeanerette?	16:35
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	16:35
Michele Mitchell	Okay. So, there's Louis, Sandra, Carolyn—	16:35
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	16:35
Michele Mitchell	— Anne, Sadonia, Wilbur, and Lionel?	16:35
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	16:35
Michele Mitchell	Okay. And, have you and your wife moved to another place besides Jeanerette?	16:35
William Harding	Mm-mm.	16:37
Michele Mitchell	So, you worked for Morton. The whole time it was Morton, never Miles?	16:47
William Harding	No.	16:53
Michele Mitchell	And you started in there 1950—	16:53
William Harding	1962.	16:59
Michele Mitchell	1962? So, you were in high school from '58 to '62?	17:06
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	17:06
Michele Mitchell	Okay, just making sure I got that right. 1962 to 1992, 1993.	17:06
William Harding	'93.	17:09
Michele Mitchell	Okay, I'm just about done. I just have a couple more questions to ask you.	17:24
William Harding	Go ahead.	17:27
Michele Mitchell	Catholic, Baptist?	17:29
William Harding	Baptist.	17:30
Michele Mitchell	And, your church?	17:33
William Harding	Mount Calvary, Jeanerette.	17:34
Michele Mitchell	Okay. Are there any— I know that, I'm assuming that you belong to the ICWU.	17:42
Gloria Harding	Mm-hmm.	17:47
William Harding	Mm-hmm.	17:47
Michele Mitchell	Mm-hmm. And that's local?	17:52
William Harding	29.	17:53
Michele Mitchell	29. And, are there any other groups or organizations you'd like to tell me about?	17:56
William Harding	No. I ain't in no other one.	18:06
Michele Mitchell	Hm?	18:07
William Harding	I'm not in no other one.	18:07
Michele Mitchell	So, you never joined the Masons?	18:07
William Harding	Well, I did, but I dropped out years ago.	18:13
Michele Mitchell	So you don't even really—	18:15
William Harding	No, I'm not active.	18:16
Michele Mitchell	And, any other office or church member, church activities, or anything else you'd like to tell me about?	18:18
Gloria Harding	You're a usher boy.	18:40
William Harding	Hm?	18:40
Gloria Harding	I said you're an usher boy.	18:40
William Harding	Yeah, I'm a—	18:40
Michele Mitchell	That's important.	18:40
William Harding	Yeah, important that I'm a usher boy.	18:40
Gloria Harding	You're on the deacon board.	18:40
Michele Mitchell	So, Mr. Harding is modest then?	18:56
Gloria Harding	Yeah, well, sometimes.	18:58
Michele Mitchell	Well then, with the exception of finding out your parent's information—	19:07
William Harding	Yeah, she has it right there.	19:11
Gloria Harding	Okay.	19:12

Item Info

Title:

William Harding interview recording, 1994 August 08

Date:

August 8, 1994

Creator:

Harding, William

Contributor:

Mitchell, Michele

Description:

Name: William Harding; Date of birth: 1938-05-07; Place of birth: Jeanerette, LA; Occupation(s): miner; electrician; Residence: Jeanerette, LA
Informant ID: 625; Interviewed by: Michelle Mitchell.

Occupation:

Location:

Format:

Language:

English

Digital Collection:

Behind the Veil

Source Collection:

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

Series:

Related Resources:

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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.

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-1089
cd2141ad-94d8-435e-b64a-dc84925361a3
behindtheveil
8c00f53d-7cf6-4eab-aba5-f3bfbbc72327
ark:/87924/r4f47v357
8c00f53d-7cf6-4eab-aba5-f3bfbbc72327

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4f47v357

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William Harding interview recording, 1994 August 08

Transcript

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1. William Harding administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Transcript

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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