Alice Reagan interview recording, circa 1994

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Tunga White	Testing one, two, three. Testing one, two, three.	0:02
Tunga White	Mrs. Reagan, before I begin asking you questions about your life, can you tell me if you remember your grandparents?	0:05
Alice Reagan	Yes, I do.	0:15
Tunga White	What were their names?	0:19
Alice Reagan	I tell you what you do. Look on that table there. I wrote a little piece last night. I don't know whether that'll help or not. See on one of those place mats right there?	0:25
Tunga White	Under one of these place mats?	0:34
Alice Reagan	Under the other one. You know what? I just wrote this out. I said, "This might help today a little bit."	0:38
Tunga White	Okay.	0:49
Alice Reagan	But the thing it is about it, my grandmother on my mother's side name was Alice Johnson. That was her maiden name.	0:49
Tunga White	Okay.	1:02
Alice Reagan	My grandfather name, her husband was Johnny Pate.	1:09
Tunga White	What's his last name?	1:15
Alice Reagan	Pate, P-A-T-E.	1:15
Tunga White	Okay. Do you know your father's parents' names?	1:15
Alice Reagan	Yeah. My grandfather on my father's side was Charlie Green. He lived until he was 90 years old.	1:31
Tunga White	That's great.	1:39
Alice Reagan	My grandmother on this side was Mary.	1:43
Tunga White	Now, were they all from this area?	1:51
Alice Reagan	They all were from this area.	1:53
Tunga White	Okay.	1:56
Alice Reagan	South Carolina.	1:56
Tunga White	Do you remember them, growing up as a child?	2:04
Alice Reagan	Yes, I do.	2:07
Tunga White	What do you remember about your grandparents on either side?	2:10
Alice Reagan	Well, my grandfather from my mother's side, I remember he went to Miami, Florida, to work when I was a little child. He bought a little piece of land and built a house.	2:15
Tunga White	He bought the land where?	2:34
Alice Reagan	He bought the land right here in South Carolina, about two miles from here.	2:36
Tunga White	How much land was it? Do you know about how much?	2:43
Alice Reagan	Five acres.	2:45
Tunga White	What kind of work did he do?	2:51
Alice Reagan	When he was in Florida, let me see what kind of work did he do? It was construction work, I think he said.	2:54
Tunga White	He was building homes or working on buildings?	3:18
Alice Reagan	I think he was just working on buildings.	3:18
Tunga White	Why did you think he chose Miami, Florida, of all places?	3:18
Alice Reagan	I don't know. That's just a place he heard about work there, and he wanted to go there. They had a whole lot of work for us. I was a little child, but I do remember that. I mean I was young, but I do remember that.	3:21
Tunga White	But he probably took the train down?	3:34
Alice Reagan	Let me see? How did he went? I think he went with some more fellas in a truck. I think it was a whole bunch of them went in a truck down there.	3:34
Tunga White	Now, his wife, she stayed here—	3:45
Alice Reagan	Here until he-	3:53
Tunga White	—with her family? Was she living with her—	3:53
Alice Reagan	Yes.	3:53
Tunga White	Did she live at their family home?	3:53
Alice Reagan	No. He left her at her brother house.	4:03
Tunga White	Okay.	4:05
Alice Reagan	It was still in South Carolina though.	4:06
Tunga White	Now, what was she doing for work? Did she have a job?	4:14
Alice Reagan	No, she didn't have a job. She just used to help her brother do things, I would say, like milk the cows and stuff like that.	4:17
Tunga White	So she didn't have any children at this time?	4:27
Alice Reagan	She didn't have any children, no. My mother was the only child she ever had.	4:31
Tunga White	Really? I'm an only child.	4:34
Alice Reagan	Is that right?	4:36
Tunga White	Do you know if a lot of people at that time, men would leave the state and go wherever they got a job for them to get-	4:57
Alice Reagan	Wherever they could find some work to do, they used to go. But now, whoever they are, I don't really remember all those names.	4:58
Tunga White	Do you think that they probably took their families or they just left their families with relatives or at home?	5:03
Alice Reagan	They left their families. Most of them, what I know, they left their families here and went and work a while and then came back and start all over again, I would say.	5:11
Tunga White	On your other side of the family, your other grandparents, was their life similar to that?	5:21
Alice Reagan	No. They farmed all their lives.	5:33
Tunga White	Did they own their own land or do you think they rented?	5:35
Alice Reagan	No. No, they rented it.	5:36
Tunga White	Were there a lot of Black landowners at that time, do you think?	5:36
Alice Reagan	Let me see. Well, not that I know of. I'll put it that way. I don't know if there were a lot or not. I sure don't.	5:37
Tunga White	So your grandmother worked the farm with her husband?	6:05
Alice Reagan	With her husband and the children.	6:07
Tunga White	And the children?	6:09
Alice Reagan	That's right.	6:10
Tunga White	The children helped?	6:10
Alice Reagan	Yeah, the children helped, too.	6:12
Tunga White	How many children did they have together?	6:13
Alice Reagan	Great Lord.	6:16
Tunga White	A lot.	6:16
Alice Reagan	Yeah. I don't know, to tell you the truth. I really don't know.	6:19
Tunga White	Was it more than 10, do you think?	6:22
Alice Reagan	It might been about 10, I guess.	6:27
Tunga White	Tell me about your parents. What were their name?	6:35
Alice Reagan	My mother name is Elnora Green. My father name is Isam Green, I-S-A-M.	6:38
Tunga White	Your father's name is what?	6:53
Alice Reagan	Isam, I—	6:58
Tunga White	How do you spell that?	6:59
Alice Reagan	I-S-A-M, I think.	7:01
Tunga White	Now, what did they do for a living?	7:01
Alice Reagan	Well, my daddy left my mother. They separated when I was going on six years old. I don't know what he was doing. He went off with another woman.	7:01
Tunga White	Your mother, did she go back and live with some of her family or did you all stay in mainly your family home?	7:17
Alice Reagan	No, we stayed in our family home. Mama cooked for White people.	7:25
Tunga White	Okay.	7:32
Alice Reagan	I got married later after we had stayed together for a while. Then I got married and lived on my own.	7:41
Tunga White	Okay. How old were you when you got married?	7:48
Alice Reagan	18.	7:48
Tunga White	You say you got married at 18. Now, was that early or was that kind of late for most girls getting married? Or was that a ripe age when a girl got married?	8:01
Alice Reagan	Well, most of them were getting married, I would say, at that time.	8:09
Tunga White	At around 18 years old?	8:22
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh.	8:22
Tunga White	Now, how old would a girl have to be before they considered her an old maid or something?	8:22
Alice Reagan	I would say around maybe 30.	8:23
Tunga White	30 years old?	8:24
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	8:24
Tunga White	That old? Okay.	8:24
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	8:24
Tunga White	Oh, so there's still hope for me then?	8:24
Alice Reagan	Oh, sure. Sure, a pretty girl like you.	8:24
Tunga White	Now, how many brothers and sisters do you have?	8:24
Alice Reagan	Not any.	8:24
Tunga White	Oh, my. Can you describe the house you grew up in?	8:24
Alice Reagan	Yeah. The house I grew up in had only four rooms. It had, well, people used to call it a hall at that time, but I would say the living room, kitchen and dining room were all in one, and two bedrooms.	8:50
Tunga White	Now, can you describe the way the house looked in the outside of it and—	9:08
Alice Reagan	All I know, it was an old, rusty house, one of them old, dilapidated buildings.	9:27
Tunga White	Did you have any other family members living in the house with you all?	9:28
Alice Reagan	No.	9:29
Tunga White	Your yard, did you have a big yard to your home or a porch—	9:54
Alice Reagan	Well, so—	9:58
Tunga White	—or anything like that?	9:58
Alice Reagan	No, I didn't have a porch. I had a beautiful flower yard. It was a big flower yard.	10:01
Tunga White	What kind of flowers did you all grow in your flower yard?	10:14
Alice Reagan	Geez, so many of them. You had zinnias. Let me see what was the name of them, four o'clocks, sunflowers all around the edge, petunias. I don't know what else. So many of them.	10:15
Tunga White	There was just a lot of them?	10:44
Alice Reagan	Yes.	10:44
Tunga White	Your mother loved flowers?	10:44
Alice Reagan	Yes.	10:44
Tunga White	Did you have a garden?	10:44
Alice Reagan	Yes, we had a garden.	10:56
Tunga White	What grew in your garden?	10:56
Alice Reagan	Cabbage, onions, butter beans around in our garden. Let me see what else, beets.	11:08
Tunga White	Beets?	11:09
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	11:09
Tunga White	Did you like eating beets?	11:09
Alice Reagan	Yeah, I love beets.	11:14
Tunga White	You love beets?	11:14
Alice Reagan	I sure do. You don't like—	11:14
Tunga White	I could never. I can do vegetables.	11:14
Alice Reagan	Yes, how about that?	11:14
Tunga White	But I don't really like beets. What kind of chores did you have around the house since it was just you and your mother living in the house? What kind of chores did you have around-	11:14
Alice Reagan	When I'd go to school and come back, let me see what I used to have to do. Just get my clothes straightened out for school the next day. That's the most I had because Mama used to do most everything else until I got grown.	11:34
Tunga White	So she would go to the White family's house? Would they come pick her up or something or did she-	11:50
Alice Reagan	No, we weren't living very far from there. She walked.	11:55
Tunga White	She walked to their house?	11:56
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh.	11:56
Tunga White	And then she would be ready to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner there?	12:02
Alice Reagan	Yes.	12:05
Tunga White	So she'd leave pretty early in the morning?	12:05
Alice Reagan	Right, early.	12:05
Tunga White	Around what time?	12:05
Alice Reagan	I would say maybe about 7:30 after she'd make my breakfast.	12:11
Tunga White	And then she'd go out there. And then she'd stay all while you were in school?	12:18
Alice Reagan	Yeah, while I'm in school.	12:18
Tunga White	And then by the time you came out of school, was she back home?	12:25
Alice Reagan	No. Some days, she would be back home and, if she didn't be home, she would bring my dinner.	12:29
Tunga White	So you had to stay home alone sometimes for a little while until she got off of—	12:33
Alice Reagan	No, I didn't have to stay home alone. It was next-door neighbor, and I would go there.	12:43
Tunga White	So the only chores you really had was chores of taking care of yourself? You didn't have to work in the garden or—	12:53
Alice Reagan	No, I didn't have to work in the garden or nothing until just before I got married. The year before I got married, I worked in the field.	13:02
Tunga White	Oh, okay.	13:08
Alice Reagan	Chopped cotton or hoed cotton, whatever you call it, and I picked cotton. That was all, chopped cotton, picked cotton.	13:12
Tunga White	Did you mother work at these White people's house seven days a week or five days a week or—	13:23
Alice Reagan	She didn't work on the first and third Sunday. She didn't work those two days. She went to church. If they were going out to dinner to somebody house or something for dinner, she didn't work that day either, that Sunday. It wasn't nothing but a man and his daughter.	13:31
Tunga White	Do you know their names?	14:04
Alice Reagan	Yeah. Mr. Julius King was the man there, and the other one was Ruby King at that time.	14:04
Tunga White	So this is, you said, a husband and a daughter?	14:04
Alice Reagan	Daughter and a daddy.	14:04
Tunga White	The mother was deceased?	14:04
Alice Reagan	Yes.	14:04
Tunga White	What kind of job did Mr. King have, do you know, Mr. King?	14:04
Alice Reagan	Let me see. I don't know what kind of job he had. He was doing something, but what it was, I don't know. I don't remember.	14:33
Tunga White	Your mother helped raise the daughter?	14:33
Alice Reagan	Yes.	14:33
Tunga White	Was she around your age or younger?	14:33
Alice Reagan	Yeah, right. Yeah. She'd be right around my age.	14:33
Tunga White	Did you ever go to their house, Mr. King's house?	14:33
Alice Reagan	Yeah, I used to go every now and then.	14:33
Tunga White	Now, your mother worked on Saturdays then?	14:33
Alice Reagan	Yes.	14:33
Tunga White	What were you doing on Saturdays when your mother was working at the Kings?	14:33
Alice Reagan	At my aunt's house.	14:33
Tunga White	Your aunt is your father's—	14:33
Alice Reagan	My father's sister.	14:33
Tunga White	Father. What was her name?	14:33
Alice Reagan	Florence Butler.	14:33
Tunga White	Your mother had close relations with your father's family?	14:33
Alice Reagan	Yes.	14:33
Tunga White	Were most of your father's brothers and sisters still in the area?	14:33
Alice Reagan	No, they're all dead.	14:33
Tunga White	I mean when you were growing up, they were still in the area?	14:33
Alice Reagan	Yeah, they were still in the area, though my mother and father had separated. But they liked my mother. So they always been close to her.	15:36
Tunga White	So your Aunt Florence, did she have any children—	15:42
Alice Reagan	Yes.	15:42
Tunga White	—to play with?	15:42
Alice Reagan	Oh, yes. She had 10 children, too.	15:53
Tunga White	That's a lot of playmates.	15:54
Alice Reagan	Yes. One of her daughters and myself, we still close, just like we used to be when we were little children. She live right up the road there. Her oldest daughter died. She was buried going on a week ago. She was 83.	16:00
Tunga White	When you would stay at your aunt's house on Saturdays or the Sundays that your mother would work, what kind of things did you all do?	16:10
Alice Reagan	We didn't do nothing but play and sweep yards. One of them would come back to the house with me, and I would sweep my yard there and just a little much of nothing.	16:15
Tunga White	Now, what kind of games did you play or what kind of toys would you—	16:48
Alice Reagan	Most games we used to play was checkers.	16:49
Alice Reagan	My mother used to tell me. She used to call me, "Girl, didn't I tell you about squabbling—" (laughs) This thing here going to tell what I'm saying, isn't it?	16:53
Alice Reagan	[INTERRUPTION 00:17:07]	17:07
Tunga White	You mentioned that incident with your mama threatened to give you a whooping.	17:08
Alice Reagan	Yes.	17:10
Tunga White	Was your mother a strict woman?	17:15
Alice Reagan	Yeah, she used to be right strict. (laughs) No, now this is the way she was. If she'd tell me to do something or not do something, she'd mean just what she says. So I'd always try to do what she'd tell me to do, but I didn't listen that time. The other children was sitting down there, [indistinct 00:17:39]. I'd sit down, too.	17:18
Tunga White	Did you get many whoopings though?	17:37
Alice Reagan	No, not many. Not many. No, not that many.	17:44
Tunga White	Would you say your mother might be a little bit more strict than your cousins' mother or your friends' mothers?	17:45
Alice Reagan	She had so many, she couldn't keep up with them. She couldn't keep up with all those children. No, then she had some neighbors, too, right behind her who had children, too. I mean it just used to be a whole crowd of us together.	17:56
Tunga White	Did you have a lot of rules in your home, a lot of things you could do or couldn't do, places you couldn't go or could go at certain times that you—	18:17
Alice Reagan	My mama used to let me go, but she always would say, "Be back before the sun go down."	18:26
Tunga White	When it came time for you to be interested in boys, how old were you when she started letting you court?	18:37
Alice Reagan	Let's see how old I was. Wasn't it 14? I was 14.	18:43
Tunga White	14?	18:53
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	18:55
Tunga White	Would she let you go anywhere with the boys?	18:57
Alice Reagan	No, not then. No.	18:58
Tunga White	She would let them come over?	18:58
Alice Reagan	Yeah, she would let them come over. And then more than one used to want to come to see me on Sunday. I would say to Mama, "Mama, tell that boy I'm not here." Mama said, "I ain't going to tell him nothing. If I do anything, I'll say, 'Alice says she's not here.'"	19:03
Tunga White	That sounds like my mom. She said, "You tell him."	19:46
Alice Reagan	Yeah, that's right.	19:46
Tunga White	Would she have certain days that the boys can come or a certain time they could come and a certain time they had to leave?	19:46
Alice Reagan	They had leave at 9:00 now. At that time, you had to leave at 9:00.	19:46
Tunga White	Did they come on weekdays or just weekends?	19:46
Alice Reagan	No. When I was that young, they used to come on Sunday.	19:46
Tunga White	Sunday?	19:47
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh.	19:47
Tunga White	But did some girls you knew around your age, did they have boys, going out with boys and have boyfriends—	19:47
Alice Reagan	I don't think because most of the people around, they had girls around my age, they were kind of strict, too. Yeah. They used to have something at the schoolhouse every now and then. The name of it was moonshine picnics.	20:04
Tunga White	Moonshine picnics.	20:22
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh. That was about the first time I ever went any place with a boy, at the moonshine picnic. That would be they had things to sell and little dances, two-stepping. I guess you heard of two steps.	20:25
Tunga White	Right.	20:45
Alice Reagan	But I had to be back it depends on what time I'd leave the house. "I'll give you an hour to be back," or something like that, and I had to come back.	20:49
Tunga White	This happened once a year or how often would y'all have that moonshine picnic?	21:02
Alice Reagan	About three or four times a year.	21:04
Tunga White	Can you remember any of the dates you had when you went to some of these picnics?	21:04
Alice Reagan	No, I don't think so. I know my boyfriend's father stopped by my house one day and asked for some water. He was in the buggy, driving a horse. I said, "Why don't you get out and come in?" He said, "No, I don't want to come in this time because this horse have to go home and eat dinner because I know that boy want that horse to leave and come back up here to see you tonight. Is he supposed to come?" I said, "I don't know if he's coming or not." He said, "Yeah, he's coming because he told me before I leave the house."	21:06
Alice Reagan	My husband, at that time, he was working. All the money he made, he made, I think, 50 cents an hour.	21:58
Tunga White	Really?	22:07
Alice Reagan	That's all.	22:09
Tunga White	Doing what?	22:16
Alice Reagan	He was on the highway. Let me see he called that work during that time, working on the WPA or something.	22:16
Tunga White	Do you know what he did, I mean what his job was?	22:27
Alice Reagan	That was just cutting bushes.	22:28
Tunga White	How did you meet him?	22:31
Alice Reagan	See, how did I met him? At the church, I think. I met him at the church.	22:31
Tunga White	Now, what church did you attend? This was your church you attended?	22:31
Alice Reagan	Yeah, Liberty Hill Church. Well, I was a member of Taw Caw Baptist Church, but I used to go to church right up the road there, a Methodist church, at that time. But after we got married, then I joined his church.	22:55
Tunga White	Oh, okay. This church was his church? You were just visiting that church?	23:17
Alice Reagan	Yeah, I used to just visit.	23:18
Tunga White	Okay. Was this a revival or—	23:18
Alice Reagan	No.	23:18
Tunga White	—visiting the church?	23:18
Alice Reagan	Just regular church.	23:25
Tunga White	Regular church. Now, did you go to church often, your own church often?	23:26
Alice Reagan	Yeah. I used to go to church every Sunday. If you didn't get to that church, it would be at my church. But my church is Taw Caw Baptist Church at this time on the other side of Summerton there.	23:32
Tunga White	Now, did your mother make you go every Sunday or did you really want to go every—	23:47
Alice Reagan	No, I wanted to go every Sunday.	23:50
Tunga White	Did your mother go to church [indistinct 00:23:56]?	23:56
Alice Reagan	Yeah. Unless she had to work. If she had to work, then me and some other girls would get together and go.	23:56
Tunga White	Now, did you participate in any activities in the church or Sunday school?	24:10
Alice Reagan	Yeah. But the only thing that I used to do is when they have programs, I would speak. Yes.	24:13
Tunga White	Now, what kind of programs did your church have?	24:21
Alice Reagan	Well, they had Easter, Children Day, sometimes just programs to raise money. They would ask me to speak. That's about all I can remember.	24:25
Tunga White	Did y'all have anything like Men's Day or Women's Day—	24:48
Alice Reagan	Yeah, we had that, too, Men's Day, Women's Day, all those days.	24:50
Tunga White	You said y'all had some programs to raise money? What were y'all raising money for?	24:56
Alice Reagan	Yeah. This was a long time ago. For the missionary.	25:06
Tunga White	For missionaries. So your church sent out missionaries to different places?	25:11
Alice Reagan	Yes. Sent out missionaries to pray for people if they're sick and carry them a donation and so forth like that.	25:13
Tunga White	So they would work in the area, the missionaries?	25:13
Alice Reagan	Yes.	25:29
Tunga White	You attended Sunday school, too?	25:34
Alice Reagan	Yeah. Sometime. Most of the time when I'd get there, Sunday school would be about out.	25:38
Tunga White	What time would Sunday school start?	25:43
Alice Reagan	At 9:00. But I had to walk to church sometimes, see.	25:45
Tunga White	How far was the church from your house?	25:54
Alice Reagan	About three miles. Maybe more than that. But when a crowd of girls get together or girls and boys going to church, walking, they didn't mind it.	25:58
Tunga White	Did most of the adults have cars or [indistinct 00:26:20]—	26:11
Alice Reagan	No, they didn't have cars like they have now. My mother walked to church many a times. Yeah.	26:20
Tunga White	What time did church start?	26:50
Alice Reagan	At 11:00.	26:50
Tunga White	Can you remember your minister's name at that church?	26:50
Alice Reagan	Reverend Hanahan was one at Taw Caw when I used to be a member there. One was Reverend Harvin. I don't remember their first names. I think those are the only two I remember, Reverend Harvin and Reverend Hanahan.	26:53
Tunga White	Were they from the area?	27:13
Alice Reagan	No. No, they weren't from the area. They was from some other place. Now, that was Taw Caw Baptist Church.	27:14
Tunga White	How old were you when you got baptized?	27:18
Alice Reagan	Now that I forgot.	27:18
Tunga White	Were you probably younger than 10 or older than 10?	27:18
Alice Reagan	I think I might have been a little older than 10.	27:36
Tunga White	Now, where did you all get baptized?	27:49
Alice Reagan	At Taw Caw Baptist. You said where?	27:51
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	27:54
Alice Reagan	In the pool there at Taw Caw Baptist.	27:55
Tunga White	In a pool?	27:56
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh. Pool was on the inside of the church.	27:56
Tunga White	Did some people you know have to get baptized in a creek, in a pond?	27:57
Alice Reagan	Yeah, I heard them say they did. Uh-huh. But I don't know. I never been to the pond and creeks when they were baptized.	28:08
Tunga White	When they baptized you all, they would have the procedure like they do now?	28:12
Alice Reagan	Yeah. I think so because the preacher when I was baptized, he said, "I baptize you, my sister, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," and carried me down backward.	28:12
Tunga White	And raised you back up?	28:12
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh. And raised me back up.	28:12
Tunga White	Could you swim at that time?	28:12
Alice Reagan	No, I couldn't swim. I still can't.	28:12
Tunga White	That water was a shock to you, huh?	28:12
Alice Reagan	Yeah. I still can't swim. (laughs)	28:12
Tunga White	Me neither.	28:12
Alice Reagan	I'm 77 years old, and I know I couldn't swim then. I know there'd be no chance of me swimming now.	28:12
Tunga White	Right. [indistinct 00:28:52]. Now, did a lot of the children in the area go swimming in the summertime?	28:51
Alice Reagan	Well, most of them work now. They don't hardly have time now. I don't think so. I don't really know.	28:51
Tunga White	Now, did you have any jobs when you were—	29:13
Alice Reagan	No.	29:17
Tunga White	—11, 12-	29:17
Alice Reagan	No, I didn't any.	29:17
Tunga White	—in the summertime?	29:17
Alice Reagan	No jobs.	29:17
Tunga White	Now, tell me about the school you went to. How far was it from your house?	29:17
Alice Reagan	I went to school right in this area. I grew up in this area. I got married from this area. School was about, I would say, a mile and a half maybe.	29:31
Tunga White	How long would it take you to walk to school every day?	29:51
Alice Reagan	Gee, I'd never pay any attention, but not long.	29:54
Tunga White	Not long?	29:57
Alice Reagan	No.	29:57
Tunga White	You and your neighbors would all walk to school together every morning?	29:57
Alice Reagan	Yeah. We used to walk to school at that time. There wasn't no bus to carry.	30:06
Tunga White	Now, if it was raining, did you still have to walk to school?	30:07
Alice Reagan	We would have to walk to school. Just get out there when the rain slack up. Go anyhow. But you'd get your umbrella, your boots, your raincoat, and go ahead on about your business.	30:15
Tunga White	Now, was there other students that you went to school with who might have been in farm families that didn't go to school that often in the school year or some times a year when the crop had to be brought in or something, that they would stay out of school or something?	30:23
Alice Reagan	Not that I can remember. I just really don't remember any.	30:45
Tunga White	Now, can you remember any of your teachers?	30:46
Alice Reagan	Yes. I remember Ms. Eleanor Reagan was one of my teachers. Ms. Sarah Watson, Ms. Amy Reagan. There was Annette Wally, and who else? Somebody else. Ms. Ann Martin. That's all I can remember right now.	30:51
Tunga White	Now—	31:33
Alice Reagan	And the principal name at that time was —I was going to say Mr. McBride. I forgot his first name.	31:36
Tunga White	Mr. McBrian?	31:49
Alice Reagan	McBride, B-R-I-D-E.	31:49
Tunga White	McBride. What was the name of the school?	31:50
Alice Reagan	St. Paul Elementary School. I still have my diploma up there now where I graduated from. It was 1934. I think it's '34. Principal's name was Mr. Anderson at that time.	31:50
Tunga White	How did your school building look?	32:24
Alice Reagan	Well, the school building was a two-story building. When you walk in the front door, you had to go upstairs.	32:24
Tunga White	Now, was the building in good condition?	32:40
Alice Reagan	I would say very well. Let me see. It wasn't in such good condition.	32:40
Tunga White	Was it cold in the wintertime—	32:40
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	32:40
Tunga White	—and hot in the summertime?	32:40
Alice Reagan	It was cold in the wintertime.	32:55
Tunga White	How was it heated?	32:56
Alice Reagan	With wood.	32:56
Tunga White	A wood stove?	32:56
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh.	32:56
Tunga White	Now, how many grades were at that school? How far up did it go?	32:56
Alice Reagan	11. Let me see. Was it 11th or 10th? I think I didn't go any higher than the 10th grade, but I went to Scott's Branch Summerton that time. I think at this time, St. Paul, it wasn't but just 10 grades, I think.	33:25
Tunga White	You named all these teachers. Did they each have to teach, one had to teach first grade, second grade, third grade—	33:41
Alice Reagan	Something like that, yeah.	33:42
Tunga White	They had more than one grade-	33:42
Alice Reagan	Yes. Yeah, yeah. But it was more teachers than that. I just don't remember their names.	33:53
Tunga White	Y'all had chalkboards or?	34:12
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh, yeah.	34:12
Tunga White	Y'all had chalkboards. What was the condition of your books?	34:17
Alice Reagan	The books, now let me see. The books were in good condition, but you mean did we have to pay for the books?	34:20
Tunga White	Yeah, the books you read out of?	34:34
Alice Reagan	Yeah, the books I read out of, I had pay for them.	34:38
Tunga White	You had to pay for them?	34:38
Alice Reagan	You had to pay for all the books back at that time. Yeah, they didn't give no books free.	34:38
Tunga White	How much was it per child?	34:40
Alice Reagan	I don't remember right now, but I know I had to pay for them.	34:45
Tunga White	They didn't cost much?	34:48
Alice Reagan	Not so much. When my mama and daddy separated, I was six years old. Mama been buying my books ever since I started school.	34:56
Tunga White	Did your father keep in any contact with you?	35:11
Alice Reagan	No. I ain't ever seen him once since him and my mother separated.	35:24
Tunga White	No? Where was that? Was that around here?	35:24
Alice Reagan	Yeah. They were living right down here. What he did, he ran away with another woman. Well, he went behind her. And then he sent my mother one dress and a hat, as I remember, since he went. He never sent me nothing.	35:24
Tunga White	Your mother never remarried again?	35:39
Alice Reagan	No. That was enough for her.	35:48
Tunga White	Now, do you remember your father when he was with you all before they got separated?	35:52
Alice Reagan	Yeah. I remember.	36:18
Tunga White	What do you remember about him?	36:18
Alice Reagan	Well, all I remember is that he used to work for a White man, and he used to like Crush a lot. Before he left home, he took my mother back to her mama and daddy house and told them that he was going away to work. That's the time he left. He ain't never come back but once, as I know of. Mama saw him that time. He just came by long enough just to let us see him, and that was all.	36:19
Tunga White	Did your mother and father, do you know how much education, what grade they did?	36:42
Alice Reagan	Let me see. I did remember Mama could read and write good, but I don't think she went any farther than sixth grade, and he was in about the fifth or sixth grade, somewhere back in there.	37:10
Tunga White	Did a lot of people get as far as you with their education or did they drop out early?	37:30
Alice Reagan	No. All the children who had started out to school along with me, they finished the same year I did.	37:38
Tunga White	When you graduated from high school, how many people graduated in your class? Do you remember?	37:43
Alice Reagan	No, I don't remember. But it wasn't that many though. It wasn't but maybe five or six.	38:01
Tunga White	You had your graduation. Was it a big—	38:09
Alice Reagan	No.	38:13
Tunga White	—kind of function when you graduated?	38:13
Alice Reagan	No. No, it wasn't so big. No, because we had on —Let me see. We wore white organdy dresses that night.	38:18
Tunga White	Did you have someone to come and speak to you all?	38:21
Alice Reagan	Yes. But who it is, I don't remember right now.	38:35
Tunga White	So you had a program?	39:39
Alice Reagan	Yes. Uh-huh.	39:39
Tunga White	How old were you when you graduated from high school?	39:39
Alice Reagan	17, I think. I think that's how old I was. I'm not sure because I got married when I was 18.	39:39
Tunga White	What was your husband's name that you married?	39:39
Alice Reagan	Robert Reagan.	39:39
Tunga White	How long did you two date each other before y'all got married?	39:39
Alice Reagan	Three years.	39:39
Tunga White	That's a long time.	39:39
Alice Reagan	Sure is a long time.	39:39
Tunga White	Did your mother like him?	39:39
Alice Reagan	Yeah, she liked him all right.	39:39
Tunga White	How did he ask you to marry him? How was the proposal? (Mrs. Reagan laughs)	39:39
Alice Reagan	Let's see now. How did he ask me or—	39:39
Tunga White	Yeah, ask you.	39:40
Alice Reagan	Well, he just told me. He said, "Alice, I been coming to see you a pretty good while, and I think it's about time for us to get married now." I said, "Really?" (both laugh) Sort of like that. I didn't hardly know what to say. We just kept talking, talking, talking. He said, "I was going to ask you tonight." I said, "What you going to ask? What you going to say to my mother?" (laughs) I was so [indistinct 00:40:03], I didn't know what to say. He said, "I'm not going to tell you." He said, "But she and I are going to have to talk."	39:40
Alice Reagan	So we went in the kitchen where my mother was. I think Mama was sitting down, writing a letter or something. But anyway, we went in the kitchen where she was. I don't know what they was saying. The only thing I heard her say, "Well, I'll have to see about that." So when they went to see about it, I don't know what she saw, (laughs) but she said she would have to see about it. She mentioned it to me after he left.	40:25
Tunga White	She said she would.	40:53
Alice Reagan	She said, "Well, he want to get married. Are you ready to get married?" I said, "Well, yes and no, too." She said, "Well, if you don't want to get married, you don't have to."	40:54
Tunga White	Why did you have your doubts about it?	41:06
Alice Reagan	I don't know. I just didn't know what to say and what to do. I was kind of ashamed to say anything to Mama, you know? I didn't know what to say.	41:10
Tunga White	Had any other boys asked you to marry them before that?	41:16
Alice Reagan	Yes. Uh-huh. But I wouldn't let them ask for me.	41:23
Tunga White	Oh, okay. So your mother gave him the okay?	41:24
Alice Reagan	Yeah. But later.	41:24
Tunga White	How much later?	41:25
Alice Reagan	I forgot just how much later now. But anyway, I remember she telling him this one time, said, "There's no one here but Alice and myself. I don't feel like she should leave me." He said, "She don't have to leave you because you can stay with us." She told him, said, "No." So she can always stay close to her job and things like that. So I don't know what kind of out they made. But anyway, whatever kind of out they made, she must have told him, "All right."	41:25
Tunga White	So how long after that was it before y'all got married?	42:23
Alice Reagan	Not so long. But I told him I wasn't going to have anything at my house because it wasn't nobody there but me and Mama, and [indistinct 00:42:40]. I said, "Now, if Mama try to have anything here at the house for me, you know a lot of people are going to come." Because everybody seemed like they liked me pretty well and I know they would have come. So I wouldn't have nothing till later on then. A little while after that, he told me he was going to have the reception at his house.	42:32
Tunga White	His family?	43:03
Alice Reagan	Yes. He did.	43:04
Tunga White	You got married at a church or a minister's home?	43:15
Alice Reagan	I got married at a minister's home.	43:17
Tunga White	Did most of y'all get married at the minister's home or have church weddings or house weddings?	43:21
Alice Reagan	Some of them had church weddings. Some had just different types. But I got married at the minister's house.	43:24
Tunga White	Do you remember his name? Was that your minister?	43:30
Alice Reagan	No, it wasn't my minister. It was Reverend JW Seyo. I think that was his name. He's dead now.	43:30
Tunga White	What church was he a pastor in?	43:31
Alice Reagan	Wait a minute. Let me tell you. I don't remember.	43:39
Tunga White	Describe your reception for me.	44:02
Alice Reagan	Well, there was just a lot of people there, and they started congratulating me and having fun. Gifts was just piled up there like anything.	44:05
Tunga White	What kind of gifts did you receive?	44:17
Alice Reagan	Just tablecloths and dishes, pots, all kind of stuff like that, just simple things.	44:24
Tunga White	Now, after y'all's wedding and reception, did you immediately move out of your mother's house?	44:38
Alice Reagan	No, I didn't move out immediately. But Mama, she was going to move closer to her job. I didn't have very many things, no way, to move. But she told me I could have what I wanted from the house. And then I moved and carried some of the things and she kept some, what we had. I didn't have that much.	44:43
Tunga White	Now, how far was—	45:08
Alice Reagan	She living from me?	45:13
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	45:14
Alice Reagan	About three or four miles. About four miles, I would say.	45:16
Tunga White	Now, what was he doing for a living?	45:19
Alice Reagan	He was farming. After his father had died, he took the farm over.	45:23
Tunga White	What kind of things did he grow at his farm?	45:47
Alice Reagan	Some of everything, cotton, corn, tobacco, potatoes.	45:47
Tunga White	Now, what did he have most of it? Was it mostly cotton or mostly corn?	45:47
Alice Reagan	Mostly corn, I think, and [indistinct 00:45:54]. He had some of everything what people had on a farm. He had it.	45:52
Tunga White	Now, did his family own that land or was it-	46:05
Alice Reagan	No.	46:05
Tunga White	They were renting it?	46:05
Alice Reagan	Rent.	46:05

Tunga White	How much land would you say y'all worked on that farm?	0:02
Alice Reagan	I would say about 35 acres.	0:09
Tunga White	Did you have any brothers or sisters that worked—	0:10
Alice Reagan	Yes, ma'am.	0:11
Tunga White	—farmed?	0:11
Alice Reagan	No. He hired a fellow to work with him. He was a hired helper.	0:11
Tunga White	And who was given the land from? Do you know?	0:11
Alice Reagan	Yeah, he rented land from Mrs. Mary King for one. She was to live in something. And let me see from who else.	0:44
Tunga White	[indistinct 00:00:48]?	0:47
Alice Reagan	Oh, it didn't—	0:47
Tunga White	[INTERRUPTION 00:00:48].	0:47
Tunga White	Okay. Now, you said that your husband rented land for a living from Mary King?	0:47
Alice Reagan	Mary King. That's right.	1:08
Tunga White	Now were there a lot of other—Did she have a lot of land and rented it out to a lot of people?	1:16
Alice Reagan	Not in our area.	1:16
Tunga White	No?	1:16
Alice Reagan	We had the whole place at that time.	1:16
Tunga White	Now were you all share renters? Did you have your own mules?	1:21
Alice Reagan	Yeah. We had our own to farm it with.	1:27
Tunga White	Okay. And all you did was just pay her a certain amount of money for land?	1:33
Alice Reagan	Yes, for rent at the end of the year.	1:43
Tunga White	How much did y'all pay rent that land? Do you remember?	1:43
Alice Reagan	I don't know. I used to carry money to her, too, but I forgot how much it was now.	1:43
Tunga White	Was it a lot of money or—	1:43
Alice Reagan	Wasn't so much, maybe like $200 or something like that.	1:48
Tunga White	And then you could grow whatever you wanted to?	1:49
Alice Reagan	Whatever you wanted. Yeah.	1:55
Tunga White	And you wouldn't have to give her any more?	2:20
Alice Reagan	Any more of it. Just give her the rent.	2:21
Tunga White	Were there a lot of sharecroppers or people like that in the area?	2:21
Alice Reagan	Yeah. It used to be a lot of sharecroppers. But we never sharecropped with anyone.	2:21
Tunga White	Did any White lived in this area that were land owners or renters or croppers?	2:22
Alice Reagan	Yes, because then when I bought this place here, when we bought this place, he was White, and we rented that land over there from this Ms. King. She was White. And yeah, most of them was White. Black people didn't hardly have nothing. Most of them was White.	2:27
Tunga White	So would you say most Black people rented land or bought land?	2:45
Alice Reagan	Rented or sharecropped. Rented or sharecropped.	2:45
Tunga White	Now was this the only job you held?	2:45
Alice Reagan	No, I—	2:45
Tunga White	[indistinct 00:03:12]?	2:45
Alice Reagan	No. After I got married—You mean since I got married?	3:13
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	3:19
Alice Reagan	No, I worked a lot since I got married because I worked at Summerton Motel 32 years after I got married.	3:20
Tunga White	What year did you start at Summerton Motel?	3:32
Alice Reagan	I forgot what year it was. I just can't remember that. But I know I worked there 32 years. Because I had children large enough to work on the farm at that time.	3:33
Tunga White	So your husband kept working and farming?	3:46
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	3:46
Tunga White	He didn't have any other type job?	3:46
Alice Reagan	No. He quit working on the job when we got married and just farmed along with the help from other people. Then I started working [indistinct 00:04:04]. I was a waitress for 32 years.	3:50
Tunga White	Now what did you say your job was at the motel?	4:16
Alice Reagan	Waitress.	4:16
Tunga White	A waitress. Now you worked—It was a segregated hotel?	4:26
Alice Reagan	No.	4:28
Tunga White	It wasn't segregated?	4:28
Alice Reagan	No.	4:29
Tunga White	And the dining area wasn't segregated?	4:29
Alice Reagan	No. Anybody gets food there.	4:33
Tunga White	Can you recall what your pay was when you first started?	4:33
Alice Reagan	Yeah. No, it was $14 a week.	4:33
Tunga White	Did it increase by a whole lot in those 32 years?	4:50
Alice Reagan	No, not a whole lot. But a little. I forgot just how much.	4:51
Tunga White	Now when did you start your family? How old were you when your first child?	4:54
Alice Reagan	Yeah, I had my first child—I don't know how old I was, but I was—Anyhow, he was born a little over nine months after I was married.	5:09
Tunga White	Okay.	5:18
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	5:19
Tunga White	And you still had to—You were still working in the field?	5:19
Alice Reagan	I still was working in the field and working job work, too, when I was pregnant.	5:32
Tunga White	So you worked your job, worked in the field, and you were pregnant.	5:40
Alice Reagan	Yeah. Mm-hmm.	5:40
Tunga White	Now up until what point did you stop working to have your baby?	5:40
Alice Reagan	I would say maybe two months before I—	5:49
Tunga White	Do you know of some women who worked right up until the point when they have their baby?	5:54
Alice Reagan	Yeah, I had worked like this morning and had one baby tonight. (laughs)	5:58
Tunga White	Strain you with hard work!	6:04
Alice Reagan	But it wasn't so—It didn't seem hard because I had so many children. This was my baby, and it didn't seem hard. Not to me. But a lady came through my yard that afternoon. She said, "Alice." I was sweeping from under my porch. I wanted all the—I didn't want nobody to be—no trash to be around the house or nothing over there. And I just slept from under there, and I was under there. She said, "Alice. Get yourself from under that porch. Actually you're killing yourself." I said, "No, I'm not. I don't feel bad or anything like that." She said, "Yeah, but you too far gone to be under the house sweep." She would say, "When Robert come down now and you up under the house, I don't know what he gonna say to you."	6:05
Alice Reagan	I said, "Well, that's all right. I will make it." Like acting up. So I said, "Okay, I almost through enough." And she moved the trash out from under the porch at me, and then I took it up. And I took it up. She says, "You better have yourself sitting down." Then I come up there, too. I said, "Where you going?" She said, "I going to Rachel's house and I'll be back in a little while." When she came back she said, "You out from under there?" I said, "Yeah. You can come look at the little baby later on." That's what I told her.	6:45
Tunga White	Really?	7:19
Alice Reagan	She said, "What baby?" (White laughs) I said, "My baby." So she said, "Okay, I'll see." But she went on down there now. She said a little later on she looked back up at my house and she saw this midwife. I didn't never had a child in no hospital. She said she saw this midwife just turning around there. And she said, "[indistinct 00:07:47]. It looks good." I used to call her Little Curly. I said, "Little Curly to Alice. Do you think Alice had that baby?"	7:19
Alice Reagan	She said, "Yeah, it must be because that's the only reason why I couldn't be in the house to see about her." So the lady came on back up in my house. I had the little baby. I said, "I told you you could come back and look after the little baby later on." She said, "Alice, you ain't nothing but just an old dog!" (laughs) Yeah, yoy know, just playing. Yeah. She said, "And you ain't sick?" I said, "No, I'm not sick. I told you, around my house was going to be clean when I had this baby. Clean, too, ain't it?"	7:53
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	8:25
Alice Reagan	Oh, she just fussing. For no reason, yeah, I just don't know what. Yes. Goodness.	8:25
Tunga White	That's something else.	8:26
Alice Reagan	Yeah.	8:33
Tunga White	Working [indistinct 00:08:36] in the morning.	8:34
Alice Reagan	Yeah, that's right.	8:36
Tunga White	[indistinct 00:08:38].	8:37
Alice Reagan	That's right. That's right.	8:38
Tunga White	Now Mrs. Reagan, I know you got something because I've got something, so can I finish? Can I come back one day maybe next week or in the next couple of days?	8:41
Alice Reagan	Yes.	8:50
Tunga White	I'll get your number. Can I get your telephone number and call you?	8:50
Alice Reagan	Uh-huh.	8:50
Tunga White	We can set up a time to [indistinct 00:08:51]? What's your phone number?	8:50
Alice Reagan	478-4256.	8:50
Tunga White	I'll give you a call. When do you think will be a good time for me to call you?	8:51
Alice Reagan	Well, you mean like morning or evening?	9:12
Tunga White	Uh-huh.	9:16
Alice Reagan	Most any time will be all right for you to call me.	9:18
Tunga White	Can I call you this weekend some time? Maybe Saturday?	9:20
Alice Reagan	Yes.	9:20
Tunga White	Okay, and we can set up a time so we can finish doing this, because I want to hear—	9:20

Item Info

Title:

Alice Reagan interview recording, circa 1994

Date:

circa 1994

Creator:

Reagan, Alice

Contributor:

White, Tunga

Description:

Name: Alice Reagan; Date of birth: unknown; Place of birth: Clarendon Co., SC; Occupation(s): unknown; Residence: Summerton, SC [?]
Informant ID: 493; Interviewed by: Tunga White.

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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Related Resources:

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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:

RL00170-CS-1403
4772078e-6fc2-4fce-97d2-8a2cacbc669e
behindtheveil
f546189c-df36-4a2f-b191-0cc278ae374e
ark:/87924/r4794c38m
f546189c-df36-4a2f-b191-0cc278ae374e

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Alice Reagan interview recording, circa 1994

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1. Alice Reagan administrative file, circa 1994

John Hope Franklin Research Center

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Alice Reagan interview recording, circa 1994

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John Hope Franklin Research Center

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