Albert Raymond interview recording, 1994 July 26

Download
- Rights
- Limited Re-Use
  CC BY-NC 4.0
  More Rights Info
- Files (2)
- MP3 Part 1
- MP3 Part 2
- Please be patient with media downloads. They are often large files.
Share

Embed Code
<iframe src='https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gf1053z?embed=true' height='125px' width='100%' frameborder='0' marginwidth='0' marginheight='0' scrolling='no' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen></iframe>
Permalink

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gf1053z
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

Felix Armfield	Today is July twenty-sixth, 1994. My name is Felix Armfield. I'm the interviewer, and I'm about to interview Mr. Albert Raymond of the Council on Aging here in New Iberia, Louisiana. Mr. Raymond, would you just state your full name for the record, please?	0:08
Albert Raymond	I'm Albert Raymond.	0:24
Felix Armfield	Okay. Mr. Raymond, how long have you lived here in New Iberia?	0:26
Albert Raymond	Sixty-six years.	0:29
Felix Armfield	Sixty-six years.	0:32
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	0:34
Felix Armfield	So therefore, you were born and raised here in New Iberia?	0:35
Albert Raymond	Right.	0:37
Felix Armfield	Really? Now, where were you born here in New Iberia?	0:38
Albert Raymond	I was born right out of the city limit.	0:40
Felix Armfield	Now, right out of the city limits, sir?	0:46
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	0:48
Felix Armfield	Okay. What do you recall your parents doing for a living when you were a youngster?	0:49
Albert Raymond	It was farming.	0:55
Felix Armfield	Okay. What type of farming?	0:55
Albert Raymond	Sugarcane.	1:00
Felix Armfield	Sugarcane.	1:01
Albert Raymond	Cotton.	1:02
Felix Armfield	Okay.	1:02
Albert Raymond	Okra.	1:02
Felix Armfield	Okay, okay. Okra was a big business here, I assume.	1:03
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.	1:08
Felix Armfield	Did you all own your own farm?	1:11
Albert Raymond	No, was working on share.	1:14
Felix Armfield	You were working on share.	1:15
Albert Raymond	Share. You're right.	1:16
Felix Armfield	Okay. So therefore, you were working on sharecropping. Were you renting the land?	1:18
Albert Raymond	No.	1:23
Felix Armfield	Okay. You were just sharecropping?	1:24
Albert Raymond	Yes, just sharecropping. Mm-hmm.	1:25
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, where did the family live?	1:26
Albert Raymond	Out in Segura.	1:29
Felix Armfield	In where?	1:29
Albert Raymond	Segura.	1:29
Felix Armfield	Segura?	1:31
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	1:32
Felix Armfield	Okay.	1:33
Albert Raymond	That's where we were born and raised at.	1:34
Felix Armfield	Okay. And that's outside the city limits—	1:35
Albert Raymond	Right, Mm-hmm.	1:35
Felix Armfield	— of New Iberia? Okay. How many children were in the family?	1:35
Albert Raymond	Let's see. It was four girls and seven boys.	1:47
Felix Armfield	That's about eleven?	1:50
Albert Raymond	Eleven.	1:51
Felix Armfield	Eleven children, literally. Now, were you the oldest, youngest, or in the middle?	1:53
Albert Raymond	I was in the middle.	1:57
Felix Armfield	You were in the middle.	1:58
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	1:58
Felix Armfield	Okay. What did your mother do?	1:58
Albert Raymond	My mother used to cook.	2:04
Felix Armfield	Your mother was a cook.	2:05
Albert Raymond	Yeah. And she used to help us in the field also. Yeah.	2:06
Felix Armfield	So your mother pretty much helped out wherever was needed.	2:09
Albert Raymond	There you go.	2:12
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now when you say your mother was a cook, did you mean she cooked for other people?	2:13
Albert Raymond	For us. No.	2:18
Felix Armfield	Oh, okay.	2:19
Albert Raymond	She cooked for us.	2:19
Felix Armfield	Okay. So for the most part, she took care of her family.	2:22
Albert Raymond	Yeah, right.	2:23
Felix Armfield	She didn't do any outside work for other families and things?	2:25
Albert Raymond	No outside work, no. Never did.	2:32
Felix Armfield	Do you recall the family and church? Were you a churchgoing family and things like that?	2:32
Albert Raymond	We Catholic. We was Catholic.	2:38
Felix Armfield	Okay, you were Catholic.	2:41
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	2:41
Felix Armfield	Okay. And where did the family attend church?	2:44
Albert Raymond	New Iberia.	2:44
Felix Armfield	What was the name of your church?	2:44
Albert Raymond	St. Edward.	2:44
Felix Armfield	You went to St. Edwards?	2:50
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	2:51
Felix Armfield	Okay. So you were a Catholic family?	2:52
Albert Raymond	Catholic family. Mm-hmm.	2:52
Felix Armfield	Okay. And your father, for the most part, was a farmer?	2:55
Albert Raymond	Right.	2:59
Felix Armfield	Now, who was it that your father was sharecropping with?	3:00
Albert Raymond	With Mr. Viatto.	3:03
Felix Armfield	Mr. Viatto?	3:04
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	3:05
Felix Armfield	Okay.	3:07
Albert Raymond	Tony Viatto.	3:07
Felix Armfield	What do you recall about Mr. Viatto as a White land owner?	3:10
Albert Raymond	He was a good man.	3:15
Felix Armfield	He was good?	3:16
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Every time we needed something, he was right there.	3:16
Felix Armfield	Okay.	3:23
Albert Raymond	Any time one of the children was born, he was right there.	3:23
Felix Armfield	Oh, really?	3:23
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. He see that we had a doctor for my mother.	3:24
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, was your doctor a Black doctor or White doctor?	3:29
Albert Raymond	A Black doctor.	3:33
Felix Armfield	Okay. And that was one of the doctors here in New Iberia?	3:34
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	3:37
Felix Armfield	What was her doctor's name?	3:37
Albert Raymond	Dr. Diggs.	3:39
Felix Armfield	Okay, Dr. Diggs.	3:40
Albert Raymond	And we had Dr.— What's his name again, Dr. Scorro. I think it was Dr. Scorro.	3:41
Felix Armfield	Dr. Scorro.	3:52
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	3:52
Felix Armfield	Okay. When your mother would be getting ready to deliver, would one of the doctors come to the house or would you go to the clinic where he—	3:59
Albert Raymond	Yeah. No, he'd come to the house.	4:05
Felix Armfield	Okay. Did your mother have a midwife also?	4:09
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	4:11
Felix Armfield	She did have a midwife?	4:11
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	4:13
Felix Armfield	Okay.	4:14
Albert Raymond	All her deliveries was at home.	4:14
Felix Armfield	Excuse me?	4:14
Albert Raymond	All her delivery was at home.	4:18
Felix Armfield	All the deliveries were at home?	4:19
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. We all was born at home.	4:21
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, was that something that only Black women delivered their babies at home? Do you know if White women delivered their babies at home?	4:21
Albert Raymond	Not hardly.	4:28
Felix Armfield	Not hardly?	4:28
Albert Raymond	Not hardly White. All of the Black.	4:29
Felix Armfield	Okay. So all Blacks	4:33
Albert Raymond	All the Blacks, oh yeah.	4:33
Felix Armfield	Now, when were you born, Mr. Raymond?	4:37
Albert Raymond	I was born on Segura.	4:41
Felix Armfield	Okay. When? What's your birthdate?	4:41
Albert Raymond	Oh, in '28.	4:45
Felix Armfield	Okay. And the date is?	4:46
Albert Raymond	Let's see. I was born in 1929, the twenty-eighth.	4:48
Felix Armfield	The twenty-eighth of what?	4:52
Albert Raymond	February.	4:53
Felix Armfield	Okay. February twenty-eighth, 1929?	4:54
Albert Raymond	'29, yeah.	4:56
Felix Armfield	Ooh, you were born right—	4:57
Albert Raymond	Leap year.	4:58
Felix Armfield	In leap year and the Depression?	4:59
Albert Raymond	Yeah, right.	5:02
Felix Armfield	Really?	5:03
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	5:03
Felix Armfield	Do you have any recollections of what it was like for your family trying to make it in the 1930s, because it was the Depression?	5:04
Albert Raymond	It was hard, yeah.	5:10
Felix Armfield	Now, what did you have to do as a child in those Depression years?	5:12
Albert Raymond	Well, at that time there, I used to help my daddy in the field, and what I was doing? Raised a lot of chickens, a lot of hogs, enough to make a living. Yeah. Otherwise, things would've been tough.	5:21
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, when you say you helped your father in the field, did you actually go out and help him cut that sugarcane?	5:31
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	5:36
Felix Armfield	You did?	5:37
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	5:38
Felix Armfield	What was that like? How do you cut sugarcane?	5:40
Albert Raymond	Oh. Well, with a sugar knife. With a cane knife.	5:42
Felix Armfield	How old were you when you were using that cane knife?	5:44
Albert Raymond	I was about six. That's why I didn't go to school.	5:45
Felix Armfield	At six years old—	5:50
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	5:51
Felix Armfield	— you were allowed to use a cane knife?	5:52
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	5:52
Felix Armfield	What's the process like? Can you explain to me how you cut the sugarcane and what you did with it?	5:57
Albert Raymond	Well, you cut the top off. You clean them, shuck all the sugarcane, and then you cut the bottom. And then you put them in a row.	6:02
Felix Armfield	Okay. But you had to get up there and cut that top out. You were short for that top, weren't you?	6:15
Albert Raymond	Yeah. But someone there who is too tall will cut the bottom for you.	6:20
Felix Armfield	Okay.	6:24
Albert Raymond	And grab the bottom and then cut the top.	6:25
Felix Armfield	Okay. At six years old?	6:27
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. I started at six years old, me and my brother.	6:27
Felix Armfield	Now, how much did you get paid for cutting sugarcane all day?	6:35
Albert Raymond	Oh, I didn't get paid because we're working sharecropping, you see?	6:36
Felix Armfield	Okay, okay.	6:40
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Because we was sharecropping, we get a half, you see? Yeah.	6:41
Felix Armfield	You got half?	6:41
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	6:41
Felix Armfield	Okay. I see, I see. You said that that's why you couldn't go to school because of the sugarcane?	6:41
Albert Raymond	Right. Mm-hmm.	6:44
Felix Armfield	You didn't do any schooling at all?	7:03
Albert Raymond	Not hardly.	7:05
Felix Armfield	Not hardly.	7:05
Albert Raymond	Not hardly. No.	7:06
Felix Armfield	Really? How much schooling did you get, Mr. Raymond?	7:07
Albert Raymond	I had second grade.	7:12
Felix Armfield	You went through second?	7:13
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	7:13
Felix Armfield	At that point, you could no longer attend school?	7:16
Albert Raymond	Right.	7:17
Felix Armfield	Because you had to help out with sugarcane?	7:18
Albert Raymond	I had to help in the sugarcane. All us brothers did.	7:20
Felix Armfield	Did any of your brothers and sisters get a—	7:26
Albert Raymond	My biggest sister and the second one to the biggest sister, well, they went to school.	7:28
Felix Armfield	Okay.	7:33
Albert Raymond	They went up to eighth grade.	7:34
Felix Armfield	Okay.	7:36
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	7:38
Felix Armfield	But all of the older ones.	7:38
Albert Raymond	And my younger brother went up to eighth grade.	7:40
Felix Armfield	Okay. So your younger brother.	7:45
Albert Raymond	And all us older brothers had to help out in the field.	7:46
Felix Armfield	Okay. So very little education because of—	7:46
Albert Raymond	Right.	7:46
Felix Armfield	You got a second grade education.	7:46
Albert Raymond	Yep.	7:46
Felix Armfield	Okay. Where did you attend school from the get-go?	7:46
Albert Raymond	Out in Segura with a country school out there.	7:46
Felix Armfield	You had a country school.	7:46
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	7:46
Felix Armfield	What was that country school like? Can you describe it for me?	7:46
Albert Raymond	Well, it was old-fashioned. You had a lot of places to play. Our teacher was Miss Austin.	8:09
Felix Armfield	Miss Austin?	8:15
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	8:16
Felix Armfield	Okay.	8:16
Albert Raymond	And she'd come out there, and we had a lot of fun. It was nice.	8:18
Felix Armfield	Really?	8:24
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	8:24
Felix Armfield	What was the building like?	8:25
Albert Raymond	The building was a big, old-fashioned building, like a house. Yeah.	8:29
Felix Armfield	So it was a wooden-frame building?	8:33
Albert Raymond	Wooden frame.	8:34
Felix Armfield	And it was a one-room school?	8:34
Albert Raymond	No. It had two rooms.	8:34
Felix Armfield	Two rooms.	8:34
Albert Raymond	Two rooms.	8:34
Felix Armfield	Okay. And everybody was either in one room or the other?	8:42
Albert Raymond	Right.	8:44
Felix Armfield	And Miss Austin taught both rooms?	8:44
Albert Raymond	Her, yeah.	8:46
Felix Armfield	Okay. So just one teacher?	8:47
Albert Raymond	One teacher.	8:47
Felix Armfield	Okay. That's interesting. What were your subjects?	8:50
Albert Raymond	We had subjects, anything about the field or the crop and things like that.	9:03
Felix Armfield	So they were—	9:07
Albert Raymond	They're teaching— yeah, right.	9:08
Felix Armfield	— teaching you about how to—	9:13
Albert Raymond	How to make a living.	9:13
Felix Armfield	How to do agriculture.	9:13
Albert Raymond	Right.	9:13
Felix Armfield	Did they, in fact, teach you reading and writing?	9:13
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	9:16
Felix Armfield	But aside from reading and writing and arithmetic, they also taught you agriculture, how to go out and do the fields and all that kind of stuff?	9:17
Albert Raymond	Right. Mm-hmm.	9:25
Felix Armfield	Really?	9:26
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	9:27
Felix Armfield	So Miss Austin taught you all this?	9:27
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	9:29
Felix Armfield	Oh, really?	9:30
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	9:31
Felix Armfield	Now, your teacher was Black?	9:32
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	9:33
Felix Armfield	Okay. When you were in school up until the second grade, how many months out of the year did you go to school?	9:37
Albert Raymond	I'd go to school four month out of the year.	9:45
Felix Armfield	And that was all that the school ran?	9:48
Albert Raymond	No. Uh-uh. It ran all the way through.	9:50
Felix Armfield	But you—	9:52
Albert Raymond	But that's the only time I could go.	9:54
Felix Armfield	Okay. So you would go four months?	9:55
Albert Raymond	Four months. Mm-hmm.	9:56
Felix Armfield	What four months were those, Mr. Raymond?	9:59
Albert Raymond	In July.	10:01
Felix Armfield	You'd start school in July?	10:05
Albert Raymond	No. We'd register. When school opened, we register.	10:07
Felix Armfield	In September?	10:13
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Then after that, sometime we go to July for the following year.	10:13
Felix Armfield	Okay.	10:18
Albert Raymond	We'd go up to July, August and, let's see, part of November and September. Yeah.	10:19
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, you didn't go in January and February and March?	10:39
Albert Raymond	No, I just cut cane.	10:44
Felix Armfield	Okay. That was the cane cutting?	10:44
Albert Raymond	Well, yeah. March, after the sugarcane crop taken in, well, we had to get ready for the next crop. So we start that in March, the last of February, March.	10:52
Felix Armfield	You'd start planting the new crop.	10:57
Albert Raymond	Cleaning up, yeah. Getting the tools ready and all this stuff.	11:05
Felix Armfield	Really?	11:06
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	11:06
Felix Armfield	Now, when did you begin cutting the sugarcane? About what time of year would you start cutting the sugarcane?	11:13
Albert Raymond	Let's see. The last part of February. We'd cut sometimes till January.	11:25
Felix Armfield	You'd start the last part of—	11:33
Albert Raymond	February. November, what I'm talking—	11:35
Felix Armfield	November?	11:37
Albert Raymond	Yeah, right. I'm sorry.	11:38
Felix Armfield	And then you'd cut until February?	11:39
Albert Raymond	Cut till the last— Yeah.	11:39
Felix Armfield	About the end of February?	11:43
Albert Raymond	February, right.	11:43
Felix Armfield	It would take you that long to get all that sugarcane?	11:44
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. Because they'd cut it by hand, had to haul them in by mule. We ain't have no tractor. We had to haul them in by mule.	11:48
Felix Armfield	About how much sugarcane would this man plant?	11:54
Albert Raymond	We'd haul about thirteen, fourteen, fifteen tons, hundred tons. That's a pretty big crop.	12:03
Felix Armfield	Thirteen, fourteen, or fifteen hundred?	12:15
Albert Raymond	Hundred ton, yeah.	12:15
Felix Armfield	That's a lot of cane.	12:20
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. That's a lot of cane.	12:21
Felix Armfield	What time in the morning did you get started?	12:22
Albert Raymond	About four o'clock.	12:24
Felix Armfield	Four o'clock in the morning, you'd be out there getting ready to cut cane?	12:26
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. Not getting ready. We was cutting.	12:28
Felix Armfield	At four o'clock in the morning?	12:30
Albert Raymond	Yeah. And we'd get out there about four o'clock and hitch up our mule, get it running, throw it on, lower the wagon. When the sun arises, we'd be in the dirt with the load.	12:33
Felix Armfield	As a six-year-old child, you were up at four o'clock in the morning?	12:46
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	12:49
Felix Armfield	That's amazing. That's amazing.	12:49
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	12:49
Felix Armfield	How long did your workday last?	12:57
Albert Raymond	For a year, you mean?	13:03
Felix Armfield	Yeah.	13:04
Albert Raymond	Oh, it would last about, I figure about six month out of the year.	13:05
Felix Armfield	No, no. If you got started at four o'clock in the morning, when did you quit working every day?	13:14
Albert Raymond	Oh. We quit working at sundown when we couldn't see no more.	13:20
Felix Armfield	So from sunup—	13:27
Albert Raymond	Sunup to sundown, that's what it was all about.	13:28
Felix Armfield	Really?	13:31
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. Yeah. We'd go to work when it was dark, and we would knock off in the dark.	13:31
Felix Armfield	How many days out of the week would you work?	13:42
Albert Raymond	Sometimes Sunday and all.	13:46
Felix Armfield	You'd work sometimes on Sundays?	13:48
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	13:53
Felix Armfield	Now, when did you get—	13:53
Albert Raymond	All we do is go to church, come back home, get our dirty clothes on, and go to work.	13:53
Felix Armfield	On Sunday mornings, when would you go to mass?	14:02
Albert Raymond	On Sunday morning.	14:10
Felix Armfield	What time?	14:10
Albert Raymond	Early in the morning, six o'clock.	14:10
Felix Armfield	Go to six o'clock mass?	14:10
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	14:10
Felix Armfield	And then you'd come back from mass?	14:11
Albert Raymond	Mass, yeah. About six thirty, seven o'clock. Mass would last about half an hour in them times.	14:12
Felix Armfield	Okay.	14:18
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Then we'd come back, the latest was seven o'clock. We'd get our breakfast, get ready, and go to work. Oh, yeah.	14:20
Felix Armfield	And you'd work all day Sunday?	14:33
Albert Raymond	All day Sunday. We didn't know nothing but going. I wouldn't have fun. We didn't know what that was about.	14:33
Felix Armfield	Well, you didn't have any time off. You didn't have any time to yourself.	14:40
Albert Raymond	That's right.	14:42
Felix Armfield	And you did all of that?	14:45
Albert Raymond	Did all of that. The only time I had a little bit of fun, little good time, that's when I got married. That was in '53.	14:46
Felix Armfield	You got married in '53.	14:56
Albert Raymond	'53.	14:56
Felix Armfield	Now, why did you get to have some fun when you got married in '53 and had some time off? Were you still working for the same family?	14:57
Albert Raymond	No, I was working inside. I was doing mechanic work.	15:06
Felix Armfield	Okay. What kind of mechanic work?	15:08
Albert Raymond	Automobile.	15:10
Felix Armfield	Okay. And who were you working for?	15:11
Albert Raymond	I started for working Henry Lussman.	15:12
Felix Armfield	Henry?	15:15
Albert Raymond	Lussman.	15:16
Felix Armfield	Lussman?	15:16
Albert Raymond	Yeah. That's where I got started.	15:19
Felix Armfield	Okay.	15:21
Albert Raymond	And I worked there 14 years.	15:21
Felix Armfield	Okay.	15:21
Albert Raymond	Okay. When I left from there, I went to the Cajun Pontiac.	15:28
Felix Armfield	The Cajun Pontiac.	15:34
Albert Raymond	That was the Pontiac dealer, yeah.	15:34
Felix Armfield	Okay.	15:35
Albert Raymond	I worked there fifty years.	15:37
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, when did you go there?	15:39
Albert Raymond	I went there in '49.	15:41
Felix Armfield	In '49.	15:44
Albert Raymond	'49.	15:46
Felix Armfield	Okay. Did you serve in World War II?	15:47
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh. Ain't none of us did serve but one brother.	15:51
Felix Armfield	One brother.	15:52
Albert Raymond	One brother.	15:53
Felix Armfield	Okay. Did he make it back home alive?	15:54
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	15:59
Felix Armfield	Okay. And he served in World War II?	15:59
Albert Raymond	World War II.	16:04
Felix Armfield	Okay. What do you recall, what kind of social outings were there available for Black people here in town when you were coming up?	16:04
Albert Raymond	When I was coming up, in town?	16:13
Felix Armfield	Mm-hmm.	16:17
Albert Raymond	Well, they had a nightclub. Sep Pig, well, he died now, but he had a place where you go to dance. He'd sell ice cream and had all kind of stuff, and then he had a big dance hall with no side to it, just the top.	16:17
Felix Armfield	Okay.	16:42
Albert Raymond	That's where we used to go and have fun.	16:43
Felix Armfield	Oh, really?	16:45
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	16:46
Felix Armfield	Really, really?	16:46
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	16:46
Felix Armfield	Did you ever come in town and go to the movies or theater?	16:50
Albert Raymond	Yeah. We went to the movies on the last.	16:55
Felix Armfield	On the last.	16:55
Albert Raymond	On the last. That was the day before I got married. Yeah.	16:55
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, what about when you were growing up, would you come here to go to the movies?	16:57
Albert Raymond	No.	17:01
Felix Armfield	Okay. Why is that?	17:01
Albert Raymond	Didn't know what they was about. Didn't know nothing about it.	17:03
Felix Armfield	Didn't know nothing about it.	17:10
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh. When they talked about the movies, we didn't know nothing about it.	17:12
Felix Armfield	Really?	17:15
Albert Raymond	Nah-uh. I just learned over there afterwards on the last.	17:15
Felix Armfield	You said just before you got married?	17:20
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	17:20
Felix Armfield	And you got married in?	17:20
Albert Raymond	'53.	17:20
Felix Armfield	In '53.	17:20
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	17:22
Felix Armfield	You went to a movie in '53.	17:23
Albert Raymond	Near about '50.	17:25
Felix Armfield	In '50.	17:25
Albert Raymond	I started to going to the movies.	17:25
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, where did you go to the movies?	17:28
Albert Raymond	On Main Street.	17:30
Felix Armfield	Okay. Did you sit anywhere you wanted to sit?	17:31
Albert Raymond	No. You had to sit certain places.	17:33
Felix Armfield	Okay. Where did you have to sit?	17:38
Albert Raymond	They'd make us sit upstairs all the way to the back. All the Whites would have the downstairs and the front part.	17:39
Felix Armfield	So Whites could sit upstairs?	17:46
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	17:48
Felix Armfield	If Whites sat upstairs, they sat in the front?	17:49
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	17:50
Felix Armfield	But Blacks, if they were going to the movies, they had to not only sit upstairs, but they had to sit in the very back.	17:51
Albert Raymond	Sit in the back, right.	17:57
Felix Armfield	Really?	17:58
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. We had a hard time.	18:04
Felix Armfield	Really?	18:04
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. I'm telling you.	18:06
Felix Armfield	Now when you did go to school, how far did you have to walk?	18:06
Albert Raymond	About three miles, four miles.	18:13
Felix Armfield	Really?	18:15
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	18:15
Felix Armfield	Were White children walking to school too?	18:17
Albert Raymond	No, not at that time.	18:19
Felix Armfield	How were they getting to school?	18:26
Albert Raymond	They had a bus.	18:26
Felix Armfield	They had a bus back in the 1930s—	18:26
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. Yeah.	18:26
Felix Armfield	— that was taking them to school?	18:26
Albert Raymond	They had an old-style bus.	18:26
Felix Armfield	What'd you think about that?	18:34
Albert Raymond	I think that was wrong.	18:36
Felix Armfield	At that time, did you think it was wrong?	18:37
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. I knew it was wrong, but nothing we could do.	18:40
Felix Armfield	Yeah.	18:41
Albert Raymond	Because our boss went to the school board and went to talk about getting us transportation.	18:48
Felix Armfield	The White man that you were sharecropping with?	18:51
Albert Raymond	Right.	18:56
Felix Armfield	He went to the school board?	18:57
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Went there and went to find out why we didn't have a bus that would go.	18:59
Felix Armfield	And what happened to that? What happened with that?	19:04
Albert Raymond	If they was Black, there was no way in the world that Black could have a ride to go to school.	19:06
Felix Armfield	There was no way—	19:12
Albert Raymond	No way in the world.	19:13
Felix Armfield	— that Blacks could have rides to go to school?	19:13
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh.	19:13
Felix Armfield	Are you kidding?	19:13
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh, I'm telling you, man, when it rained, when it floods, we had to go.	19:21
Felix Armfield	Really?	19:26
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. When it was cold, we had to go walking.	19:27
Felix Armfield	To get whatever education—	19:33
Albert Raymond	To get, right.	19:33
Felix Armfield	— you could get.	19:33
Albert Raymond	We could get, right.	19:33
Felix Armfield	What were your hopes of getting an education? What did you hope to do if you could've got all the education you wanted?	19:38
Albert Raymond	Well, I prayed then, if I could've got all the education I wanted, I just wanted to get out of there.	19:50
Felix Armfield	You wanted to get out of where?	19:53
Albert Raymond	Out of the cropping.	19:53
Felix Armfield	You wanted to get out of cropping.	19:59
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Move where I can have a chance to use that education. Yeah.	20:00
Felix Armfield	So your concern was you wanted to get out of the field and move away and put your education to use. You wanted to do something else besides farming.	20:02
Albert Raymond	Right.	20:13
Felix Armfield	Why was it that you didn't necessarily like farming?	20:15
Albert Raymond	Farming was good. I liked it.	20:17
Felix Armfield	But why did you want to leave it?	20:20
Albert Raymond	I wanted to leave because I wasn't getting nowhere.	20:24
Felix Armfield	Okay. When you say you weren't getting nowhere, what do you mean?	20:26
Albert Raymond	I mean, wasn't getting no job. Just if you're in cropping, you get everything ready in about July, August.	20:33
Felix Armfield	Yes, sir.	20:45
Albert Raymond	Now you got everything ready until the wintertime.	20:47
Felix Armfield	Okay.	20:49
Albert Raymond	Then we used to go out and hustle little jobs on the side, but if we had education, we could've come to town and get us a job and make some good money.	20:50
Felix Armfield	Yeah.	21:01
Albert Raymond	And we didn't have that opportunity.	21:02
Felix Armfield	Didn't have that opportunity.	21:03
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh. I was lucky. When I got married, well, I went to Cajun Pontiac. I worked for the Cajun Pontiac dealer.	21:05
Felix Armfield	Cajun Pontiac, okay.	21:17
Albert Raymond	Yeah. There, the manager looked out for us. I went to all kind of school while I was working for the Cajun Pontiac.	21:24
Felix Armfield	Okay.	21:35
Albert Raymond	Trainings and they sent me to Houston. They sent me to New Orleans. They sent me to every school they had. That's how I learned mechanical.	21:41
Felix Armfield	Okay. So you became a pretty skilled mechanic.	21:47
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	21:51
Felix Armfield	When was this that you began working again with Cajun Pontiac?	21:52
Albert Raymond	In '49.	21:55
Felix Armfield	In 1949.	21:55
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	21:56
Felix Armfield	And you remained there until?	21:58
Albert Raymond	I stayed there until I got hurt, because my back hurt, and I got a 100,000 dollar settlement. That's when I quit working.	22:01
Felix Armfield	When was that?	22:12
Albert Raymond	That was in '85.	22:12
Felix Armfield	You got a 100,000 dollar settlement in 1985?	22:12
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	22:19
Felix Armfield	Because you had hurt your back?	22:20
Albert Raymond	Right.	22:21
Felix Armfield	How did you hurt your back?	22:22
Albert Raymond	I fell off a truck.	22:23
Felix Armfield	Fell off of one of the trucks there at work?	22:25
Albert Raymond	I was working, yeah. I was working on a truck, and that guy was sitting in the truck. He went and he hit the starter, and the truck moved, jumped, and I fell on the concrete.	22:27
Felix Armfield	Oh my goodness.	22:40
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. My hair just started to— I mean, it's growing back now, but that was clean back there.	22:43
Felix Armfield	Really?	22:48
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. I fell on that concrete.	22:50
Felix Armfield	Now, how many children did you and your wife have?	22:52
Albert Raymond	Five.	22:54
Felix Armfield	You had five.	22:54
Albert Raymond	Five boys.	22:55
Felix Armfield	Five boys, isn't that interesting?	22:56
Albert Raymond	Yeah. We got five beautiful boys. They all in California.	22:58
Felix Armfield	They're all in California.	23:05
Albert Raymond	They all finished school.	23:06
Felix Armfield	Were they all educated here in New Iberia?	23:08
Albert Raymond	They went to high school over here, but they went to college in California.	23:10
Felix Armfield	They went to college. Now, why'd you send them to California to college?	23:15
Albert Raymond	Well, better opportunity. The bank paid all their education. They all working for the bank right now.	23:19
Felix Armfield	Oh, okay.	23:30
Albert Raymond	Out here, we couldn't get that out here.	23:34
Felix Armfield	Now, what did your wife do for a living?	23:38
Albert Raymond	My wife's a nurse.	23:41
Felix Armfield	Your wife's a nurse?	23:41
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	23:42
Felix Armfield	You stayed married to the same woman that you married in 19—	23:43
Albert Raymond	'53.	23:46
Felix Armfield	'53.	23:51
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. It's right at fifty years.	23:51
Felix Armfield	Hmm?	23:51
Albert Raymond	That's right at fifty years.	23:51
Felix Armfield	Okay. Yeah. You all about getting ready for your fiftieth anniversary.	23:53
Albert Raymond	That's right.	23:56
Felix Armfield	Really? Now, has she retired from work?	23:58
Albert Raymond	No. She's still working.	23:59
Felix Armfield	She's still working.	24:01
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	24:01
Felix Armfield	Still working.	24:01
Albert Raymond	Don't want to quit working.	24:01
Felix Armfield	Yeah. It's good to work like that.	24:01
Albert Raymond	Look at this. She look like she twenty-five years old, and she's sixty years old.	24:02
Felix Armfield	Really?	24:10
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	24:14
Felix Armfield	So you married a beautiful girl.	24:14
Albert Raymond	Beautiful girl.	24:16
Felix Armfield	Yes, you did.	24:16
Albert Raymond	I love her, ooh yes.	24:19
Felix Armfield	I know you do. Happily married. Happily married. Good, good.	24:20
Albert Raymond	I wish you could've seen my kids then.	24:25
Felix Armfield	Wish I could've seen the children?	24:27
Albert Raymond	Oh, man. Them kids so nice.	24:28
Felix Armfield	I bet. I bet you've got five not only handsome, but nice young men.	24:33
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	24:36
Felix Armfield	I bet they're doing well. If they've taken anything from you, I know they have to be doing well. What kind of changes did you see happening over time, Mr. Raymond, once you left the country? And I assume that once you got married or once you got the job in 1949, you came here to the city.	24:38
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	25:04
Felix Armfield	Were you living here in New Iberia then?	25:04
Albert Raymond	Yes.	25:06
Felix Armfield	Okay. Where were you living here in New Iberia when you came here?	25:08
Albert Raymond	I was living down off of Anderson Street. That's the Mixon Quarter.	25:11
Felix Armfield	Okay. Mixon, all right.	25:16
Albert Raymond	Quarter. Mixon Quarter.	25:18
Felix Armfield	Okay.	25:25
Albert Raymond	There's a bunch of houses. When I got married, I was renting there at twelve dollars a month.	25:26
Felix Armfield	When you got married?	25:28
Albert Raymond	When I got married, twelve dollars a—	25:29
Felix Armfield	You brought the new bride into Mixon Quarter.	25:31
Albert Raymond	Right.	25:32
Felix Armfield	And that's where you all lived.	25:32
Albert Raymond	That's where. That's right. That's where we started out. Right now, we got our own home. We got a big home.	25:32
Felix Armfield	You do. You got a pretty nice settlement back in 1985.	25:39
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. Yeah.	25:39
Felix Armfield	So why not put it to use?	25:45
Albert Raymond	When I first started working in '49, I was making fifty dollars a week. That's how it started.	25:48
Felix Armfield	You were making fifty dollars a week—	25:55
Albert Raymond	Fifty dollars a week.	25:55
Felix Armfield	— being a mechanic?	25:55
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	25:55
Felix Armfield	In 1949?	25:55
Albert Raymond	'49.	25:58
Felix Armfield	That was big money, Mr. Raymond.	26:00
Albert Raymond	Yeah, yeah. That was top money.	26:01
Felix Armfield	It sure was. I haven't talked to anyone else around here who was making that kind of money.	26:03
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	26:07
Felix Armfield	Now, how did you manage to get into that business? Were you the only Black man who was working as a mechanic there at the time?	26:08
Albert Raymond	No. It's two of us.	26:14
Felix Armfield	There were two of you?	26:16
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Me and my neighbor.	26:17
Felix Armfield	Okay. How did you all get those jobs? How did you get such a good job?	26:19
Albert Raymond	Well, the men, we used to work, do some outside work through my mom. That's when I started working in Loreauville, and that's where he was from. I did some outside mechanic work in Loreauville, and he heard about me. He heard about the work I done.	26:25
Felix Armfield	That was in Loreauville?	26:45
Albert Raymond	Yeah. He went around and inquired around about who was the mechanic that's so good that did this job in Loreauville, and the people were so happy? Then finally, he drove to the house.	26:51
Felix Armfield	Drove to your house.	27:06
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	27:07
Felix Armfield	Out in the country?	27:07
Albert Raymond	No, it was in New Iberia.	27:07
Felix Armfield	Oh, okay.	27:07
Albert Raymond	Yeah. He drove there, and he mentioned how everybody liked the work that I done over there. And people bragging about the work, and he ain't had no mechanic. All his mechanic was just patching up jobs and people had problems right after. So he said, "How come you don't come work for me?" He said, "I'll start you off at fifty dollars a week."	27:11
Felix Armfield	How do you say no to that?	27:41
Albert Raymond	That's it. I said, "When you want me to start?" Oh, yeah. When I quit working there, I was making a thousand dollars a week.	27:42
Felix Armfield	In 1985, you were making a thousand dollars a week.	27:51
Albert Raymond	A thousand dollars a week.	27:57
Felix Armfield	You were making top dollar.	27:58
Albert Raymond	I was making some good money.	28:01
Felix Armfield	Now, you appear to have kept a level head through all of this.	28:05
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. Living with no education, I'll tell you the truth, I kept a straight head. Everything I did was did right. If you brought you car in to be worked on, if I work on your car, you ain't coming back. You gone. You were going happy. Oh, yeah.	28:07
Felix Armfield	Yeah. So you know your cars, huh?	28:33
Albert Raymond	That's right.	28:35
Felix Armfield	Knew your cars. This was this White man who just decided to offer you this job because he had heard that you did such a good job.	28:36
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Mr. Joe Lalone. Mm-hmm.	28:47
Felix Armfield	What kinds of activities do you recall having gone on there at Cajun Pontiac? Did you get to participate in everything that went on?	28:54
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	29:02
Felix Armfield	You did?	29:03
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	29:03
Felix Armfield	You weren't excluded from anything?	29:03
Albert Raymond	No.	29:03
Felix Armfield	Okay.	29:03
Albert Raymond	They were giving supper every three or four times a week for the mechanics, and we was all invited.	29:09
Felix Armfield	All invited.	29:16
Albert Raymond	All, yes. All the Black together, White together.	29:18
Felix Armfield	Was that there at the company or at his home?	29:22
Albert Raymond	No, it was at the company.	29:22
Felix Armfield	At the company.	29:22
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	29:22
Felix Armfield	Okay.	29:22
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. Yeah. A special man used to come in there and used to cook barbecue, and everybody had some.	29:32
Felix Armfield	That's the deal.	29:36
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	29:36
Felix Armfield	That's making me want some barbecue.	29:36
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	29:36
Felix Armfield	Yeah. How did you feel once you had finally gotten off the farm?	29:48
Albert Raymond	Ooh, I was a big man then.	29:53
Felix Armfield	You felt like you were a big man?	29:55
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. I said, "God, I finally made it. Thank you, God."	29:59
Felix Armfield	Even though you had only moved from the farm to New Iberia, you were off that farm.	30:03
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. I was making money.	30:08
Felix Armfield	You were making your own money.	30:11
Albert Raymond	Own money, that's right.	30:11
Felix Armfield	Yeah. Now, did your parents remain out there on the farm?	30:17
Albert Raymond	They stayed on the farm until '55. My father got sick and died.	30:20
Felix Armfield	Okay. Your father died in '55.	30:35
Albert Raymond	'55.	30:35
Felix Armfield	And where did your mother go then?	30:35
Albert Raymond	My mother moved in New Iberia closer to us.	30:35
Felix Armfield	Closer to the rest of you.	30:35
Albert Raymond	Yeah. And we took care of her, and she died in '62.	30:36
Felix Armfield	Okay. It sounds like to me what I hear you saying, Mr. Raymond, is that farming wasn't bad within itself.	30:46
Albert Raymond	Right.	30:56
Felix Armfield	But what you do find bad about it was that you were working and didn't have anything to show for it.	30:57
Albert Raymond	That's what I'm trying to say.	31:01
Felix Armfield	Then, who was benefiting from all this?	31:07
Albert Raymond	The White man.	31:09
Felix Armfield	Okay. He benefited from all your labor.	31:10
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	31:14
Felix Armfield	Regardless of the fact that you worked sometimes seven days a week.	31:14
Albert Raymond	Sometimes all night.	31:18
Felix Armfield	All night, Mr. Raymond?	31:19
Albert Raymond	All night.	31:21
Felix Armfield	Now, what would be going on when you would have to work all night?	31:23
Albert Raymond	Well, then he had bought a tractor, and we used to plow the field at night. That's right, to catch up.	31:26
Felix Armfield	You would be out there plowing the fields at night?	31:38
Albert Raymond	At night.	31:40
Felix Armfield	How did you see how to plow the field at night?	31:41
Albert Raymond	Well, the tractor had light. We had a lighted tractor. You would work through the night.	31:43
Felix Armfield	Anything to get work out of you.	31:47
Albert Raymond	That's right.	31:47
Felix Armfield	Now, would the White man be out there at night too?	31:57
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh. He'd be sleeping.	31:59
Felix Armfield	What about on Sundays when you would work? Did he work on Sunday?	32:05
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh. He wouldn't work at all. If we had a problem in the field with the equipment, well, he'd come help us get the equipment back together and stuff like that, and then he was gone. He was gone on.	32:08
Felix Armfield	Sitting back in the shade.	32:28
Albert Raymond	Right. I'm telling you.	32:29
Felix Armfield	Were there other families that worked there on that farm also besides—	32:36
Albert Raymond	No, just us.	32:40
Felix Armfield	You all working, only family.	32:41
Albert Raymond	We the only family working all that big crop. Yeah. Other people had family just like us.	32:42
Felix Armfield	But you were the only family that worked with this man that you all worked with?	32:53
Albert Raymond	Yeah, right.	32:56
Felix Armfield	Now, what kind of house did you all live in?	32:59
Albert Raymond	We had a nice house. He had built us a brand new house with two siding to it.	33:00
Felix Armfield	Two siding?	33:12
Albert Raymond	Two siding, yeah. The whole house was for us, but he had built it like if two families was going to stay. You see? But he never did get two families out there.	33:12
Felix Armfield	Okay. Well, I guess he didn't need two families out there. Your parents had eleven children. They had eleven children.	33:26
Albert Raymond	That's right.	33:26
Felix Armfield	He had enough hands.	33:34
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. Pick cotton, we used to pick cotton at night.	33:34
Felix Armfield	You would pick cotton at night?	33:39
Albert Raymond	Pick cotton at night.	33:40
Felix Armfield	I don't see how you saw how to pick cotton at night.	33:43
Albert Raymond	Well, cotton is by the moonlight. See, cotton is white. The moonlight and the white cotton, you pick them. We used to pick everything. We wouldn't miss nothing. Finally, we made some crop.	33:47
Felix Armfield	Tell me about this okra.	34:07
Albert Raymond	Okra?	34:18
Felix Armfield	Yeah. Did you have fields of okra?	34:18
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	34:18
Felix Armfield	Just rows and rows and rows of okra?	34:18
Albert Raymond	For the factory, yeah. Break the okra and—	34:19
Felix Armfield	I never knew that you all grew okra down in Louisiana.	34:20
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. We grew okra, sent them to the factory. The factory canned them, and you probably bought some of the same okra.	34:21
Felix Armfield	Probably did, probably did.	34:27
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Trophy, well, they had a factory. They used to can okra.	34:31
Felix Armfield	And where was this?	34:39
Albert Raymond	On Main Street. They used to can them. They had a big factory, can okra and go send it out to California and everywhere.	34:40
Felix Armfield	Really?	34:47
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	34:48
Felix Armfield	Now, how often did you pick okra?	34:50
Albert Raymond	Every three days.	34:54
Felix Armfield	Really?	34:55
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. They'd always make you. You had better. If you didn't pick them, they'd get hard.	34:57
Felix Armfield	Yeah. So you all, you had cut cane, pick cotton at night, and—	35:01
Albert Raymond	Break okra.	35:15
Felix Armfield	— and break okra.	35:16
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Okra, we had to break in daytime. Yeah.	35:17
Felix Armfield	You didn't do it in the daytime.	35:21
Albert Raymond	Yeah. You had to do it in the daytime.	35:23
Felix Armfield	Okay.	35:23
Albert Raymond	Because you couldn't do it at night.	35:26
Felix Armfield	Okay, because you couldn't see the okra at night.	35:26
Albert Raymond	You couldn't see the okra at night.	35:26
Felix Armfield	Okay. But that cotton, you could see.	35:27
Albert Raymond	You could see the cotton, oh yeah. Man, you'd go out there.	35:31
Felix Armfield	Were there ever times where you would have to cut cane in the daytime and then pick cotton at night, Mr. Raymond?	35:36
Albert Raymond	No, because your cotton was only, that was a summer job.	35:43
Felix Armfield	Okay. So they were different seasons of jobs?	35:46
Albert Raymond	Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah.	35:49
Felix Armfield	Well, why was it if you picked cotton all day, why was it that you'd pick cotton at night too?	35:51
Albert Raymond	Because you had to save the crop. That's how much cotton we had. We used to raise from 13 to 1800 bales of cotton a year.	35:59
Felix Armfield	When your parents would do the settling up in the end of the year, how much profit would they make, Mr. Raymond, if you can tell me?	36:19
Albert Raymond	On the cotton?	36:27
Felix Armfield	On everything.	36:28
Albert Raymond	On everything?	36:28
Felix Armfield	On everything, what kind of profit did they have?	36:32
Albert Raymond	Let's see. My daddy could make— I checked with him one time. I went with him one time, and that was about eight thousand dollars	36:33
Felix Armfield	Eight thousand dollars.	36:47
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	36:50
Felix Armfield	What would the White man profit?	36:51
Albert Raymond	Oh, man. He probably made twenty thousand.	36:55
Felix Armfield	Eight thousand dollars after all year of working.	36:56
Albert Raymond	That's a whole year. Night, all night, Sunday.	36:56
Felix Armfield	Exactly. And with eleven children and a wife, and that was the family's profit of eight thousand dollars all year?	36:57
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	36:59
Felix Armfield	Do you think that it justified all of the hard labor that you did?	37:17
Albert Raymond	Oh, no. Oh, no. That wouldn't justify just one of us.	37:21
Felix Armfield	Exactly. Who lives off eight thousand dollars, comfortably off eight thousand dollars a year now?	37:29
Albert Raymond	Yeah, right.	37:37
Felix Armfield	Eight thousand dollars doesn't go far.	37:37
Albert Raymond	Oh, no, man. Eight thousand dollars isn't— I had my mechanic shop, and I was working just in the afternoon, maybe two hours in the afternoon, three hours. And I was making ten thousand dollars and twelve thousand dollars a year on the side, and that wasn't enough for us to keep up with.	37:45
Felix Armfield	Exactly. It's amazing.	38:01
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	38:01
Felix Armfield	It's amazing what people like your parents and yourself did to get by.	38:08
Albert Raymond	Yes, it is.	38:23
Felix Armfield	Yeah. Interesting, interesting. Did the family own their transportation? Did you all own your form of transportation, or how did you get wherever—	38:26
Albert Raymond	Yeah, we had a car.	38:32
Felix Armfield	You had a car?	38:33
Albert Raymond	Yeah. We started out, we bought the first car was a '35 Ford.	38:34
Felix Armfield	And your father probably bought that one of those years after he got his eight thousand dollars.	38:38
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Right. That's the first year. That's when we made back about eight thousand dollars, he went and he bought that little Ford.	38:41
Felix Armfield	And that was in '35?	38:51
Albert Raymond	Yeah. And I think he'd paid, what, let's see, I think 350. 350.	38:53
Felix Armfield	Okay.	39:02
Albert Raymond	350.	39:03
Felix Armfield	Was it a brand new car?	39:07
Albert Raymond	No, it was a used car.	39:08
Felix Armfield	Okay.	39:08
Albert Raymond	But it was a nice— a little black car. Boy, it was a beautiful little car.	39:08
Felix Armfield	So the family has some transportation.	39:10
Albert Raymond	Yeah. That's where I learned how to drive.	39:16
Felix Armfield	That's what you learned how to drive on.	39:18
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	39:19
Felix Armfield	What were you doing driving in 1935? You were just born in 1929.	39:21
Albert Raymond	I guess I started driving about seven years old.	39:31
Felix Armfield	Okay.	39:35
Albert Raymond	At that time, you didn't have to have no driver's license.	39:35
Felix Armfield	So anybody could drive?	39:38
Albert Raymond	Right.	39:39
Felix Armfield	If you knew how to drive.	39:40
Albert Raymond	If you knew how to drive, you can go.	39:41
Felix Armfield	And at seven years old, you'd get on the highway and drive?	39:44
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. I used to drive my mama to New Iberia and get groceries.	39:47
Felix Armfield	At seven?	39:52
Albert Raymond	Yeah, at seven years old.	39:53
Felix Armfield	You were barely big enough to see over the wheel.	39:54
Albert Raymond	I was looking through the steering wheel like that.	39:57
Felix Armfield	Really?	40:00
Albert Raymond	Yes.	40:01
Felix Armfield	And you would be driving?	40:01
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah.	40:01
Felix Armfield	That's amazing.	40:01
Albert Raymond	Because my daddy couldn't go because they were working in the field, so that's why after I learned how to drive, well, they let me drive. I'd put something under my feet and everything to raise me up a little, but still, here I was looking through the steering wheel.	40:13
Felix Armfield	Looking through that steering wheel.	40:27
Albert Raymond	That's right.	40:27
Felix Armfield	Did your foot even reach the gas pedal?	40:31
Albert Raymond	Hardly.	40:34
Felix Armfield	Hardly. But you were driving.	40:35
Albert Raymond	Yeah. I was making it.	40:37
Felix Armfield	Yeah. Now, when your mother went to make groceries, I mean—	40:41
Albert Raymond	Buy, yeah.	40:42
Felix Armfield	— she had to go buy groceries and pick up food, where did you go to get that grocery?	40:44
Albert Raymond	We had a place on Hopkins Street.	40:50
Felix Armfield	Now, was Hopkins Street the Black Main Street?	40:53
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	40:55
Felix Armfield	That was where—	40:56
Albert Raymond	That was the main street, that's right.	40:57
Felix Armfield	— Black businesses were?	40:58
Albert Raymond	That was the Black business.	40:58
Felix Armfield	Okay. Okay. Where'd she go now?	41:00
Albert Raymond	A White man had a— Acker.	41:03
Felix Armfield	What now?	41:07
Albert Raymond	Tophy Acker.	41:07
Felix Armfield	Now, what is that?	41:10
Albert Raymond	That's a man. That's the name, Tophy Acker.	41:11
Felix Armfield	Okay. Tophy Alfred.	41:11
Albert Raymond	Yeah. He had a grocery store right on the corner by the Black club, and that's where you used to catch all them Black people for money. He made some money—	41:19
Felix Armfield	So he had a grocer.	41:30
Albert Raymond	Grocery store.	41:31
Felix Armfield	— right on the corner by the Black club.	41:32
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	41:35
Felix Armfield	Ain't that interesting how he came in the Black neighborhood to do business?	41:38
Albert Raymond	That's right.	41:45
Felix Armfield	I find it hard to believe there were no Black people around that didn't want a grocery store on Hopkins.	41:45
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Had the grocery store right on Hopkins.	41:48
Felix Armfield	That's where your mother would go in and pick up food.	41:52
Albert Raymond	That's where we'd get our food. That's right.	41:59
Felix Armfield	Now, was she free to go in and pick up anything she wanted out of there?	42:00
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. Yeah.	42:01
Felix Armfield	Okay.	42:06
Albert Raymond	At first, when we didn't have no car, we used to come on horse and buggy. She used to order everything she needed, and he used to bring everything out to the country. He was a good guy.	42:07
Felix Armfield	He would deliver?	42:20
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	42:24
Felix Armfield	Now, how did you pay? Did your mother pay upfront?	42:25
Albert Raymond	Pay by the year. Yeah.	42:26
Felix Armfield	Oh, okay. Did she—	42:32
Albert Raymond	When they share our crop, we go pay them off.	42:33
Felix Armfield	They used it to pay. See, so everything was pretty much on credit.	42:36
Albert Raymond	Yeah, right.	42:44
Felix Armfield	Now, was that the only place that your mother did business for food?	42:45
Albert Raymond	They had another store past where we were living before you get to Cade, before you get to Lafayette.	42:52
Felix Armfield	Cade, okay.	43:02
Albert Raymond	That's Cade, Louisiana. Where they had a store there, we used to do a little buying too.	43:03
Felix Armfield	Was that a White-owned store also?	43:09
Albert Raymond	Yeah. That was our boss's brother.	43:11
Felix Armfield	Okay. In Cade, that was your boss's brother.	43:16
Albert Raymond	Brother, yeah.	43:19
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, there were no Black grocers down Hopkins Street at that time?	43:28
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh. They didn't have a Black grocery store in New Iberia at that time.	43:37
Felix Armfield	They didn't?	43:37
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh.	43:38
Felix Armfield	Well, what kinds of Black businesses were down Hopkins Street? Were there any Black-owned businesses down Hopkins Street?	43:38
Albert Raymond	Just nightclub, that's all.	43:46
Felix Armfield	That's all.	43:47
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Whenever they started with the nightclub business, all cafes and stuff, that was Black.	43:49
Felix Armfield	So there were some Black cafes?	43:54
Albert Raymond	Yes.	43:55
Felix Armfield	And there were Black clubs?	43:56
Albert Raymond	Yes.	43:57
Felix Armfield	There was nothing else that was Black business or Black owned down there?	43:57
Albert Raymond	No.	43:57
Felix Armfield	There weren't Black barbers and beauty parlors and things like that?	44:02
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh.	44:07
Felix Armfield	Really?	44:07
Albert Raymond	Uh-uh.	44:07
Felix Armfield	Now, when is this that we're talking about, in the '30s and '40s?	44:09
Albert Raymond	It sure is.	44:11
Felix Armfield	Okay.	44:11
Albert Raymond	We had to go all the way to Loreauville to get a haircut.	44:11
Felix Armfield	You had to go to Loreauville to get a haircut?	44:16
Albert Raymond	Yeah. We used to go to the man's house.	44:20
Felix Armfield	Oh, okay.	44:22
Albert Raymond	They had no barbershop.	44:22
Felix Armfield	So you went to someone's house to get your hair cut?	44:25
Albert Raymond	House, Mm-hmm.	44:26
Felix Armfield	Okay. I understand. Sounds like it was a trying time.	44:29
Albert Raymond	It was. It was a hard time, guaranteed.	44:34
Felix Armfield	I understand that in this area of the country there were some lynchings and hangings of Black people that went on.	44:39
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	44:46
Felix Armfield	Did you know of any situations that you know of that occurred?	44:47
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Up there in Loreauville.	44:50
Felix Armfield	What happened in Loreauville?	44:54
Albert Raymond	They used to hang Black people.	44:55
Felix Armfield	They would hang Black people in Loreauville?	44:59
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah. They'd hang them, hang them with a rope.	45:02
Felix Armfield	Why would they hang Black people?	45:06
Albert Raymond	Well, you might do something, and you might steal something. And they'd catch them, and they wouldn't put them in jail. They'd hang them.	45:08
Felix Armfield	They'd just hang them.	45:24
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	45:24
Felix Armfield	Did anyone ever get hung that you knew personally?	45:28
Albert Raymond	No, not personally.	45:33
Felix Armfield	Not personally.	45:35
Albert Raymond	But I know there was a lot of people got hanged in Loreauville.	45:39
Felix Armfield	Now, was it just Black men, or did they hang Black women too?	45:43
Albert Raymond	No, no women. Just men.	45:46
Felix Armfield	Just men.	45:47
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	45:47
Felix Armfield	Now, why just men? Why just Black men?	45:47
Albert Raymond	I don't know. You know what I know they used to do?	45:47
Felix Armfield	What? No. I want you to tell me.	45:47
Albert Raymond	When a Black woman would do something wrong, what that White man do? He'd take her to bed.	45:59
Felix Armfield	Are you kidding?	46:09
Albert Raymond	I'm telling you. That's why there's so many mulattoes around New Iberia.	46:14
Felix Armfield	Around Louisiana.	46:14
Albert Raymond	I'm telling you, man.	46:14
Felix Armfield	If a Black woman did something that they deemed wrong, that the White man deemed wrong now, then he would take her to bed—	46:23
Albert Raymond	To bed.	46:31
Felix Armfield	— as punishment?	46:32
Albert Raymond	As punishment, right. Mm-hmm. Whether she was married or not, she had to go. And her husband couldn't say nothing.	46:32
Felix Armfield	Husband couldn't say nothing.	46:44
Albert Raymond	Couldn't say nothing. That's right. I've seen some tough days.	46:47
Felix Armfield	That's sickening.	46:53

Felix Armfield	All right.	0:02
Albert Raymond	And he's going to get doing with me, huh?	0:02
Felix Armfield	Okay.	0:04
Speaker 1	All right, are we done with it?	0:04
Felix Armfield	Mr. Raymond, give me your home phone.	0:09
Albert Raymond	367-6494.	0:10
Felix Armfield	7649—	0:10
Albert Raymond	6494.	0:10
Felix Armfield	367-6494. Okay, you don't have a work phone, right? No?	0:22
Albert Raymond	Phone at work?	0:27
Felix Armfield	No—	0:27
Albert Raymond	No, I don't.	0:27
Felix Armfield	— you don't have.	0:27
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	0:28
Felix Armfield	Basically, what I need to do is just get some [indistinct 00:00:36] history real quick. This shouldn't take too long. Now, where were you born, Mr. Raymond?	0:33
Albert Raymond	At Segura.	0:39
Felix Armfield	Now, can you spell that for me?	0:44
Albert Raymond	No, I can't spell.	0:45
Felix Armfield	It's Segura?	0:47
Albert Raymond	Segura.	0:47
Felix Armfield	Segura.	0:49
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	0:50
Felix Armfield	Is it C or S?	0:51
Albert Raymond	It's S.	0:51
Felix Armfield	S, okay. And is that in Iberia Parish?	0:51
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	0:52
Felix Armfield	Okay. What's your wife's first name?	0:56
Albert Raymond	Josephine.	1:12
Felix Armfield	Josephine. Does she have a middle name?	1:13
Albert Raymond	I think it's Marie.	1:19
Felix Armfield	And the last name is Raymond.	1:23
Albert Raymond	Raymond.	1:24
Felix Armfield	All right. So you gave her that name?	1:24
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	1:26
Felix Armfield	Do you know her birthday, Mr. Raymond?	1:31
Albert Raymond	No, I sure don't.	1:34
Felix Armfield	You don't know her birthday. Do you know where she was born?	1:35
Albert Raymond	She's born in Ludger.	1:39
Felix Armfield	In Ludger. And is that Iberia Parish?	1:39
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	1:51
Felix Armfield	And she's in Eros, right?	1:59
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	2:03
Felix Armfield	Okay. What was your mother's first name?	2:03
Albert Raymond	Anita.	2:05
Felix Armfield	Anita?	2:06
Albert Raymond	Uh-huh.	2:07
Felix Armfield	A-N-I-T-A?	2:09
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	2:09
Felix Armfield	Did she have a middle name?	2:14
Albert Raymond	Not that I know of.	2:16
Felix Armfield	And her last name was?	2:17
Albert Raymond	Before she got married—	2:17
Felix Armfield	What was her last name? She married your father, so she was Raymond.	2:21
Albert Raymond	Raymond, yeah.	2:24
Felix Armfield	What was her maiden name?	2:24
Albert Raymond	Gan.	2:25
Felix Armfield	What?	2:37
Albert Raymond	Gan.	2:37
Felix Armfield	Gan. And do you remember your mother's birthday?	2:45
Albert Raymond	No, I cannot remember.	2:46
Felix Armfield	Do you remember when she died?	2:49
Albert Raymond	I know she died in '55.	2:50
Felix Armfield	You don't know the exact date?	2:55
Albert Raymond	I don't know the exact date.	2:55
Felix Armfield	But the year was 1955.	2:57
Albert Raymond	'55.	2:58
Felix Armfield	Your mother died—	2:58
Albert Raymond	No, it's '62.	3:03
Felix Armfield	I thought it's—	3:05
Albert Raymond	[indistinct 00:03:06] she died.	3:06
Felix Armfield	Your mother died in '62.	3:09
Albert Raymond	In '62, yeah.	3:09
Felix Armfield	Okay. Do you know where your mother was born?	3:10
Albert Raymond	It's Cade.	3:12
Felix Armfield	Cade. And is that Iberia Parish?	3:16
Albert Raymond	It's Saint Martin.	3:21
Felix Armfield	So that's Saint Martin's Parish?	3:22
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	3:24
Felix Armfield	And your mother was pretty much a housewife and farmer?	3:34
Albert Raymond	Right.	3:37
Felix Armfield	What was your father's first name, Mr. Raymond?	3:46
Albert Raymond	Julius.	3:49
Felix Armfield	Julius?	3:50
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	3:54
Felix Armfield	And did he have a middle name? Okay, for his last name was Raymond.	3:54
Albert Raymond	Raymond.	3:59
Felix Armfield	And do you know your father's birthday?	4:02
Albert Raymond	No, I don't.	4:03
Felix Armfield	And do you know that date he died?	4:11
Albert Raymond	I don't know either.	4:11
Felix Armfield	You just know the year?	4:11
Albert Raymond	The year, yeah.	4:12
Felix Armfield	And that was 19—	4:13
Albert Raymond	'55. With the same [indistinct 00:04:20].	4:20
Felix Armfield	Okay. You probably got the same year, but you signed this for me.	4:20
Albert Raymond	Yeah, uh-huh.	4:20
Felix Armfield	Do you know where your father was born?	4:25
Albert Raymond	In Cade also.	4:27
Felix Armfield	Okay, so both of your parents were out of Cade. And that's in Saint Martin—	4:30
Albert Raymond	Saint Martin.	4:33
Speaker 2	[indistinct 00:04:35].	4:33
Felix Armfield	And your father was a farmer?	4:41
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. I think [indistinct 00:04:49].	4:48
Felix Armfield	I bet he was. He had to know those crops that you own. I'm talking about [indistinct 00:04:52].	4:49
Albert Raymond	[indistinct 00:04:54].	4:51
Felix Armfield	Very well. Okay. Now, can you remember all your brothers and sisters by name?	4:55
Albert Raymond	Okay, I got [indistinct 00:05:07]. My oldest is here.	5:05
Felix Armfield	Okay. What I want you to do is give me the names of— Let me get this door close, so we don't hear much of this noise.	5:10
Albert Raymond	Yeah, okay.	5:18
Felix Armfield	[indistinct 00:05:19]. What I want you to try and do is give me the names of your brothers and sisters in the order that everybody was born, from the oldest to the youngest. Now, can you do it like that? Just put them in the order that they were born.	5:21
Albert Raymond	Let's see. All right, Clarence is the oldest one.	5:33
Felix Armfield	Okay, Clarence.	5:37
Albert Raymond	Clarence Raymond.	5:39
Felix Armfield	Clarence Raymond was his name, okay. Who was next after Clarence?	5:40
Albert Raymond	John.	5:45
Felix Armfield	John, okay.	5:49
Albert Raymond	After John was me.	5:51
Felix Armfield	Okay, who was after you?	5:51
Albert Raymond	After me is Robert.	5:52
Felix Armfield	So all the boys were first?	5:58
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	5:59
Felix Armfield	Okay.	6:00
Albert Raymond	Let's see. And next one is my sister, Selena.	6:01
Felix Armfield	Selena. And how would you spell Selena?	6:06
Albert Raymond	I can't spell it.	6:07
Felix Armfield	Hold on just a second. I'm going to have to check on the spelling.	6:26
Albert Raymond	[indistinct 00:06:27].	6:26
Felix Armfield	Okay, but who was after Selena?	6:28
Albert Raymond	After Selena is Edward.	6:30
Felix Armfield	Edward?	6:30
Albert Raymond	Edward.	6:34
Felix Armfield	Okay. Who was next?	6:37
Albert Raymond	After Edward is Marylee.	6:38
Felix Armfield	Marylee?	6:38
Albert Raymond	Marylee.	6:38
Felix Armfield	Okay.	6:38
Albert Raymond	The next is Anita.	6:38
Felix Armfield	She was named after your mother?	6:54
Albert Raymond	After my mother, yeah.	6:55
Felix Armfield	Okay, who was next?	6:56
Albert Raymond	That's it, I think.	6:58
Felix Armfield	[indistinct 00:07:00]. That's only one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, that's eight. You said there were eleven children.	7:02
Albert Raymond	Okay, let me see.	7:07
Felix Armfield	Okay, I got Clarence, John, Robert, Selena, Edward, Marylee, Anita.	7:08
Albert Raymond	I've got [indistinct 00:07:31]. The three guy.	7:30
Felix Armfield	Okay, so that would give us—	7:35
Albert Raymond	That would give us—	7:37
Felix Armfield	— The— Now, where were they in the rank?	7:37
Albert Raymond	Let's see. We have Junius, Junior.	7:37
Felix Armfield	Junius?	7:37
Albert Raymond	Junior.	7:37
Felix Armfield	Okay.	7:37
Albert Raymond	And let's see. [indistinct 00:08:31].	7:37
Felix Armfield	You were the third child, right?	7:37
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. Let's see.	7:37
Felix Armfield	That's okay. I mean, if you can't think of it.	7:37
Albert Raymond	[indistinct 00:08:48] so now I forget their name.	7:37
Felix Armfield	Okay. Don't worry about it. I want you to only provide me with what you can explain. I'm going to have to check the spelling of Selena. But the others I think I got. Now, the ones that you gave me are— the names that you gave me, are all of them living?	8:55
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. Okay, wait. [indistinct 00:09:32] John.	9:24
Felix Armfield	Okay, [indistinct 00:09:32].	9:32
Albert Raymond	Yeah. I don't know if my mind [indistinct 00:09:32].	9:32
Felix Armfield	That's okay. It's okay.	9:32
Albert Raymond	You need what?	9:32
Felix Armfield	I know.	9:32
Albert Raymond	Oh, they wait, I don't know. I just went—	9:35
Felix Armfield	Yeah, that fall sounds like it did some damage. Okay, there's one more that you haven't given me, but you can't think of.	9:37
Albert Raymond	Let's see who you got.	9:46
Felix Armfield	One, two, three, four, five, six, seven—	9:48
Albert Raymond	Carl.	9:50
Felix Armfield	— eight, nine— Who?	9:50
Albert Raymond	Carl.	9:51
Felix Armfield	Carl, okay. Now, do you remember when Junius, Clarence, or Paul died?	9:55
Albert Raymond	Paul, let's see. I don't remember. No, I can't remember that.	9:58
Felix Armfield	Okay. Now, do you know the birth dates of any of your brothers?	10:23
Albert Raymond	No, I don't.	10:26
Felix Armfield	Okay. Were they all born in Iberia Parish?	10:29
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	10:32
Felix Armfield	Everybody was born in Iberia Parish?	10:32
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	10:34
Felix Armfield	And they were all in the place that you call—	10:40
Albert Raymond	Segura.	10:42
Felix Armfield	Segura.	10:42
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. [indistinct 00:10:48] by marriage and one [indistinct 00:10:50] but you're going to [indistinct 00:10:52]. They married [indistinct 00:10:54].	10:42
Felix Armfield	Segura.	10:42
Albert Raymond	Segura.	10:42
Speaker 2	Speak to me. Oh, I'm sorry. [indistinct 00:11:19].	10:42
Felix Armfield	Okay, now, you have five children of your own?	10:42
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	10:42
Felix Armfield	[indistinct 00:11:34] just in case this [indistinct 00:11:35]. Okay.	10:42
Albert Raymond	I wish I'll let you come home, and you could have see all my children. I got a big picture.	11:45
Felix Armfield	Do you?	11:48
Albert Raymond	Oh, man. I got a big picture of the whole family.	11:49
Felix Armfield	Let me get the names of your children in the order that they were born, from the oldest to the youngest.	11:52
Albert Raymond	Okay, we got Paul.	11:57
Felix Armfield	Paul is the oldest.	11:57
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	11:57
Felix Armfield	Okay. Who was next?	12:01
Albert Raymond	Mark.	12:02
Felix Armfield	Okay.	12:02
Albert Raymond	Peter.	12:02
Felix Armfield	Okay.	12:02
Albert Raymond	Albert Jr.	12:14
Felix Armfield	You waited a long time to name one after you?	12:16
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Just trying to put on here good in between them but—	12:18
Felix Armfield	I bet, if they had [indistinct 00:12:26].	12:25
Albert Raymond	No.	12:26
Felix Armfield	And who was the last son?	12:29
Albert Raymond	Joe Christopher.	12:30
Felix Armfield	Joe Christopher. And how old is your youngest son?	12:32
Albert Raymond	He's eighteen.	12:37
Felix Armfield	Oh, that one is eighteen?	12:38
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	12:40
Felix Armfield	All right.	12:40
Albert Raymond	Just got married eighteen.	12:40
Felix Armfield	Now, where is he?	12:44
Albert Raymond	He'd have to go to California. And [indistinct 00:12:47]. Another way right now, all the boys got them.	12:44
Felix Armfield	Okay, so how old is your oldest son?	12:48
Albert Raymond	Paul?	12:51
Felix Armfield	Mm-hmm.	12:51
Albert Raymond	Paul is 36.	12:51
Felix Armfield	Okay, he was born in— When? '55, you think?	12:58
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	13:00
Felix Armfield	Okay. Do you know his birthday?	13:01
Albert Raymond	No, not exactly. My wife [indistinct 00:13:06].	13:02
Felix Armfield	Okay, but he was born in 1955.	13:06
Albert Raymond	'55.	13:08
Felix Armfield	And was he born here in New Iberia?	13:08
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	13:13
Felix Armfield	Were all your children—	13:14
Albert Raymond	No, he's born in Lafayette. I'm sorry.	13:15
Felix Armfield	He's born in Lafayette.	13:17
Albert Raymond	Yeah, in the hospital.	13:21
Felix Armfield	Okay. And Lafayette is what Parish?	13:22
Albert Raymond	That's Lafayette.	13:23
Felix Armfield	Is that—	13:24
Albert Raymond	That's Lafayette.	13:24
Felix Armfield	It's Lafayette Parish?	13:28
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	13:28
Felix Armfield	And were all of them born in Lafayette?	13:31
Albert Raymond	No, you got Mark, he was born in Lafayette too.	13:33
Felix Armfield	Okay. What about Peter?	13:37
Albert Raymond	We've got Peter who was born in Lafayette.	13:39
Felix Armfield	Okay. And Albert?	13:39
Albert Raymond	Albert was born in Lafayette.	13:44
Felix Armfield	And where was Joe Christopher—	13:44
Albert Raymond	Joe was born here in New Iberia.	13:45
Felix Armfield	Okay. Do you know what year Mark was born? Paul was born in '55.	13:54
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	14:04
Felix Armfield	How many years older than him?	14:06
Albert Raymond	They are year apart.	14:09
Felix Armfield	They are a year apart. So we can say that Mark was born 1956.	14:10
Albert Raymond	'56, yeah.	14:13
Felix Armfield	Okay, what about Peter?	14:13
Albert Raymond	Year apart.	14:15
Felix Armfield	Everybody was a year apart?	14:15
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm. Except Joe.	14:21
Felix Armfield	And Albert was 1958?	14:22
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	14:23
Felix Armfield	You all were having one year [indistinct 00:14:26].	14:24
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	14:25
Felix Armfield	And when was Joe born?	14:25
Albert Raymond	Joe was born— Let's see. At four years later.	14:25
Felix Armfield	So he was born in '60. No, no, no. Albert was born in '58.	14:38
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	14:42
Felix Armfield	Joe just turned eighteen, you said?	14:43
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	14:45
Felix Armfield	Let's do some figure. He was born a little later than them. This is 1994 and just turned eighteen.	14:45
Albert Raymond	And [indistinct 00:14:58] eighteen in July, this month.	15:07
Felix Armfield	Okay.	15:09
Albert Raymond	And then he—	15:09
Felix Armfield	I think he's born in '76.	15:09
Albert Raymond	Yeah, okay.	15:09
Felix Armfield	You know what month?	15:09
Albert Raymond	July.	15:09
Felix Armfield	July what?	15:09
Albert Raymond	Let's see. I can't think of the date.	15:10
Felix Armfield	Okay. [indistinct 00:15:19].	15:16
Albert Raymond	But I know you do know—	15:20
Felix Armfield	And all your children are alive?	15:21
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	15:22
Felix Armfield	Okay. Do you have any grandchildren?	15:25
Albert Raymond	I got three. No, five. Six.	15:26
Felix Armfield	Sure, you don't know.	15:32
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	15:32
Felix Armfield	That's six.	15:32
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	15:32
Felix Armfield	Okay.	15:32
Albert Raymond	The thing really [indistinct 00:15:38].	15:37
Felix Armfield	You only lived in Iberia Parish all your life?	15:48
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	15:52
Felix Armfield	You got a second-grade education?	15:57
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	16:10
Felix Armfield	And what was the name of the school?	16:17
Albert Raymond	[indistinct 00:16:22] Segura. It's in the elementary.	16:25
Felix Armfield	Okay. But what year did you go to school, start to school?	16:30
Albert Raymond	Let's see.	16:38
Felix Armfield	You were born in '29, so you must have started school in '35?	16:38
Albert Raymond	Something like that.	16:39
Felix Armfield	So you will say from 1935 to '37, you went to school. [indistinct 00:16:54]. Okay, and you work for Cajun Pontiac?	16:39
Albert Raymond	I worked in Pontiac.	17:04
Felix Armfield	How long did you work for them?	17:08
Albert Raymond	Fifty years.	17:08
Felix Armfield	When did you start? 1949?	17:11
Albert Raymond	In '49.	17:11
Felix Armfield	So 1985, right?	17:16
Albert Raymond	Mm-hmm.	17:22
Felix Armfield	And that was here in New Iberia?	17:26
Albert Raymond	In Iberia. Yeah, '49, I move '49 in Pontiac and [indistinct 00:17:51]. There were '49 Pontiac come out the year, I went away from it.	17:50
Felix Armfield	Oh, really? Did you get one?	17:55
Albert Raymond	Not for [indistinct 00:17:58].	17:57
Felix Armfield	Okay.	17:57
Albert Raymond	No. I'm like—	17:57
Felix Armfield	Have you ever received any award or honors that you like to mention?	17:57
Albert Raymond	Well, I've got some— I got a bunch of plaques from—	18:07
Felix Armfield	[indistinct 00:18:13]?	18:10
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	18:14
Felix Armfield	What kind of awards were there?	18:15
Albert Raymond	[indistinct 00:18:20]. I won [indistinct 00:18:25]. I had one on engine.	18:24
Felix Armfield	Okay. Awards for good job—	18:27
Albert Raymond	Good job, yeah.	18:32
Felix Armfield	Is Cajun Pontiac still here in New Iberia?	18:55
Albert Raymond	No. Chevrolet got it now. He died. [indistinct 00:19:02] died.	18:57
Felix Armfield	What's your religious denomination?	19:04
Albert Raymond	My religion?	19:06
Felix Armfield	Mm-hmm.	19:07
Albert Raymond	Right now, is episodic.	19:07
Felix Armfield	[indistinct 00:19:10].	19:08
Albert Raymond	Yeah. Before I got to church, I couldn't see. After I got to church to pray, to pray, to pray, now I could see you.	19:16
Felix Armfield	Really?	19:22
Albert Raymond	Yeah.	19:23
Felix Armfield	So, what's your church that you go to?	19:24
Albert Raymond	Episodic.	19:27
Felix Armfield	Is that the name of it?	19:28
Albert Raymond	Yeah. I think it's the name of it. For long that I've been gone there, they haven't called it any name.	19:34
Felix Armfield	Okay. But your past church memberships were Catholic, right? You were born Catholic?	19:38
Albert Raymond	I was born Catholic, yeah.	19:43
Felix Armfield	Any community organizations that you belong to?	19:52
Albert Raymond	Mm-mm.	19:55
Felix Armfield	Okay. And you didn't serve in the military or anything like that?	20:00
Albert Raymond	No, mm-mm.	20:03
Felix Armfield	Do you have any hobbies or anything that you love doing?	20:09
Albert Raymond	Not right now.	20:15
Felix Armfield	You got one?	20:16
Albert Raymond	I used to, yeah.	20:17
Felix Armfield	And what was that?	20:18
Albert Raymond	I was a mechanic.	20:19
Felix Armfield	Loves working on cars.	20:25
Albert Raymond	That's when I want my shop at my house.	20:26
Felix Armfield	Okay. Okay, that wrapped it up.	20:37
Albert Raymond	Okay.	20:38
Felix Armfield	It shouldn't take too long.	20:39
Albert Raymond	Yeah, okay. I hope you got it good.	20:40
Felix Armfield	Oh, well, I think it's been a good interview, Mr. Raymond. I thank you for all the valuable information that you provided. I thought that was a very interesting story that you told everyone again about the punishment that women would receive here [indistinct 00:21:00].	20:45
Albert Raymond	Oh, man, that was hard, you won't forget.	21:00
Felix Armfield	Yeah.	21:02
Albert Raymond	I might forgot some but I think I'm here where I know, where I remember.	21:07
Felix Armfield	And that's what I want you to do, is to be able to give me what you can recall. It sounds like it was a sad day.	21:12
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	21:25
Felix Armfield	Those kinds of things have to occur. And not only that aside from the fact that women who were raped in a sense, men were hung—	21:25
Albert Raymond	Hung.	21:34
Felix Armfield	— for senseless kinds of [indistinct 00:21:38]—	21:36
Albert Raymond	That's right.	21:37
Felix Armfield	— that perhaps, the same and have quietly commit the same kinds of things that they would not have received as such treatment.	21:38
Albert Raymond	That's right.	21:51
Felix Armfield	So there's a lot to be done here in Iberia.	21:51
Albert Raymond	Oh, yeah.	21:54
Felix Armfield	And I thank you for being a contributing factor to this information that I just received. And is there anything else you'd like to say in closing?	21:54
Albert Raymond	That's all I can remember right now.	22:05
Felix Armfield	Okay. Thank you, Mr. Raymond.	22:08
Albert Raymond	Okay.	22:09
Felix Armfield	I hope to be able to see you before we leave town.	22:09
Albert Raymond	All right.	22:10

Item Info

Title:

Albert Raymond interview recording, 1994 July 26

Date:

July 26, 1994

Creator:

Raymond, Albert

Contributor:

Armfield, Felix

Description:

Name: Albert Raymond; Date of birth: 1929-02-28; Place of birth: unknown; Occupation(s): agriculture; mechanic; Residence: New Iberia, LA
Informant ID: 645; Interviewed by: Felix Armfield.

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:

See below

Provenance:

The David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library acquired the Records of the Behind the Veil Oral History Project from the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002.

Rights:

Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

Rights Note:

Copyright for content created by the Behind the Veil project is held by Duke University and made available to the public using a Creative Commons Attribution / Non-commercial (CC-BY-NC) license.

Identifier:

RL00170-CS-1138
1f16759d-3d79-41fc-a6fe-0411da3958c6
behindtheveil
acc15c4c-e757-4ce1-85bb-3fae6b3f153c
ark:/87924/r4gf1053z
acc15c4c-e757-4ce1-85bb-3fae6b3f153c

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4gf1053z

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection

Albert Raymond interview recording, 1994 July 26

Transcript

Item Info

1. Albert Raymond administrative file, 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

More Info & Options

Albert Raymond interview recording, 1994 July 26

Transcript

Item Info

Related Items

John Hope Franklin Research Center

More Info & Options