Albert Moore, Sr. interview recording, 1994 August 09

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Michele Mitchell	The tape is on now.	0:03
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Okay. I was born March thirty-first, 1939 in Patterson, Louisiana.	0:04
Michele Mitchell	And I don't think I got your name, sir.	0:15
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Albert James Moore, Sr. Sure.	0:17
Michele Mitchell	Okay.	0:20
Albert James Moore, Sr.	My father name is Sanders Moore. However, my father's deceased. My father's been dead— My father died when I was five months old so really we spent no time together. But he was a railroad worker and that particular area was where a lot of the Black railroad workers lived. And consequently, that's how I was born in that particular area. My mother gave birth to four children, and of the four children, two died, and two lived. It just so happened that God Almighty chose to let the youngest, which I am, and the oldest live. The two girls in between died.	0:23
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And I always tell people about this because it's a real tragedy involved in it, even in those days because I was born in 1939, but not even then having the medical attention that one should have even with my father working on the railroad, which was one of the best jobs at that time for Blacks. It was not diagnosed by not having the proper medical attention that she was breastfeeding her kids and that this was not healthy. And consequently, until it was found out, it took the lives of two of her children. So this is something that once we found out, once she found out and told us about it, it kind of stuck in my mind. And it's not that my dad did not want to provide her with that, it's just that I guess the medical attention and especially that Blacks were able to get or to even think about at that time just were not there.	1:21
Michele Mitchell	That's a really powerful story.	2:41
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes, it is to me, because we were a close-knit family and my oldest sister, Dorothy, we were raised to be close, real close. And we oftentimes stopped to think because we said just two of us, we're a very small family. My wife has seven other sisters besides herself, a very large family. So we always wanted to have a larger family and said, well, this could have been if our other two sisters would've lived. But that's God in his wisdom, whatever He does is right as far as I'm concerned and so it happened and we lived with it. That's that.	2:44
Michele Mitchell	Did you remain in Patterson?	3:36
Albert James Moore, Sr.	No. At a very, very early age, and I'm not quite sure, but I think we moved to Olivier, Louisiana and you went through, I think by now Olivier, I would say about a year after I was born, several years at the most because my dad, as I told you, passed about that time. So my mother came closer to where her family was, which was in Olivier, and it was Olivier from then on until we grew up and then branched out different other places.	3:39
Michele Mitchell	And at that, I mean, I've gone through Olivier.	4:29
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes.	4:29
Michele Mitchell	I've seen them.	4:29
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Right.	4:29
Michele Mitchell	A lot of cane fields.	4:29
Albert James Moore, Sr.	A lot of cane fields. Yes, a lot of cane fields. My mother worked in the cane field but so did I. And my mother struggled to raise two kids, and my mother's deceased also 21 years now. And my wife and I are always sitting down reflecting on that because her mother made 87 years of age yesterday and she's alive. And I just think about that a lot because I always said, well, boy, if my mother was living. When I became of age and a little able to do some things for her, she was no longer around, knowing how she struggled for my sister. So it starts that always kind of crowd my mind if God would've allowed her to live a little bit longer than her son would've been able to do some things for her. Not that I didn't, because when my mother passed, I had just really started teaching good and, of course, with a little family and so I could not do the things that possibly I could today for her.	4:30
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But I know she's in heaven and she understands that. She understands that, but she struggled hard. When we moved to Olivier, stayed for X number of years until my sister who's seven years older than I am finished high school, and then it was time to go to college. And my mother knew that from the small wages that she was earning, that she would not be able to send my sister to school. And consequently, she spoke to one of her sisters who lived in Houston who worked for some very, very wealthy people, White people, and inquired about possibly getting her a job and God saw fit for it to work out that way. And so my mother moved to Houston, Texas, left me in Olivier with relatives, with an uncle by the name of Sidney Moore. And of course, I kind of bounced from place to place because people were kind and people were generous, but it wasn't always easy.	5:55
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And she got a job that paid more and managed to send my sister to college at Grambling State University. And this taught, I think, my sister and I a lesson of what it means to persevere to do things and not let obstacles get in your way and just that closeness became even closer. And as a result, when it was my time to go to college, my sister had graduated and then she could help my mother with me along with several other people, my uncle who's deceased, Sidney Moore, and other family members. But my sister was quite instrumental also in helping me to finish.	7:19
Albert James Moore, Sr.	If I'm going to— Lead me the way you want me to go. And if I can go back a little bit and tell you about high school, I finished high school in 1958 from all-Black Henderson High School which I'm very, very proud of and later became a principal of that school, which is a distinction that really sets me off and makes me proud having graduated from there and from eighth grade to 12th, because at that time eighth grade was on the campus also. And then to come back later on and become principal of the school, which I served there for about eight, nine years as principal, it was really, really, it was just a dream that I never thought would've become a reality, and it did.	8:19
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But I graduated from Henderson High School and went on to Grambling State University, majored in upper elementary education. Got married, by the way, my second year in college. Can you imagine that? My mother didn't tell me to do that.	9:20
Michele Mitchell	It must have been love.	9:45
Albert James Moore, Sr.	It was. A matter of fact, Gerry and I, Geraldine, my wife, we courted from eighth grade through college and got married. We courted one another from our eighth grade year and now have been married some 33 years.	9:46
Michele Mitchell	Oh, congratulations.	10:03
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And the college days at Grambling were good because it was a small family. It was hard because I didn't have the luxuries or the things that a lot of kids had, but uppermost in my mind was getting an education so that I could come back and maybe make a worthwhile contribution. And as a result, it worked out and came back, got out of— graduated from Grambling in '62 with a bachelor's degree in upper elementary education, landed a teaching job here in Iberia Parish, and as a result finished my education tenure in Iberia Parish after some 33 years.	10:07
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But to kind of take you step by step, taught for X number— Really, I can be more specific. I really taught only three and a half years in the classroom. Everything else was some form of administration or supervision and I probably would've gotten into supervision in administration much sooner, but I was determined to get at least the tenure years, which is three years, in education before doing other things because people were just good to me. And again, it's through God Almighty and Reverend Jackson, Cyrus Jackson, who's principal of— who's pastor of Star Pilgrim Baptist Church was principal of AV Simon where I had started teaching and he felt that I would one day make a good administrator and he saw to it that this happened at an early age.	11:01
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But again, I was determined that I wanted to teach for at least three years because that's what I loved doing. But even to finish that half year of the three and a half years of teaching, I was teaching and also acting as assistant principal, and those were some good days. To be quite honest with you, my teaching days and my principalship days were good days. There were days that I looked forward to getting up every morning and either going to the classroom and teach or going to be principal. And then as I moved up the ladder, things began to change a little bit, okay? Having served as principal of an elementary school, well, first assistant principal of an elementary school and then a junior high school and then becoming principal of an elementary school for X number of years, then moving on to principalship of a junior high school kind of kept me quite busy.	12:09
Albert James Moore, Sr.	It was in an order of assistant principal, for X number years, principal. And during the time of being assistant principal at a school by the name of North Lewis Elementary School, which was predominantly White, and some say was the Silk Stocking school, they actually made a mistake by naming me assistant there. And I'm going to tell you why. Because the principal who's deceased now was a very fine fellow by the name of Claude [indistinct 00:14:10]. But Mr. [indistinct 00:14:12] was old and they knew he was old, but they probably figured he had more time than he did, but only God knows that. And Mr. [indistinct 00:14:22] no longer was on the scene. And all of a sudden, Albert Moore was there, a little young, Black assistant principal in a predominantly White school, White area, and quicker than quick, all of a sudden they saw a dying need for me to become assistant principal at New Iberia Middle School.	13:30
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And now I can see it as clear as day. I think I saw it then, but also I was honored to maybe move up to a level that I thought my training lent itself to. But all the time, what they were doing was saying, hey, he's assistant. We got to watch that because the White principal's gone now. If we put another White there while he's there, it's going to look pretty bad. And so they maneuvered and moved me before it was time to bring in a new White principal because this was an all-White area.	14:50
Michele Mitchell	What school do they move you to?	15:36
Albert James Moore, Sr.	From North Lewis Elementary School to New Iberia Middle School. That's an old abandoned school now that you might have seen right across from Reverend Jackson's church, from Star Pilgrim, Persian and Center Street. And again, I was elated to get the promotion, but you can see how the thinking was, okay, we better move him now because if not, it's going to be hard to pass him by. And to be honest with you, the parents and the teachers really were quite fond of me, and the administration knew this, and so it was time to make that move. And so I guess I didn't become bitter then, and I'm really not bitter now, but it just tells me what the thinking was at that particular time.	15:38
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so anyway, the move was made and all of that took care of itself. And then I went on to the junior high school and stayed there for X number of years and then became principal of Baker Avenue Elementary School. You might have seen Baker. And Baker at that time was ideal for me starting as a head principal because Baker only had one grade at that time, which was sixth grade, and now I think it has four grades, four, five, and sixth. And principal by the name of Mr. Lloyd Boldman, a good friend of mine, is now principal there, and moved from there then to the junior high school. So it was a double thrill for me because when I made my move from Baker Avenue as principal then I went on over to, it was Anderson Junior High School, which was formally the old Henderson High School. But after integration, then they changed the names.	16:35
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And that was a hurting thing because I will always think of that school as being Henderson High School. And it was named after Mr. J.B. Henderson's father, but they named it after the street then, Anderson Middle School, Junior High. And I stayed there for a long, long time and then got a promotion from there to Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance and stayed in that position, I guess, some eight, nine years, which was a good job. We did schedules for schools. We also were like truant officers for kids who misbehaved or skipped school. And a good friend of mine who's now superintendent, Charles Lance, and I were in those positions at the same time.	17:44
Albert James Moore, Sr.	There were two openings and we worked real good together, and Charlie and I worked together in Child Welfare and Attendance until I got another promotion, which is now I become a little bitter.Because when this new promotion came from Child Welfare and Attendance, I became administrative coordinator. I'm going to tell you about that. Administrative coordinator, third in command in the entire school system, 16,000 kids, about 1800 employees. I was third in command.	18:41
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Here goes. Prior to becoming administrative coordinator, I applied for, it was an opening that came about, Assistant Superintendent of Schools of Iberia Parish. Mind ya, I'd done everything that I told you prior. Taught in the classroom and, you know, you might even want to say that I think they thought highly of me, but how far do they let you go, you know, without saying you've gone far enough? And so prior to becoming administrative coordinator, the position of assistant superintendent became open and I applied. That's when all hell broke loose, okay? I guess they said, well, why? Did you pay your dues? And I felt I did pay my dues. They had never been and until today a Black assistant superintendent in Iberia Parish. But I believe in that something. I hope this doesn't mess up your report, but I got to tell you, after becoming, I did so many things, after becoming Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance, I was named the first Black personnel director, full-time personnel director in the state of Louisiana.	19:32
Albert James Moore, Sr.	There were other Black personnel directors, but they weren't full-time and they might have been as assistants or what have you, but I was the first full-time Black personnel director in charge of a school system of 16,000 kids, 1800 employees. I kept that job for four years. Being personnel director is not an easy job, okay? And that's fine. They saw fit to let me have that job. You're qualified for it, you've been good, that's fine, but that's still not assistant superintendent, okay? The job of personnel director will involve you more with what going on in the system than assistant superintendent will. Okay? Because everybody's got to come through that personnel office. And I got to know a little bit of everything, and I think maybe too much for them at one point in time. And I did all of the recruiting and there were times when I took people with me and I would go at least twice a year through Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, some part of Texas recruiting for teachers. And it had never been done before.	21:07
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And one of the fears that they had, they would never tell it to me to my face, but things have a way of getting back to you, well, I wonder how is that Black man going to relate to those young White teachers, prospective teachers as he sit across the table from them and talked to them about contracts and what have you? And let's face it, let's be quite honest with you. They wonder sometimes if you're going to get out your place, you understand? Which you never had to worry about with me, but that's still the thinking. I don't care what anybody say. But anyway, for four and a half years, I proved them wrong. And as a result, I think they realized that. And some of them said you did a marvelous job as personnel director.	22:22
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And then the time came for the assistant superintendent's position, okay? I applied. Holy hell broke loose. There'd never been a Black assistant superintendent in Iberia Parish. There had never been a Black personnel director, but they allowed that to be because they're looking at the elevation. And of course they say, hey, superintendent assistant is higher than personnel director. You can have that, but I don't know if you can have this other. And in the course of the interviews and the course of the period of time before the appointments, the recommendation from the superintendent and the board acting on it, a lot of things transpired in between. I became irritated and I guess some of them irritated with me, yet I continued to go to work every day. They treated me with respect, but yet you could tell.	23:07
Albert James Moore, Sr.	The new superintendent came in, a man who had only served as principal of a high school, Dave Cavalier, a White fellow. And in his infinite wisdom, he really felt that this man had gotten a little bit too old for that type of job. Did not right say it, but in paper articles, newspaper articles after article Cavalier says he's looking for, and these are some of the exact words, a mover and a shaker. You understand? Okay, I think I'd moved everything in this parish here and did a pretty good job of it. I think so. And there were two other White young fellas, not that much younger than me, but I would say where at that particular time I must have had twenty-eight, twenty-nine years of experience, and I guess they were like twelve, thirteen years of experience, ten years. And don't get me wrong, experience is not the key to everything. I'm not saying that, but it has its place.	24:20
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And anyway, in essence, he felt that he wanted a younger man. At one point, statements came out whether he said it or not that I would say possibly my thinking as far as his administration was concerned was not up to par for what he was looking for for this newer generation, and I disagreed totally. Naturally, okay? And when I'm through, you're going to find out that he just didn't say it, but he agreed that he made a mistake finally because they gave me a retirement party and all he spoke and shed some tears and so forth. And in the course of the whole thing, then your community becomes involved, and then you got Blacks saying you ought to sue them and this, that and the other. And, of course, I didn't. And EEOC became aware of this situation and wanted to know what I wanted to do likewise.	25:45
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And in the back of my mind, I wanted to, and you second guess yourself, and maybe I should have, but I said, hey, I got a young daughter still getting ready to go to college. My wife teaches in the system. I'm nearing the point where I want to be to reach my maximum in retirement. Let's see if I can stick it out. And so I made the decision along with my wife, we're not going to file suit. Okay? The harassment was already enough as it was. They kind of backed me in the corner. And I think I made this statement, maybe not like it came out in the newspapers, but it was quoted, I was quoted as saying, "White board members were racist." So that's not said too easy.	26:53
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And there were several of them who said to me, oh, you hurt my heart. You know how to do that. Because, me a racist? You and I have always gotten along well. And I said, "I didn't make that statement," and I did not say it verbatim. I never forget, the reporter said, "Well, are you saying that some people are being racist?" And I said, "Well, if you say so." That was my reply. And then he said, well, Albert Moore called board members racist. And, of course, from that we got some threatening calls. And can you believe it in a time like this? I'm not talking about now 1865 or 1900, you understand what I'm saying? I'm talking about in the 1990s, 1989, '90 something of that nature, you wouldn't think that that would transpire.	27:42
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But it finally subsided and I kept on working and he and I kept on talking to one another, the superintendent, even when all of this dialogue was going on, never stopped talking to one another. He would give me things to do, and I was wise enough to know he would not cite me for insubordination, so I did what I was asked to do and I think did a good job of it. And I think eventually that won him over to see, hey, this is a good man after all. I had developed several programs for the school system in certain areas, so I was not concerned or worried about whether or not I had the ability to meet the challenges of his administration or to educate kids. That's all I've ever done.	28:37
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And if you want to find a creative teacher, go find a good Black teacher and you're going to find out that it's very creative because the things we had to teach with a long time ago, you had to make them. We didn't have the things that they have. So I never worried about that. And deep down with him, that was a smoke screen, and I think they all knew that. But anyway, we got some calls. And in the heat of it, yes, I did say some things too, kept on going to work. I lost some friends along the lines, if I could call some Whites some friends. But then eventually it kind of patched that up, too.	29:29
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so when all of this transpired and my wife's getting a little shaky and nervous and she's crying because we're sitting up at the board meeting that night when the final recommendation was made, and I still had hopes that I might be the one, yet I knew it wasn't going to happen. And even at the board meeting, ugly things were said. And then, of course, you had Blacks in the board meeting also who naturally took up for me. And I'll never forget Mrs. Eva Lewis, I don't know if you met Ms. Lewis in your stay here, but she's a very nice person and she admonished them quite well and said, "Hey, Resurrecting Day coming more or less for God Almighty. You know y'all did an injustice, blah, blah, blah." But still they did.	30:06
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And to show you how things work because the young White fellow that the superintendent wanted did not get the job, it went to another young White fellow who's even younger than me as far as experience and all of that. But those things happen, I guess, sometimes. And so we moved on from there. And again, after all of that, there was still was a little animosity here and there, but it kind of subsided. And so I'm in my office now as personnel director, and the superintendent comes to me because I wanted to move from personnel director to assistant superintendent. He says to me, "Albert," he says, "I want to give you a promotion." You hear me? About two months after all of this occurs and the embarrassment and the hurt it caused my family and everything. I said, "Oh yes, a promotion?" I said, "What type of promotion?" "Let me work on it," he says, "and I'm going to get back to you." I said okay.	30:59
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I continued hiring teachers or doing whatever else the personnel director had to do, which was a very, very hard job, very, very hard because you had to, in being personal director, it was not hard to hire certified teachers or to even hire someone on a T certificate, a temporary certificate, as they worked toward the degree or what have you, or to work with the NTE schools, that was not hard. What was hard was when time came to hire a cook, a teacher's aide, a bus driver, a bus attendant. You know why? Because classroom teachers, these board members didn't know very much about them. They came out of the colleges and university, but they knew about John Doe and Mary Sue and how many votes John Doe and Mary Sue had. So consequently when you got ready to hire a bus driver, politics really became involved, or you got ready to hire a cook or a teachers aide because they are out here in the community.	32:16
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so board member X wants Mary Sue because Mary Sue's in his district and that means Mary Sue— And then board member Y wants Jane Doe. And so now you got hell on hand. And so you recommend the person you think is the best and you keep your fingers crossed on that first or third Wednesday night at 6:00 when you go before the board and present your personnel list and then get ready to take your knocks because the ones who didn't get their way was coming at you. And as a result, one board member rode me pretty hard, and one night, my wife can attest to this, I kind of had taken all I could take.	33:18
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Presenting my personnel list, I think I had gotten through presenting it, I'm not quite sure to be honest with you. And the podium was standing here and he's about over here. I just had all I could take and I politely stepped from the podium and I said to him, "Hey," I said, "if you do that to me again, we going to have it." And I was ashamed of myself because here I'm a professional. I almost got in a fight at a board meeting, but you can only take so much sometimes and no more.	34:04
Michele Mitchell	Yes, yes.	34:36
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And the other board members, I couldn't believe it, you know. Here this Black man's telling this White fella that, but then they knew pretty much the type of fella he was, too. So they kind of joked about it with me afterwards. You really going to hit him? Yes, I was going to hit him. I had enough of it. I don't take pride in that because that's not what I'm supposed to be setting an example of that, doing that. But again, those things happen. And so a couple weeks pass and he comes back to me. He said, "I want to make you my administrative coordinator." He says, "That's going to make you the third in command in the school system." I didn't hesitate and I guess you're going to say, I can't believe it, but I didn't. I accepted. He says, "But we still working on it. I'm going to get back to you." I saw in the man eyes kind of glassy type look, and it wasn't that he was visibly shaken, but it was like he was pleased because I accepted that position. He didn't think I would have, okay?	34:37
Albert James Moore, Sr.	So time passed and he comes back to me and we look at the whole program and we look at the schematic drawing of what it meant and who you answer to, meaning me as assistant superintendent, only to he and the board. Okay? So that's a promotion. There was another assistant superintendent. So I thought a while and I started laughing to myself. Why and how did he come up with administrative coordinator when the job description was the same as that of assistant superintendent, same pay and everything? You hear what I'm telling you? I mean, I got a boost in salary out of this world. You remember I went from an index factor of 1.57 to 1.70. When you multiply 1.70 times whatever the figures are versus 1.57, you could see a difference, okay?	35:56
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so all of that laid out. "I know I can get it," he says, "I know I can get this position for you." "Okay," I said, and so time passes and then this time he works it all up and everything and I'm sure he canvassed the fourteen board members. And there are three Black board members, eleven White members, and the three Black board members were on my side, so all of that. He wanted to make the recom— There must have been about eighteen to twenty items on the agenda that night. He wanted to make that recommendation so bad until he started reading an item— ten items before the recommendation. And he says, "Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I recommend Mr. Albert Moore."	36:56
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And everybody said, and he caught himself. Everybody started laughing. He had given himself away. I mean, he wanted to do it so badly, so quickly until he jumped some ten items. Hey, hold on, Superintendent, that says, you're way ahead of yourself. And everybody laughed. And I guess because they could tell that it was a making up type thing that he wanted to do this so badly to rectify some things, but yet would not come down enough to say you will be assistant superintendent in name, but administrative coordinator, same pay, everything. And I had mixed emotions, not about doing the job because I knew I was going to be there for another three, four, five years and so, hey, I'm going to prepare myself the best I can for retirement and certainly do the best I could for my family and this meant a tremendous increase in salary. And so I knew I was going to go along with it.	37:49
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And people coming to me after the night when the recommendation was made and before he could make the recommendation, all the eleven White board members and the three Blacks naturally stood up and they clapped and they approved it unanimously. And they put a page in the minutes, you hear me, on all of this, and we're so glad to see you get this promotion. You deserve it. You understand? But still would not say assistant superintendent. And then finally when I retired about a year ago, they gave me a retirement party and he was there along with pretty near every board member that sat on that board, my family and other people throughout the community and it was beautiful.	38:54
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And it's his time to speak and he gets to the mike and says, "I've been knowing Albert for a long, long time now," which he didn't for a long, long time, but he had been knowing me for about seven, eight years. We worked— But believe it or not, we worked together for some seven, eight years, very harmoniously together because I'm that type of person and so I wasn't going to cause him any problems. He being my boss didn't make any sense. And so he says, "I've known him for X number of years, a very hard worker, very fine fella." He said, "And I guess to an extent was done some injustices." Just like that, you know? And he put his head down and paused for a while and he went on with his speech and everybody just took a deep breath.	39:43
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And I thanked him for it because, again, I'm that type of person. Because believe it or not, he still could have got away without giving me that promotion. Now my salary for retirement still would've been pretty good because I had reached the personnel director, which is top of the ladder, but the other was higher. And so it all added up and it meant something and quite a few people spoke that night. And one of the things that he had to go back and say, he says, "We had some difficulties, Albert and I." So he said, "But not one time did I ever ask him to do anything and he didn't do it." He says, "Not one time did I see a madness on his face." He just didn't know. There were times when it was in here, but I wouldn't let him see it and so he understood that.	40:39
Albert James Moore, Sr.	He and his wife called the house here one night, "What y'all doing?" I said, "Well, we're doing this." "What about," I think it was a Friday night, "let my wife and I take y'all out." Sure, we'll be glad to go. Took us out to lunch, to dinner. Yeah, it was like it was a need to show I was wrong, but I have to stick now to what I did because it's done. And let's not have any animosity between the two of us. And I must say, I think deep down within that, it worked out that way. The Bible says you may not forget but you have to forgive because if you don't forgive, you are not going to see God's face when the time comes. That's all it is to it.	41:34
Albert James Moore, Sr.	So I'm saying to you, I probably never will forget, and he knows that. But I know that if I haven't deep down within forgiven him that I better and I have to. I think when you think that way and you can analyze and you can swallow the bitter things that occur, that makes you a better person for it and hopefully help that other person, too.	42:41
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And to be quite honest with you, that kind of brings to an end my educational journey, some of the highs and some of the lows. And certainly there was some highs. I got to be honest with you, prior to that time of not getting the recommendation as assistant superintendent, this man had never lost a position that he seeked. Okay, so, hey, thank you, Jesus. I have a lot to be thankful for. I should not sit and be bitter and I'm not because that just might have been all in the plans the way God wanted it to be because look how it finally worked out.	43:10
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so I stayed home after retirement for about four, four and a half months. And I'm in my yard one day and the sheriff's truck drives up. "Hey," he says, "what are you doing?" I said, "Sheriff, you know I'm retired," because he was at the gathering also, and we laughed about it. He says, "Why don't you come work for me?" "Nah, Sheriff, I just retired. I don't want to work right now." "Okay, Mr. Albert." Because then that's how he calls me. Time passes, I'm in the yard again, here comes the sheriff truck. "You thought about what we talked about?" "Yeah, Sheriff, I'm not quite sure." "Well," he says, "if you don't want to do juvenile counseling, why don't you come and be bailiff for me." He says, "That's not hard. You have so many days away." "Let me think about it, Sheriff."	43:54
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I guess I wasn't moving fast enough for him. Several days pass, here comes the truck again. "You thought about what I said?" "Yeah, I'll give it a try," I said. Never did serve as bailiff because when I told him I would give it a try, oh, he says, "I have a greater need for you. You know, you've worked with children all your life. Come and do some juvenile counseling for me." And that's where I've been since my retirement. It's not hard. It's not the most gratifying job at times. Can be if you save someone or turn them around, a young person around. However, you do see the negative side more than the positive side, because when they get to that level, they're there for some sort of misdemeanor or felony or something of that nature and so you work with it.	44:46
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But it's been pleasant. All in all, however, I'm proud of what has happened in education and how it went, it finally ended up. I'm proud of having to struggle to reach a certain point. It certainly wasn't all given on flower beds of ease. It just wasn't. But I think it made me tougher. It made me want to succeed even more so, even more so. Getting my master's degree, got the bachelor's, was no problem. Getting the masters was really no problem. There were some difficulties though, because I pursued a master's degree in administration and supervision, preparing myself all this time to want to be supervisor or assistant superintendent, even superintendent. And I started off at USL in those days and ran into some prejudice, to be quite honest with you.	45:43

Albert James Moore, Sr.	— finished high school, as I told you, in '58, college in '62. Came out with a little family, and so I had to go straight to work. So I think it was some six or seven years passed before I started work toward my master's degree. So if I—	0:05
Michele Mitchell	Late '60s?	0:26
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Late '60s, '67, '68, something like that. I pursued a master's degree and went to USL. It was close. And again, young man with a family, one kid, my oldest daughter. Wife was still in school, and so helped her to finish college. She finished from Grambling State University also, and was closer and everything, and ran into some difficulties. And I have to say, it was some prejudice.	0:28
Albert James Moore, Sr.	In my philosophy class and in my— What was that other class we had to write papers in? Can't think of the name. No. Can't think of it now, but researching something else. It wasn't that easy, but it wasn't extremely hard from the teacher's standpoint. But oh my. I got in the history class because you had to take X number of hours, and this fellow thought, it was just impossible for him to say Black or Negro. And of course, at that time, they didn't say African American. "Niggeros, niggeros." It almost drove me up a wall. You understand?	1:06
Michele Mitchell	What? I've never heard that before in my life. "Niggero?"	1:54
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yeah. Here I am with, oh my god, here I am with a bachelor's degree, with teaching experience, assistant principal experience, and we're having exams. And here's a young White fellow who proved to be a fairly good friend of mine afterwards. And I'm not bragging on myself, but I'm being honest with you. We're taking tests. This fellow's looking on my paper. And I didn't care, really, if the young fellow wants do that.	1:57
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so we turned him in. And my god. I get my paper back, and you would think it was red there or something, I thought. And this young White fella, he's got to be, I think what it was. And he said to me, "Let me see your paper." And I showed him a paper, and he couldn't believe it. His dad was an established lawyer in Lafayette. He says, "I'm going to tell my dad." So no need for that and the other. And as a result, something I'd never done before in my life, was run away from something. And I'm saying run away. I guess you can't put no— Because I dropped that class.	2:31
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And I said, "Then I'm not going to go through with this anymore. I want to get this thing over with. I have the ability." And as a result, I transferred to Prairie View A&M, Houston,Texas and continued to pursue my master's degree in administration and supervision. And while at Prairie View, I became one, because there were several others, one of the first Black exchange students between Prairie View A&M and Texas A&M. Texas A&M College Station, it's only about thirty-two miles from Prairie View. And so again, I said it was a godsend because I got to have an experience that I'll never forget. And of course, Prairie View was a small Black university but was very, very good in teacher education, and had a good master's program in education. And then gone over to A&M just was a thrill to me.	3:11
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so I said fine. It cost me more than it was for. You know how we would work all week at our schools, and Saturday morning, full day, we'd get in cars, or a van, and drive from New Iberia to Prairie View for classes. Well, yeah. Houston from here is four hours, four and a half hours. Prairie View is another hour. So that's maybe five hours we were driving.	4:23
Michele Mitchell	Five hours?	4:56
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Oh yeah, yeah. We did it. We did it. And guess how we took six hours a Saturday. They let us take six hours. Well, six hours a semester, but every Saturday we had to go to two classes. And I had a little Volkswagen, I'll never forget it, and my buddy who couldn't drive would ride with me. And then finally, we started carpooling because it made it easier. And then finally, we found an elderly gentleman who had a big van who we would just pay to do the driving. We could study and rest. It became a little bit easier.	4:57
Albert James Moore, Sr.	We still had to meet him and Lafayette. That was a rendezvous place for everybody to meet at a central location, and then onto Prairie View. And hey, we made it. We would laugh. I did that for two semesters. I'm almost certain. And then went during the summer. And then finally a couple summers, got the masters from Prairie View A&M, but had to do it. Didn't have to do it that way. I'm sure I could have stuck it out at USL, but then I was on a mission again. I don't want to be 100 years doing it. Get it over with. And so it worked, and I came out with a master's in administration and supervision. And pretty good grade part average.	5:38
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And then decided that I wanted to do further study, and I did that through extension courses and at LSU. And I got what was known as a "plus thirty", and stopped it there formally. But then after the "plus thirty", attended several seminars and workshops in certain areas of higher learning that I wanted to get some insight into and to brush upon, and that that's it.	6:23
Michele Mitchell	I think I'm just curious.	7:04
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Sure.	7:04
Michele Mitchell	Your narrative of your life incredibly coherent in terms of the way that you've brought up a lot of themes over and over again in terms of perseverance.	7:16
Albert James Moore, Sr.	That's correct.	7:26
Michele Mitchell	And I'm wondering how the incident you faced with the whole assistant superintendent thing and, like you said, the horror and the pain and embarrassment against your family, that incident, going through with this individual at USL and transferring, this stuff happened supposedly when things were getting better for Blacks.	7:27
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Absolutely. That's why I said earlier, can you believe it at a time like that? So think about what it was prior to that.	7:51
Michele Mitchell	How do those things compare to the other struggles you had to go to get to Grambling, cutting sugarcane, working out on Olivier? How does it compare to that?	7:59
Albert James Moore, Sr.	The problems we had, that I had, at USL, at wanting to become assistant superintendent, believe it or not, the struggle to go to Grambling, the sugar cane and all, was taking candy from a baby compared to having to go through this other. It was— The other things, to be honest with you, the sugar cane, and I said, "Hey, I'll do this because it's going to bring me up to this." And to struggle to go to Grambling was just, I guess, it was a thrill, in a sense, not wanting to struggle, but to say, "I'm struggling. But look, I'm here, and I'm going to make it."	8:08
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And all of that, to come back and have to go through this— So that's why I'm saying these other things, even though they were hard, were comparatively easy compared to these other two setbacks. You would not think that that would be. And please don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I had to be assistant superintendent. I'm certainly saying that I could have done the job, without a doubt. I'm saying that I felt I paid my dues to reach that point. And I'm saying I felt I should have been given an opportunity. Of course, what you feel sometimes, what you think, is not what always exists, become a reality. And so one of those things.	8:52
Michele Mitchell	But how much would you have to work when you were coming up and going to school? How much would you have to work and cut cane? Did you miss a lot of school?	9:47
Albert James Moore, Sr.	No, because my mother firmly believed in us getting an education. Let nothing stand in your way. "You can work for Mr. John Doe. Well, Mr. John Doe going to have to understand that it'll be after school. It'll be on the weekends. Even sometimes on Sundays, but Sundays after church. Okay? Ain't going to be before church, boy. You going to go to church." So that was a must. Okay? That's how she felt. And so those things had to be done. Worked a lot. I worked, matter of fact, almost got killed on one of the jobs. You ever been on a dairy farm? Milk, dairy?	9:53
Michele Mitchell	Not.	10:47
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Okay. All right. That's known as a silo tank where—	10:48
Michele Mitchell	I know what that is.	10:52
Albert James Moore, Sr.	— you put the grain and the feed. And my job, being young and, I guess, full of energy, was to get in the silo tank and to, as the conveyor would push the grain up and through a funnel and back down, my job was to spread it evenly and to pack it. And I know now, and most people knew then, that grain carries with it a certain type of fume. And in the heat and all and then embodied within the closed container, even though you had air coming in, can overwhelm you sometimes. Okay?	10:52
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And this happened. The man went over to get more, it was corn, that you shuck it , and left the machine running, feeding all the time. And I'm in there there, and I became weak. And finally come back. I'm knocking on him, knocking on. And because it was a metal take, and he stops the machine. And the grain had only gotten because I'm standing up packing, I would say about up to here. I'm standing up. So there's no danger still up to, still far from reaching the top of my head. And he, along with another, came in, and he got me out. And the boss had the audacity to fuss at me. And the [indistinct 00:12:33]. That was hard. I could have smothered, or something of this nature, because I had climbed in and out, and I knew how to get in and out.	11:38
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so the pipe fella who was feeding the convey, I guess he said, he done it all the time, "I'm going to go get another load of stuff because Albert, he'll get out there if he needs to get out." I just became weak and couldn't get out. It just happened all of a sudden. So I'm not blaming the pipe fella because that's a routine. He had to go get more to keep feeding. But the White boss, the owner, he comes, and he raises three kind of hell, as if maybe I was trying to give his place a bad name, or someone would hear about it. "Hey. So-and-so almost got killed on So-and-so place."	12:44
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And as a result, that job there paid a little bit more than some of the other type jobs. And so he wanted me, and I needed to work. So told Black fellow who was little straw boss, you know how that goes. And again, I didn't hold him, Black fella for it. I put him doing such and such a thing because don't let him get back in there again. All but said that boy crazy. So anyway, yes, work played its part.	13:21
Michele Mitchell	What did that job pay? Was it paid better?	13:58
Albert James Moore, Sr.	No. That job was paying better than the other job. Well, to be honest with you, when you ask me what it paid, young lady, we were getting, oh, if I was getting seventeen, eighteen cents an hour, I was getting a whole lot. Minimum wages right now is only, what? What's minimum wage? Four something? Yeah. Maybe a dollar something an hour. But that was big money for us, or for me to have my little— And they paid off every two weeks. So you see by the time my little twenty, thirty dollars came, that's good money. That's good money. I could buy some tennis shoes, some jeans and khakis and have money left over.	13:58
Michele Mitchell	So you were a teenager then?	14:48
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Oh yeah. Yeah. I had did with younger. Talking about work, let me tell you something now about once I got to high school and worked. There was always some work you had to do, and I liked to work. So I then got a chance to go to Houston, Texas where my mother, remember I told you she got to live on, and they called it living on premises, with the White folks in there, maid house with her sister. These people were very, very kind people, and I got to work during the summer for them. And their objective was for me to have suspending change, for me to buy my summer stuff, and for me to have some money to help my mama toward going back to college. And they sought to it. These people were very nice.	14:50
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I had the thrill of my life and the experience that comes only one time for a poor Black boy from this area. Palmer Bradley was the man's name, very wealthy, oil man and land. And they were into the banks. They owned part sharing in TWA Airlines, and I was his, is the correct term valet? And I got to travel with that man. Oh boy, here it is. We are getting on this private plane, his company plane. And we going to Rochester, New York. And we're going to Roswell, New Mexico. And you're going to Kerrville, Texas. And it was a thrill I never thought of how I would get before, and all I had to do put his clothes out, shine his shoes, stuff of that nature, bring him his paper, et cetera, et cetera. And it was a thrill. They would allow me to go to Foley's in Houston, was a famous store, clothing.	15:45
Michele Mitchell	Oh, Foley's.	17:00
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yeah, Foley's.	17:01
Michele Mitchell	Yeah. Okay.	17:03
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And on their card I could buy me some clothes, go back to school. Be quite honest with you, in that time, finally when I came back to leave you for a while, I was the cleanest little Black dude you wanted to see because I had some things that, really, some of the other boys just didn't have because these White folks afforded it good to me.	17:03
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Someone says, "You ever been to New York?" And I said, "Yes, I have." "What part?" And I said, "Rochester." Says, "Well, how long did you stay in Rochester, New York?" I said, "About forty-five minutes." And let me tell you how, still an experience. We in his company plane, and it comes down in Rochester, New York. And they rush him away to his big car waiting. And I'm at the airport. And he says, "Everything going to be all right to stay here." And he goes in and do his contract real quick. Boom. Back up in the air again. So that's the extent of me being in Rochester, yet I can say, "I went to Rochester, New York." A thrill. Bringing him his suit on the plane. I get mine. I got mine last, but I still got mine.	17:30
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And it is comical. But my, did I enjoy that. And when the time came where it would allow me to drive, you can imagine what type of cars they had. They had these long Cadillacs. Oh boy. And the first one I ever drove was steel gray in color. And then it got a beautiful black after that, got several others. And they trusted me because, one thing, it's a funny thing I would say about White people. They know, I guess if you find an intelligent Black person, that Black person ain't no fool. And seriously, I'll catch on the things quick just like that. And I think sometimes he would be trying me, and I wasn't bad in math and a few other things. And I thought I was pretty good in English, what have you.	18:19
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And I thought maybe at first they would be down on that. The more I learned, the more they were glad to know, the more they would push me more and more and more and more. Of course, I had a mother who would tell him, even though she was living at the place, "Hey, he's not going to stay here and work for y'all. He gone back to school." And they laughed about it.	19:19
Albert James Moore, Sr.	One morning, I come down from the guest house, and I knew [indistinct 00:19:47]. The first thing I would do, I would grab that rag, clean that Cadillac off. Because he was going to come down pretty soon. A lot of times he drove himself, and he was going to come down and get the car and go head on up to his office. And so he comes down, and I got it backed out and turned around. Puts his hand in his pocket. He always do that. But this morning was extraordinary. And I had a habit of not looking too much. "Thank you, Mr. Bradley." Let him go.	19:42
Albert James Moore, Sr.	He gets out of the drive, and I run my hand in my pocket. Here's 100 dollar bill. Now, I'll tell you now, it was hardly ever a moment, a morning when he came down, if it wasn't five or ten dollars just for having this car ready for him. But this morning was 100 dollar bill, like nothing. And again, they were that type of people. And then sooner or later, I was driving him here and there, and I drove the old lady. And I would go to the summer home before the rest of them and try to get everything straight. And they would maybe fly, but she always wanted to bring a lot of foolishness. So I would hook a trail on to the big Cadillac, and I'm going.	20:16
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And well, they say, "If you're get in any trouble, you show them this card." In other words, I'm from Palmer Bradley. So nobody's supposed to bother me. And that's really what they were saying. And here I go with my little cap on, my shirt, my bow tie. And a lot of young people might not would've done it and thought that they were making small of themselves. And I didn't see it that way. I thought it was an opportunity, that I knew I wanted to lift myself one day above. And so if that's what it took to lift myself above that, then I didn't think that I was downing myself at all. And I was making honest money, and I was helping my mother.	20:59
Albert James Moore, Sr.	See, during the school year, I couldn't see my mother unless she came down sometimes from Houston to visit us in the country. And so, hey, to spend two months or a month and a half or so with your mother, I was thrilled to death, thrilled to death. And at that time, my sister was teaching in Lake Charles at Washington High, and they would come in, her and her husband, and we would all meet. And it was just a pleasure.	21:54
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Then I learned how to wait tables. That was part of my job. Well, it really wasn't part of my job. It became a part of my job because my auntie, who lived there with my mother, was the main cook. She had been working for them for X number of years, and my mother was the house girl/lady. And my mother did the serving. So hey, I learned how to do the serving so my mother could then stay in the kitchen and help and not have to have these heavy trays and stuff. And it was a pleasure for me. And it just worked out fine, worked out fine.	22:30
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Got ready, how we all put together them little old boxes to go back to college, with your little food to hide under your bed and all of that, even though you go to the cafeteria. And they would just load me down. "You go to the store. You tell them it's on my account." And then learned us after a while. You know how they know who works for who. And I get this, that, and the other. And I'd buy the best brands. And they didn't even worry about it. Didn't worry about it.	23:10
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Well, what y'all spend at the grocery store today? That's what the lady would say. Just say, "Oh, well, with the groceries for here, a couple hundred dollars." That's like nothing. She gone back about her business. Yeah, long as she had a drink in her hand all day walking around the house, it was all right with her, could care less. And so it was good. But they were nice. They were extremely nice, extremely nice.	23:42
Albert James Moore, Sr.	They helped my mother to pay for the little home. By the way, and going to Houston, working, sending her kids to college, she also managed to buy a little piece of land and to build a home on that land while in Houston, Texas. Matter of fact, built a six-room house, and bought a piece of land, bought and paid for, all of that off her labor. And sad part is that she did not live long enough once she was able to leave there and come back home to enjoy the fruits of her labor, as far as her home is concerned.	24:07
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And I think that gets to me more than anything else. I just was close to her, and I just wish that I was able to do those things for her. But again, you think about it, but you're really not supposed to question what God does. But she really did not live in her house any time at all to enjoy herself of it. Again, that's how it was meant to be. And today, my sister lives in that house. We raised two of my sister's children in that house, and they're now grown kids. One of them married. Dennis is married and has a little boy. Claudette works for State Farm. Dennis works for Continental Airlines. Continental Airlines.	24:57
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I'm just proud of everybody. I'm proud of my little family, my immediate family. I have four children of my own. I have three girls and a boy, ages— You can see the wife and I have been at it a long time now. Oldest is 33. The next is 28.	25:53
Michele Mitchell	Your sister's name was Dorothy?	26:20
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Dorothy, yeah.	26:21
Michele Mitchell	She was older, seven years older? So 1932?	26:24
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes, that's it on the head. 1932. Matter of fact, what is it? Well, it's 1932. I was trying to get her month and then the date. And I was saying I have four children of my own, and I think I gave you my wife's name, Geraldine Moore. Geraldine Polk Moore.	26:26
Michele Mitchell	Polk.	26:50
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yeah. Yeah. That's a large family. Polk, P-O-L-K.	26:53
Michele Mitchell	Yes, it is.	26:53
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes, it is.	26:53
Michele Mitchell	P-O-L-K?	26:53
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yeah. Matthew Polk is my wife's uncle. Yeah.	26:55
Michele Mitchell	Let me write that down real quick.	27:02
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yeah, that's Geraldine Polk Moore. And—	27:03
Michele Mitchell	And she is a teacher?	27:09
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes. Third grade teacher. All her educational life been third grade. Teacher now of twenty-eight years. She's been teaching twenty-eight years.	27:15
Michele Mitchell	And she was born in—?	27:27
Albert James Moore, Sr.	8/8/41.	27:27
Michele Mitchell	8/41.	27:31
Albert James Moore, Sr.	8/8/41. August eighth '41.	27:34
Michele Mitchell	Her birthday was yesterday.	27:36
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes, she was.	27:38
Michele Mitchell	That's what she told me.	27:38
Albert James Moore, Sr.	That's what I tell you. Yeah. We celebrated that. Let me tell you how. She has a twin, my wife does. And so naturally, it's my wife's birthday, her twin birthday, her mother's birthday, and one of her older sister. Four of them, all August eighth.	27:41
Michele Mitchell	Really?	27:59
Albert James Moore, Sr.	That's right. And so it's already a big family. But I was telling you, I have four kids. The oldest is thirty-three. That's Donna.	27:59
Michele Mitchell	Donna?	28:09
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Donna Johnson. You might have met my daughter at the church because we all go to the same church. Felicia Moore. Felicia is my twenty-eight-year-old. Donna is a special education teacher. Felicia Moore. Felicia has a degree from USL, and Felicia is now, it's not business administration, a legal secretary, but she never applied her knowledge in that trade. Well, this area's hard to come by, to be honest with you. As a result, now she's assistant manager at Dell Champs. That's what she does. Next to Felicia's, Albert Junior, name after his dad. Albert James Moore Junior. And Albert is twenty-one. And Albert works as a technician for Borden's Milk Company. Yep. And then my baby is Christie, Christie Nicole. Christie is eighteen, and Christie attends Xavier University.	28:10
Michele Mitchell	Oh, you've got so much to be proud of. That beautiful.	29:35
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Oh, I am. Yeah. And of course, I told you about my three babies, my grand baby. That's Kiela. That's one of Donna's kids. Kiela, K-I-E-L-A	29:38
Michele Mitchell	K-I—	29:46
Albert James Moore, Sr.	E-L-A, Kiela Johnson. Then her brother is little Steven Johnson. And then my next to oldest daughter, Felicia's daughter, is Ashlee, A-S-H-L-E-E. Ashlee Moore.	29:48
Michele Mitchell	How sweet.	30:06
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yeah. And that rounds it out, immediate, more or less. And—	30:06
Michele Mitchell	Now, Donna's thirty-three. That means is she born in '60—?	30:14
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I have it in my bible here.	30:18
Michele Mitchell	'61.	30:22
Albert James Moore, Sr.	No, Dona was born in— Oh my fault.	30:22
Michele Mitchell	Oh, don't worry about it. I'll just clip it off.	30:27
Albert James Moore, Sr.	— in the area of Lafayette and New Iberia. Donna. No, Donna was born in '60.	30:28
Michele Mitchell	'60?	30:37
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Mm-hmm. 10/10/60.	30:40
Michele Mitchell	August, I mean October?	30:42
Albert James Moore, Sr.	October, 10/10/60. Okay. Felicia was 7/23/66. Albert Junior 11/2/72. And Christie 9/2/75.	30:43
Michele Mitchell	And she's already in college?	31:05
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Oh yeah. I must say, being honest with you, she is a such good student. She's a little whiz. Xavier is very expensive, and our share is hard enough. But let me tell you, Chris, she has three scholarships that she could have the duration of being there as long as the academics remain. And they started off with the 3.0. And then I think we get the nother, was 3.2. And she's 3.89 right now. Something like that. So she's doing quite well, and I'm proud. Quite well. Quite well. But then, she was in high school also. Yeah, pretty good.	31:07
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But those are the ages. And yeah, said about where they were born, Donna was the oldest. Donna was born in Lafayette. To be quite honest with you, we didn't have the money for the hospital for Donna like we had for the others. All the others were born in here in New Iberia, at Dauterive. Donna was born at Lafayette Charity Hospital.	32:04
Michele Mitchell	Yeah. When you're young and starting out.	32:33
Albert James Moore, Sr.	That's correct.	32:34
Michele Mitchell	That's the way life is.	32:34
Albert James Moore, Sr.	That's right. Yeah.	32:37
Michele Mitchell	And your sister's born in Patterson?	32:38
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes, she was. Yeah.	32:40
Michele Mitchell	Now, if I could ask you for your mother's maiden name.	32:50
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Sure.	32:50
Michele Mitchell	As soon as I find this.	32:50
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Okay.	32:50
Michele Mitchell	And you would want to be listening documents as Albert James Moore Sr?	32:50
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Oh yeah. Yeah. See, I don't know what that boy of mine might do before he reach my age, and I want to be able to distinguish between the two. I heard him in there just now.	32:58
Michele Mitchell	This is me.	33:10
Albert James Moore, Sr.	This is me. Yeah. Yeah. My mother's name is, we pronounce it Felicie, F-E-L-I-C-I-E, Felicie.	33:12
Michele Mitchell	F-E-L-I-C—	33:23
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I-C-I-E. Felicie.	33:27
Michele Mitchell	That's pretty.	33:27
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Some says Felicie. Felicie. Green, G-R-E-E-N, Moore. And my dad Sandis, S-A-N-D-I-S.	33:30
Michele Mitchell	S-A-N-D-?	33:40
Albert James Moore, Sr.	D-I-S. That's how we spell it. Moore. And that's about it.	33:44
Michele Mitchell	Your birth dates?	33:57
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I knew you were going to ask. I'm ashamed because I'm not quite sure. Oh boy. This is not going to show it. Just bear me a little while.	33:58
Michele Mitchell	Oh, no, no, no. This is fine.	34:10
Albert James Moore, Sr.	But we have another Bible where it might be in it. Carry a lot in this one. Let me go ask my wife. She keeps up with that little— Yeah, let me just— Maybe we can't—	34:17
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Stays natural, as I told you, from Patterson to Olivier. And once I became a man with my little family, we then lived with my mother-in-law and father-in-law at 216 Johnson Street. Jerry's mama and dad for a little while, maybe a year or so. Very good to us. Mom, by the way, Jerry's mother. Well, I told you eighty-seven the other night, last night.	34:35
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And from there, I was able to rent our first little home from Mr. Matthew Polk. He had a little house right across from my mother-in-law's house. And we stayed there while I went to Prairie View and pursued further and started earning a little bit more. Stayed there, went back and lived with my mother a while in Olivier. Well, then Jerry's first teaching job, I'm wrong, was not— Was in St. Mary Parish at Hattie Watts Elementary School. And so we lived with my mother for about a year or so, and then got our own little rent home.	35:17
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And in the process of renting, purchased this first plot of land here. We got the others afterwards. But this first plot of land. Had to work several years to pay for it. But that's how they were doing things at that time. We bought the land, worked and paid for it. Once it was paid out, I guess we might have let several months or a year pass catching up again, a little down payment to see if we could build. And saved a little money, not very much. Started looking at house plans. And matter of fact, when this house was completed, I was still going to Prairie View. I'll never forget it. I'm going to tell you why, but one day we plan on doing something about it.	36:18
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Paid for the land, got our house planned and everything. And then we approached a loan company, First Federal Savings and Loan. Of course, they looked at me like I was crazy because, "Boy, you got a wife." And I had two kids at that time. "And you come in here with a floor plan of some thirty-two hundred square feet. You must be crazy. And you ain't got nobody to back you." And so I was turned away. But I had been, listen to this, please, teaching and working on the weekends cutting yards, grasses. I was never ashamed of work. You hear what I'm telling you? Make extra money. And one of the jobs that I did was for a fellow who's deceased now, Robert Fleming is his name, White fellow. Come to find out, Fleming had the major shares in First Federal Savings and Loan. You hear what I'm telling you?	37:29
Albert James Moore, Sr.	The other fellow I worked for just died about a year or so ago, cut his yard, Jack Kuzan. He was a lawyer. So going to cut Fleming's yard, and we were talking. He knew I was a young educator and was trying, and he didn't hold that against me. And I told him about my struggles. I wanted to build. "Where you went?" He says. "I went to First Federal Savings and Loan." "Well, how much you wanted to borrow?" I says, "Nineteen thousand." You hear me what I'm telling you?	38:46
Albert James Moore, Sr.	He didn't say no more. I said, uh-oh. He going to tell me don't come back this yard. Nigga, you want too much. I was just saying those things to myself. I don't think he would've used that term, but thought it. I guess a couple days or whatever pass. "Go back and see them," he says. It was like I had a million dollars. All of a sudden, the doggone loan is approved. You hear me what I'm telling you? From the various ones who'd said, "Ah, you don't have that. We can't lend you that much money."	39:15
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And so to build this house, it cost us totally 23,500 dollars, which is a steal. You hear me? This house has been appraised several times. And of course, we could triple, double, whatever, quadruple that. But all I could get. And Mr. Fleming was nice because they wouldn't let me get that, was 19,500 from the bank, from the loan company. The contractor, Johnny Romero, the White fellow, I had done some work for him. "I'm going to," he says, "loan you the other four, five-thousand dollars." What it was, in my contract. Put the package together. We built this home. So God was good all around. Okay?	39:56
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And going back and forth to school, leaving even Saturday morning, full day. The wife being a lady and all, they wound up putting those steps, the stair that you see there, very steep. Okay? Kids are used to them, and we are, two, now. But they're too steep, and so we're going to get somebody one day to lengthen the whole thing out. The plan actually called for an L shape where they was supposed to start somewhere there and then go up. But you got to understand, I said the contractor let me have the balance of the money. "Oh," he says, "I'm going to cut off about one thousand dollars."	40:54
Albert James Moore, Sr.	What do I say? "I don't have any more money because I wasn't pleased about that." "Okay." I said. So that's why I'm saying this was one of the things I guess we got, everything didn't go according to the way we wanted it to go. But anyway, it worked out fine. And we have been here now, let's see. Felicia, my second one, is now twenty-eight. We came here with Felicia as a young child, about a year and a half, two. So we've been in this house some twenty-six years now. Yeah. Some twenty-six years. There was something else you had asked me. I'm sorry. I told you about the residential type thing. What was the other you had mentioned? And we've been here all that time.	41:36
Michele Mitchell	I know that you go to Mount Zion.	42:26
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yes. Member of Mount Zion Baptist Church, number one.	42:28
Michele Mitchell	That is number one.	42:30
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Number one, Loreauville, Louisiana. Pastor Francis Davis.	42:31
Michele Mitchell	And have you belonged to any other churches?	42:40
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Oh yeah, sure. I was born and raised, not born and raised. I was raised, born in [indistinct 00:42:48], but raised in Olivier. I went to the little church out there on Parker Street by the name of Little Zorah, Z-O-R-A-H, Baptist Church. It stands today right there. And that's where I was baptized in Bayou Teche. We didn't have a pool at that time. But that's was first church I joined formally, was Little Zorah Baptist Church, Reverend Albert Parker, pastor.	42:43
Albert James Moore, Sr.	And I've always been a Baptist, but I've also been one who visited different denominations. Matter of fact, I'm on program Sunday, when I leave my church, to go to a Methodist church. And I was on program Sunday pass, no, not this Sunday. We were out of town Sunday. Sunday before, at a Methodist church. So to me, it's not in the denomination. To each his own. It's only one God, as far as I'm concerned. And that's all that matters. Right.	43:22
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I'm a participant in church. When I said participant, I have never allowed my education background to keep you from saying amen. I think I participated that Sunday when y'all were there. But I love to pray in church. I do. And I don't mind getting ugly for the Lord. Okay? That's just me. Matter of fact, I take pleasure in it. You can have all the education in the world. If you don't know God, you can forget about it. Ain't going to amount to a hill of beans. And so it just happened to be my religious faith. My sister, who I'm very, very close to, was once a Baptist, but she changed. She's a Pentecostal now. And hey, that's up to her. That's up to her. So that's about it. And all my family are Baptist, my immediate family.	43:58
Michele Mitchell	Do you have any awards or organizations or—	45:03
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Yeah, me. Sure.	45:04
Michele Mitchell	— a member of the deacon board? Things like that?	45:04
Albert James Moore, Sr.	Oh yeah. I'm vice chairman of the deacon board at Mount Zion Baptist Church. I'm recording secretary for the deacons, the deacon board. I'm a thirty-third degree Mason, Olive Branch Lodge Number thirty-seven. 580 Sigma. I made it so long time ago, tell the young brothers come from USL, they can't even remember back when I made it. So a long time. I made it my, I think I just finished my freshman year in college, and I made 580 Sigma. Phi Delta Kappa.	45:08
Albert James Moore, Sr.	I'd like to say throw all of those things out and just say he's a church member. Really, I truly feel that way. I'm now a member of the Deputy Sheriff's Association because of my little new sideline job. A lot of past things I don't remember because I'm no longer a member of Principal's Association or Personnel Directors or so forth, not being in education any anymore.	46:15

Item Info

Title:

Albert Moore, Sr. interview recording, 1994 August 09

Date:

August 9, 1994

Creator:

Moore, Albert James, Sr.

Contributor:

Mitchell, Michele

Description:

Name: Thomas Lee Moore; Date of birth: 1931-04-03; Place of birth: Vance, [AL?]; Occupation(s): contractor; Residence: Birmingham, AL
Informant ID: 760; Interviewed by: Stacey Scales.

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Language:

English

Digital Collection:

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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RL00170-CS-1129
ea66bdd0-41a1-4574-bfad-06eb09307057
behindtheveil
8c65387c-9c4e-4afb-80d8-ada2dbc19935
ark:/87924/r4rx9fp1f
8c65387c-9c4e-4afb-80d8-ada2dbc19935

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Albert Moore, Sr. interview recording, 1994 August 09

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1. Albert Moore, Sr. administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Albert Moore, Sr. interview recording, 1994 August 09

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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