| Narrator: Lue Anna Brown Sanders Clark (about Ike Sanders and Black Business) |
| Interviewer: Mildred Pratt |
| Date: Unknown late 1980s |
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| Side A |
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| MP | Now, your husband's full name was Isaac Sanders, and he was called Ike.
|
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| AC | Yes. |
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| MP | When you met him he had a business. Would you begin and tell us where that business was located? |
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| AC | When I met him, he had just sold his business. It was down on South Main Street, right
downtown. It was on Olive Street downtown down there under the viaduct. |
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| MP | How long had he operated that business before you met him?
|
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| AC | For about two years.
|
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| MP | What was he doing before he started that business?
|
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| AC | Well, he lived in Boston, Massachusetts. And he come back here, and he started his
business. And he had a business before he left. He had a restaurant before he left. [The restaurant] was here. He started the first restaurant in Bloomington. And his wife died, and he had a sister in Boston so he went out there. And he was out there awhile, then he come back to Bloomington. He sold his business here after she died. |
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| MP | To whom did he sell it? Do you know?
|
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| AC | I don't know. When he come back here, he rented another place down close to the square
downtown. And the man he rented it from-the city people didn't want him there because he was Black so they-the man that he rented from wanted him to give the lease up with just nothing, you know. So he told them he would give the lease up if he would pay him the lease. So he didn't want to pay. And met one of his friends-he first went to the lawyer, and the lawyer told him to go to the bank and get $25.00. That's what the rent was. And then, take it back and offer it to him in gold. And if he didn't take it the third time he offered it to him, he wouldn't have to pay because gold was standard money. So he went and got the money, and he was on his way down there, and he met one of his friends. And he asked him if he would walk back to the office with him. He didn't tell him what he wanted because he probably wouldn't have went. So he got up there and he said to Mr. Dolan, "Mr. Dolan, here's your rent money." And he offered it to him. (inaudible sentence) He knew Mr. Ford."Oh, Mr. Ford, what'll I do. What'll I do?" And Mr. Ford didn't know what was going on.
So he offered it to him the second time, and he didn't take it. And the third time he offered it to him, he did. Then he paid him for his lease. And when I met him, he wasn't doing anything at that time. I guess it had been three or four months. I seen him in his building. I passed there one time and seen him in there, but I didn't know who he was. Then I met him, and we went around together about-well, I met him in May, and I don't remember when he started down here on Washington Street. |
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| MP | Do you know what year you met him?
|
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| AC | 1916.
|
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| MP | 1916 is when you met him, and he had just sold the business?
|
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| AC | We got married in 1917.
|
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| MP | This was your first marriage, right?
|
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| AC | Yes. I worked out in a private family, and we'd meet on a Sunday, you know. We'd go to
church or something like that. And finally, we decided to get married. |
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| MP | And when did he start the second business? After you were married, he started the
business, right? |
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| AC | Oh, he had the business going before we married.
|
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| MP | Oh, I see. He had just got that business.
|
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| AC | He wasn't out of the other place too long. He started the business down here on
Washington Street. |
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| MP | Do you know how he got interested in the restaurant business? When did he- was he
always interested in the restaurant business? How did he happen to get started in the restaurant business? |
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| AC | He was working for Adlai Stevenson when he was a young man.
|
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| MP | What did he do for him? |
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| AC | He just drove him around. He was a chauffeur and stuff like that. And he helped him
clean house and everything, and he said Mrs. Stevenson. |
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| MP | That's his mother-Adlai Stevenson's mother? |
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| AC | Yeah, that's Stevenson's-Adlai Stevenson's mother. She said to him one day that she wanted him to get the carriage ready and wanted to drive downtown, carry her downtown. So he got it ready and everything. He cleaned himself all up, and she went upstairs and threwed a big rug down and hollered down and told him to beat that rug. And it made him mad. He said he got so mad that he went in and told them to give him his money, and then he started a business after that. So he got all cleaned up and everything. Then she hollered to beat that rug. |
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| MP | That was insulting to him, right?
|
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| AC | Un-huh. So she pleaded with him, and Mr. Stevenson pleaded with him, but he didn't go
back. He started his business. |
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| MP | Did he have any relatives who had been involved in the restaurant business?
|
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| AC | No.
|
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| MP | He just had the idea he was going to start his own business?
|
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| AC | Yes. Well, he started with another man. His name was-wasn't Skinner. Was it Skinner?
I can't think of his name right now. But he started with another man. They opened up a nice place, and they had everything nice. He said this man went and bought a whole lot of tables and chairs and furniture, and he didn't approve of it. So he went along two or three weeks, and this man told him, "Now you can have the business because I don't think I want it anymore." So he had all that debt because they went in together. There was a man here that had a big furniture store. His name was Kirkpatrick, a rich man. They had bought it from Kirkpatrick. So he went down and explained to Mr. Kirkpatrick what had happened. So Mr. Kirkpatrick turned and looked at him, and he told him, he said, "Now, I'm going to mark this paid. You don't have to pay me anything. But don't you ever go into business with nobody else. Any business you have, you go in for yourself." So he never did go in with anybody. |
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| MP | Now, he had a barbershop. Did your husband cut hair?
|
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| AC | He had a barbershop and the restaurant all together.
|
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| MP | Who did the barbering?
|
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| AC | His name was Joe Boone. He was a crippled man. And he was the barber.
|
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| MP | And then did he pay rent to your husband?
|
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| AC | No. I think Mr. Boone left and went to Peoria.
|
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| MP | Why don't you tell me about when your husband started the business on Washington Street?
|
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| AC | Well, he had it started before we was married. I wasn't in on that, but he told me
about that. And the way he did that was, he called it the working man's club. Each person that wanted to go in had put their name down and had to give a dollar because they were. In other words, he collected a dollar from each one of the people that signed their name. It was kind of a private affair for awhile. You know how people are. They just rush in whether it's private or not. Then it got to be that everybody come. Then he had a man help (inaudible) and a man doing the cooking and serving. Then he had the barbershop. He had six rooms upstairs. He lived in the front part. And there were three rooms in back, and he rented them out. So we only paid $25.00 a month for rent. |
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| MP | Who did the barbering?
|
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| AC | I don't remember what his name was. But this Mr. Boone was down on Main Street.
|
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| MP | Do you know how much he charged to rent his rooms out?
|
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| AC | Per room? I think it was $3.00. No, $1.00 a night I believe it was. I think that's what
it was. And we had men. We didn't have no women. No women stayed there. Then after we got married, I was the only woman who stayed there. But we had our quarters in front, and these other rooms was in the back. |
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| MP | What hours did the business open?
|
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| AC | We opened at 8:30 [A. M.] or 9:00 o'clock.
|
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| MP | And what time did it close? |
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| AC | 11:00 [P. M.] or 12:00. |
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| MP | Who was responsible for the books, the accounting? Who kept the records? Who paid the
bills? |
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| AC | He did.
|
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| MP | He kept the books? |
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| AC | Un-huh. |
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| MP | You didn't help with the books at all? |
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| AC | No. Then finally he gave me the restaurant part, and so anyway he put me on the restaurant. That was my-then he had the drinks and barbershop and all that. |
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| MP | Oh, that's interesting. So you were in control then of the restaurant, and you kept the
books. |
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| AC | I didn't keep no books, I just take in the money. I'd do the buying.
|
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| MP | Did you make the menus?
|
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| AC | Yes.
|
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| MP | Where did you get that experience? You did the cooking?
|
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| AC | I had a man there helping me cook. And he [Ike Sanders] would help me cook, too. We
worked together. |
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| MP | Tell me-I think he had great faith in you right to give you that restaurant. Tell me
what kind of food you served. |
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| AC | Well, we served mostly just cheap meat. We had beef stew. We had steak for anybody
wanted it. Very few wanted it. (inaudible) Beef stew and steak and pig ears, and pig feet. We had a great big lard can full of feet and ears. Then neck bones. We had neck bones down on the bottom and the feet on the necks. Then the ears on the necks. Everybody said whatever you asked for, you'd just go to that pot and get it. |
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| MP | Who waited the tables?
|
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| AC | I did. And he did too. Then the people was nice. Women would be around and if you got
a lot of extra, they would just jump in and help you. Everybody was nice. And we had fish every Friday. |
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| MP | Who were your customers? Were they primarily travelers or people who lived in the
community? |
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| AC | People in the community. People from all over town, Normal and everywhere. They had
the shop going-the railway shop, and all of them. |
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| MP | The workmen came there to eat?
|
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| AC | And they had the coal mine going, and all of those people came in. |
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| MP | White and Blacks came to your restaurant?
|
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| AC | White and Black and Spanish people. We had a lot of Spanish people because they worked
on the railroad. And they were (unclear). |
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| MP | So, would you say, your business did really well? It was a good business? Would you
say your business was very productive? That you earned quite a bit of money from the business? |
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| AC | Yes.
|
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| MP | But you had to work long hours, though.
|
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| AC | Oh, yeah. We didn't really have no hours. We just worked until the people left. We'd
get out early in the morning and walk all over town, you know. Get exercise. |
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| MP | Oh, you and your husband did? And then you would start work? Whose idea was that to do
that walk? |
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| AC | Him.
|
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| MP | Did you put your money in a bank?
|
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| AC | Yeah, what we had we put in a bank.
|
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| MP | You said Redd Fox came to your business? Would you tell that story again?
|
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| AC | Yes. Well, he was just a boy.
|
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| MP | About how old was he? |
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| AC | He must have been about-he might have been thirteen years or fourteen years old. They had a race riot down in Saint Louis. |
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| MP | What year was that about?
|
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| AC | It must have been 1917, I think. And I forgot what the race riot was about, but they
had a race riot down there. And a lot of people came from Saint Louis here and he come in there with a bunch of men, and he had a sack, a little brown sack with sugar and coffee mix. And he come up to me, and he said, "Lady, would you trade me a piece of meat for this sugar and coffee mix?" So I didn't know what to do. I had to ask Mr. Sanders. He said, "No, we can't do that." So I give him-I fixed him- we never did turn anybody down who
wanted anything. |
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| MP | Did you have quite a few people who came in like that who did not have money?
|
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| AC | Yes, quite a few long at that time.
|
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| MP | Did you know he was Redd Fox at that time? How did you know he was Redd Fox?
|
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| AC | Well, after I heard his voice and seen him, I just knew it was him by his singing voice.
I wrote him a letter, but he never answered. |
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| MP | When did you write to him?
|
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| AC | I just asked him if he was in Bloomington at that time, but I didn't get no answer.
|
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| MP | Are there any other interesting stories of things that happened in the business?
|
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| AC | Something funny going on all the time. Everybody knowed each other, and they were
laughing and joking. We just didn't have to go nowhere. It was just like a show. |
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| MP | Did you have a bowling table?
|
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| AC | No.
|
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| MP | Pinball or how do you say? |
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| AC | We had a pool table. I learned my second husband how to play pool, and Sanders learned me. My second husband used to come in everyday. He wasn't spending anything. He'd just come around and sit around. He couldn't play pool, and there were a couple of other women who could play pool. Mr. Sanders called him "Brother-in-law" because when he came to town, he was looking for his sister, and he didn't know his sister's married name. And he was guessing at it. (inaudible) some of the Nathans, you know. (inaudible) And sure enough, it was his sister. Then he come back in there, and he called him Brother-in-law. He had a name for everybody, you know. |
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| MP | So your husband had quite a sense of humor?
|
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| AC | Oh, yeah. He was a funny type person. You could walk in that door, and he could call
your name. |
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| MP | He was a very brilliant man, wasn't he?
|
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| AC | Yes.
|
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| MP | Did you own a car at that time? How did you get around?
|
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| AC | Bus-no, streetcar.
|
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| MP | How long did the business operate? When did the business close?
|
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| AC | It must have been in 1919.
|
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| MP | He opened that one in 1917, and it closed in 1919. Why did it close?
|
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| AC | Well, this man bought the building. Another Colored man bought the building.
|
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| MP | Do you know who he was? |
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| AC | Mr. Berton |
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| MP | Mr. Burton? B-U-R-T-O-N? |
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| AC | B-E-R-T-O-N. [Henry Burton in city directory] |
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| MP | He bought the building? He lived in Bloomington?
|
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| AC | Yeah. So, they were friends, but he never come in to look at the building or anything.
He just kind of undermined-when we knew anything, he had bought the building. |
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| MP | And what did he do with the building?
|
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| AC | He rented it out. He cut it up into rooms just like it is now.
|
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| MP | So, he didn't want your husband operating the business then, right? Your husband was
leasing from him, right? |
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| AC | No, not from him. He was leasing from a white woman.
|
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| MP | And this man bought the building from this white woman.
|
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| AC | Un-huh. |
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| MP | So then what did your husband do? |
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| AC | We didn't do anything. We went out on East Empire and got a room. Then we stayed out
there about a year. And then we rented a place down on South Main Street that just kept roomers. That's over where the viaduct is. There wasn't a viaduct there then. There is a big brick building there right about in the middle of the viaduct, and he rented that. And we moved there. We had three rooms. We stayed until he died. |
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| MP | I guess he was very sad about the business closing?
|
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| AC | Yeah.
|
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| MP | And when did your husband die?
|
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| AC | 1939, I believe. (seems uncertain)
|
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| MP | He didn't work anymore?
|
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| AC | No.
|
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| MP | And then you married your other husband. What was his name?
|
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| AC | Alonzo Clark.
|
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| MP | When did you marry him?
|
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| AC | We married in 1950.
|
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| MP | What did he do?
|
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| AC | He was a porter down at the train station. He worked down there.
|
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| MP | And you didn't do any more business? Did you do any business after that?
|
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| AC | No. I got a job after Mr. Sanders died-I got a job at Livingston Store, and I stayed
there twelve years. Then, after that the Depression come, and they had to let so many people go. So they let me go, and I didn't work no more then for about a year. Then I got the job working out in a private family, some rich people. (inaudible) Burt Read, they owned the Portable Elevator [Manufacturing] Company. I stayed with them for about two years, I guess. |
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| MP | But, you also had these young students, these young men who attended ISU living with you
then, didn't you? |
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| AC | After I left Mr. Read's, I was living and working out at the university. I lived with
Rev. Aubrey Hursey and his family out there in Normal where Mrs. Calimese lived. So he bought a house downtown and moved downtown. So I rented the house, and then I started keeping students. That was in Normal. I was working at the Soldiers and Sailors Children's School. |
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| MP | What address was that? What street did you live on when you had the young men who
attended ISU. |
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| AC | It was on University and Church Streets.
|
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| MP | That was near where Mrs. Calimese's house is? |
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| AC | Yes. |
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| MP | Yes. You weren't married then.
|
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| AC | No. |
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| MP | So you rented that. These young men lived there. So you got a little bit of rent from them, and you worked at Illinois Soldiers and Sailors. |
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| AC | I didn't have to pay no expenses. I just stayed there.
|
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| MP | So that was the end of your business adventure. I want now to talk with you about what
you remember about World War I. And how the men from here went, left to go fight in the war, and what happened when it was over and, were women involved in any kinds of activities to help the men. |
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| AC | Well, there must have been about fourteen or fifteen-maybe more than that of our men
that left all at one time. We went down to see them go on the train. And the trains was full of soldiers going and coming. One of the boys wrote back to Mr. Sanders and told him that he was in the trenches in France. So he owed Mr. Sanders a little bill. So Mr. Sanders wrote him back and told him to send his money to him. And he passed the letter all up and down the trench. The boys had a good time, "Old Ike Sanders is wanting me to send him his money." He just did it for fun. |
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| MP | Do you know the names of these fifteen men who went off to the war together?
|
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| AC | Homer Skinner and Torrence Skinner, Howard Brent, Charlie Thomas, They called him "Sug"
Thomas. And Mr. Stearles and Lucinda's brother. I can't think of his name. |
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| MP | Did Mr. Alonzo Walton go that time?
|
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| AC | Yes, he was in the Army. Willie Sellers, that was Lucinda's brother.
|
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| MP | So, you all went down there to see them off. Were the women organized to help the men,
to send them cookies and letters and things while they were there? |
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| AC | Yeah.
|
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| MP | What was the name of the group? |
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| AC | Fred Hutchinson Club. |
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| MP | Fred Hutchinson, that was the name of it? |
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| AC | Yeah. |
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| MP | How many members?
|
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| AC | There was a doctor from Chicago who come down here and started this Fred Hutchinson
Club. I forget his name. |
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| MP | Why was the club called Fred Hutchinson?
|
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| AC | Why was it called that? I don't remember whether his name was Hutchinson or not.
Anyway, we used to meet down at the McBarnes Building where we was at the other day. I think there was about ten or fifteen women. |
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| MP | Do you remember any of the names of the ladies?
|
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| AC | Yeah. Mrs. Shavers, Golda Manual, myself, all the women that had anybody in there was
there. So they picked out names who they'd write to and who they'd send cookies and things to. So we'd get together and we'd have all these cookies and everything, and we would send them. I picked out a boy by the name of John White. I knowed him all his life, and he used to write me letters back when he's in Africa. And he'd write me letters back and said the flowers are so beautiful and everything's so pretty and everything. He always called me Anna. We got a kick out of that because people was always calling me Mrs. Sanders. So we sent a lot of cookies and stuff. We marched through town once. I have the pictures over there. |
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| MP | When they came back? |
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| AC | No, the women marching through town. |
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| MP | And what was the purpose of that? |
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| AC | Just to let the people know...
|
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| MP | that you were supporting the men. This was just the Hutchinson Club that did this?
|
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| AC | Un-huh. |
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| MP | Do you have any of the letters that this young man wrote to you while he was in the war? |
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| AC | No. He's dead now.
|
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| MP | And what about when they came back from the war? Did your group do anything when they
came back from the war? |
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| AC | They all come back all except two.
|
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| MP | What two did not come back? |
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| AC | The Redd-Williams Post. One of the boys his last name was Williams. The other boy was from Pontiac. They formed a club. They called it the Redd-Williams Post, and them the two boys who didn't come back. I don't think they got killed. I think they just died from some kind of disease. I don't think they got shot. |
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| MP | Did your group meet them at the train when the boys came back from the war?
|
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| AC | I guess they did. They knowed they were coming. When they come back, they had a big
dance. |
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| MP | Tell me about that. Who sponsored the dance?
|
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| AC | I don't know who sponsored it. We had a place they called Chatterton Theater. It's torn
down now. And, the boys and their wives. |
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| MP | That was for the Black and the white boys together-they had the dance?
|
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| AC | Yes, but it was mostly Black, but there were a lot of white people there.
|
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| MP | The Black group sponsored it? |
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| AC | Yeah. They didn't do much mixing back then. Of course, a lot of white people were sitting around. |
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| MP | Do you remember if any of these Blacks who served in World War I, did they receive any
kind of awards for distinguished service? |
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| AC | I don't remember.
|
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| MP | Did Mr. Calimese go-was he in World War I? Napoleon, Mrs. Calimese's husband, was he in
World War I? |
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| AC | Yes, he was in there, too. `Cause I know she said he got sick, and they thought he was
going to die. And he made it back to New York, and he was sick there a long time. |
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| MP | Now, this Mr. Donald Clark, do you know him?
|
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| AC | Yes.
|
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| MP | He served in World War I for a few months.
|
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| AC | Was he in it, too?
|
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| MP | Yes. He said for about three months, but he never went overseas. The war ended before
he had to go overseas. |
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| AC | Yeah, they taken most all the men around.
|
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| MP | Was that the only club-the Hutchinson's Club was the only club organized to your
knowledge to help the men in service? |
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| AC | Yes.
|
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| MP | In World War I?
|
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| AC | Yeah. |
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| MP | What about World War II? Were they any clubs organized to help the men that served in World War II? |
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| AC | No, I don't think so.
|
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| MP | You don't think so. |
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| AC | They kind of got used to wars and it was. |
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| MP | and it was nothing special. Un-huh. (tape is turned off) |
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| MP | Would you tell me about the Thomases?
|
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| AC | There were two brothers, and they worked together in the blacksmith's shop. One of them
was named "Wash" Thomas, and the other one was named. I can't think of it. (inaudible sentence) They shoed horses and things like that. |
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| MP | Did they have a very good business? Did you ever see their business?
|
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| AC | I passed the building, but I never did see them working or anything.
|
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| MP | Did they own the building?
|
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| AC | I don't know, I don't believe they did.
|
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| MP | But, they did a good business? |
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| AC | Un-huh. |
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| MP | Do you have any idea how long the business operated?
|
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| AC | I guess it must have been in there a long time. I guess that's about all they ever did.
|
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| End Side A |
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| Side B |
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| AC | I think [Willis Stearles] was over the men over there in France, and he was kind of-so
the men said, he was kind of hard on the men. What I mean he didn't treat them too good. |
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| MP | Was he an officer?
|
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| AC | Some kind of officer and when he come back here-when they all come back, he heard that
some of them were going to get even with him, and he left here and went to Peoria and stayed there a long time. About a year, I guess, or so. Then, he come back and he married Mrs. Stearles. They were sweethearts from years ago. He married her. Then he got a job out here taking care of the animals in Miller Park. |
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| MP | Did the men ever do anything to him?
|
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| AC | No.
|
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| MP | But they said he was cruel to them?
|
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| AC | That's what some of them said. I guess he's trying to hold a job, you know.
|
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| MP | That's true. |
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| AC | They thought he was cruel. |
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| AC | Maybe he was just doing his job. So that's what they were talking about it.
|
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| MP | What was his wife's name before she got married to him? Did you know he wife?
|
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| AC | Un-huh.
|
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| MP | What was her name before she married him? |
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| AC | I can't think of it. Catherine. (long silence) I knowed her father. He used to come and
eat with us. |
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| MP | Oh, what did he do?
|
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| AC | He was a house cleaner and things like that?
|
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| MP | Did he operate a business? |
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| AC | No. He just worked around in private families. |
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| MP | I understand that she owned a house, did she?
|
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| AC | Yes.
|
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| MP | Do you know how she came to own that house?
|
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| AC | Her father bought it.
|
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| MP | How did he come to have that much money?
|
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| AC | I don't know. He saved it, I guess.
|
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| MP | From working? |
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| AC | Un-huh. He had a nice big two-story house. |
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| MP | Somebody thought that a white family in Kentucky may have helped them with it. You don't
know anything about that? |
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| AC | No. He was a hard worker. I know he would come in, and his hands were just, just.
|
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| MP | raw. |
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| AC | His hands were rough. He'd been given so many hard jobs. |
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| MP | How many businesses do you know, Black businesses, were operating when your husband
owned his business-Mr. Saunders (sic)? Would you name the Black businesses that you know? |
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| AC | Let's see. "Doll" Watson.
|
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| MP | Doll? |
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| AC | Doll Watson he had a place. |
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| MP | Doll? D-O-L-L? |
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| AC | Just like a doll. |
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| MP | D-O-L-L. Doll Watson owned a business. What was his business? Was it a restaurant? |
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| AC | No. It was a club. |
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| MP | And where was it? |
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| AC | Upstairs right down from-right across from the post office. The old post office? Down in there. |
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| MP | Was that on top of Lucia [Lucca's] Restaurant?
|
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| AC | Yeah. |
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| MP | All right. That's the one I'm trying to remember. What others did you know about? |
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| AC | Of course, after Doll left, Bill Tinsley he taken Doll's-he bought Doll's place when
Doll left. |
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| MP | And he operated it, the club? |
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| AC | That's the only two clubs. Then they had barbershops. "Bud" Nathan had a barbershop. |
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| MP | Mrs. Calimese's husband had a barbershop in Normal. |
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| AC | And Mr. Calimese had a barbershop out in Normal-two brothers. Then Mr. Dabney had a barbershop in Normal. They all catered to white people. Boone Meaderds he had a barbershop. |
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| MP | Where was his barbershop? |
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| AC | In different places. The last place he had was down on Center Street. Must have been about the 200 block on Center Street. He was always in some kind of business, Boone Meaderds. |
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| MP | What about cleaning businesses?
|
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| AC | Different ones had cleaning businesses. Bell's father had a cleaning business and
tailor shop. Delores's [Shavers] father had a tailor shop, I believe. He might have had a cleaning place, too. He was always in some kind of business. He'd be here [Bloomington]. Then he'd be there, and then he'd be in Champaign. He moved around. He didn't just stay in one place. |
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| MP | What about this Revelation Rhoades? Did you know him?
|
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| AC | Revy Rhoades? He was a sign painter.
|
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| MP | Did he have any other business?
|
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| AC | No. He didn't have any other business.
|
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| MP | Wasn't there a newspaper that a Black person operated-The Advertiser?
|
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| AC | Yeah, Willis Stearles.
|
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| MP | Oh, he had a-Willis Stearles? |
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| AC | Not the same Stearles. His brother [Carl]. He run a little newspaper, and Revy Rhoades had a newspaper for awhile. |
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| MP | What was the name of Stearles' newspaper?
|
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| AC | I have one here, but I don't remember the name now.
|
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| MP | Oh, you do have one of the newspapers? Do you know where it is?
|
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| AC | No, I don't. I'd have to look for it.
|
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| MP | If you could find it that would be great. I wish you could find it. So both of them had
a newspaper. Did you know this man who had the Oil of Gladness business? Did you know him personally? |
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| AC | No, I didn't know him. I heard of him.
|
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| MP | That was before your. |
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| AC | He had a nice business, so they say. He had people selling this Oil of Gladness. There was a man here by the name of Mr. Scroggins. He sold-that's all he did was sell that Oil of Gladness. |
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| MP | Oh. For Mr. Hoagland? |
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| AC | Un-huh. |
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| MP | Oh, I see. |
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| AC | He sold a lot of Gladness Oil in this part of town.
|
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| MP | Did you ever see it?
|
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| AC | No. I don't know how-the man who started it was a minister, and they left here, but I
don't know what happened. I never heard of it no more. I guess they quit making it. |
 |
| MP | What did the women-did Black women have any businesses out of their homes? Like, did
they take in laundry, do hair, or anything? |
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| AC | There were a lot of hairdressers around and things like that.
|
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| MP | Any seamstress?
|
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| AC | Not.
|
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| MP | Not to your knowledge. |
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| AC | A lot of people could sew, but they just didn't have the business. I had a little upholstery business after I left the (inaudible). I upholstered chairs. |
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| MP | You repaired them for people?
|
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| AC | Yeah. |
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| MP | Is that right? How did you learn to upholster? |
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| AC | When I was out to the Home (inaudible), and they had an upholstery class here. So I went
and I taken that course for a couple of years. And when I left there, then I started an upholstery business. I upholstered a lot of chairs. People would bring their chairs here when they was in such a bad condition. So I just quit. And I was afraid I'd get dirt on them. |
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| MP | Oh, it was so difficult, yes. Were they mostly white people who brought you chairs?
|
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| AC | Yes. I did six chairs for the lady across the street-dining room chairs. And I did six
for Mrs. McGee. (inaudible) Everybody knew I was doing it you know, and they all wanted me to do it. (it becomes difficult to hear as they walk away from the microphone to examine some of Mrs. Clark upholstery work) Then they had another class of hat designing class, and I went into that. |
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| MP | Hat designing. |
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| AC | Un-huh. |
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| MP | Did you ever sell hats? |
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| AC | No. I never sold any. I used to make my own hats. |
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| MP | And the soap business-where did you learn to make soap?
|
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| AC | A lady from Chattanooga, Tennessee-she worked out. She was here-her and her husband.
They'll be here. They're coming to see me the twenty-third of this month, and they roomed with me. And the woman she worked for told her how to make it. She said she had to give $25.00 for the recipe and not to give it to anybody, but she gave it to me and so when she was living with me, she made a bunch of soap and sent it back down to Chattanooga. Then I learned how to do that. I used to like to learn a little bit about everything. A lot of things-I crocheted and embroidered and all that kind of stuff. But I did pretty good with these chairs. |
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| MP | Yes. You did primarily chairs, right? Yes. I can see.
|
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| AC | They'd just bring them here, and I'd do them in the basement. |
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| MP | When did you get this house? How long have you lived here? |
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| AC | When I married Mr. Clark. He owned this house. His son will be here the first week of
August. |
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| MP | Where does he live? |
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| AC | In New York. |
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| MP | He and his daughter will be here. The Lanes will be here the twenty-third, and they'll only stay two days, and they're on their way to a family reunion in Iowa.They want me to go, but I don't think I'm going. They done bought my reservation. |
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| End Side B |
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