Evelyn Wilkens interview recording, 1993 June 26
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Transcript
Transcripts may contain inaccuracies.
Rhonda Mawhood | Now, anytime you want to jump in, Ms. [indistinct 00:00:06], I might ask you something, if you remember something, but if you don't, then that's fine. If you do remember something, please just join on in. | 0:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | The first thing I wanted to ask you, Ms. Wilkins, is have you always lived in this area? | 0:15 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 0:19 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm, you have? | 0:19 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I was born and raised right here in Shields. We called it then Shields. | 0:19 |
Karen Ferguson | Shields. | 0:19 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. [indistinct 00:00:20] right here. I went down on the other side of Shields, and that's where I lived at until my husband died. Then I come back east. This is where I think I might have spent the most of my life, right here in Shields. Yeah, I believe that. | 0:19 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When you were growing up, Ms. Wilkins, what did your parents do for a living? | 1:11 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | They farmed, old time farming. Mm-hmm. Plowing, the mule and the plow. That's what we did, and we'd chop, shell peas. [indistinct 00:01:34] tell her that. We did all that until we got grown. | 1:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you—Oh, sorry? | 1:25 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, that's all right. Go on, hon. Sometimes I need you to cut in to help bring the speeches out, what I got to say. | 1:45 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Well, one thing I did want to ask you, Ms Wilkins, is did your parents own the land they farmed, ma'am? | 1:51 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | No, they didn't own that land. They'd rent that land by the half share. | 2:02 |
Rhonda Mawhood | By the half share? | 2:08 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. No, they didn't never own no land. The biggest land we owned, after we bought this little house right here, we owned that and put this house here. | 2:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | The house that we're on right now? | 2:28 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. | 2:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You have a nice yard here. | 2:30 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I don't think so. It's a bad yard. | 2:31 |
Ms. Richardson | So low. | 2:49 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | We been here about 20 years, or 21. | 2:49 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You were saying your parents raised cotton? | 2:50 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Cotton, peanuts, corn. Mm-hmm. Wasn't that stuff I was used to pulling [indistinct 00:03:02]? Yeah. | 2:53 |
Ms. Richardson | They're growing the corn still. | 2:59 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. [indistinct 00:03:10]. Sure did, but seemed like [indistinct 00:03:23] wasn't a bad time at that time, but I know it was kind of bad because some of us didn't like to do it too much. | 3:17 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you like farming, Ms Wilkins? | 3:26 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | No, I didn't care for it, I didn't. | 3:29 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Why was that, ma'am? | 3:34 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | What that meant? | 3:34 |
Ms. Richardson | What did you say? | 3:37 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Why was that, that you didn't enjoy farming? | 3:38 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | No, I didn't enjoy farming. | 3:41 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What didn't you like about it? | 3:43 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, like pulling corn, call that pull. | 3:45 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Fodder? | 3:46 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, like pulling corn. Mm-hmm. [indistinct 00:03:59] I won't tell you it's the [indistinct 00:04:01]. They'd be so heavy on. Some old things I do like, but I got away from that. Yeah. I got away from it. | 4:00 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How many children were there in the family? | 4:27 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Nine, wasn't it? Nine [indistinct 00:04:38]— | 4:33 |
Ms. Richardson | Eight. | 4:39 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Eight? Then I come along. I didn't add one? | 4:56 |
Ms. Richardson | No. | 5:04 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | [indistinct 00:05:05] Then she came along and she had eight, didn't you? | 5:04 |
Ms. Richardson | Mm-hmm. | 5:04 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 5:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms Richardson, how many children were there in your family? How many children did your parents have? | 5:04 |
Ms. Richardson | Our parents are the same. | 5:14 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Oh, I see. | 5:15 |
Ms. Richardson | Mm-hmm. | 5:16 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | We're sisters. | 5:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You're sisters? Oh, I didn't know that. I'm sorry, I didn't know you were sisters. | 5:16 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. | 5:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I didn't know that. | 5:16 |
Ms. Richardson | Mm-hmm. | 5:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Did you like farming, Ms Richardson? | 5:23 |
Ms. Richardson | It's all right with me. I didn't mind working. I just loved to be on the outside anyway. I didn't like housework too good, but I always did it. | 5:26 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms Wilkins, I'm not from the South. I'm from up north in Canada, and so is Karen. | 5:40 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 5:46 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Could you maybe describe to us a little bit, or Ms. Richardson, how you chop cotton, how you pick it? | 5:46 |
Ms. Richardson | What you have— | 5:55 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How you pick cotton? | 5:57 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Oh. | 5:58 |
Ms. Richardson | Pick it with your hand, and chop it with a hoe. | 5:58 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 5:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 5:58 |
Ms. Richardson | Yeah. Yeah, we picked cotton. Not like the cotton pickers now. We picked with our hands. Crawl on your knees, let your back get tired and everything. | 6:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Oh, yeah. I just understood her. Yeah, we did that. We— | 6:09 |
Ms. Richardson | All this tractors and things like they got now farming. We did most of the farming with your hands, worked in the field. | 6:24 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Were there special things that the girls did on the farm, specially? What kinds of things were your responsibility? What kinds of jobs did you two do in the family? | 6:36 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Pick cotton. | 6:47 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Pick cotton? | 6:48 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Shell peanuts. | 6:49 |
Ms. Richardson | Uh-huh. | 6:49 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did everyone do that in the family? | 6:52 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | No, the boys, they'd pull quarter, shuck corn. | 6:55 |
Ms. Richardson | They plowed. | 6:58 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Plowed. | 6:58 |
Ms. Richardson | Planted. | 6:58 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 6:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did the boys have to do the housework too? | 7:06 |
Ms. Richardson | No. No. The girls did it, and my mother. Of course, tend to the hogs. He would raise hogs and chickens, like that. The hog was the boys' job. Housework was the girls'. That's all, feed the chickens, that [indistinct 00:07:40]. I don't know. | 7:08 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How often did your family slaughter the hogs? | 7:47 |
Ms. Richardson | Once a year. Every winter. That's why then, we'd only be raising the meats for the home. I don't know about the stores and different things and markets. | 7:51 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. What was that like, hog slaughtering time? | 8:06 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Seemed like we'd enjoy it. It was good. The fresh meat was better than it is now. We just enjoyed that. You'd slaughter the pig, put them up, hang them up, let them drain dry. I can't tell you all about it because I was kind of small, but we enjoyed it. | 8:13 |
Ms. Richardson | Made our own sausage out the hogs like that. | 9:01 |
Rhonda Mawhood | At hog slaughtering time, were there different jobs for boys and girls, men and women? | 9:05 |
Ms. Richardson | I don't know. My people just did their own [indistinct 00:09:19]. I'd tell you [indistinct 00:09:20] I don't know. You go through a lot raising children, so many things come up, getting old and forgetting stuff. I don't know. I ain't no help much, I tell you. | 9:12 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Oh, I don't know about that. | 9:42 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I was wondering about going to church. | 9:42 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 9:48 |
Rhonda Mawhood | About your family, did your family go to church? | 9:49 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. Yeah, they attended church. Sure did. We loved the whole church. We had a good preacher, seemed like then. Pastor, then he'd preach. Sometimes they had two sermons in the evening. I was looking at that old [indistinct 00:10:30]. | 10:02 |
Ms. Richardson | She just stopped going to church when she— | 10:37 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Got hit. | 10:37 |
Ms. Richardson | Broke her hip and got hurt. We've been going to church all our life. Mother had Sunday school, church from then on out. But after she couldn't get around, that kind of slowed me up. She was the mother of the church, and I sang in the background in the choir. Slow but sometimes we get by, everything [indistinct 00:10:58], can't get back to do nothing, but we still go to church sometimes. | 10:37 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. When you were growing up, what was it that you liked about church? | 11:06 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | What did I like about— | 11:15 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What did you like? Mm-hmm. | 11:16 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, I kind of liked it all. I loved to hear the man preach, and— | 11:16 |
Ms. Richardson | Poems. | 11:16 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, I liked it all. | 11:16 |
Ms. Richardson | Parishioner? What was the last [indistinct 00:11:33]? | 11:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What church did you belong to? | 11:16 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Galilee right up here. | 11:16 |
Ms. Richardson | Galilee Baptist Church. | 11:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Oh, Galilee Baptist? | 11:16 |
Ms. Richardson | Mm-hmm. | 11:16 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Right up here. Mm-hmm. | 11:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Can you tell me about your baptism, Ms. Wilkins? | 11:46 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, yeah, I could tell you. | 11:52 |
Rhonda Mawhood | We'd love to hear about it. | 11:54 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Just was a baptism, [indistinct 00:11:56]. I had [indistinct 00:11:56]— | 11:55 |
Ms. Richardson | Well, you had it [indistinct 00:11:56]. That's where you're going to. Soon as [indistinct 00:12:14] telling you, it had two benches sitting across the front. All the little boys and girls go to the morning bench, then they get up, they feel the spirit, and they get up, and then they get baptized on the first Sunday in September. When they get baptized they had to go to a pond and dip down in the water. Be like that. Then you come back and they put your name on the roll, and then you was a member from then on. | 11:56 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where was the pond that you were baptized? | 12:47 |
Ms. Richardson | Lord have mercy. I don't know. | 12:49 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I know where mine was. | 12:52 |
Ms. Richardson | Where? | 12:52 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where was that? | 12:53 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Like going over to that—after you pass the last new great building church. | 12:54 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 12:54 |
Ms. Richardson | Church, chapel. | 12:54 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Is it in that creek? | 12:59 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 12:59 |
Rhonda Mawhood | In that creek there? | 13:06 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. | 13:07 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 13:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | We got baptized. | 13:07 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mill Run Creek, is that it? | 13:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. | 13:09 |
Ms. Richardson | Mm-hmm. | 13:12 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | We sure did. | 13:12 |
Karen Ferguson | Did people that went to other churches go to your baptism? Was it just the members of your own church or did other people come? | 13:18 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Other people come. | 13:26 |
Ms. Richardson | Mm-hmm. | 13:26 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. Sure did. | 13:26 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Was there a celebration at the baptism? | 13:35 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yes. We had a big one. | 13:38 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did you celebrate the baptism? | 13:48 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Oh, you got on that. Stepped in the water, went to watch them, singing some good old Christians. Well, they started dipping. Started [indistinct 00:14:43] dip [indistinct 00:14:43]. Mm-hmm. After that, then that's when the letter [indistinct 00:14:43] the preacher did, and— | 13:55 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. The preacher would sing another hymn? | 14:43 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 14:44 |
Karen Ferguson | Once you were baptized? | 14:45 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm, by John the Baptist. Yeah. I enjoyed it. [indistinct 00:15:05]. Y'all been back to Amelia Center? | 14:45 |
Karen Ferguson | Yeah, we have been. | 14:45 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | You have? | 14:45 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 14:45 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I'm getting ready to tell you something. He's a great, he's a good minister. He's a good somebody at reading that, explaining things to you, because he could sure beat me. We got some more old men like that too, could be. | 15:38 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Wow. Everyone that we've talked to has been able to tell us a little bit about their own life, and that's really helping us a lot and we appreciate it. | 15:48 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 15:59 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms. Wilkins, where did you first go to school? | 16:00 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I'll tell you. It's down the road, on the left-hand side. My uncle lived down that road, and it's not far. It's an old house, don't nobody live in now. Nobody lives there. They died and nobody has been living in it since. The boy is trying to get it back. I don't know whether he'll ever get it back or not. | 16:14 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Do you remember what they called the school, Ms. Wilkins? | 16:57 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Chestnut Grove. | 16:59 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Chestnut Grove? | 17:02 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 17:06 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did you get to school when you were a little girl, Ms. Wilkins? | 17:06 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | We walked. We walked about two miles down the road. We'd come back evening, rain and snow. We made it pretty good. | 17:14 |
Karen Ferguson | Were you ever not able to go because you had to work on the farm? Were you able to go every day? | 17:42 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. I went just about every day. Some days, when I couldn't go, I just couldn't go. | 17:50 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. | 18:10 |
Ms. Richardson | Oh, lord, that's all right. I'm going to keep bothering you. I won't go back a bit, [indistinct 00:18:29]. | 18:14 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. okay. | 18:28 |
Ms. Richardson | Yeah, I'll be waiting. | 18:28 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. Ms. Wilkins, did all of your brothers and sisters go to school also? | 18:28 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 18:32 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm? | 18:34 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, but they didn't exactly make it. They made it so close, so I said they made it. | 18:40 |
Rhonda Mawhood | They almost completed school? | 18:47 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 18:50 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. What grade would they finish to have made it, Ms. Wilkins? | 18:51 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Some of them was six, some of then was seven. All [indistinct 00:19:05] back then. | 18:56 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 18:56 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Most of the girl was ahead of the boys [indistinct 00:19:16]. | 18:56 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you like school, Ms. Wilkins? | 19:17 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, I liked school. I sure did. | 19:18 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Do you remember any of your teachers? | 19:26 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. One of them was Ms. Emma Walden? | 19:28 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms. Emma Walden? | 19:44 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm, and one of them was Ms. Alexander? | 19:44 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms. Alexander? | 20:12 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm, and one of them was—Alexander, I'm trying to see about the other one. [indistinct 00:20:13] tell you. That was [indistinct 00:20:13]. | 20:12 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Were your teachers women from around here, Ms. Wilkins? | 20:12 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Most of them. | 20:19 |
Rhonda Mawhood | I'd like to ask you some questions about changes, Ms. Wilkins, changes that you might have seen happen. Do you remember when you first got electricity? | 20:35 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 20:55 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When was that, ma'am? | 20:58 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Let me see. Well now, you'll have to give me the good meaning. What that mean? | 20:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Electricity? | 20:58 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 20:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When did the light first come into a house that you lived in? | 21:15 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Oh. | 21:19 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Light switches? | 21:20 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. Well, I'll tell you. When light first come in, we had moved there, but we didn't have no lights when we moved then. Then after we moved there, they wired them up. | 21:21 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm, so the wires came in, and you were grown at that time, were you? | 21:56 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | About 17. | 22:02 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What did you think of it the first time you— | 22:17 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I saw light? | 22:39 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 22:39 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I thought it was fine. I sure did. I liked the light, because there were candles and lamps, they were about [indistinct 00:22:42] on. I sure liked them. I thought they were fine. | 22:39 |
Rhonda Mawhood | When you were growing up, Ms. Wilkins, where did your family get the water? | 22:54 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Where'd we get the water? Well, first place in Atlanta, you had a well. You'd go down to the well and dip water, pour it off, let it run clear. | 22:58 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Let it run clear? | 23:17 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | It was good water. It was good water. | 23:17 |
Karen Ferguson | Was the well close to your house, or to the farm? | 23:34 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 23:39 |
Karen Ferguson | It was right at the farm? | 23:40 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. Yeah, the water was kind of down in the woods, and there it was shady down there just like it is down there now. | 23:42 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | We'd be running just to [indistinct 00:24:10] down the drain, running dishes through that. | 23:53 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Who went to get the water for your family, Ms. Wilkins? | 24:22 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | The boys, Daddy. | 24:25 |
Karen Ferguson | Was it far away from the house? | 24:26 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-mm. It wasn't too far. | 24:51 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. You said that you rent on a half share. Is that what you said? | 24:52 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, my daddy. | 24:54 |
Karen Ferguson | Uh-huh. What does that mean exactly, what does that mean that you rent on a half share? | 24:56 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | You tend the boss man land. | 25:02 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. | 25:03 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | On the half share, you'd share the land with him. | 25:03 |
Karen Ferguson | Right. | 25:03 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | He'd give you so much, half of it. What else did we—They didn't farm all together like they do now. | 25:03 |
Karen Ferguson | Who didn't farm together? | 25:32 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I said they didn't farm all together like they do now. | 25:34 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. | 25:39 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | The boss man. | 25:39 |
Karen Ferguson | Oh, right, so it was just your father who was farming? | 25:39 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 25:44 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm, but the boss man got half the crop? | 25:48 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Half. | 25:50 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. When did you settle up with him? | 25:51 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | First of the fall. | 25:56 |
Karen Ferguson | Uh-huh. | 25:56 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. | 25:56 |
Karen Ferguson | Was he fair? | 26:03 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | He did pretty good. | 26:05 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm? | 26:06 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 26:06 |
Karen Ferguson | Was the boss man fair? Did he give you what you were owed for what you did? | 26:08 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, I think he did pretty good. | 26:15 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. | 26:29 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | They're here, that's Gary. | 26:29 |
Karen Ferguson | Yeah? Are they coming to pick you up? | 26:29 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Uh-huh. | 26:36 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. | 26:36 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I don't think they know you're here. | 26:36 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 26:36 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | They're turning around. | 26:39 |
Rhonda Mawhood | He's in someone else's— | 26:40 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yard. | 26:43 |
Rhonda Mawhood | —yard. | 26:52 |
Karen Ferguson | When you said you—Who was the man, who was the boss man? | 26:52 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | What, now? | 26:57 |
Karen Ferguson | No, back then when you were growing up? | 26:59 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I done forgot them old men's names. | 27:02 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay, okay. Was he a White man or a Black man, Ms. Wilkins? | 27:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | He was White. | 27:09 |
Karen Ferguson | Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Did you stay on the same farm all the time when you were growing up? | 27:12 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 27:15 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. Some people say that they were sharecroppers. Were you the same as that? Were you sharecropping? | 27:21 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 27:26 |
Karen Ferguson | You were? | 27:26 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 27:26 |
Karen Ferguson | Do you think you had a pretty good setup compared to other sharecroppers? | 27:29 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, I think so. | 27:35 |
Karen Ferguson | Why? | 27:36 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, some of it was so much better now, you know. | 27:38 |
Karen Ferguson | Uh-huh. The landowner was better or the farm was better? | 27:45 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Sometimes the landlord was better. Sometimes the farm was better. | 27:53 |
Karen Ferguson | What made a good landowner? | 27:57 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Like you'd get land in kind of high places. | 28:03 |
Karen Ferguson | Right, okay. | 28:15 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | It helped. | 28:15 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. Were there ever any floods? | 28:15 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | No. I never saw a flood until I got grown. | 28:19 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. Were there floods around here in other places? | 28:31 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | After I got grown. | 28:35 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. Where were they? | 28:49 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I [indistinct 00:29:01]. They was all around, after I got grown and realized what a flood was. | 29:00 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Oh, okay. Okay. When you got married, Ms. Wilkins, where did you move to then? | 29:01 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Let's see [indistinct 00:29:05] get to right. I know you'll never know the place, so if you're going to build a new house there. There, I stayed right out on this road. We cut a new road, and I stayed right out on that. Now they done built a new house. Everything going on pretty good out there. | 29:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | It was in Tillery? | 29:04 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | It is. | 29:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 29:04 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Right back there, right back. | 29:04 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Back Tillery, mm-hmm. Your husband and you, Ms. Wilkins, did you sharecrop at that time? | 29:04 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. Sure did. | 29:53 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What kinds of things did you and your husband grow on your own farm, Ms. Wilkins, the same kinds of things. | 30:09 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, we grew the same kinds of stuff. Tobacco, cotton. | 30:17 |
Karen Ferguson | Tobacco, cotton? Ms. Richardson, we can move back. We can move— | 30:24 |
Ms. Richardson | No, I— | 30:26 |
Karen Ferguson | Are you sure? | 30:27 |
Ms. Richardson | It's all right. | 30:27 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay, okay. Would you say that your arrangement when you were married, your farming arrangement, was that as good as the one your parents had had, or better or not as good? | 30:29 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Seemed that I don't think it is altogether as good, I don't believe. | 30:51 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Why is that, ma'am? | 30:57 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I thought he would [indistinct 00:31:00] the schoolhouse when we got married. Well, anyway, we forgot— | 30:58 |
Karen Ferguson | Where were you working? | 31:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | At that schoolhouse. | 31:07 |
Karen Ferguson | What were you doing there? | 31:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I was a— | 31:07 |
Ms. Richardson | Cleaning. | 31:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Cleaning. | 31:07 |
Karen Ferguson | Uh-huh. | 31:07 |
Ms. Richardson | You would work in the lunchroom. | 31:08 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 31:08 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Worked in the [indistinct 00:31:25]. Yep, I used—I had jobs all over there. | 31:08 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. Was it a school for Black children or for White children you were working in, Ms. Wilkins? | 31:37 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | They were Black. | 31:41 |
Karen Ferguson | They were Black? Mm-hmm. What school was that? | 31:45 |
Ms. Richardson | Right up the road. | 31:45 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, [indistinct 00:31:50]. | 31:46 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay, just— | 31:46 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Imagine you'd come right on back here, if you had to come [indistinct 00:32:02]. | 32:01 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. Were you living on the farm at the same time as you were doing that work? | 32:01 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-mm. | 32:05 |
Karen Ferguson | Where were you living? | 32:06 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I was living in the man's house, but I wasn't exactly on his farm. | 32:10 |
Karen Ferguson | Okay. Was this the farm that you had grown up on, or— | 32:23 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-mm. | 32:25 |
Karen Ferguson | No? What farm was this? | 32:26 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | This ain't much of a farm. Just got—See, this main [indistinct 00:32:35] blocks, but like bigger, for housing, things like that. Now, that's a block in there. This a block over here. There's one over there. See, that's where we lived on. | 32:27 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. Did you like working in those other places? | 33:03 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, I liked it. | 33:07 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. How was it compared to working on the farm? | 33:08 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Seemed like I don't—I didn't like it so well, when I first went there. | 33:21 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms. Wilkins, may I ask you where you met your husband? | 33:40 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | When I what? | 33:42 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Where you met your husband? | 33:44 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Where did I meet him? | 33:47 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm, where did you meet him? | 33:48 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | [indistinct 00:33:49] here. | 33:49 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 33:49 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 33:49 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you know him when you were growing up? | 33:53 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm, yeah, I did. | 34:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did you start courting? | 34:03 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, I don't know. I just started back in it. | 34:08 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. When you got married, did you get married in the church? | 34:23 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-mm. I went to the preacher's house, and I got married in his house. No, I never wanted a wedding, but— | 34:25 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You had a small wedding. | 34:28 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 34:28 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. You told me that Ms. Richardson had eight children, but did you have children, Ms. Wilkins? | 34:56 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | No, I didn't have any. | 35:00 |
Rhonda Mawhood | No children? Okay. Did you take care of anybody else's children? | 35:02 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Done that all my life. | 35:09 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Oh, really? How many children have you raised? | 35:11 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I don't know. I don't know. I raised so many children, White and Black. | 35:19 |
Karen Ferguson | Right. They lived with you here? | 35:24 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-mm (negative). | 35:28 |
Karen Ferguson | No? | 35:28 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-mm. | 35:28 |
Karen Ferguson | Where did they live? | 35:28 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well now, they lived with their parents, and I kept house for them. | 35:28 |
Karen Ferguson | Right. | 35:44 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Too, she'll come get them at night. | 35:47 |
Karen Ferguson | Was your husband farming while you were working in people's houses? | 36:03 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, he was farming, probably. | 36:15 |
Karen Ferguson | Right, so you took care of Black children as well in their homes? | 36:15 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 36:18 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm? Where were these people living? | 36:20 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | They were out in the country. | 36:23 |
Karen Ferguson | Right. | 36:24 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | I helped them like a day or so, or two days, something like that. | 36:24 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Did you like caring for children more than working in the school, Ms. Wilkins? | 36:34 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, I liked it all right. I had some very good children to deal with. I liked it all right. | 36:37 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did you ever have any naughty children to deal with, any bad children? | 36:51 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, I had some bad. I don't mean to say I didn't. | 36:56 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What would you do about them when they were bad? | 37:06 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | The parents would always tell me to spank them. Spanked them. Didn't hurt them much. I just spanked them. | 37:10 |
Karen Ferguson | Mm-hmm. When you were growing up, and also when you were married, what did you do to have a good time? What did you do for fun? | 37:27 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well—Hm. | 37:33 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did your family celebrate holidays, Ms. Wilkins? | 38:13 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 38:15 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Which ones did they celebrate usually? | 38:17 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Christmas and Easter. Yeah. We had two or three of them, [indistinct 00:38:34] holiday [indistinct 00:38:36]. | 38:19 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did they celebrate the fourth of July? | 38:36 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 38:37 |
Rhonda Mawhood | That one's coming up. | 38:38 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 38:39 |
Rhonda Mawhood | How did you celebrate Christmas and Easter when you were growing up? | 38:42 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | They'd dress you in a little Easter bonnet and thing, and have your—Well, I don't know. I done dressed in so many little cute things. They had them looking nice. | 38:47 |
Rhonda Mawhood | It was important to look nice. | 39:15 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 39:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Who did your hair for the Easter and Christmas holidays, Ms. Wilkins? | 39:19 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | They had—I forget the name. | 39:26 |
Ms. Richardson | All the [indistinct 00:39:33]. | 39:26 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Did they braid your hair for the holidays? | 39:37 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 39:43 |
Karen Ferguson | There was no Santa Claus, is that what you said? | 39:43 |
Ms. Richardson | Yeah, she had Santa Claus toys and stuff. | 39:44 |
Karen Ferguson | They had that or they didn't? | 39:48 |
Ms. Richardson | They had it. | 39:50 |
Karen Ferguson | They had it? | 39:50 |
Ms. Richardson | Yeah. | 39:51 |
Karen Ferguson | Who dressed up as Santa Claus? | 39:52 |
Ms. Richardson | Well, we did? | 39:55 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Oh, really? Who? | 39:56 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | My mother. | 39:57 |
Karen Ferguson | Uh-huh. | 39:57 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 39:57 |
Karen Ferguson | Was it just the family who celebrated Christmas together, or were there other people who came? | 40:07 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Other people who came. | 40:14 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Did the church ever have revivals in the summertime or other times, Ms. Wilkins? | 40:28 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 40:32 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Can you tell me a little bit about what the revivals were like? | 40:34 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. | 40:35 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. Well, Ms. Wilkins—Right. I'd like to ask you a little bit of information about your family, if that'd be okay. | 41:09 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah. | 41:14 |
Rhonda Mawhood | About yourself and about your family. | 41:15 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 41:17 |
Rhonda Mawhood | So that people who hear this tape will know a little bit about you, about your family, where you come from. | 41:21 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 41:30 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Now, what was your name before you married, Ms. Wilkins, your last name? | 41:30 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | My name was Evelyn Davis. | 41:42 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Davis? | 41:42 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Davis. | 41:42 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Do you call yourself Mrs. Evelyn Wilkins or Mrs. Evelyn Davis Wilkins? | 41:51 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 41:55 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Davis? | 41:57 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | That's who I am. | 41:58 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 42:01 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Davis Wilkins. | 42:01 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Okay, and could you tell me when you were born please, ma'am, if it's not too personal? | 42:12 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | It was May the 14th. May the 14th. Let me see what else. Let me see how much I remember. I was born May the 14th, 1914. | 42:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | 1914? | 43:02 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 43:02 |
Rhonda Mawhood | You were born in Tillery? | 43:02 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 43:03 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Ms. Wilkins, mm-hmm, okay. | 43:13 |
Rhonda Mawhood | What was your husband's name, Ms. Wilkins? | 43:13 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | William Wilkins. | 43:16 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Was he around the same age as you, or older or younger? | 43:24 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | He was a little older than I was. | 43:30 |
Rhonda Mawhood | A little, a couple years? | 43:30 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 43:31 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Has your husband passed on, Ms. Wilkins? | 43:36 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 43:38 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Was that a while ago? | 43:38 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Yeah, that was about 18 years. | 43:43 |
Rhonda Mawhood | In 18 years. Thank you. And your husband was born around Tillery also? | 43:47 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 43:49 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Can you tell me your mother's name, please, Ms. Wilkins? | 44:01 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Hattie Davis. She was Hattie Phillips first. | 44:05 |
Rhonda Mawhood | Hattie. She was Hattie Phillips first? Mm-hmm. | 44:22 |
Karen Ferguson | Let me see. Was she born around here? | 44:22 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Well, in a way, around here, at Rich Square. | 44:26 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Rich Square? Okay. | 44:30 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Rich Square, mm-hmm. | 44:31 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Right where—Okay. Did she work on the farm? | 44:32 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 44:42 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Uh-huh. Did she do any public work? | 44:42 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 44:45 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | What did she do? | 44:46 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Making [indistinct 00:44:47] home. | 44:47 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 44:47 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 44:47 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 44:49 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Worked for White people. | 44:51 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | In their homes? | 44:53 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 44:53 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. What was your father's name, please, Ms. Wilkins? | 44:53 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Albert Davis. | 45:12 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Albert? | 45:12 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 45:12 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Was he born around here, ma'am? | 45:23 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 45:24 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Tillery, Rich Square? Tillery? | 45:27 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 45:28 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. Did he do any public work? | 45:37 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 45:39 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | What did he do? | 45:40 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | He did a whole lot of carpentry. | 45:40 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Carpentry? | 45:44 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Carpentry. | 45:44 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 45:44 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 45:45 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay, and the name of the school where you were at was Chestnut Grove, is that right? | 46:04 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 46:08 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. Is that in Tillery, or it's Halifax County? | 46:23 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 46:23 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm. | 46:37 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | You said you were a Baptist, right, Ms. Wilkins? | 46:37 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 46:40 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Mm-hmm, and you still go to Galilee Baptist? | 46:42 |
Evelyn Davis Wilkens | Mm-hmm. | 46:45 |
Karen Ferguson or Rhonda Mawhood | Okay. | 46:45 |
Item Info
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