RL00170-CS-1669_02
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Elvenia Williams Harris | One of the things that he did from [indistinct 00:00:03] and how he was raised by this White family and that sort of thing. We also knew about Doctor—I'm trying to think of the principal at—Not principal, he was—Well, Morehouse University. Mays. Dr. Mays. We knew about him because those things I experienced while I was in college. And we would talk about them, great Black Americans. We eventually got to that over the years as the years passed. We began talking about things like that. But the educational system in New Hanover County became much better. Then we began to have teacher assistants. | 0:00 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When was that, Mel? | 1:03 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | I think it was after all of that at A&T, at Mississippi, when they stood at the door to avoid Medgar Evers or whoever it was there from going into the school. Governor Wallace. George Wallace. I think it was after all of that. So that was the one, two, three. That was about '63. I can imagine '63, '65. It was what you call a period of—Can I think of the word that I would like to use? It was adjustment period. Adjustment period, where you wanted to find out where you stood. Just where do I stand here? | 1:06 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Here I am trying to teach these little Black children all I know how. I am bringing sandwiches for them too, well, because there were so many of them in New Hanover County did not have food. They did not have breakfast at home. I found even in New Hanover County with the children with whom I was dealing at that particular time, they were worse off than a lot of those in Bladen County. Yes. I was at the bottom of the pole with these repeaters or with the one that was less learned at that particular time. He began like that. | 2:12 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | I don't know if it's a good idea. Maybe so. But that was his strategy and his procedure, Mr. McDonald's way of bringing you in to are you worth—You have to show your worth of being here at Gregory. You have to show your worth here. Are you progressing enough so that you can move to another grade level? Okay. This was the repeaters in the first grades that I had. That was all right. Okay. Then I gradually made myself up to third grade. Third grade, a little of it was still showing. But we had books. Well, they were coming in where they could use the books. The books were free to them at that particular time. They could go to the cafeteria and get their lunches. Most of them had to pay. Those who did not have anything, they had to. Okay? | 3:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | They didn't have to pay? | 4:12 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | They didn't have to have anything. They didn't have to pay. I found myself in New Hanover County very rewarding. | 4:13 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms. Harris, why was it that you decided to become a teacher? | 4:26 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | At first, I wanted to be a nurse. That was my first desire, to be a nurse. But as time went on, when I graduated from high school, that summer, I went to New York. And my brother saw to it that I had a job. As it came near a time for me to decide if I were going to a teaching school or just where I was going, then a friend of the family, my sister's brother-in-law, sent for me and told me what I could expect from them if I were to attend Federal State. And there, that is when I decided, well, I think I would like to be a teacher since there isn't anyone right now for me to go to certain places where I could get a good nursing degree. | 4:37 |
Rhonda Mawhood | So they would help you? | 5:42 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | So they'd help me. Yes. So that is when I decided I would go to a teacher college, and that's when. But my uncle, with whom I lived on North 11th, on Wood Street, he always would say, "This is my little teacher." And that was encouragement, and I think that had a lot of influence in my life so far as wanting to become a teacher. And then after I got into it, I wanted to be one of the best teachers that I could be for the students so that I could make them the best students or best person in their community and into the world as they go on out. | 5:43 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Thank you. [indistinct 00:06:35]. Your grandfather you say? | 6:29 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Yes, yes, yes. My grandfather was a very strong-willed, progressive and outgoing person. He was a great plantation owner so far as what you call plantations for Blacks at that particular time, especially in Williamsburg, South Carolina. He had fields of wheat, cotton. They had every kind of produce imaginable. He was very, very strong and very, very determined to make his family the best family that he could provide for them. So therefore, my grandfather, before he died, he saw to it that each one had their share, his or share, of land adequate enough to produce a good living for their families. | 6:35 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | And in so doing, some of them—Okay, there was one sister who had the cotton gin. There was another sister who had the cane mill. Okay. All of us would gather the cane and go to her mill. And from the juice, she had the equipment. If you know anything about this cane mill, it squeezed all of the juice from the cane. Then they had the big pans that made the juice into syrup, and then the jars and everything were around. Everyone in the family, they feel their jars for the coming winter for their families. | 7:59 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | At another one of our aunt's houses, we did all the canning. She had all of the fruit trees. She had all kinds of fruit trees. And so we would go there and the same procedure all over again with the family's [indistinct 00:09:05] who wanted to do it. But we went, and we did this. But my father continued from when my mother died. Then he was married again, and then when the second wife died, the third wife came. All together, he had 13 children. It was a large family, but we were separated. | 8:45 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | As I stated earlier, when we were very young, we knew nothing about the third family throughout seven years ago, maybe not that long. One day, my husband answered the phone, and he said to my husband, "I would like to speak with Afinia. I am her brother." He said, "She doesn't have any brothers except so-and-so," living at that time, Johnny and Saul. He said, "But I am her brother. I am her half-brother." So therefore, my husband called me to the phone, and I realized that it was my father's third wife's son. So from that, I was determined to pull the families together. And in so doing, we had our first family reunion in 1992, July of 1992. | 9:37 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Last year? | 10:56 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Last year. I had 100% participation. | 10:59 |
Rhonda Mawhood | That's wonderful. | 11:03 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Yes. And they all came together. We went over all of the history of Wash Williams. We had— | 11:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And who was that, ma'am? | 11:13 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Wash Williams was my grandfather, again. Okay. Granddaddy Wash provided for his children with enough land. I may be repeating myself in one or two. | 11:15 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Repeating from the bulletin. | 11:31 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Bulletin, right. All right. Granddaddy Wash provided his children with enough land to maintain plentiful and productive lives, laying strong foundation for later successes for all of his children. Okay. The growing family lived on the plantation until each became grown and developed his or her own business. As I first stated, poultry was in abundance, including chicken, turkeys and ducks and Guineas, and garden produce, corn, potatoes, beans, lettuce, peppers and every other vegetable imaginable. | 11:32 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | They were used by families and sold at markets as well. They owned herds of cows, hogs, sheep and goats, and each member of the family owned his or her own smokehouse for the [indistinct 00:12:33] of these foods. Orchards produced peaches, grapes, pears and apples. And of course, all of this provided also eggs and butter and milk they needed, as much as was needed. Even boats of cloth was a product of this land, adding to the self-reliance of this cohesive family. | 12:19 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Through cooperation, hard work and a sense of community, Wash Williams developed a garden of plenty on his plantation with his hands, his mind and his heart. And we saluted him with our family reunion. I receive a plaque from the family for my hard work in organizing the first Williams family reunion. It was overwhelming getting together, knowing this is my first cousin, this is my uncle so-and-so's child, this is my first cousin and the kids and the hugging. And oh my goodness, it's unexplainable what happened that weekend here in Wilmington. And you can see from the pictures that they were—Oh, they were just there. | 13:02 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Yes, and from this generation, we have engineers. We have engineers. We have school teachers. We have those that who finished with Magna Cum Laude, two or three of them. We have nurses. We have teachers again. | 14:06 |
Rhonda Mawhood | This is the generation after you? | 14:28 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | The generation, yes, after me. They really came down. And my sister-in-laws, I have to give them credit. They were very outgoing, determined young women. They had large families, but not as many as my father, but four. My youngest brother had the most. He had seven. But the others four and on. But there were many of them who had fours, stayed in the fours. Okay. They are still progressing and entertaining. Here's a movie. She plays in movies whenever she can. She also is an airline stewardess. She has her own business in Atlanta, Georgia. The other one is here. All of them finished. And this is her baby. They just continued what my grandfather would have loved to have lived to see. To ask | 14:29 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'd like to ask you a couple. | 15:47 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Yes. | 15:47 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What was your grandfather's wife's name? | 15:48 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Amy. | 15:51 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Amy. | 15:51 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Amy. Mm-hmm. | 15:52 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And when you were talking about being in South Carolina and the cane and everything, was this summers that you spent in South Carolina when you were growing up? | 15:54 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | No, this went up the whole time. I stayed there— | 16:01 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay, so before you moved. | 16:05 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | —before I moved, you see. Well, I had to learn. The older ones, no. I was a fifth child of my mother. But others, I learned so much from them, from my other brothers and sisters. But the work that was done in the booklet for the family reunion came strictly from those who did work for my older uncles and aunts who were still living. | 16:06 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did your grandfather come to have the land that he had? | 16:42 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | When I grew, when I was old enough just to go walk around and see what was going on, they told me, "See, your grandfather had so much. I think that it was back there." And it may be because my grandmother was White on my mother's side. My grandmother was White. | 16:51 |
Rhonda Mawhood | On your mother's side? | 17:24 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | On my mother's side. | 17:25 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Who, Amy? No, [indistinct 00:17:31]. | 17:29 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | My mother's father was White. And every time, as children, even when I moved away, we had to go to this particular store where this man had maybe a block of stores. We had to go and see him. We did not know at that particular time my mother came from that family, and I think from this day, way back there on back, that that was the beginning of some of my grandfather's things that could have been. I'm just saying that some of them. They may have seen to it that he had a certain thing. | 17:30 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Well, we still have land down there with trees and all on. My brother-in-law thinks that it's really outrageous that we have not gone down there. He said, "You have a wealth of materials and lands with trees on it." No one's bothering it. We have a few cousins down there who were now trying to do something with the land. They're doing the best that they could. But I am so proud too. This is one thing. After the family reunion, I did this all by myself, set up the whole thing by myself. I am the kind of person they look to for a grandmother. My sister's children were here all of the time because she lived in Riegelwood, North Carolina. She married into a very outstanding family, the Swallen family, some chestnuts and all. Along with that and with my family, it was a very good blending together so far as the children were concerned. And I decided after that. I said, let me go and do whatever I can. | 18:14 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | So my husband along with myself, we decided to go find my parents graves down there. And we just came back Monday from South Carolina. Seen to it that the headstones were placed correctly before I paid my final bill. So that was one thing. So now I am in the process of trying to get each family to come down, go to the birthplace, to their parents' birthplace, find the graveyard and find out where grandparents are buried, you see. All right. My Trinity Baptist Church, which is all included in here, is one of the largest one of the old churches there. It was built in 1800s. We came by there. I bought for the family a pew in my father's name. All right. So that is that. And we want them to continue some of these things. All right? Yes. | 19:39 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Are you a member of any organization, Mrs. Harris? | 20:50 |
Elvenia Williams Harris | Yes, ma'am. Yes, I am. I am a member of the Retired Teachers of New Hanover County. | 20:59 |
Rhonda Mawhood | In order for me to be able to put the tape— | 21:20 |
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