Evelyn Wilkens interview recording, 1993 June 26

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Rhonda Mawhood	Now, anytime you want to jump in, Ms. [indistinct 00:00:06], I might ask you something, if you remember something, but if you don't, then that's fine. If you do remember something, please just join on in.	0:04
Rhonda Mawhood	The first thing I wanted to ask you, Ms. Wilkins, is have you always lived in this area?	0:15
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	0:19
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm, you have?	0:19
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I was born and raised right here in Shields. We called it then Shields.	0:19
Karen Ferguson	Shields.	0:19
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm. [indistinct 00:00:20] right here. I went down on the other side of Shields, and that's where I lived at until my husband died. Then I come back east. This is where I think I might have spent the most of my life, right here in Shields. Yeah, I believe that.	0:19
Rhonda Mawhood	When you were growing up, Ms. Wilkins, what did your parents do for a living?	1:11
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	They farmed, old time farming. Mm-hmm. Plowing, the mule and the plow. That's what we did, and we'd chop, shell peas. [indistinct 00:01:34] tell her that. We did all that until we got grown.	1:16
Rhonda Mawhood	Did you—Oh, sorry?	1:25
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, that's all right. Go on, hon. Sometimes I need you to cut in to help bring the speeches out, what I got to say.	1:45
Rhonda Mawhood	Well, one thing I did want to ask you, Ms Wilkins, is did your parents own the land they farmed, ma'am?	1:51
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	No, they didn't own that land. They'd rent that land by the half share.	2:02
Rhonda Mawhood	By the half share?	2:08
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah. No, they didn't never own no land. The biggest land we owned, after we bought this little house right here, we owned that and put this house here.	2:16
Rhonda Mawhood	The house that we're on right now?	2:28
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah.	2:30
Rhonda Mawhood	You have a nice yard here.	2:30
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I don't think so. It's a bad yard.	2:31
Ms. Richardson	So low.	2:49
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	We been here about 20 years, or 21.	2:49
Rhonda Mawhood	You were saying your parents raised cotton?	2:50
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Cotton, peanuts, corn. Mm-hmm. Wasn't that stuff I was used to pulling [indistinct 00:03:02]? Yeah.	2:53
Ms. Richardson	They're growing the corn still.	2:59
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah. [indistinct 00:03:10]. Sure did, but seemed like [indistinct 00:03:23] wasn't a bad time at that time, but I know it was kind of bad because some of us didn't like to do it too much.	3:17
Rhonda Mawhood	Did you like farming, Ms Wilkins?	3:26
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	No, I didn't care for it, I didn't.	3:29
Rhonda Mawhood	Why was that, ma'am?	3:34
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	What that meant?	3:34
Ms. Richardson	What did you say?	3:37
Rhonda Mawhood	Why was that, that you didn't enjoy farming?	3:38
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	No, I didn't enjoy farming.	3:41
Rhonda Mawhood	What didn't you like about it?	3:43
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, like pulling corn, call that pull.	3:45
Rhonda Mawhood	Fodder?	3:46
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, like pulling corn. Mm-hmm. [indistinct 00:03:59] I won't tell you it's the [indistinct 00:04:01]. They'd be so heavy on. Some old things I do like, but I got away from that. Yeah. I got away from it.	4:00
Rhonda Mawhood	How many children were there in the family?	4:27
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Nine, wasn't it? Nine [indistinct 00:04:38]—	4:33
Ms. Richardson	Eight.	4:39
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Eight? Then I come along. I didn't add one?	4:56
Ms. Richardson	No.	5:04
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	[indistinct 00:05:05] Then she came along and she had eight, didn't you?	5:04
Ms. Richardson	Mm-hmm.	5:04
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	5:04
Rhonda Mawhood	Ms Richardson, how many children were there in your family? How many children did your parents have?	5:04
Ms. Richardson	Our parents are the same.	5:14
Rhonda Mawhood	Oh, I see.	5:15
Ms. Richardson	Mm-hmm.	5:16
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	We're sisters.	5:16
Rhonda Mawhood	You're sisters? Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were sisters.	5:16
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah.	5:16
Rhonda Mawhood	I didn't know that.	5:16
Ms. Richardson	Mm-hmm.	5:16
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Did you like farming, Ms Richardson?	5:23
Ms. Richardson	It's all right with me. I didn't mind working. I just loved to be on the outside anyway. I didn't like housework too good, but I always did it.	5:26
Rhonda Mawhood	Ms Wilkins, I'm not from the South. I'm from up north in Canada, and so is Karen.	5:40
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	5:46
Rhonda Mawhood	Could you maybe describe to us a little bit, or Ms. Richardson, how you chop cotton, how you pick it?	5:46
Ms. Richardson	What you have—	5:55
Rhonda Mawhood	How you pick cotton?	5:57
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Oh.	5:58
Ms. Richardson	Pick it with your hand, and chop it with a hoe.	5:58
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	5:58
Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	5:58
Ms. Richardson	Yeah. Yeah, we picked cotton. Not like the cotton pickers now. We picked with our hands. Crawl on your knees, let your back get tired and everything.	6:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Oh, yeah. I just understood her. Yeah, we did that. We—	6:09
Ms. Richardson	All this tractors and things like they got now farming. We did most of the farming with your hands, worked in the field.	6:24
Rhonda Mawhood	Were there special things that the girls did on the farm, specially? What kinds of things were your responsibility? What kinds of jobs did you two do in the family?	6:36
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Pick cotton.	6:47
Rhonda Mawhood	Pick cotton?	6:48
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Shell peanuts.	6:49
Ms. Richardson	Uh-huh.	6:49
Rhonda Mawhood	Did everyone do that in the family?	6:52
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	No, the boys, they'd pull quarter, shuck corn.	6:55
Ms. Richardson	They plowed.	6:58
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Plowed.	6:58
Ms. Richardson	Planted.	6:58
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	6:58
Rhonda Mawhood	Did the boys have to do the housework too?	7:06
Ms. Richardson	No. No. The girls did it, and my mother. Of course, tend to the hogs. He would raise hogs and chickens, like that. The hog was the boys' job. Housework was the girls'. That's all, feed the chickens, that [indistinct 00:07:40]. I don't know.	7:08
Rhonda Mawhood	How often did your family slaughter the hogs?	7:47
Ms. Richardson	Once a year. Every winter. That's why then, we'd only be raising the meats for the home. I don't know about the stores and different things and markets.	7:51
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. What was that like, hog slaughtering time?	8:06
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Seemed like we'd enjoy it. It was good. The fresh meat was better than it is now. We just enjoyed that. You'd slaughter the pig, put them up, hang them up, let them drain dry. I can't tell you all about it because I was kind of small, but we enjoyed it.	8:13
Ms. Richardson	Made our own sausage out the hogs like that.	9:01
Rhonda Mawhood	At hog slaughtering time, were there different jobs for boys and girls, men and women?	9:05
Ms. Richardson	I don't know. My people just did their own [indistinct 00:09:19]. I'd tell you [indistinct 00:09:20] I don't know. You go through a lot raising children, so many things come up, getting old and forgetting stuff. I don't know. I ain't no help much, I tell you.	9:12
Rhonda Mawhood	Oh, I don't know about that.	9:42
Rhonda Mawhood	I was wondering about going to church.	9:42
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	9:48
Rhonda Mawhood	About your family, did your family go to church?	9:49
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah. Yeah, they attended church. Sure did. We loved the whole church. We had a good preacher, seemed like then. Pastor, then he'd preach. Sometimes they had two sermons in the evening. I was looking at that old [indistinct 00:10:30].	10:02
Ms. Richardson	She just stopped going to church when she—	10:37
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Got hit.	10:37
Ms. Richardson	Broke her hip and got hurt. We've been going to church all our life. Mother had Sunday school, church from then on out. But after she couldn't get around, that kind of slowed me up. She was the mother of the church, and I sang in the background in the choir. Slow but sometimes we get by, everything [indistinct 00:10:58], can't get back to do nothing, but we still go to church sometimes.	10:37
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. When you were growing up, what was it that you liked about church?	11:06
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	What did I like about—	11:15
Rhonda Mawhood	What did you like? Mm-hmm.	11:16
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, I kind of liked it all. I loved to hear the man preach, and—	11:16
Ms. Richardson	Poems.	11:16
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, I liked it all.	11:16
Ms. Richardson	Parishioner? What was the last [indistinct 00:11:33]?	11:16
Rhonda Mawhood	What church did you belong to?	11:16
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Galilee right up here.	11:16
Ms. Richardson	Galilee Baptist Church.	11:16
Rhonda Mawhood	Oh, Galilee Baptist?	11:16
Ms. Richardson	Mm-hmm.	11:16
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Right up here. Mm-hmm.	11:16
Rhonda Mawhood	Can you tell me about your baptism, Ms. Wilkins?	11:46
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, yeah, I could tell you.	11:52
Rhonda Mawhood	We'd love to hear about it.	11:54
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Just was a baptism, [indistinct 00:11:56]. I had [indistinct 00:11:56]—	11:55
Ms. Richardson	Well, you had it [indistinct 00:11:56]. That's where you're going to. Soon as [indistinct 00:12:14] telling you, it had two benches sitting across the front. All the little boys and girls go to the morning bench, then they get up, they feel the spirit, and they get up, and then they get baptized on the first Sunday in September. When they get baptized they had to go to a pond and dip down in the water. Be like that. Then you come back and they put your name on the roll, and then you was a member from then on.	11:56
Rhonda Mawhood	Where was the pond that you were baptized?	12:47
Ms. Richardson	Lord have mercy. I don't know.	12:49
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I know where mine was.	12:52
Ms. Richardson	Where?	12:52
Rhonda Mawhood	Where was that?	12:53
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Like going over to that—after you pass the last new great building church.	12:54
Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	12:54
Ms. Richardson	Church, chapel.	12:54
Rhonda Mawhood	Is it in that creek?	12:59
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	12:59
Rhonda Mawhood	In that creek there?	13:06
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah.	13:07
Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	13:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	We got baptized.	13:07
Rhonda Mawhood	Mill Run Creek, is that it?	13:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah.	13:09
Ms. Richardson	Mm-hmm.	13:12
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	We sure did.	13:12
Karen Ferguson	Did people that went to other churches go to your baptism? Was it just the members of your own church or did other people come?	13:18
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Other people come.	13:26
Ms. Richardson	Mm-hmm.	13:26
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm. Sure did.	13:26
Rhonda Mawhood	Was there a celebration at the baptism?	13:35
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yes. We had a big one.	13:38
Rhonda Mawhood	How did you celebrate the baptism?	13:48
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Oh, you got on that. Stepped in the water, went to watch them, singing some good old Christians. Well, they started dipping. Started [indistinct 00:14:43] dip [indistinct 00:14:43]. Mm-hmm. After that, then that's when the letter [indistinct 00:14:43] the preacher did, and—	13:55
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. The preacher would sing another hymn?	14:43
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	14:44
Karen Ferguson	Once you were baptized?	14:45
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm, by John the Baptist. Yeah. I enjoyed it. [indistinct 00:15:05]. Y'all been back to Amelia Center?	14:45
Karen Ferguson	Yeah, we have been.	14:45
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	You have?	14:45
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	14:45
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I'm getting ready to tell you something. He's a great, he's a good minister. He's a good somebody at reading that, explaining things to you, because he could sure beat me. We got some more old men like that too, could be.	15:38
Rhonda Mawhood	Wow. Everyone that we've talked to has been able to tell us a little bit about their own life, and that's really helping us a lot and we appreciate it.	15:48
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	15:59
Rhonda Mawhood	Ms. Wilkins, where did you first go to school?	16:00
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I'll tell you. It's down the road, on the left-hand side. My uncle lived down that road, and it's not far. It's an old house, don't nobody live in now. Nobody lives there. They died and nobody has been living in it since. The boy is trying to get it back. I don't know whether he'll ever get it back or not.	16:14
Rhonda Mawhood	Do you remember what they called the school, Ms. Wilkins?	16:57
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Chestnut Grove.	16:59
Rhonda Mawhood	Chestnut Grove?	17:02
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	17:06
Rhonda Mawhood	How did you get to school when you were a little girl, Ms. Wilkins?	17:06
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	We walked. We walked about two miles down the road. We'd come back evening, rain and snow. We made it pretty good.	17:14
Karen Ferguson	Were you ever not able to go because you had to work on the farm? Were you able to go every day?	17:42
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah. I went just about every day. Some days, when I couldn't go, I just couldn't go.	17:50
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm.	18:10
Ms. Richardson	Oh, lord, that's all right. I'm going to keep bothering you. I won't go back a bit, [indistinct 00:18:29].	18:14
Karen Ferguson	Okay. okay.	18:28
Ms. Richardson	Yeah, I'll be waiting.	18:28
Rhonda Mawhood	Okay. Ms. Wilkins, did all of your brothers and sisters go to school also?	18:28
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	18:32
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm?	18:34
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, but they didn't exactly make it. They made it so close, so I said they made it.	18:40
Rhonda Mawhood	They almost completed school?	18:47
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	18:50
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. What grade would they finish to have made it, Ms. Wilkins?	18:51
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Some of them was six, some of then was seven. All [indistinct 00:19:05] back then.	18:56
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	18:56
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Most of the girl was ahead of the boys [indistinct 00:19:16].	18:56
Rhonda Mawhood	Did you like school, Ms. Wilkins?	19:17
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, I liked school. I sure did.	19:18
Rhonda Mawhood	Do you remember any of your teachers?	19:26
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm. One of them was Ms. Emma Walden?	19:28
Rhonda Mawhood	Ms. Emma Walden?	19:44
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm, and one of them was Ms. Alexander?	19:44
Rhonda Mawhood	Ms. Alexander?	20:12
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm, and one of them was—Alexander, I'm trying to see about the other one. [indistinct 00:20:13] tell you. That was [indistinct 00:20:13].	20:12
Rhonda Mawhood	Were your teachers women from around here, Ms. Wilkins?	20:12
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Most of them.	20:19
Rhonda Mawhood	I'd like to ask you some questions about changes, Ms. Wilkins, changes that you might have seen happen. Do you remember when you first got electricity?	20:35
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	20:55
Rhonda Mawhood	When was that, ma'am?	20:58
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Let me see. Well now, you'll have to give me the good meaning. What that mean?	20:58
Rhonda Mawhood	Electricity?	20:58
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	20:58
Rhonda Mawhood	When did the light first come into a house that you lived in?	21:15
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Oh.	21:19
Rhonda Mawhood	Light switches?	21:20
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm. Well, I'll tell you. When light first come in, we had moved there, but we didn't have no lights when we moved then. Then after we moved there, they wired them up.	21:21
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm, so the wires came in, and you were grown at that time, were you?	21:56
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	About 17.	22:02
Rhonda Mawhood	What did you think of it the first time you—	22:17
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I saw light?	22:39
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	22:39
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I thought it was fine. I sure did. I liked the light, because there were candles and lamps, they were about [indistinct 00:22:42] on. I sure liked them. I thought they were fine.	22:39
Rhonda Mawhood	When you were growing up, Ms. Wilkins, where did your family get the water?	22:54
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Where'd we get the water? Well, first place in Atlanta, you had a well. You'd go down to the well and dip water, pour it off, let it run clear.	22:58
Rhonda Mawhood	Let it run clear?	23:17
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	It was good water. It was good water.	23:17
Karen Ferguson	Was the well close to your house, or to the farm?	23:34
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	23:39
Karen Ferguson	It was right at the farm?	23:40
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm. Yeah, the water was kind of down in the woods, and there it was shady down there just like it is down there now.	23:42
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	We'd be running just to [indistinct 00:24:10] down the drain, running dishes through that.	23:53
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Who went to get the water for your family, Ms. Wilkins?	24:22
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	The boys, Daddy.	24:25
Karen Ferguson	Was it far away from the house?	24:26
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-mm. It wasn't too far.	24:51
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. You said that you rent on a half share. Is that what you said?	24:52
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, my daddy.	24:54
Karen Ferguson	Uh-huh. What does that mean exactly, what does that mean that you rent on a half share?	24:56
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	You tend the boss man land.	25:02
Karen Ferguson	Okay.	25:03
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	On the half share, you'd share the land with him.	25:03
Karen Ferguson	Right.	25:03
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	He'd give you so much, half of it. What else did we—They didn't farm all together like they do now.	25:03
Karen Ferguson	Who didn't farm together?	25:32
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I said they didn't farm all together like they do now.	25:34
Karen Ferguson	Okay.	25:39
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	The boss man.	25:39
Karen Ferguson	Oh, right, so it was just your father who was farming?	25:39
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	25:44
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm, but the boss man got half the crop?	25:48
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Half.	25:50
Karen Ferguson	Okay. When did you settle up with him?	25:51
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	First of the fall.	25:56
Karen Ferguson	Uh-huh.	25:56
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah.	25:56
Karen Ferguson	Was he fair?	26:03
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	He did pretty good.	26:05
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm?	26:06
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	26:06
Karen Ferguson	Was the boss man fair? Did he give you what you were owed for what you did?	26:08
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, I think he did pretty good.	26:15
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm.	26:29
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	They're here, that's Gary.	26:29
Karen Ferguson	Yeah? Are they coming to pick you up?	26:29
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Uh-huh.	26:36
Karen Ferguson	Okay.	26:36
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I don't think they know you're here.	26:36
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	26:36
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	They're turning around.	26:39
Rhonda Mawhood	He's in someone else's—	26:40
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yard.	26:43
Rhonda Mawhood	—yard.	26:52
Karen Ferguson	When you said you—Who was the man, who was the boss man?	26:52
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	What, now?	26:57
Karen Ferguson	No, back then when you were growing up?	26:59
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I done forgot them old men's names.	27:02
Rhonda Mawhood	Okay, okay. Was he a White man or a Black man, Ms. Wilkins?	27:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	He was White.	27:09
Karen Ferguson	Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Did you stay on the same farm all the time when you were growing up?	27:12
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	27:15
Karen Ferguson	Okay. Some people say that they were sharecroppers. Were you the same as that? Were you sharecropping?	27:21
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	27:26
Karen Ferguson	You were?	27:26
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	27:26
Karen Ferguson	Do you think you had a pretty good setup compared to other sharecroppers?	27:29
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, I think so.	27:35
Karen Ferguson	Why?	27:36
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, some of it was so much better now, you know.	27:38
Karen Ferguson	Uh-huh. The landowner was better or the farm was better?	27:45
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Sometimes the landlord was better. Sometimes the farm was better.	27:53
Karen Ferguson	What made a good landowner?	27:57
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Like you'd get land in kind of high places.	28:03
Karen Ferguson	Right, okay.	28:15
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	It helped.	28:15
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. Were there ever any floods?	28:15
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	No. I never saw a flood until I got grown.	28:19
Karen Ferguson	Okay. Were there floods around here in other places?	28:31
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	After I got grown.	28:35
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. Where were they?	28:49
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I [indistinct 00:29:01]. They was all around, after I got grown and realized what a flood was.	29:00
Rhonda Mawhood	Oh, okay. Okay. When you got married, Ms. Wilkins, where did you move to then?	29:01
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Let's see [indistinct 00:29:05] get to right. I know you'll never know the place, so if you're going to build a new house there. There, I stayed right out on this road. We cut a new road, and I stayed right out on that. Now they done built a new house. Everything going on pretty good out there.	29:04
Rhonda Mawhood	It was in Tillery?	29:04
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	It is.	29:04
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	29:04
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Right back there, right back.	29:04
Rhonda Mawhood	Back Tillery, mm-hmm. Your husband and you, Ms. Wilkins, did you sharecrop at that time?	29:04
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm. Sure did.	29:53
Rhonda Mawhood	What kinds of things did you and your husband grow on your own farm, Ms. Wilkins, the same kinds of things.	30:09
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, we grew the same kinds of stuff. Tobacco, cotton.	30:17
Karen Ferguson	Tobacco, cotton? Ms. Richardson, we can move back. We can move—	30:24
Ms. Richardson	No, I—	30:26
Karen Ferguson	Are you sure?	30:27
Ms. Richardson	It's all right.	30:27
Rhonda Mawhood	Okay, okay. Would you say that your arrangement when you were married, your farming arrangement, was that as good as the one your parents had had, or better or not as good?	30:29
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Seemed that I don't think it is altogether as good, I don't believe.	30:51
Rhonda Mawhood	Why is that, ma'am?	30:57
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I thought he would [indistinct 00:31:00] the schoolhouse when we got married. Well, anyway, we forgot—	30:58
Karen Ferguson	Where were you working?	31:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	At that schoolhouse.	31:07
Karen Ferguson	What were you doing there?	31:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I was a—	31:07
Ms. Richardson	Cleaning.	31:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Cleaning.	31:07
Karen Ferguson	Uh-huh.	31:07
Ms. Richardson	You would work in the lunchroom.	31:08
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	31:08
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Worked in the [indistinct 00:31:25]. Yep, I used—I had jobs all over there.	31:08
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. Was it a school for Black children or for White children you were working in, Ms. Wilkins?	31:37
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	They were Black.	31:41
Karen Ferguson	They were Black? Mm-hmm. What school was that?	31:45
Ms. Richardson	Right up the road.	31:45
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, [indistinct 00:31:50].	31:46
Karen Ferguson	Okay, just—	31:46
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Imagine you'd come right on back here, if you had to come [indistinct 00:32:02].	32:01
Karen Ferguson	Okay. Were you living on the farm at the same time as you were doing that work?	32:01
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-mm.	32:05
Karen Ferguson	Where were you living?	32:06
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I was living in the man's house, but I wasn't exactly on his farm.	32:10
Karen Ferguson	Okay. Was this the farm that you had grown up on, or—	32:23
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-mm.	32:25
Karen Ferguson	No? What farm was this?	32:26
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	This ain't much of a farm. Just got—See, this main [indistinct 00:32:35] blocks, but like bigger, for housing, things like that. Now, that's a block in there. This a block over here. There's one over there. See, that's where we lived on.	32:27
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. Did you like working in those other places?	33:03
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, I liked it.	33:07
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. How was it compared to working on the farm?	33:08
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Seemed like I don't—I didn't like it so well, when I first went there.	33:21
Rhonda Mawhood	Ms. Wilkins, may I ask you where you met your husband?	33:40
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	When I what?	33:42
Rhonda Mawhood	Where you met your husband?	33:44
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Where did I meet him?	33:47
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm, where did you meet him?	33:48
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	[indistinct 00:33:49] here.	33:49
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	33:49
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	33:49
Rhonda Mawhood	Did you know him when you were growing up?	33:53
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm, yeah, I did.	34:03
Rhonda Mawhood	How did you start courting?	34:03
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, I don't know. I just started back in it.	34:08
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. When you got married, did you get married in the church?	34:23
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-mm. I went to the preacher's house, and I got married in his house. No, I never wanted a wedding, but—	34:25
Rhonda Mawhood	You had a small wedding.	34:28
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	34:28
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. You told me that Ms. Richardson had eight children, but did you have children, Ms. Wilkins?	34:56
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	No, I didn't have any.	35:00
Rhonda Mawhood	No children? Okay. Did you take care of anybody else's children?	35:02
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Done that all my life.	35:09
Rhonda Mawhood	Oh, really? How many children have you raised?	35:11
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I don't know. I don't know. I raised so many children, White and Black.	35:19
Karen Ferguson	Right. They lived with you here?	35:24
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-mm (negative).	35:28
Karen Ferguson	No?	35:28
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-mm.	35:28
Karen Ferguson	Where did they live?	35:28
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well now, they lived with their parents, and I kept house for them.	35:28
Karen Ferguson	Right.	35:44
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Too, she'll come get them at night.	35:47
Karen Ferguson	Was your husband farming while you were working in people's houses?	36:03
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, he was farming, probably.	36:15
Karen Ferguson	Right, so you took care of Black children as well in their homes?	36:15
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	36:18
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm? Where were these people living?	36:20
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	They were out in the country.	36:23
Karen Ferguson	Right.	36:24
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	I helped them like a day or so, or two days, something like that.	36:24
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Did you like caring for children more than working in the school, Ms. Wilkins?	36:34
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, I liked it all right. I had some very good children to deal with. I liked it all right.	36:37
Rhonda Mawhood	Did you ever have any naughty children to deal with, any bad children?	36:51
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, I had some bad. I don't mean to say I didn't.	36:56
Rhonda Mawhood	What would you do about them when they were bad?	37:06
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	The parents would always tell me to spank them. Spanked them. Didn't hurt them much. I just spanked them.	37:10
Karen Ferguson	Mm-hmm. When you were growing up, and also when you were married, what did you do to have a good time? What did you do for fun?	37:27
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well—Hm.	37:33
Rhonda Mawhood	Did your family celebrate holidays, Ms. Wilkins?	38:13
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	38:15
Rhonda Mawhood	Which ones did they celebrate usually?	38:17
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Christmas and Easter. Yeah. We had two or three of them, [indistinct 00:38:34] holiday [indistinct 00:38:36].	38:19
Rhonda Mawhood	Did they celebrate the fourth of July?	38:36
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	38:37
Rhonda Mawhood	That one's coming up.	38:38
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	38:39
Rhonda Mawhood	How did you celebrate Christmas and Easter when you were growing up?	38:42
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	They'd dress you in a little Easter bonnet and thing, and have your—Well, I don't know. I done dressed in so many little cute things. They had them looking nice.	38:47
Rhonda Mawhood	It was important to look nice.	39:15
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	39:16
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Who did your hair for the Easter and Christmas holidays, Ms. Wilkins?	39:19
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	They had—I forget the name.	39:26
Ms. Richardson	All the [indistinct 00:39:33].	39:26
Rhonda Mawhood	Did they braid your hair for the holidays?	39:37
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	39:43
Karen Ferguson	There was no Santa Claus, is that what you said?	39:43
Ms. Richardson	Yeah, she had Santa Claus toys and stuff.	39:44
Karen Ferguson	They had that or they didn't?	39:48
Ms. Richardson	They had it.	39:50
Karen Ferguson	They had it?	39:50
Ms. Richardson	Yeah.	39:51
Karen Ferguson	Who dressed up as Santa Claus?	39:52
Ms. Richardson	Well, we did?	39:55
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Oh, really? Who?	39:56
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	My mother.	39:57
Karen Ferguson	Uh-huh.	39:57
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	39:57
Karen Ferguson	Was it just the family who celebrated Christmas together, or were there other people who came?	40:07
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Other people who came.	40:14
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Did the church ever have revivals in the summertime or other times, Ms. Wilkins?	40:28
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	40:32
Rhonda Mawhood	Can you tell me a little bit about what the revivals were like?	40:34
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah.	40:35
Rhonda Mawhood	Okay. Well, Ms. Wilkins—Right. I'd like to ask you a little bit of information about your family, if that'd be okay.	41:09
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah.	41:14
Rhonda Mawhood	About yourself and about your family.	41:15
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	41:17
Rhonda Mawhood	So that people who hear this tape will know a little bit about you, about your family, where you come from.	41:21
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	41:30
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Now, what was your name before you married, Ms. Wilkins, your last name?	41:30
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	My name was Evelyn Davis.	41:42
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Davis?	41:42
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Davis.	41:42
Rhonda Mawhood	Do you call yourself Mrs. Evelyn Wilkins or Mrs. Evelyn Davis Wilkins?	41:51
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	41:55
Rhonda Mawhood	Davis?	41:57
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	That's who I am.	41:58
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	42:01
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Davis Wilkins.	42:01
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Okay, and could you tell me when you were born please, ma'am, if it's not too personal?	42:12
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	It was May the 14th. May the 14th. Let me see what else. Let me see how much I remember. I was born May the 14th, 1914.	42:16
Rhonda Mawhood	1914?	43:02
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	43:02
Rhonda Mawhood	You were born in Tillery?	43:02
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	43:03
Rhonda Mawhood	Ms. Wilkins, mm-hmm, okay.	43:13
Rhonda Mawhood	What was your husband's name, Ms. Wilkins?	43:13
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	William Wilkins.	43:16
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Was he around the same age as you, or older or younger?	43:24
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	He was a little older than I was.	43:30
Rhonda Mawhood	A little, a couple years?	43:30
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	43:31
Rhonda Mawhood	Has your husband passed on, Ms. Wilkins?	43:36
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	43:38
Rhonda Mawhood	Was that a while ago?	43:38
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Yeah, that was about 18 years.	43:43
Rhonda Mawhood	In 18 years. Thank you. And your husband was born around Tillery also?	43:47
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	43:49
Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Can you tell me your mother's name, please, Ms. Wilkins?	44:01
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Hattie Davis. She was Hattie Phillips first.	44:05
Rhonda Mawhood	Hattie. She was Hattie Phillips first? Mm-hmm.	44:22
Karen Ferguson	Let me see. Was she born around here?	44:22
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Well, in a way, around here, at Rich Square.	44:26
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Rich Square? Okay.	44:30
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Rich Square, mm-hmm.	44:31
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Right where—Okay. Did she work on the farm?	44:32
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	44:42
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Uh-huh. Did she do any public work?	44:42
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	44:45
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	What did she do?	44:46
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Making [indistinct 00:44:47] home.	44:47
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	44:47
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	44:47
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	44:49
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Worked for White people.	44:51
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	In their homes?	44:53
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	44:53
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay. What was your father's name, please, Ms. Wilkins?	44:53
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Albert Davis.	45:12
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Albert?	45:12
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	45:12
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Was he born around here, ma'am?	45:23
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	45:24
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Tillery, Rich Square? Tillery?	45:27
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	45:28
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm. Did he do any public work?	45:37
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	45:39
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	What did he do?	45:40
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	He did a whole lot of carpentry.	45:40
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Carpentry?	45:44
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Carpentry.	45:44
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	45:44
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	45:45
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay, and the name of the school where you were at was Chestnut Grove, is that right?	46:04
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	46:08
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay. Is that in Tillery, or it's Halifax County?	46:23
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	46:23
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm.	46:37
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	You said you were a Baptist, right, Ms. Wilkins?	46:37
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	46:40
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Mm-hmm, and you still go to Galilee Baptist?	46:42
Evelyn Davis Wilkens	Mm-hmm.	46:45
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood	Okay.	46:45

Item Info

Title:

Evelyn Wilkens interview recording, 1993 June 26

Date:

June 26, 1993

Creator:

Wilkens, Evelyn Davis

Contributor:

Description:

Name: Evelyn Davis Wilkens; Date of birth: 1914-05-14; Place of birth: Tillery, NC; Occupation(s): unknown; Residence: Tillery, NC
Informant ID: 148; Interviewed by: Rhonda Mawhood and Karen Ferguson.

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

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Provenance:

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

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Limited Re-Use

CC BY-NC 4.0

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:

Interview number: 438
43c3a028-b8ab-40f3-a2fd-5f8c728c37e8
behindtheveil
btvnc04044
ark:/87924/r4pr7s84j
696c4bd2-a8f9-4599-bb6e-95813f2197dd

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Evelyn Wilkens interview recording, 1993 June 26

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Item Info

1. Evelyn Wilkens administrative file, 1993

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Evelyn Wilkens interview recording, 1993 June 26

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