Eddie Bryan interview recording, 1994 August 13

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

Embed Code
<iframe src='https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4fj2nn8m?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/r4fj2nn8m
Skip to Item Info

Loading the media player...

Files for this Item

Transcript

Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.

Tunga White	Mr. Bryant, before I start asking you questions about yourself, can you tell me if you remember your grandparents?	0:05
Eddie Bryant	Hmm? No.	0:12
Tunga White	Not on your mother's or your father's side?	0:15
Eddie Bryant	Mm-mm.	0:17
Tunga White	Do you know their names?	0:18
Eddie Bryant	No. I can't remember their names right now.	0:19
Tunga White	Okay. Can you tell me—	0:25
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:00:26]	0:25
Tunga White	—Can you tell me the names of your parents?	0:29
Eddie Bryant	Hannah and Steven Bryant.	0:32
Tunga White	Were they both from here?	0:34
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	0:42
Tunga White	Okay. Now, what did they do for a living?	0:42
Eddie Bryant	My father was a river man.	0:48
Tunga White	Okay.	0:50
Eddie Bryant	Hmm? Right. He was a river man. And he did do a little carpentry.	0:51
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	1:01
Eddie Bryant	He built his own nets. He built his own boat. Plus, that, he was a farmer.	1:01
Tunga White	Okay. Do you know how many acres of land he worked?	1:21
Eddie Bryant	Back then, I would say probably about four or five.	1:29
Tunga White	Okay. So most of his work, he was on the river?	1:37
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	1:42
Tunga White	Okay.	1:42
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	1:42
Tunga White	What kind of river work did he do?	1:46
Eddie Bryant	He did oystering and fishing.	1:49
Tunga White	Okay. Did he work my himself or did he work for other people?	1:51
Eddie Bryant	No. He done it most all by himself.	2:00
Tunga White	Okay. What kind of fish would he catch?	2:07
Eddie Bryant	Mullet, trout, bass, croaker, whiting, drum fish.	2:09
Mrs. Bryant	Cow heads.	2:24
Tunga White	Hmm?	2:24
Mrs. Bryant	Sheepsheads. Excuse me to interrupt y'all. I'm sorry to interrupt y'all.	2:24
Tunga White	Okay. No problem. So the fish he would catch, who would sell them to?	2:38
Eddie Bryant	Most of the time, he'd take it to Savannah.	2:47
Tunga White	Okay.	2:49
Eddie Bryant	But the drum fish, he would carry them to Beaufort.	2:49
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Okay. Would he sell it to a person, or a company, or what?	2:55
Eddie Bryant	A fish market.	3:09
Tunga White	Fish market?	3:10
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. And people, in person, too, you know?	3:11
Tunga White	Okay. And you said he also did some carpentry work?	3:15
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	3:23
Tunga White	Do you know where he learned that skill from?	3:25
Eddie Bryant	No.	3:26
Tunga White	Did he ever tell you?	3:26
Eddie Bryant	No. He didn't never tell me where he learned that skill from, but I know he built his own house.	3:32
Tunga White	Okay.	3:33
Eddie Bryant	He built his own boat. But he ain't never tell me where he pick it up from.	3:39
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. And do you know how long it would take him to make a boat?	3:42
Eddie Bryant	No, not exactly. But it would take him a while because the only thing he had to work with then was a handsaw. He didn't have this electric saw, like—	3:50
Tunga White	Yeah.	4:02
Eddie Bryant	—Yeah. So the only thing he had back then, was—All right, now. Was a handsaw and hatches with an arch. And that was the tools.	4:06
Tunga White	Tell me, what's the process you have to go through to make a net?	4:25
Eddie Bryant	Well, first, to begin with, you've got to make the eye of the net. And when you get through that, then you've got to make a form or something to glue it on.	4:29
Tunga White	Okay.	4:46
Eddie Bryant	So the rest of it is nothing but tying.	4:55
Tunga White	And how big would his nets be?	4:56
Eddie Bryant	Well, he used to knit it from five, to five and a half, to six foot.	5:04
Tunga White	Okay.	5:10
Eddie Bryant	So that's a pretty large net.	5:10
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Do you know how long it would take to make a net, if he just sat down and worked on his net, without stopping? How long with that take?	5:15
Eddie Bryant	Well, my father could really complete a net in a couple days.	5:28
Tunga White	Okay.	5:33
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. I mean, completely.	5:39
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Now, the nets he made, they were just his use, or did he ever sell any?	5:40
Eddie Bryant	Yeah, but it wasn't very much.	5:47
Tunga White	Okay.	5:49
Eddie Bryant	He didn't charge people very much.	5:50
Tunga White	So, he just sold to people around?	5:53
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	5:54
Tunga White	Okay. Did your mama ever do any work, outside of the house?	6:02
Eddie Bryant	My mama was seamster.	6:04
Tunga White	Okay.	6:04
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. She'd make clothes.	6:04
Tunga White	She made the family's clothes and clothes for people?	6:15
Eddie Bryant	Yep. Yeah.	6:17
Tunga White	For us. Do you know how she did her business? Did just people come to her—	6:28
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	6:31
Tunga White	—and tell her they want a certain thing made?	6:31
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.	6:32
Tunga White	And they'd bring the materials?	6:34
Eddie Bryant	Right. Most the time. And then there was either bring it or she'd get the material for them.	6:35
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	6:40
Eddie Bryant	Charge them for it, which that wasn't very much.	6:40
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Did she ever do any other work, outside the house?	6:51
Eddie Bryant	No. I don't know. I can't recall whether my mother [indistinct 00:06:59] or not. I really don't. I can't remember.	6:57
Tunga White	Did you help your father out on the river?	7:07
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Yeah.	7:10
Tunga White	What was your job? Do you remember when you first when out there, how old you might've been, when you first when out to the river, doing work?	7:11
Eddie Bryant	Oh. I was small boy.	7:17
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	7:21
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	7:21
Tunga White	Do you know—	7:21
Eddie Bryant	Because—	7:21
Tunga White	—Mm-hmm? Go ahead.	7:26
Eddie Bryant	—I was the only boy, so he'd be self-employed. That's because the reason I have to quit school and go on and help him. Because, most of the time, he had three times. And most the time, shortly after I come around, those girls began having children, so there would have to be somebody to work, to keep the family surviving.	7:27
Tunga White	When you first went out to the river with your father, what kind of job did you do?	8:05
Eddie Bryant	I'd gather oysters. And been gathering them ever since, until a few years ago.	8:11
Tunga White	Really?	8:11
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	8:11
Tunga White	Up until when? When did you stop?	8:22
Eddie Bryant	About two years ago.	8:23
Tunga White	Wow.	8:24
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	8:34
Tunga White	Now, you say you had to quit school, to help you father?	8:36
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	8:39
Tunga White	What grade did you stop in?	8:40
Eddie Bryant	I stopped school in second grade.	8:42
Tunga White	Okay. Now, what school were you going to?	8:43
Eddie Bryant	Hope, that's what the name of the school, at that time.	8:53
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Do you know of a lot of other boys your age, if they had to school and help around the farm or the—	9:00
Eddie Bryant	Not too many. Back, about around in my time, it wasn't too many boys around in my age that had to quit because they had other means, or—Yeah.	9:19
Tunga White	—Now, your sisters, how much older were your sisters than you?	9:30
Eddie Bryant	Hmm? The one that I follow, she'd been about 10 years older than I.	9:39
Tunga White	Okay. And what's her name?	9:49
Eddie Bryant	Her name was Rose.	9:49
Mrs. Bryant	His sister Maybell.	9:49
Eddie Bryant	Maybell's the oldest one.	9:49
Mrs. Bryant	Yeah.	9:49
Eddie Bryant	But I say, "The one I follow," so I follow Rose.	9:59
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:10:04]	10:01
Eddie Bryant	Hmm?	10:04
Mrs. Bryant	The youngest sister.	10:08
Eddie Bryant	No. She said the one that I follow.	10:09
Tunga White	So, Maybell is the oldest girl.	10:10
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Yeah. She's the oldest. And then Stella next.	10:13
Tunga White	Stella? And then Rose? Do you know how many years older Maybell and Stella were than you?	10:26
Eddie Bryant	No. But the fact about it, they raised me, so that's about it.	10:26
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	10:26
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	10:27
Tunga White	Now, around the house, if you would get in trouble, who would discipline you, around the house?	10:41
Eddie Bryant	Well, when my parents go, those was my discipline.	10:48
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	10:52
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	10:53
Tunga White	Were they rough on you (Eddie Bryant laughs) when your mama and daddy weren't there? [indistinct 00:10:59]—	10:53
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. My sister Stella was rough on me. (laughs) The fact about it, she was rougher on me after I was grown.	10:59
Tunga White	—Really?	11:04
Eddie Bryant	Yep. Yes, sir.	11:04
Tunga White	So, you had a whole bunch of older sisters? Would they give you a lot of work to do around the house?	11:11
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. They'd treat me pretty nice, but they was very rough on me, especially when Poppa and Mama leave.	11:16
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	11:25
Eddie Bryant	Because they was the boss then. So when Poppa and Mama leave, they took over.	11:27
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	11:34
Eddie Bryant	And I was bad anyhow.	11:37
Tunga White	Bad? What do you mean you was bad? What were you doing?	11:42
Eddie Bryant	I was just a bad boy, that's all.	11:43
Tunga White	You stayed in a lot of trouble?	11:45
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. A little bit. You know? I ain't never been to jail or nothing.	11:47
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	11:50
Eddie Bryant	Old a man as I is, I never been to jail in my life.	11:50
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	11:50
Eddie Bryant	Fact about it, I ain't never been arrested.	11:52
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	11:58
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Never been arrested.	11:58
Tunga White	Now, you all went to the same church, right?	12:04
Eddie Bryant	Yep.	12:08
Tunga White	Okay.	12:10
Eddie Bryant	Same church, same pastor.	12:10
Tunga White	Now, when were you baptized? How old were you?	12:14
Eddie Bryant	Right down this place you call Hudson.	12:17
Tunga White	How old were you?	12:17
Eddie Bryant	Hmm? How old I was? I guess I'd have been about 20 years old. That's a guess.	12:17
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	12:17
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	12:20
Tunga White	Could you make a guess as to what was the age that most men or boys got baptized, back then, if you remember?	12:39
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Right around in that 17, 18, 19, on 20 years.	12:48
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	12:54
Eddie Bryant	Most of them.	12:54
Tunga White	So, y'all didn't have the little children, like, six and seven and eight years old, getting baptized?	12:57
Eddie Bryant	No. No. No. No. No. No. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. In other words, back in that days, you would've had to been 12 years old.	12:59
Tunga White	Okay. When do you think they started changing it and it started changing and younger people started getting baptized?	13:13
Eddie Bryant	Well, that ain't never been happening, until we got Reverend Simmons.	13:20
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	13:24
Eddie Bryant	Then, Reverend Simmons made us slightly start. But it really didn't happen, until we got hold of Reverend Williams.	13:28
Tunga White	Now, when did Reverend Simmons come?	13:38
Eddie Bryant	Reverend Simmons came here in the '30s.	13:41
Mrs. Bryant	That's wrong.	13:44
Eddie Bryant	Hmm?	13:44
Mrs. Bryant	In the '40s.	13:44
Eddie Bryant	In the '40s?	13:44
Mrs. Bryant	Yeah.	13:44
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm. You might right. Because he been here what? 30—	13:54
Mrs. Bryant	33 years.	14:01
Eddie Bryant	33 years, with us. And since he's gone, Reverend Williams is in the 20 years. Yeah. You're right.	14:01
Mrs. Bryant	Yeah.	14:07
Tunga White	So, Reverend Williams has been there about 20 years?	14:13
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Into 20 years.	14:16
Tunga White	Okay.	14:16
Mrs. Bryant	He started in 1993, in June.	14:16
Tunga White	Okay. So why is it that most of, back when you was coming up, the people were older, they were teenagers, by the time they got baptized? Why didn't they let younger children?	14:30
Eddie Bryant	I don't know. I guess it was the custom of them older ministers, I guess, but that's about the only thing I can see.	14:40
Tunga White	Now, when you were teenager, what kind of things would you do, and your friends your age would do, for fun, around here?	14:53
Eddie Bryant	Well, we had a ball team, right over there.	15:02
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	15:05
Eddie Bryant	So, that was our biggest fun.	15:06
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	15:09
Eddie Bryant	Play ball.	15:10
Tunga White	Was that a church team or a community team?	15:11
Eddie Bryant	No. Community.	15:13
Tunga White	Okay. And what days would y'all play?	15:18
Eddie Bryant	We'd play every evening.	15:20
Tunga White	Ooh. Wow.	15:21
Eddie Bryant	Every evening, except on Sunday.	15:26
Tunga White	Okay.	15:26
Eddie Bryant	Because them old people, back then, they didn't let you play no ball on no Sunday.	15:27
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. On Sunday, could you do any type of work on Sunday?	15:41
Eddie Bryant	Very few. Very little things you could do on Sunday, back in them days. No. They keep that as a Holy day.	15:42
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Now, when I was growing up, my mama would say you couldn't even cut with scissors on Sunday.	15:47
Eddie Bryant	That's what I'm telling you.	15:52
Tunga White	Do y'all remember that?	15:56
Mrs. Bryant	Yes.	15:56
Eddie Bryant	Yes.	15:56
Mrs. Bryant	You could cook. They'd let you cook, but to wash or iron—	15:56
Eddie Bryant	No.	16:00
Mrs. Bryant	—And mop and all them things. Work, just [indistinct 00:16:07], you couldn't, you had to wait til Monday. You couldn't do them type of things on no Sunday.	16:02
Tunga White	Now, your ball team, did y'all have a name for your ball team?	16:19
Eddie Bryant	Stoney Team.	16:21
Tunga White	Stoney Team? And what other team would y'all play?	16:21
Eddie Bryant	We would play Chaplin.	16:26
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	16:29
Eddie Bryant	They had a team down to Chaplin.	16:29
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	16:34
Eddie Bryant	And they had one in Spanish Wells. And we would go over to Bluffton and play Bluffton Team. Barnwell. Later on, we would start to begin going over to Port Royal to play the Port Royal Team.	16:37
Tunga White	Okay. Now, how would y'all get to each one of the different places y'all were going?	16:50
Eddie Bryant	Go from here in a boat.	16:53
Tunga White	Okay. Whoa.	17:11
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:17:12]	17:11
Tunga White	And how many people were on y'all's team?	17:11
Eddie Bryant	Whoo. We had—Let me see. It take—How many it take to make a team? 27? So we had, sometimes, we had enough team to play against each—	17:11
Tunga White	You would play, break the team in half—	17:26
Eddie Bryant	Right.	17:26
Tunga White	—and [indistinct 00:17:31]—	17:26
Eddie Bryant	Right.	17:26
Tunga White	—Okay. Did you have to be a certain age, before you could get on the team?	17:37
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Once you become 17 or 18, then the bigger boys would let you on.	17:45
Tunga White	Now, what position did you play?	17:51
Eddie Bryant	I used to be a catcher.	17:53
Tunga White	Ah.	17:54
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. That was my position.	17:58
Tunga White	Now, would a lot of the neighborhood people come around and watch y'all play?	18:00
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.	18:04
Tunga White	Did you have a championship, or something, certain times of the year, when you figure out who was the best team in the area?	18:04
Eddie Bryant	Once in a while. We had had a team that came from Savannah and play us, but that's been way back.	18:17
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	18:24
Mrs. Bryant	That's the first time, before that.	18:24
Eddie Bryant	But they've been over to Yamacraw. I can't remember the team right now, but—	18:30
Tunga White	What kind of outfits or uniforms would y'all wear?	18:40
Eddie Bryant	We didn't wear a uniform, back then.	18:43
Tunga White	You didn't try to match?	18:43
Eddie Bryant	No.	18:43
Tunga White	Everybody match their clothes up?	18:43
Eddie Bryant	We just—	18:43
Tunga White	Well, how would you know, with just looking out there, who was on whose team? Because it might get confusing to see somebody standing there and you don't if they're stealing a base, or getting ready a base, or holding a base, or—	18:53
Eddie Bryant	—No. We didn't—	19:06
Mrs. Bryant	No. They had to know.	19:07
Eddie Bryant	—Yeah. Well, everybody growed up, just about, knowing each other. So—	19:09
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. I guess they had to have good eyes too.	19:14
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Yeah.	19:19
Tunga White	Was there ever a Black doctor in this area?	19:26
Eddie Bryant	No. I can't recall. The fact about it, when I was a boy, ain't no doctor been on this island.	19:30
Tunga White	Really? Well, what would y'all do, when you became sick?	19:44
Eddie Bryant	Well, the baby is born, what you call a midwife. No doctor, no hospital. Get sick, you take them to Savannah.	19:50
Tunga White	Okay. You'd have to go to Savannah, if you get real sick? But what if you got the mumps or you had a fever, did they have a lot of the mothers, who had home remedies?	20:05
Eddie Bryant	Oh. Yeah. Yeah. They would remedy that.	20:10
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	20:11
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	20:13
Tunga White	What kind of home remedies can you remember your mother or your sisters using on you?	20:14
Eddie Bryant	Well, at least once a year, they would fill you up with that castor oil, for one thing, for sure.	20:22
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	20:34
Eddie Bryant	And they used to take, if you get a swell, like my feet swell up now, they'd get that clay, make a putty. Seems like—	20:35
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. I had that, like that clay dirt?	20:54
Eddie Bryant	—Yeah.	20:54
Tunga White	Yeah?	20:54
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	20:55
Tunga White	When I had twisted my ankle, my mom put that clay dirt on it.	20:56
Eddie Bryant	Okay. You know what I'm talking about.	20:58
Tunga White	Now, you got to tell me some more, now. She didn't do too many. Y'all got to tell me some more. She didn't do too many that she knew. When you got a toothache, how'd y'all do a toothache?	21:05
Eddie Bryant	Well, they had a tree that you call a shoemaker tree. And they would take the bark off that tree and dry it, let you hold that on your teeth. And sure enough, you'd get relief.	21:15
Tunga White	Really?	21:33
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm.	21:33
Tunga White	They still got trees like that around?	21:33
Eddie Bryant	Yeah, a couple of them. You know?	21:33
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. How does it look? Look like what kind of tree?	21:33
Eddie Bryant	It look most like an oak tree, but you can tell the difference from them because their bark is different and they've got some little spur on them, like little sticky things. Yeah.	21:45
Tunga White	Did a lot of people get measles or mumps?	22:04
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	22:08
Tunga White	A lot of them?	22:13
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. But I can't quite recall what they used to do for that there, but they had a remedy for it.	22:13
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. What about did they have a lot of fevers coming through here?	22:25
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Yeah.	22:30
Tunga White	And what kind of a fever, do you remember?	22:30
Eddie Bryant	No. I ain't never really know the name of the fever.	22:36
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	22:36
Eddie Bryant	In other words, they had one they called Fall Fever.	22:37
Tunga White	Fall Fever?	22:39
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	22:41
Tunga White	Hmm. Who would have, the person, if they had Fall Fever, what kind of symptoms would they have.	22:47
Eddie Bryant	If they had the Fall Fever, it was—In other words, that castor oil was one of the main medicines. It would keep you system clean with that. And they had a lot of them. Another one they called Blackdraw, which you know is white. I don't know. (laughs) She must've done took some of that.	22:54
Tunga White	Yeah. I had some of that before. (Eddie Bryant laughs)	23:19
Eddie Bryant	She must've done had some of that.	23:19
Tunga White	Yeah. That was some nasty stuff.	23:19
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Night everlasting.	23:19
Tunga White	Hmm? Have you ever seen some medicine called Father Johns.	23:28
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	23:31
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. It's white and milky?	23:31
Eddie Bryant	Yep. Yep.	23:33
Tunga White	Did you ever take that?	23:35
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm. Yep.	23:36
Mrs. Bryant	And rock candy and honey.	23:43
Tunga White	Rock candy and honey?	23:45
Mrs. Bryant	Rock candy. And then honey and lemon.	23:46
Tunga White	And who would that help? Would help you with?	23:48
Mrs. Bryant	That's for a fever.	23:52
Tunga White	A fever? Okay. For colds, would you make teas? And what kind of tea would you make for colds?	23:58
Mrs. Bryant	You would draw this [indistinct 00:24:05] of ice and put lemon in it. Sugar or lemon or honey, and drink it.	24:10
Eddie Bryant	Sometimes them boys would put moonshine in it. (laughs)	24:14
Tunga White	It didn't do nothing to help.	24:15
Mrs. Bryant	They swept [indistinct 00:24:25].	24:15
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	24:15
Eddie Bryant	[indistinct 00:24:32] I ain't no [indistinct 00:24:32] but I appreciate [indistinct 00:24:32] so good [indistinct 00:24:40].	24:15
Tunga White	Do you know of any people who had their own stills around here?	24:33
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	24:37
Tunga White	Would they just keep it for their own personal use—	24:38
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	24:41
Tunga White	—or would they sell—They wouldn't sell it? It was mostly personal? Do you know how the still works? How it—	24:42
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. You put that mash and put the sugar in, and then set there, until they start to boil. And then, once they're ripe, you know it. And then you put them in a pot a boil it.	24:56
Tunga White	—And how long would it take, from start until finish, making it?	25:08
Eddie Bryant	If the weather warm, it'll ripen. They call them ripe. It'll ripe in three days. She laugh.	25:24
Tunga White	And if it wasn't warm, how long would it take?	25:37
Eddie Bryant	Probably about five.	25:39
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. So, most people made it in the spring and summertime?	25:45
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. They make them they year round, as long as the man don't catch you.	25:52
Tunga White	So, if they caught them, what would they do? They'd put them in jail, or fine them, or something?	25:52
Eddie Bryant	Put them in jail.	25:52
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Were a lot of young people drinking back then?	25:59
Eddie Bryant	No.	26:12
Tunga White	No?	26:12
Eddie Bryant	Mostly older people. You had a few young boys that poured 'em up, but—	26:13
Eddie Bryant	Now, you take me, I ain't never had a drink, until I married. And there wasn't much of that.	26:21
Tunga White	Hmm? Why is that?	26:28
Eddie Bryant	I just didn't want to.	26:30
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	26:31
Eddie Bryant	Mm-mm. I ain't drinking nothing that'll burn up my throat. (laughs)	26:34
Tunga White	Now, if your daddy would've caught you drinking—	26:34
Eddie Bryant	Good Lord have mercy. Whoo!	26:34
Tunga White	—when you was 15, what would he have done to you?	26:35
Eddie Bryant	Whoo!	26:35
Mrs. Bryant	He wouldn't have been here.	26:35
Eddie Bryant	Whoo!	26:35
Mrs. Bryant	Because them people, in them days—Whoo!	26:35
Eddie Bryant	I learned to smoke from my daddy, though.	26:53
Tunga White	Oh. Okay.	26:57
Eddie Bryant	Because he used to smoke cigar.	26:57
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	27:00
Eddie Bryant	And then he would, every once in a while, he would give me a cigar for light them for him.	27:02
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	27:07
Eddie Bryant	So that's where I learned to smoke cigar, from my dad.	27:08
Tunga White	So, did you like it, at first?	27:11
Eddie Bryant	No. No. No. No. No.	27:13
Tunga White	Oh.	27:16
Eddie Bryant	Drunked me a couple of times, so I—But as I keep going, then I had bad stomach.	27:16
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	27:29
Eddie Bryant	And they never did [indistinct 00:27:31]. Even no doctor been here. So they ain't never looked to find out what's wrong with me. And so my mama bought me a package of Bugle cigarettes. So, I learned to smoke through my parents, on the validation of my stomach.	27:30
Tunga White	Oh. So, that would help with your stomach some kind of way?	27:52
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	27:58
Tunga White	You just had what? What was wrong with your stomach, it was just upset a lot? Or—	28:00
Eddie Bryant	Upset and very few things I could eat and it'd stay down.	28:00
Tunga White	Okay.	28:04
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm.	28:05
Tunga White	So, some kind of way, the cigarettes made—	28:09
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Yeah. Some kind of way. For what way or how they do it, now I can't tell you. But I do know that once I smoked that cigarette, I'd get some different—In other words, it'd kind of settle that stomach down.	28:11
Tunga White	—When you were smoking the cigarettes for your stomach, how many would you smoke a day to—	28:29
Eddie Bryant	Well, I had to roll them, so I didn't smoke too many. (laughs)	28:34
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. You had them little paper. Then you take tobacco and put them in and then go, "Aww, shucks."	28:42
Tunga White	—Mm-hmm. Okay.	28:49
Eddie Bryant	But I didn't smoke too many.	28:49
Tunga White	Did your stomach keep bothering you a long time or did you kind of—	28:49
Eddie Bryant	Yes. Yes.	28:49
Tunga White	—You didn't grow out of it?	28:49
Eddie Bryant	A little bit, but I always had problem with my stomach.	29:08
Tunga White	Did you ever chew tobacco?	29:12
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	29:14
Tunga White	Did a lot of people chew?	29:16
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. There was quite a few.	29:18
Tunga White	What about women? Did a lot of women do it?	29:20
Eddie Bryant	No. Most women would chew snuff. (laughs)	29:23
Tunga White	Mrs. Bryant, did you ever do that?	29:24
Mrs. Bryant	No, ma'am! (Eddie Bryant laughs) I couldn't stand nobody with that thing in their mouth. No, ma'am. (laughs) Ohhhh no. And their lips stick out.	29:29
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	29:33
Eddie Bryant	And she done got stick that lip and pull them over, "Aww shucks."	29:33
Tunga White	I can't see how a woman could do that.	29:33
Mrs. Bryant	I couldn't understand how they could chew something. Because some women chew tobacco, I hear, but I'd never seen them. But I've seen them put the snuff in before. And I couldn't stand it and my stomach was—	29:49
Tunga White	When I was in Georgia, I saw a lot of women that do that. People do that a lot there.	30:04
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm. Yeah.	30:13
Mrs. Bryant	And you know, the first time I seen that, I think [indistinct 00:30:20].	30:20
Mrs. Bryant	A man had come in and plant tomato, had a tomato farm here. And he was from Florida, this man named Taylor. And one morning, from 6:00, I think, because he knock on my door. I wasn't living here then, I was living with my father and mother. And this person knock on this door and I—Because I was up, cooking breakfast, because he had to go to work.	30:20
Mrs. Bryant	And I said to myself, I said, "Who that come knock on my door until 2:00 in the morning?" And this woman come and knock on my door asking, "Miss, we ain't got no ham, we ain't got no kitchen. Listen. Listen. [indistinct 00:31:01] put this cup for I carry to work" I said, "What you talking about?" "You ain't got no snuff in here to give me a little bit?"	30:44
Tunga White	Oh my goodness.	31:00
Mrs. Bryant	I said, "I don't even know what that is." Then, later on, when some of these different stores here come around, I see this. Yes, ma'am. I can't stand that.	31:06
Tunga White	He had a habit, then, huh?	31:18
Mrs. Bryant	I can't stand that mess. No, sir.	31:18
Tunga White	Mr. Bryant, have you ever lived anywhere besides Hilton Head?	31:18
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. I lived in Savannah a while. Worked over there. But I ain't never did move my family there.	31:36
Tunga White	Right.	31:42
Eddie Bryant	My family was on this island.	31:43
Tunga White	So, you just worked in Savannah, after you got married?	31:45
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	31:45
Tunga White	What kind of work were you doing out there?	31:45
Eddie Bryant	Ship work.	31:45
Tunga White	Okay.	31:45
Eddie Bryant	Back in—	31:45
Tunga White	Did you ever—Okay. Go ahead.	31:45
Eddie Bryant	—Back in them days, I was a longshoreman.	31:45
Tunga White	Uh-huh. Did you ever work with a WPA?	31:45
Eddie Bryant	I worked, yeah, a little bit for my father. You know? Filling in for him. But they ain't never did give me a job, I was too young.	32:08
Tunga White	What was your father's job, you was doing while he was gone?	32:38
Eddie Bryant	He don't do nothing but dig ditch.	32:38
Tunga White	Oh. Was the pay good? Did he ever mention if the pay was good with the WPA?	32:38
Eddie Bryant	No. Nobody didn't never tell me what the pay was. Because my pay, he would give me 25 cents a day.	32:50
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	32:50
Eddie Bryant	But, no. As far as what he was getting, I don't know.	32:50
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Around how old were you, when you were filling in for him?	32:50
Eddie Bryant	Oh. I'd have been about 16, 17 years old.	32:50
Tunga White	When you was a longshoreman, what was the pay like then?	32:53
Eddie Bryant	Oh. Yeah. I was a grown man, then.	32:55
Tunga White	Uh-huh. What was the pay like then?	32:56
Eddie Bryant	The pay then was pretty good because—What we was getting? $1.50 or $1.75, something like that, an hour, so that'd been big money.	33:00
Tunga White	Hmm.	33:11
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	33:16
Tunga White	Would you get paid once a week?	33:16
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. We'd get paid every Thursday.	33:17
Tunga White	Now, when you got paid and your brought that check home, would you keep it or would have to give it to your wife, for her to pay the household things?	33:30
Eddie Bryant	No, ma'am. Shoot. I would have to give that to her because she's the one that keep the insurance going.	33:44
Tunga White	So your wife did all the budgeting, the family budgeting?	33:47
Eddie Bryant	Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She did all that. Mm-hmm. And still do. (laughs)	33:49
Tunga White	—So, Mrs. Bryant, how hard was it to make those ends meet?	33:59
Mrs. Bryant	I tell you, girl, in them days it was straight tough, but I made it. Yes.	34:04
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	34:11
Tunga White	So, Savannah's the only other place that you lived?	34:11
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. More so, my work was river work. Yeah. I'd get some work here on the island, keep me in the air condition, but most of my work was river work. I was gilling oyster practically all my life.	34:19
Tunga White	And once you became an adult and you were doing it, were you working with somebody, or were you working for yourself?	34:40
Eddie Bryant	For myself.	34:45
Tunga White	Do you prefer working for someone else or being your own boss.	34:48
Eddie Bryant	I prefer being my own boss.	34:52
Tunga White	So you can—Why? Why do you prefer being your own boss?	34:53
Eddie Bryant	Well, number one, if you don't go, you don't get nothing.	34:57
Tunga White	Yeah.	35:05
Eddie Bryant	That's being your own boss. So if you want to get something, then that'll make you go to work.	35:05
Tunga White	Would you be out there six days a week, once you became a grownup doing it?	35:20
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Every day, except Sunday. From Monday through Saturday, but Sunday, mm-mm.	35:24
Tunga White	What time would you first go out there, what time in the morning?	35:33
Eddie Bryant	It was all depending upon the tide.	35:36
Tunga White	The tide?	35:38
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. You don't have a set time, just depending upon the tide.	35:39
Tunga White	So, the tide determines when you go and when you come back?	35:45
Eddie Bryant	Right. Right.	35:47
Tunga White	Is a certain time of the year, when the—	35:51
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. From October to April.	35:55
Tunga White	—Then, is there certain times of the month, when it's better?	36:04
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. The colder it is, the better it is, for oysters.	36:11
Tunga White	Did you ever go by the moon, as far as figuring out?	36:19
Eddie Bryant	Well, figuring out the tide. Yeah.	36:25
Tunga White	—All right. We're just about done. I just got to ask you a couple more questions on your family history. Now, what's your date of birth?	36:36
Eddie Bryant	1916, the 18 days of April.	36:47
Tunga White	And you were born here in Hilton Head?	36:55
Eddie Bryant	Yes, ma'am. They used to call it Spanish Wells.	36:56
Tunga White	Spanish what?	36:56
Eddie Bryant	Spanish Wells.	36:58
Tunga White	Okay. Spanish Wells?	36:59
Eddie Bryant	We grew up on the place you call Stoney.	37:02
Tunga White	Okay. Now, your mom and dad both grew up on Hilton Head?	37:04
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	37:09
Tunga White	Now, what places did they grow up?	37:12
Eddie Bryant	My mama grew up on Stoney.	37:14
Tunga White	Okay.	37:16
Eddie Bryant	But my daddy grew up a place you call Elliot, that's where he's first out of.	37:16
Tunga White	Now, where's Elliot?	37:25
Eddie Bryant	That's down the north end of this island.	37:25
Tunga White	Okay.	37:25
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm.	37:25
Tunga White	Do you know your mama or your daddy's birthday?	37:36
Eddie Bryant	No. No.	37:41
Tunga White	Do you remember the year that they died?	37:43
Eddie Bryant	No.	37:43
Tunga White	Can you kind of—	37:43
Mrs. Bryant	His mama died in June. June?	37:43
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	37:43
Mrs. Bryant	She died in June.	37:43
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Because my birth mother died in June in 1919.	38:10
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:38:20].	38:13
Eddie Bryant	I remember when mama died. Matter of fact, I remember when mama died. Mama. In fact, I remember when Poppa died.	38:20
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:38:36].	38:31
Eddie Bryant	Hmm?	38:36
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:38:39].	38:36
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. Well, you must remember when Poppa died, right? But you ain't know Mama.	38:38
Mrs. Bryant	She died before we were married.	38:51
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm.	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	In 1937.	38:51
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	And she had to have died in '36.	38:51
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. I think it was '36.	38:51
Tunga White	—Okay.	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	It was '36 or '35.	38:51
Tunga White	Okay.	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	And his daddy died in '51.	38:51
Tunga White	'51?	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	In Charleston, North Carolina.	38:51
Eddie Bryant	Excuse me. Yeah. I know it was in November because—	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	It had to be November.	38:51
Eddie Bryant	—he would've—	38:51
Tunga White	Now, you said—	38:51
Eddie Bryant	—November?	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	Yeah, November. Not the 10th, the 19th of November. The 19th of November.	38:51
Eddie Bryant	Because he had lived to end of November, he would've been 90 years old.	38:51
Mrs. Bryant	Yeah. But he died. His birthday was the 24th and he died the 19th.	39:00
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm.	39:01
Mrs. Bryant	Of November.	39:01
Tunga White	—Okay. Now, you said your real mother. Your daddy married again?	39:37
Eddie Bryant	No. See, I was a raised child.	39:49
Tunga White	Oh. Okay. Okay. Oh.	39:51
Eddie Bryant	I was a raised child. Yeah.	39:55
Tunga White	So, what's the name of your birth mother and what's the name of the mother that raised you?	39:55
Eddie Bryant	The mother that raised me is the name I give you just now. And that was Hannah Bryant.	40:07
Tunga White	Okay.	40:10
Eddie Bryant	And my birth mother's name is Sarah.	40:11
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	40:19
Eddie Bryant	That's what I named my oldest daughter, after my mother.	40:19
Tunga White	Okay. Now, you said your birth mother died when you were about three years old?	40:19
Eddie Bryant	Yes. Because I was born in '16 and she died in '19.	40:30
Tunga White	Mm-hmm. Did she die of some sickness or something?	40:30
Eddie Bryant	Childbirth, I think.	40:30
Tunga White	Childbirth? Mm-hmm.	40:30
Eddie Bryant	That's what I learned. Because I ain't never seen her, because I was only three years old when she died.	40:38
Tunga White	Now, your mama Hannah, what's her name before she got married?	40:51
Eddie Bryant	Jones.	40:52
Tunga White	How many years—You said you dropped out of school in second grade?	41:01
Eddie Bryant	Yeah.	41:05
Tunga White	Now, do you remember, you said you was working out in Savannah, what year you started working out there in Savannah?	41:15
Eddie Bryant	She got the more better memory than me, she might can tell you.	41:21
Mrs. Bryant	In '41. '41.	41:23
Tunga White	Okay. And how many years did you work out there?	41:37
Eddie Bryant	I believe I stayed in Savannah about five years.	41:42
Tunga White	Now, are you a member of any organizations or hold any offices in the church, anything like that?	41:50
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. I'm a chairman of marriage at the Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church.	41:55
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:42:07]	41:55
Eddie Bryant	Hmm?	42:07
Mrs. Bryant	[indistinct 00:42:10]	42:07
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. I was the deacon for it. I'm sorry. I'm the president of the senior choir.	42:10
Tunga White	Okay.	42:10
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm.	42:10
Tunga White	Got it. Did you ever join the military?	42:10
Eddie Bryant	No. Too many children. I went up there and examined, but the man sent me back home, said I have too much children.	42:34
Tunga White	Really? Were you glad of that?	42:42
Eddie Bryant	No. Because, I guess right now I would've at least had some money coming in. (Eddie and Mrs. Bryant laugh)	42:42
Tunga White	I know what you mean.	42:45
Eddie Bryant	At least right now I would've had some money coming.	42:45
Tunga White	Now, what do you like to do in your spare time, nowadays?	42:57
Eddie Bryant	You mean, like how it is now?	43:02
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	43:03
Eddie Bryant	I used to raise hogs.	43:05
Tunga White	Really?	43:06
Eddie Bryant	And I really loved that because there's always something for me to do.	43:10
Tunga White	How many did you have?	43:12
Eddie Bryant	Oh. I had as much as 30 head at one time.	43:17
Tunga White	Wow. Geez.	43:18
Eddie Bryant	So that used to keep me real busy. But since then, I don't get like it is now, where I had to get rid of them. Fact about it, I just got rid of my hogs last year.	43:21
Tunga White	Oh. Really?	43:30
Eddie Bryant	Mm-hmm.	43:30
Tunga White	No kidding? So, what do you do, you just raise them and then you take them all?	43:32
Eddie Bryant	I raise them and take them to a place called Estelle.	43:36
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	43:38
Eddie Bryant	To the market and sell them.	43:40
Tunga White	What kind of price does a good hog?	43:43
Eddie Bryant	Sometimes, when you get a price, say $.50 cents, or $.55 cents, on a foot, that's good price.	43:47
Tunga White	—Mm-hmm.	43:55
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. And I used to run into that regularly.	43:56
Tunga White	Were any people around here, they don't have any type of livestock or any kind of farm animals, like chickens, or anything, around here?	44:07
Eddie Bryant	No. We used to have chickens, but we got rid of them. Now, I still got a horse.	44:16
Tunga White	Mm-hmm.	44:23
Eddie Bryant	Yeah. I still got my horse.	44:23
Tunga White	So do you have any favorite sayings, or quotes, or Bible verses?	44:28
Eddie Bryant	Well, my really favorite Bible is John 15. I just love that, "Let not your heart be troubled."	44:34
Tunga White	Okay.	44:45

Item Info

Title:

Eddie Bryan interview recording, 1994 August 13

Date:

August 13, 1994

Creator:

Contributor:

Description:

Name: Eddie Bryant; Date of birth: 1916-04-18; Place of birth: Hilton Head, SC; Occupation(s): food processing; Residence: Hilton Head, SC
Informant ID: 481; Interviewed by: Tunga White.

Occupation:

Food processing

Location:

Format:

Language:

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

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-1431
9405d191-637b-43a8-b785-ada32fb834d4
behindtheveil
e524d164-ae33-4d8a-99f7-e7d01281a072
ark:/87924/r4fj2nn8m
e524d164-ae33-4d8a-99f7-e7d01281a072

Permalink:

https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/r4fj2nn8m

Sponsor:

Sponsor this Digital Collection