Lossie Whitehead interview recording, 1993 June 29
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Most of the time I lived on a farm further down in Edgecombe. I lived with my father and my mother, and I had three sisters, one brother. I went to school in Edgecombe. It was further down from Tarboro, not around here, well down in Edgecombe. | 0:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where was that, Mrs. Whitehead, that you went to school? | 0:44 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | It's down on the other side of Tarboro, down in there. | 0:53 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Besides your parents and your brother and your sisters, did anyone else, any other members of your family live with you? | 1:04 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Oh, yeah. My father, my mother, and sisters and brother. | 1:10 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Besides them, did you have any aunts or uncles or grandparents or anyone around? | 1:26 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Yeah, I had a grandmother and grandfather. My grandmother was named Lasa Mercy. My granddaddy was named Ida Mercy. | 1:31 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mercy? | 1:34 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. We lived on a farm. We farmed. After my momma got married, we lived on a farm and raised a lot of chicken and hogs and things like that. I went to elementary school. I never been to high school. At that time, children had to stay out of school and work on the farm. I promised my Lord if I ever got married and had some children, I'm going to keep my children in school, work on no farm. I mean, I don't care what happen, got to stay home today. Miss so-and-so go back to plant or to pick a plant bed, stuff like that. I didn't keep mine out. I let them go to school. I have four boys, don't have no girls. I got nine grandchildren, and I got about 16 great-grand. | 1:50 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Were your parents from this area, Mrs. Whitehead? | 3:29 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | No. They were from down on the other side of Tarboro, down in Edgecombe, down in there. No. When we moved up here to this part of Edgecombe, all of us were grown, except my youngest sister and brother. They wasn't grown, but we were grown about 13, 14, 15 years old. I mean, we was. They weren't that old. When we moved up here, they were old enough to go to school, not around here, down in Edgecombe. | 3:39 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I went to school and then I went through the 7th grade. Later on in my life, I got married. My husband name, he Willy Whitehead. | 4:20 |
Rhonda Mawhood | He had white hair when you married him? | 4:37 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Hmm? | 4:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | He had white hair? He was Mr. Whitehead? | 4:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-huh. | 4:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What was his first name? | 4:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Willy. | 4:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Willy, I see. | 4:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | We had four boys, no girls. We stayed together a long time, but I think he died in—I got to get the paper, but he died in '67. I can't find the paper now. 1960— | 4:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | 1960 something. | 4:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | So I've been a widower since. | 4:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | That's a long time. | 4:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Yep. I raised all my children after. They went to school and all are married but one, and I live here with him. He not married. He work every day. I'm very proud of him. He take care of his momma. | 4:48 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What's his name, Mrs. Whitehead? | 5:59 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | His name Abbott. | 6:01 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Abbott. | 6:01 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | This is his house. I mean, he's the one that got it. | 6:08 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Very nice. | 6:12 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | All I have to do is I got to go to the site, go anywhere I want to go, and fix his meal and wash his clothes. I'm very proud of him. He my new baby. You know, next to the baby. All the rest of them, they married, but he is not married. | 6:21 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What does Abbott do, Mrs. Whitehead? | 6:45 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | He work for the city school, and he drive the school bus too. When school running, he drive the bus, and he still work too. | 6:48 |
Rhonda Mawhood | He's your new baby? | 7:03 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Yeah. | 7:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How old is he now? | 7:03 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | He about 49 years old. | 7:15 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'd like to ask you, you told me so many things about your whole life. I'd like to go back a little bit and ask you about when you were growing up. You mentioned your grandparents. I was wondering what you remember about your grandparents? | 7:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I remember I stayed with them, like grandchildren go stay with them. I had a nice grandmother and grandfather too. I liked to stay with them. You know how children usually like to stay with grandparents. They raised a lot of turkeys, chickens, guineas and everything, all kinds of stuff. They had milk cows, and my granddaddy, he had a fine horse. Along those days, a horse and buggy, that was style then. He had a nice horse and buggy and everything. I just enjoyed going to stay with them for weeks at a time. | 7:51 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you ride in the horse and buggy with your grandparents? | 8:49 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-huh. Yep, sure did. Used to ride. Used to go up to my grandmother's. She used to take me to church with her. She had this horse and buggy. We'd go to church on the horse and buggy on Sunday. That's what people were riding in then. | 8:55 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where did you go to church, Mrs. Whitehead? | 9:09 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | It was down on the other side of Tarboro. That's where we were living, way down in there. But I really can't think of the name of the church, but I know it was on the other side of Mildred, somewhere down in there. | 9:14 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you enjoy going to church? | 9:21 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I sure did. I enjoyed going anywhere with my grandmother. I can't think of the year she died, but she died. My granddaddy died too. Then my mother, she died. I can't tell you the years, because I mean, I got it, but I can't seem to find it. I didn't know when you was coming. I thought you said you were coming tomorrow. | 9:26 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Oh. | 10:11 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Wednesday. | 10:13 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'm sorry. | 10:13 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | That's all right. | 10:15 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Were you grown when your grandmother died, or were you still a little girl? | 10:18 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | When my grandmother died? | 10:22 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Yes, ma'am. | 10:23 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I was teenager. Yep. | 10:24 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you used to go visit your grandparents alone, or would your brothers and sisters come with you? | 10:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, I stayed with them more than anybody, any other children. They didn't like to go. I did. I liked to go stay with them. | 10:35 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Do you remember what it was that you liked about your grandmother so much? | 10:51 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | No. She just had a whole lot of different good things, and she was good to me. So I just liked to go and stay with her. I stayed with them till when I was a big girl, about 10 or 11 years old. Finally, my momma told me I had to come home. I had to go home then with my mommy and my daddy and my sisters and my one brother. He was a baby boy. | 10:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | He was the baby and then were you the oldest or in the middle somewhere? | 11:42 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I had one sister older than I am. I'm the next-to-oldest one. | 11:49 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What kind of work would you and your brother and your sisters do on the farm as you were growing up? | 11:56 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, we picked cotton. We put in tobacco. Along then, people wasn't shucking peanuts like they was after I got grown. We picked a lot of cotton. We had white potatoes, about four or five acres of white potatoes, because they sold them too. We just raised a whole lot of stuff, and we raised tobacco too. | 12:06 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you like farming, Mrs. Whitehead? | 12:45 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Sure did. Sure did. Sometimes I wish I was farming. There ain't no farm now. People don't farm now. On the farm now is like somebody own a big farm. This man, he changed all the farms, but he has helpers to come in and help him or harvest the crop and stuff. But when we were farming, everybody had their own little farm. You don't know nothing about that, do you? | 12:48 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I've been told. | 13:25 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Everybody had their own little farm. We stayed on a man's farm, but every sharecropper, they had their own farm, own crop, I mean. It was a big, big farm, and everybody on that man's farm, every sharecropper had to farm for him. They had their own individual farm, but he was the boss. But anyway, everybody had their own farm off by themselves. | 13:27 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What did you like about farming, Mrs. Whitehead? Why did you like it? | 14:04 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Just being away. I didn't like to pick cotton. I liked tobacco and I liked that. Way back there then, they didn't raise too many peanuts, so people didn't shuck peanuts. It was cotton and tobacco, corn and I don't know what else. I don't know if they had soybeans or nothing. Then when I got grown and I got married, me and my husband farmed. We raised tobacco, peanuts, corn. We raised hogs. We raised everything. | 14:10 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You told me your parents sharecropped? | 14:57 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 15:00 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did they rent the land from a White family or a Black family? | 15:07 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | No. Sharecropping with White people. | 15:12 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Would you say that the man that your parents sharecropped for, would you say that he was a good boss man or not so good? | 15:20 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Some of them was, some of them weren't. Some of them good and some of them weren't. Some of them were hateful. You know what I mean? | 15:36 |
Rhonda Mawhood | If they were hateful, what kinds of things would they do? | 15:44 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | They didn't want you to let your children go to school, want them to stay out of school and work, like they weren't supposed to be going to school. I mean, they be little children, small children. But people got away from that stuff. | 15:51 |
Rhonda Mawhood | A good boss man, what would make someone a good boss man? | 16:17 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | They would know how to treat people. They don't care what color they is, and they would act like they was people like he was. Yeah, I have lived with some nice White people. I have. | 16:24 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You've probably met some mean ones too. | 16:41 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm, yeah. | 16:43 |
Rhonda Mawhood | At what time of the year did your family settle up? | 16:54 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | You talking my mother and father? | 17:02 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Well, did they settle up the accounts with—yeah, sure. Your mother and father. | 17:04 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, I think they settled up after they get all the crops out in the field. Then the boss man will come up and say, "Well, you just made it even. It come out even. You didn't make nothing." It was a tough time on the farm. On some people's farm, you worked for them all the year, and all you got was a little grocery, a grocery check, or else they had a store somewhere where you could go and pick up some little stuff like that, food. But I would live with people that was real nice, I sure have. After me and my husband got married, the people who we lived with, they were real nice. I mean, he got his share every time he was supposed to get it. We'd go and buy groceries. He died down the road there, I guess where you turn in down there. He died down the road there, but we weren't farmers then. We had stopped farming. | 17:11 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did your husband have an accident? | 18:35 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-uh. He was sick. He had a cancer in his spine. | 18:48 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did farming change from the time that you were growing up to the time that you farmed with your husband? Would you say that it changed? | 18:59 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Yeah, yeah. It has changed. Didn't treat people like they did when I was growing up. | 19:25 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You would say they get treated better or worse? | 19:28 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Better. Well, I just say people just got wiser. They don't think of everything. You don't give ear to everything. Because some of them, I'm not talking about the White, I'm not talking about the Black, but some of them is real hateful where you work for. Some of them is real good. I mean, they treat you like your people are just like they are. Some of them don't. I stayed on a man's farm, and he didn't want me to send my children to school. My children were small too, but his girl went to school every day. But I sent my children. The man come in there, "I said for them children to stay home and work." No, you won't get them to stay home and work. I said, "they work when they get out of school." | 19:29 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | We stayed there a year, and then he came up there. "I didn't know y'all were going to move." Yeah, we going to move. "I sure do hate to see y'all go." But see, we weren't going for that stuff. Because see, my children had just as much right to go to school. They got back in time for days to go to the theater and go to work. | 20:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Your husband agreed with you? | 21:06 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | What? | 21:07 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Your husband agreed with you that the children should go to school? | 21:08 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Yeah, yeah. We sent them to school, sure did. | 21:21 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where did your children go to school, Mrs. Whitehead? | 21:21 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | At Edgecombe and Rocky Mount. They went to Phillip. Different places wherever I lived and close to the school they went. Anyway, they finished up at Phillip. | 21:28 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Phillips School? | 21:42 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Phillips School down here. | 21:45 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What kind of equipment or machinery did your parents have on their farm and did your husband and you have on your own farm? | 21:46 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mules and plows and hoes and rakes and stuff like that. For the last year or two that we worked for this man, he had his own stuff. We was just working for him. He paying us by the day. I don't know what it was. When we were working on the farm, the man, he furnished the mules and things and you did the work. | 22:12 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When you and your husband married, first, you farmed yourselves and then you started working on someone else's farm? | 22:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Yeah. When me and my husband got married, we worked on the farm. He hated it. He didn't work on the farm long. He had a job. I worked on the farm with my parents just where I could get work to do. | 23:06 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where was your husband working at that time, Mrs. Whitehead, or what kind of work was he doing at the time? | 23:23 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | He was doing farm work too, but see, we were just working on the farm. We didn't get paid because see, we were working for the man. But where he was working at, he was driving tractors and things. He got paid. | 23:38 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How many acres did your parents farm? | 24:01 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Sometimes about seven to eight acres tobacco, ten acres of peanuts, and sometimes twenty acres of cotton. They raised corn too. But I can't tell you the acres, all of them together. | 24:05 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Thank you. Did your parents farm until they passed on? | 24:41 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Almost, yeah. After the children was married and everything and my mother, she had a job working with this lady. She worked for this lady until—how old was she? Anyway, she got sick later on, and she didn't work for the lady no more. But anyway, she died too. | 24:56 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What was she doing? | 25:19 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | She cooked, washing. She stayed in the house with her. They're real nice people. | 25:22 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You mentioned going to church with your grandmother a little while ago. Do you remember your baptism? Can you tell me about your baptism? | 25:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | You mean what denomination? | 25:53 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Are you Baptist or? | 25:57 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Yeah. Mm-hmm. | 25:57 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where were you baptized? | 25:57 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I was a big girl when I was baptized. I wasn't baptized when I was little. It was right around they started baptizing little babies. I was staying down in—it was in Edgecombe, but it was down toward Mildred. You know where Mildred is? | 26:07 |
Rhonda Mawhood | No. | 26:32 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | By Conetoe, Mildred, down on the other side of Tarboro. | 26:32 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And were you baptized outside? | 26:36 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. In the creek. | 26:44 |
Rhonda Mawhood | In the creek? | 26:48 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Yep. People used to baptize in the creek, in the river. Now they baptize in the pool. | 26:50 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Which do you like better, Mrs. Whitehead? | 27:05 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | What, the pool or the creek? | 27:10 |
Rhonda Mawhood | The pool or the creek? | 27:10 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, at that time it was all right with me when I was baptized in the creek, but the pool, I think it's safe and it's better. Because you're in that creek, you don't know what's in there and all of those nasty stuff in there. When you go in the pool, you know it's clean. We have a pool in our church all up there by the pulpit. They got a big pool down in there where they fill it full of water. That's where they baptize at. | 27:19 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What church do you go to now, Mrs. Whitehead? | 27:44 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Up here. You see the big white church up here? You know where you turn in there? | 27:53 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 27:54 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | You see that big white church sitting there? | 27:55 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I saw it, yes. | 27:57 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | First Baptist. | 27:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | First Baptist. Did you ever go to revivals when you were growing up? | 28:04 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | A little bit. I started going to revivals after I got big enough to go myself. I mean, I used to go with my momma. We walked to church. We stayed out here to Bear Honey. You know where Bear Honey is? The church is just New Hope, New Hope in Nash County. We used to walk up there at nights to the revival, a crowd of women and children in the road at night. We were safe because I'm still here. Didn't have nobody out. Didn't nothing bother us or nothing like that, but people is afraid to walk now by themselves at night. One thing, back then people weren't mean like they is now. They do everything now. I heard something that was on the television last night. I believe it was last night. People just doing so much meanness. I said, "Lord have mercy." Killing people, killing one another. | 28:08 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Air conditioning gave out where one side was stopped up. And the man came and got the air conditioner, I think it was Monday evening. I been sitting in here with the air conditioner I got there, there sticking in the window there. I told my son, "You call that man, tell him to bring that air conditioner on out here. You fix it, bring it on out here. I want it in the window. I want something in the side." Sometime he work at night too. He work in the daytime, but he got a night job sometime. He clean up churches and thing like that, but there's people there that'll lock him out. I said, "I don't want to be staying by myself and the window open." | 29:15 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I understand. | 30:15 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | We'll see. Nobody don't know the window open because I told you that it's open, but I know it's open. I don't see why he keeping it that long because it was over on one side. The other side was kind of stopped up. All he had to do was unstop it. I told him, I said, "You give me that man's telephone number. He going to get it to me because I'm going to sass him out, tell him to bring it." | 30:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mrs. Whitehead, when you were growing up and someone in your family got sick, what would you do? | 30:53 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | What would I do? | 31:10 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What would your mother or your father do? | 31:11 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, they'll give you whatever they had around to take. If you had a fever, there used to be some weeds grow called jimsonweed. You ever heard tell of that? | 31:13 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 31:29 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | They'd go out and get that and get some vinegar. They put them all over your body, and it abated that fever, sure did. When I was growing up, people didn't go to the doctor every time like they do now. They did home remedy at home, them old people. It worked too. They'd go out there. Children be so hot with fever that it might burn your hand. They go out there and get those jimsonweeds and give them some vinegar. I believe it had some water in there too. They put them jimsonweeds all over their little bodies and abate that fever. | 31:33 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you do that with your own children, Mrs. Whitehead? | 32:23 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. I have done it. I woke up one night, and my baby was so hot with fever. I was just crying. I got up out of that bed. It was dark, but I didn't care. Went out there and found me some jimsonweed. I came back. I washed them off because I didn't want no spiders on. I got me some vinegar and I put them jimsonweed all over my baby. The next morning, my baby was all right. It just abated all that fever, because he was so hot, it scared me. Anyway, we took him to the doctor next morning. The doctor in Battleboro, his name was Dr. Dean. You ever heard tell of him? | 32:28 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Dr. Dean? | 33:11 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 33:11 |
Rhonda Mawhood | No, ma'am. | 33:11 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Took him over to him. His office, it's a little brick building up here in Battleboro right over from the post office. Carried him up there to him. | 33:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where did your parents learn about using jimsonweed for a cold? | 33:36 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I guess from their parents, I guess. Yeah. I figure they used to do a whole lot of things. Some people used to take coffee and wash them out and put it to the body to abate that fever. They'd sure be so hot with fever. When you lay it on the child, it would parse that leaf up, turn it just as black. But anyway, I had a good life coming up. I always had plenty to eat and clothes. I thank God. Now I'm 76 years old. He brought me from a long ways. I'm still going. I go to the site every day. | 33:39 |
Rhonda Mawhood | To the Franklinton Center? | 34:50 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Up here to Bricks. | 34:50 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Bricks. | 34:50 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Every day. We have a van. We have little programs and things. We sold tickets, and we bought our own van. It was an old lady that she stayed in New York and she had a whole lot of money. Anyway, she put a whole lot of her money in there to help buy the van. So we got our own van. Our man drive it. He come around every day and pick us up and carry us up here to Bricks. Then if we want to go somewhere, like on a trip, we just load up in the van and go. See, we pay, I think it's two dollars a minute, everybody that goes, the members. We put that money in the bank. That's for to buy gas and oil and stuff so we can go. | 35:01 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Where'd we go? Anyway, a long ways Thursday. But the lady where the members are, the site, she drove her van. I can't think of the name of the place, but we been up there before. We went up there and saved all that. It's like a shopping center. I enjoy my old life, I sure do. When I was coming up young, I didn't have no way to go nowhere. I couldn't go nowhere. I went to church, but go off on trips and things, we didn't do that, but now we do. I just enjoy it, sure do. Sometimes we get up, we leave in the morning. Sometime we leave about 5:00 in the morning we leave, going on a long trip. Sometime we rent a bus because of how many people's going. But if it's just our people at Bricks, we drive our own van. Yeah, sure do. | 36:02 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | We start out over here to Red Hill. That's where we was one time, over where there a senior citizen store up there. We bought our first van. They still got the van. It's down in Tarboro somewhere. So anyway, we over here at Bricks. We bought our van after we went to Bricks. The man come by every morning and pick the people up. We're going to the site. We get back home about 2:00, I reckon. We leave here in the morning about 11:00. We don't be gone all that long. I just enjoy it, sure do. I sit with the senior citizens, and it's a joy. Yeah. | 37:28 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Are there any people there who you've known for many years in that group? | 38:38 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | What, in that group? Uh-huh. I been knowing them a long time, some of them. It ain't too many new ones that I ain't been knowing a long time. We used to be at Red Hill down at the old church, but they tore that church down. All those people were going to Red Hill then. Yeah. We have a new ones, but the biggest of them is one that been going a long time. A lot of them that was going, they don't go no more because some of them done got sick, can't get around and like that. They just don't go. The lady that bought this van, she lived in New York and she came down. She bought this van with her money for the senior citizens, because she don't go no more because she done got disabled to get around. | 38:43 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When you were coming up, what kinds of things did you do for fun then? | 39:51 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Not much for fun. You worked all the time. We went to church and Sunday school and played out in the yard. You mean when I was a small girl? That's what we did. | 40:00 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What kinds of things did you play in the yard? | 40:17 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | We had a dollhouse and a playhouse. Me and my sister, we was tending to my momma's baby. One day, I would have the baby. It'd be my baby. The next day she would have the baby. We had a good old grass doll. She had the grass doll one day, and I had my momma's baby. The next day I'd have the grass doll and she'd have my momma's baby. My momma, they was picking blackberries. My momma's baby, I don't know how old she was. But anyway, I had wet her head. She had really pretty curly hair hanging all down. I had put some water on her head and wet her head. My sister came home from the blackberries. She saw the baby with head wet. Ooh, she went back to that blackberry and told my momma. | 40:22 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I had to go to the toilet. We had outdoor toilet then. I had to go to the toilet. We didn't have a lock. My momma come to the door, she said, "Come out of there." I didn't put no more water on her baby's head because it could've killed the baby, but we were just playing company. Since she had such pretty hair, I just wet her hair with that water and all the curls all over her head. But I bet you I didn't put no more curls, no more water on my momma's baby because she really tore me up. She didn't whup no clothes. She whupped that real meat. | 41:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How old were you when you did this, Mrs. Whitehead? | 42:13 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I reckon I was about six years old. I reckon I was six years old. Might not have been six. Along then, parents keeping children out of school to stay home and work because they had to work on the farm. Everybody that stayed on the farm had to be to work. Just like if you got a farm, I got one, everybody had to be there to pull tobacco plants and stuff like that. But see, when my momma had to work, she had to keep us out of school to keep the baby. But honey, when she got through with me, I didn't put no more water on her baby's head. Could've killed the little baby, but I wasn't trying to hurt the baby. I wasn't trying to hurt the baby. I was just trying to make the baby—well, we were playing company, like you come to my house and I go to your house. And then name yourself a different name. My name was Mary Lee. Her name was Mary Elizabeth. | 42:26 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | One day she had the real baby and I had the grass doll. That be my baby. The next day I'd have the baby and she'd have a grass doll. That day my sister came home and she see that baby's head wet. Ooh, she said, "I'm going to tell momma." Went back to that plant. I was so scared before I went to the toilet, locked myself in that toilet. She said, "Come out of there." I didn't put no more water on her baby's head. Could've killed the little baby, but we weren't trying to hurt the baby. We just playing company. | 44:13 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You were trying to make the baby's hair pretty. | 44:21 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | It was pretty. My momma had beautiful hair, real curly. | 44:25 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Your mother's hair was long? | 44:29 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. The baby's hair was like hers, so I was trying to put that water on there, even though I didn't have no business putting that water on her head. I reckon it was about March, because people used to pick blackberries in March. It was kind of cold, but I bet you I ain't never put no more water on my momma's baby's head. I saw her come in planting those switches. | 44:33 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Who took care of your hair when you were a little girl, Mrs. Whitehead? | 45:05 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | My momma. | 45:09 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What did she do to it? | 45:21 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Hmm? | 45:22 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What did your mother do to your hair? | 45:23 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Oh, they plaited it then, sure did. That's what I do to mine now, plait it. I got a wig on. I wear a wig. I used to have it fixed at a beauty parlor. Went to a beauty parlor one Saturday, came back home. That night about 12:00, I had to get up out of that bed. I jump out of that bed and run to the bathroom. I started running water over my head. My head was burning so bad. I don't know what in the world that woman put in my hair. | 45:25 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-huh. She going to [indistinct 00:00:05]. Some kind of sad to put on there until I get ready to come back. I told her I ain't coming back no more. I handed [indistinct 00:00:12] back this morning. [indistinct 00:00:16] my hair just come out by the handful. But if I know like I do now, I would have sued [indistinct 00:00:26] bring some of my hair back, but I didn't know. | 0:01 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When did that happen, Mrs. Whitehead? | 0:26 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Could've been about 10 or 12 years ago. | 0:35 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When was the first time you went to a beauty parlor? | 0:41 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I don't know, it's been about 20 years ago I guess the first time I went to a beauty parlor. But the ladies that were doing it then [indistinct 00:00:58] it was pretty. But this woman, she [indistinct 00:01:01] some of my hair and she took all my hair out. My scalp burn so bad, I had to get up out of that bed and I run that water all over my head to get it [indistinct 00:01:12]. And just soon [indistinct 00:01:14] where I could call her, I called her and told her about it. I sell sometime now [indistinct 00:01:21]. But I don't strangle her, I go to her and [indistinct 00:01:27] and go about my business. | 0:58 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | But fact she didn't put it in my hair. But she told this girl to put it in there. The helper [indistinct 00:01:42]. | 1:31 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When you got married, were you doing your own hair then? | 1:49 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-huh. Yeah. | 1:52 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What holidays did your family celebrate when you were growing up, Mrs. Whitehead? | 2:02 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. It's all I can remember. | 2:08 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you celebrate Christmas? | 2:08 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Oh, yeah. Yeah, we always celebrate Christmas. | 2:17 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What did you do for Christmas? | 2:22 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | We cook a whole lot of food, and [indistinct 00:02:30] we got toys, and things, clothes and things. And just have a good time. | 2:25 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'm sorry, go on. | 2:43 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | My daddy, he would barbecue a hog and my momma, she would cook a lot of cakes, and pies, and things. And we bought a lot of fruit stuff. Because when I was a child, they didn't get fruit for—they got fruit for Christmas. They didn't get fruit all through the year like they do now. [indistinct 00:03:07] had plenty food, and fruit, and stuff. | 2:44 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And did friends come by? | 3:20 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Huh? Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, come by and eat. And they'd go to they friends house and eat. It was some good old days. I mean [indistinct 00:03:35] all kind of toys and things. And they'd tear them to pieces in two, three days. They pay all that money. I remember I used to get a little [indistinct 00:03:47] doll, a little doll ball. And I just [indistinct 00:03:50] that little doll so good. I tore that doll around. Kept that doll all the time. [indistinct 00:03:59] crazy dolls, and all kind of toys, bicycles and things. We didn't get that when we was coming up I mean, our parents didn't have no money. | 3:21 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | And our people, they got jobs and everything. They didn't get [indistinct 00:04:18] anything they want to get [indistinct 00:04:21]. I think some people I think, they get too much stuff [indistinct 00:04:28] but tear it to pieces. They don't even pay no attention to it after the first day. | 4:13 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did you celebrate the Fourth of July? | 4:32 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | What, when, now? | 4:42 |
Rhonda Mawhood | No, when you were coming up. What did you do for the Fourth of July? | 4:43 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | My parents always have a lot of food and everything, and friends. They had, my uncles, they had fireworks and things. I remember that. They still do that now. Some of them, they have fireworks on the Fourth of July, and [indistinct 00:05:16] the people [indistinct 00:05:19] union, all that stuff to get together. Some of them have it on the Fourth of July. My birthday in July. July the 9th. | 4:46 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Oh, it's coming up. | 5:27 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 5:29 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Coming up soon. | 5:29 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Yup. | 5:32 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Happy birthday. I won't see you on the 9th, but happy birthday for that day. Where did you meet your husband, Mrs. Whitehead? | 5:39 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Where did I meet him at? | 6:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 6:03 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Out here in Edgecombe. | 6:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you know each other when you were growing up? | 6:04 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-uh. Uh-uh. No, I didn't know him. | 6:05 |
Rhonda Mawhood | So how did you happen to meet him? | 6:05 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Who knows. [indistinct 00:06:05]. I know I met him [indistinct 00:06:08]. | 6:05 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Well, that's the important thing. | 6:05 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Oh. | 6:05 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And when you had your children, Mrs. Whitehead, where were they born? | 6:16 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Down in Edgecombe. Down [indistinct 00:06:19]. Down by [indistinct 00:06:19]. | 6:18 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Were they born in the hospital or at home? | 6:18 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | No, at home. Mm-hmm. | 6:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And was it a doctor or a midwife that you had? | 6:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Midwife. Mm-hmm. I never had a doctor. Mm-hmm. All of them boys. | 6:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you want a girl? | 6:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I wish one had been a girl. But since I didn't have that girl, so I guess [indistinct 00:07:04] the boy. | 6:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | The midwife who came to you, how did you hear about her? | 6:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, there used to be a whole lot of the midwives. But I don't [indistinct 00:07:27]. Do you? | 6:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Not much. There are some, but not very many. | 6:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, that was the biggest thing, was a midwife. And [indistinct 00:07:39] doctor, because Dr. Dean he [indistinct 00:07:43] post office. He was the only doctor. But the midwives, they always delivered the babies. And if it was something that they couldn't do, ever what it was, he would always come out. That's a hard job bringing a baby in the world. You don't have any children? | 7:59 |
Rhonda Mawhood | No, ma'am. | 8:09 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Yes, sir. It's a hard job. But then after all it's over with, and you look at the little baby, it look mighty pretty to you. But you have the baby, it's a whole lot of pains and things. But the worstest pain is after you done had the baby, I don't know what [indistinct 00:08:47] but they call it an after pain. | 8:26 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Which? I'm sorry. | 8:53 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | After pain. | 8:53 |
Rhonda Mawhood | After pain. Mm-hmm. | 8:53 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | After you done had the baby. You have them about nine days. And [indistinct 00:09:00] see them coming in the door like this. After pain, it hurt so bad, that pain [indistinct 00:09:08]. You have them for nine days after the baby was born. After pain that's what it's called. | 8:54 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How long would you stay in bed after having a baby? | 9:21 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | How long? Stayed in bed nine days. And then I get up and sat around. Stay in that bed nine days [indistinct 00:09:42] sit in that bed nine days. I used to sit side the bed and have a little foot tub [indistinct 00:09:49] and wash my baby's clothes. [indistinct 00:09:56]. | 9:25 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How long would you nurse your baby for? | 9:58 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | [indistinct 00:10:10] almost a year old. Mm-hmm. | 9:59 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did women sometimes nurse them longer than that? | 9:59 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | [indistinct 00:10:18] but I nursed mine no longer than a year. I tell you, when they get teeth, get rid of them babies, because they'll bite. Some people now have got babies and [indistinct 00:10:42] walking around with a bottle stuck in they mouth. I say take that bottle and throw in the trash. I would. They don't need no bottle. [indistinct 00:10:54] good as you can, and then they walking around with a bottle in they mouth. That's [indistinct 00:11:03] sucking down whole bottles. When they get big enough where they can chew and eat, let them eat. | 10:17 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Would you say that you brought up your own children the way your parents brought you up? | 11:17 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I think so. I think so. My parents were real strict. And if we did something that they didn't like, they would always give us a [indistinct 00:11:48] spanking, give us a whooping. That's what I did mine. And I got four boys. And they all went through high school. My next oldest son, he went to college. But after he got out of high school, he went [indistinct 00:12:11] New Jersey somewhere. He went to school. But they went to school. I never had no trouble. I ain't never went to no school house [indistinct 00:12:27] parents go and cuss the teachers out. Children is mean [indistinct 00:12:37] nobody says he ain't. [indistinct 00:12:39] come home and tell they parents lies. | 11:42 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Then he'll go to parents [indistinct 00:12:45] to school house, sat in the teachers [indistinct 00:12:48] and get that child, because that child is just as mean as they can be. And if you take up for them, they [indistinct 00:13:01]. I can do anything I want to do if my momma going to take up for me. But I didn't do that. I never had no trouble with no teachers. And they [indistinct 00:13:11] at school, and they went to school house and got [indistinct 00:13:16] because I know I'm trying to raise them in a way that they supposed to mind the teacher like they did me. They were supposed to respect the teacher. And they did. I never had no trouble with the teacher. My [indistinct 00:13:31] all them teachers down there and they wouldn't tell you. They'd tell you right now that they never had no trouble out of my children, or they never had no trouble out of me going to the school house. | 12:41 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I think [indistinct 00:13:48] parents go running go running to the school house [indistinct 00:13:51] that teacher. You know what? Children is just as mean as they can be. And you take up for them they can be meaner. I can tell you what I want to [indistinct 00:13:57] I do what I want to do, my momma going to take up for me. See, the momma [indistinct 00:14:01] what they've done at the school house. They don't. | 13:45 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Were children mean when you were a child? | 14:08 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Huh? | 14:22 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Were children mean when you were a child? | 14:22 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-uh. Uh-uh. No. No, because parents don't whoop children now. Our parents whooped us. And when we went to school we mind them teachers because we [indistinct 00:14:29] we going to get a whooping when we got back home. But parents don't whoop children now. They let they children go to school and they teach the teacher he's a [indistinct 00:14:45] teacher, damn. But the children, they take over. And then they go home tell they parents all lies, and here they go out to the school house and give that teacher—I never been to no school house with my four boys. I never had no trouble out of them, and they've been a plenty prosper at Phillip. They'll tell you right today, they never had no trouble out of them. | 14:22 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Me and neither my children, because I told them when they started school, I said now, y'all going to school for to uh—mind the teacher not y'all trying to teach [indistinct 00:15:29] the teacher. And I never had no trouble out of them. I can say some teachers right now every time I go out to the school I didn't have [indistinct 00:15:40] we never had no trouble out of your children. Some parents go out there and cuss the teachers out about lies [indistinct 00:15:50] children did tell lies, they will. They will tell lies. They sure will. | 15:10 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you like school when you were at school? | 16:00 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Yeah. Sure did. And we went to [indistinct 00:16:04] school [indistinct 00:16:11] one of the big schools. Now they got nice schools and everything. And some of them just don't know how to treat the teacher. Then they let the children run over the teacher. I think that's wrong. I told mine, I said "I send y'all out there to mind the teacher, not to [indistinct 00:16:35]." And I never had no trouble. In all the years, the 12 years they went to school out there. | 16:11 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What did you like best about school when you were in school [indistinct 00:16:58]. | 16:43 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Playing. Playing. We used to jump rope and hopscotch and stuff like that. I liked the school too. But playing with all my little friends. That was good. But then after I got big, I just [indistinct 00:17:42]. | 17:00 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did the teachers in the school ever have favorites among the children? | 17:41 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Some of them did. But I'll tell you, I don't know whether they have favorites or not. I always got along with the teachers, because I knew what my momma told me, how I better act. And I act like that. So I always got along with the teachers. | 17:43 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did your mother tell you to act? | 17:51 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | [indistinct 00:17:56] the teachers to teach me not me go out there to try to teach the teachers. I mean, boss the teachers. And if they hear anything about me, they didn't—they wouldn't believe you, because they figured you done done something [indistinct 00:18:18] the teachers wouldn't [indistinct 00:18:21] you. But I never had no trouble with no teachers, because I always did what my momma told me to do. [indistinct 00:18:30]. She was a sweet old mother. But she really whooped you though. | 17:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What do you remember about your father Mrs. Whitehead? | 18:26 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | He was good too. He didn't do much whooping. He didn't want her to do much whooping. So he was good. So he was a good old man. And he died a long time ago [indistinct 00:19:03]. Mm-hmm. | 18:46 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did your parents treat you to act around White people? | 18:49 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Act around White people? | 19:25 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How were you supposed to be with White people? Were you supposed to act a certain way or talk to them a certain way? | 19:27 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | You know how to talk to everybody. And no special way. I just always—my momma brought me up to respect everybody regardless of their color. Whether they were Black or White. So they didn't—no they never told me nothing how to act around White people. [indistinct 00:20:07] act right around all people [indistinct 00:20:10] whether they were Black or White. | 19:43 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about changes. When did you first have electricity in a house where you lived? | 20:17 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | In what? | 20:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When did you first have the light in the house you lived in? | 20:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | [indistinct 00:20:41]. Oh. We got [indistinct 00:20:47]. | 20:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 20:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Right now I can't tell you the year. But we uh—my children was small when we got lights in the house [indistinct 00:21:15] lamp. We used the lamp. I can't tell you the year right now. When you get old you forget things. | 21:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | That's fine. Fine. What did you think of the electric light when you got it? | 21:17 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I liked it, didn't have to put no kerosene in the lamp. They had to wash the [indistinct 00:21:40] and things with the lamp. All you had to do was switch it on. It was nice. I can't remember. I'm trying to remember where I was staying when I first got lights. I can't remember that right now. | 21:21 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What about a car? | 21:56 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Car? | 21:56 |
Rhonda Mawhood | A car. Mm-hmm. When did you first have a car [indistinct 00:22:12]. | 21:56 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | My grandfather, he always had a car. As long as I can remember. [indistinct 00:22:21] they had a blast in the car. | 22:14 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. | 22:34 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | [indistinct 00:22:35]. | 22:34 |
Rhonda Mawhood | T Model Ford, uh-huh. | 22:34 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Yeah, a T model [indistinct 00:22:35]. He put [indistinct 00:22:35] have a glass in the car. They had some—it had [indistinct 00:22:47] leather, but then it had some quite plastic where you could look out there. They put them [indistinct 00:22:57] we go to church. Yeah, he always had a car. After I got grown and got married, then me and my husband bought a car. These cars then—when my grandaddy had a car, it wasn't made like [indistinct 00:23:22] when me and my husband got grown and got married. They were different kind of cars then, because at that time when my granddaddy had a car. | 22:35 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | It was something—anyway like your bag there, they had sort of [indistinct 00:23:42] down side of the car, and they had this clear plastic stuff where you could look out the window. And they had [indistinct 00:23:55]. T Model Ford because some of my people [indistinct 00:24:05] somebody had a Dodge, a [indistinct 00:24:07] black car. | 23:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Which did you like better, riding in the buggy with the horse, or driving in the car? | 24:12 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Well, I didn't care for [indistinct 00:24:21] riding. I used to [indistinct 00:24:23] my grandmomma to church, she used to ride the horse and buggy. Well, I used to go with her to church on her horse and buggy. We were staying down [indistinct 00:24:34] we were staying down there. I used to stay at my grandma a whole lot. Used to go to church with her. I went to this church one Sunday about three or four years ago, and when I got out of the car I told somebody [indistinct 00:25:05]. I said, I remember this church. I remember when I was a little girl my grandma used to bring me. [indistinct 00:25:13] church. And I remember looking around. It look like everything just come right back to me. [indistinct 00:25:19] I can't think of the name of the church, but I went there for a funeral. But I sure do remember going with my grandma. She had a pretty horse. A horse named Flomps. | 24:20 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What? | 25:31 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Flomps. She was a racehorse. She was a pretty black horse. With all the big stuff around there. And she got that horse and buggy, and we'd go to church [indistinct 00:25:47] she'd have another lady with her. That's all people were riding in then. Some people had them [indistinct 00:25:59] like I told you, them T model. But most people were driving horse and buggy. | 25:33 |
Rhonda Mawhood | [indistinct 00:26:04]. When did you first vote? | 26:03 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Where did I first vote? That'd be in Marlboro. | 26:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | In Marlboro? | 26:03 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 26:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And do you know around when that was? | 26:03 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I can't tell you a year, but it been a good old while from the first vote [indistinct 00:26:32]. That's where I voted at when I first vote. | 26:27 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'm trying to think of presidents might help you to remember, president Johnson, Lindon Johnson, after Kennedy. [indistinct 00:26:50]. | 26:40 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | [indistinct 00:26:55]. Anyway, that's where I first vote at. | 26:41 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And did your husband vote? | 26:41 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 26:41 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mrs. Whitehead, I'd like to ask you a few questions that I have to write down the answers to forms that I'd like to fill out. It's a little bit of information about you. Your full name, your date of birth, that sort of thing. And about your family. Would that be okay? I'll ask you the questions and then I'll write the answers in the form. It's just questions about your parents' names for example. Would that be all right? | 27:15 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | I guess so. | 27:44 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Again, if you don't—if there are questions that you don't want to answer, then we can just go on. What is your middle name please, Mrs. Whitehead? | 27:45 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | My middle name? | 27:45 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Yes, ma'am. | 27:45 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | My full name is Lossie Bell. | 27:45 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Lossie Bell. | 27:45 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Bell. B-E-L-L. | 28:06 |
Rhonda Mawhood | B-A-L. Mm-hmm. Thank you. And is Bell your maiden name or no? | 28:16 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | That is my name. Lossie Bell. | 28:18 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. And when I write your name on the tape, on the recording of this interview, is that how you want me to write your name, Lossie Bell Whitehead? | 28:26 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 28:34 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. And you told me your birthday is the 9th of July? | 28:34 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. 1918. | 28:34 |
Rhonda Mawhood | 1918. Okay. And you were born in Edgecombe County? | 28:34 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 28:34 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And your husband's name was Willy Whitehead? | 28:34 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 29:14 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Do you remember when your husband was born, ma'am? | 29:22 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | No. But I got it around here somewhere. I mean [indistinct 00:29:37] I really don't know where it is right now. | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | That's fine. I don't want to trouble you. That's fine. | 29:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Thank you. And he was born in Edgecombe County also? | 29:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-huh. | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. I think you told me your mother's name, but I've forgotten it, I'm sorry. What was your mother's name? | 29:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Lysee. | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 29:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mercy. | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mercy. And do you know your mother's maiden name, Mrs. Whitehead? | 29:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Before she got married? | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 29:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | She was Simmon. | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'm sorry? | 29:30 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Simmon. | 29:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Simmon. Mm-hmm. And I think you told me she was from Edgecombe County too. | 30:54 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. | 31:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | And your father's name, ma'am? Your father's name? | 31:03 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | My father's name? [indistinct 00:31:15]. His name Allen Mercy. | 31:13 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'm sorry? | 31:17 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Allen Mercy. | 31:19 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. And I think you told me he was from Edgecombe County too? [INTERRUPTION 00:31:26] | 31:25 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Mm-hmm. Your hand so cold, your foot so cold. And sometimes we would walk about three or four miles to that school up there. The school was named Rawlins school [indistinct 00:31:48]. | 31:35 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Which one was it? | 31:46 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Huh? | 31:46 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Which one was it, ma'am? What was the name? | 31:50 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Rawlins school. | 31:51 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Rawlins school? | 31:51 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | Uh-huh. And I say the store where we had to go by it was [indistinct 00:32:01] store. It's Richard Cooper store now. Barry [indistinct 00:32:06] was this man uncle. And after Mr. Barry died, then he was [indistinct 00:32:16] he took over. He was that boys uncle. He raised him from—I think they parents died when he was small. He raised him. But Richard Cooper, he owned a store, a big supermarket down there. We used to go by there, had to go by there every morning. Ooh, it be so cold. | 31:55 |
Lossie Mercy Whitehead | [indistinct 00:32:42] good way to go to school now. Some just had to walk out the house and get on the bus. We had to walk 10, 12 miles every day. Sometimes it be so cold when you get to school house your foots and hands be so cold you couldn't bend them. Had a hard way to go [indistinct 00:33:07] be so proud to go to school now and all they had to do walk out the door, and get on the bus and go. Some of them had to walk a little ways down the street to catch the bus. | 32:42 |
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