{"id":9257,"date":"2023-04-19T21:47:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T21:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9257"},"modified":"2023-06-19T21:53:20","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T21:53:20","slug":"rogers-morris-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/rogers-morris-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Rogers Morris Oral History"},"content":{"rendered":"[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][divider line_type=”No Line”][vc_column_text]\n

Rogers Morris Oral History<\/span><\/h1>\n[\/vc_column_text][divider line_type=”No Line”][page_submenu alignment=”center” sticky=”true” bg_color=”#008542″ link_color=”#ffffff”][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/manuscripts-and-guides\/” title=”Manuscripts & Subject Guides<\/strong>” id=”1681940549991-5″ tab_id=”1681940549992-0″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=” https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1681940550006-4″ tab_id=”1681940550008-4″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1681940556910-6″ tab_id=”1681940556912-3″ link_url=” https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1681940558001-10″ tab_id=”1681940558001-8″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1681940558600-2″ tab_id=”1681940558601-0″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=” Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1681940559310-6″ tab_id=”1681940559311-4″ link_url=” https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/yearbooks-alumni-magazines-delta-state-histories\/”][\/page_link][\/page_submenu][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1\/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Interviewee:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Morris, Rogers\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewer:\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eric Atchison<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2\/9\/07<\/strong><\/p>\n

Processed by: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 K. Clemons<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 This is a recording of the Delta Black Farmer Exhibit.\u00a0 Mr. Rogers Morris.\u00a0 It is being tape-recorded from a video taken earlier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, my mother was from\u2026Well, they came from Lake Providence, Louisiana.\u00a0 Well, my mother, that is, my grandmother, her mother, came from Lake Providence, LA, they moved up in the Greenville area.\u00a0 And they bought land up there.\u00a0 Of course, south\u2026east of Greenville.\u00a0 They settled there, and I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 My sister has more details of how dad met mom.\u00a0 But, at any rate, they were also Louisiana people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 How many siblings do you have?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 There are\u2026Originally, it was five of us.\u00a0 My oldest sister, she\u2019s passed\u2014about two, two and a half years ago.\u00a0 But I have two brothers and one other sister.\u00a0 Both, my two brothers live in Greenville.\u00a0 One is Thomas Morris, attorney, A.J. Morris, Rosedale.\u00a0 My sister, she went into nursing\u2026(inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 So she\u2019s doing better than ya\u2019ll right now, huh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Better believe it. Well, you know, of course, the problem down there is you guys get so many storms.\u00a0 Recently, got a lot of storms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Right, recently.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 That makes it kind of tough.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Mosquitoes are\u2026(inaudible)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 Yea, that\u2019s true now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 How much land did your family own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 They owned approximately 104 acres.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s my grandfather.\u00a0 And, of course, Dad bought a piece of land which he settled right near Winterville.\u00a0 The initial land was, I told you, was out east of Lamont.\u00a0 And he moved, Dad when he married, moved to Winterville.\u00a0 And he built a house there and later built one on the\u2026He bought a hundred\u2026he bought ten acres where he built a house for his family.\u00a0 And he bought that from my grandmother\u2019s father, who was H.I. McFerguson\u2026McFearson.\u00a0 And, of course, that land\u2026we still have all of that land now.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not for sale.\u00a0 Never for sale.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 EA:\u00a0 Alright, you answered my next question already, about how and when did your family acquire the land. \u00a0And where is the land located?\u00a0 You said east Lamont?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 The land that was purchased for my grandfather is located about 31\/2 to 4 miles east of Lamont, MS; and it\u2019s just north of the county line.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Of \u00a0Bolivar County line?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Right. \u00a0No, just north of the Washington County line.\u00a0 And the land that was purchased by my father is just a mile west, east of the town of Winterville.\u00a0 It\u2019s what we call Williams Bayou.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Is the land still being farmed?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh yes. Oh yes.\u00a0 We changed it a little bit.\u00a0 The land that was the family\u2019s, belonged to my grandfather.\u00a0 It\u2019s being farmed in soybeans.\u00a0 And also, we have\u2026my uncle and my father put pecan trees back in the, whew back in the 1950\u2019s.\u00a0 And that was kind of an unusual situation for black farmers to do, to plant pecan trees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 What is it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 About that project?\u00a0 Well, most of the farmers have been more into low-profit, any other thing.\u00a0 It was unusual\u2014I don\u2019t know who inspired Dad and my uncle to get into that.\u00a0 But it was unusual for Black farmers just to do that.\u00a0 I think we had\u2026Well the County agent came on the scene a little later was Mr. Charlie Byrd.\u00a0 And he was the kind of individual, kind of inspiring small Black farmers to do some additional things, some other things to support the family.\u00a0 Those\u2026A lot of the farmers didn\u2019t have large acres of land.\u00a0 Back in those times, the largest one, I think, in that area, was about 120 acres.\u00a0 And then on down\u201440, 60 acres, that kind of thing.\u00a0 So it didn\u2019t\u2026it wasn\u2019t\u2026it didn\u2019t lend itself even back in that time to provide your family with enough, you know, assistance.\u00a0 But Dad did a lot of other things.\u00a0 He grew vegetables.\u00a0 He grew sweet potatoes.\u00a0 And, of course, it\u2019s ironic that now I\u2019m growing sweet potatoes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Is that your main crop?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 That\u2019s, more or less, what I call the cash cow.\u00a0 We got into it more about four, well about 5 years ago, as a result of a farmer coming back, not a farmer really, more of a trucker, coming back and talking to us about moving and growing sweet potatoes.\u00a0 It can be a very profitable kind of venture.\u00a0 So, it was really something I had to think about, too.\u00a0 It\u2019s not just jump-in, jump-out enterprise.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 On the farms that you farmed, on the land that you farm, is it all family-owned?\u00a0 Did you rent some also?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 No, I owned, well\u2026See I started, my background is environmental health.\u00a0 And, of course, I started here in \u201968, came out to Mound Bayou and started working at the Delta Health Center.\u00a0 And we started with the environmental health programs.\u00a0 And then later moved to the directorship of the Health Center.\u00a0 I went on to get my Master\u2019s at Cincinnati Environmental Health.\u00a0 So as we worked at the center, we still had that love for farming, love for the land.\u00a0 And we bought some land. And I got married shortly afterwards, and started raising a family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 You said \u2018we bought some land,\u2019 who was that?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh, that\u2019s just the family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 So you don\u2019t rent any land; it\u2019s all your own?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM: \u00a0Oh yeah, I do rent.\u00a0 Yeah, we rent the property that we own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Ok, where\u2019s that at?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 The land I own is east of here.\u00a0 We bought about a couple hundred acres, buying a few pieces at a time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 And the land you rent?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 It\u2019s in the same area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 And the land is still being farmed to this day?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 Always been farmed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Who farms it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, originally, after my parents passed, we rented it out to a local farmer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 And what was his name?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, the (word?) we rented it first to, the Alexander\u2019s, who were farming for a while there down in Greenville.\u00a0 And then we rented it to another large farmer (words?).\u00a0 And then we took it back over.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Can you tell me some of the history around there?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, the original, the property my grandfather bought, only my brother can share that.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that.\u00a0 We never really got any history on that portion of it.\u00a0 The land that my father bought from his father-in-law was owned by a local White farmer.\u00a0 I guess it was he and his wife.\u00a0 Of course, my grandfather was the horseman for this particular farmer.\u00a0 He was the one who always drove the carriage for the family.\u00a0 And what happened is that I think the farmer died.\u00a0 And he continued to work for the family.\u00a0 And he worked for the lady.\u00a0 And I think one of the things he wanted was land for his family.\u00a0 And so it was a result of that relationship that my grandfather acquired the first, it was really 40, but it was 32 acres.\u00a0 And my father married his daughter and he bought the home site and the land.\u00a0 On that land, some of that ice cream cotton land, it was just top quality.\u00a0 When you call it ice cream, that\u2019s just an expression of how good it is.\u00a0 And he was able to grow other crops.\u00a0 See you can\u2019t grow a lot of the vegetables on some of the heavier land.\u00a0 Not as well.\u00a0 They don\u2019t produce as prolifically.\u00a0 And so that begets effort with vegetables.\u00a0 They sold, we raised cows and hogs and that kind of thing to feed the family, as well as sold milk and butter and eggs and that kind of thing in Greenville.\u00a0 It was tough.\u00a0 It was tough.\u00a0 Dad had some pretty interesting experiences.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Can you tell me about them?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, back in those times, the Black farmers went to secure funds for their operation.\u00a0 And this particular, it was PCA\u2014Production Credit Associaton\u2014and you can imagine back in the early \u201850\u2019s, you would put in an application for this loan.\u00a0 He was never able to get what he needed.\u00a0 He was always cut.\u00a0 He was always cut.\u00a0 And it was just tough.\u00a0 But he was always able to make it out because he had a lot of ingenuity.\u00a0 And he built the house himself\u2014the farmhouse\u2014as well as did all the vegetable farming.\u00a0 And we, of course, we were kids; and we had to do our part.\u00a0 But it worked out good.\u00a0 You know, and somehow, you appreciate that effort.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why the land is really special.\u00a0 A lot of blood and sweat went into it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 And was the farm ever used for sharecropping?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, it was originally, see\u2026Back when my father, when my grandfather –and this is my mother\u2019s father, no\u2026my grandmother\u2019s father, I\u2019m sorry– purchased the land, much of the land was used for sharecropping.\u00a0 In particular, this (word?).\u00a0 And it was his dream to have his own place.\u00a0 But it worked out well with the family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Besides the cows and the milk and the eggs and the sweet potatoes, is there anything else that you grew sometimes?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 On that farm, only cotton\u00a0 We got, well, the greens, of course, that was a major item for me.\u00a0 We did sell a lot of chicken, a lot of chicken.\u00a0 Every now and then, they would do sausage.\u00a0 You know, when you did a lot of meats\u2026Primarily, our cows, we strictly had milk cows, we didn\u2019t do any beef. When you did the killing of the hog, that was a community kind of thing.\u00a0 It was a sharing among the members of the community.\u00a0 So we cured hams.\u00a0 And the hams were used a lot of times to pay some of the doctor bills.\u00a0 Dr. Holmes was kind of our family doctor back in those days.\u00a0 And Dad, when (words?) were sick\u2014appendicitis or anything, he\u2019d take us to him. \u00a0And you had to be pretty serious to go to the doctor in those days.\u00a0 You had to pay with a ham, milk or whatever.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Well, how has technology and what you\u2019ve produced changed over time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 It has changed significantly\u2026I remember my father and my uncle were some of the first people in the area to go from a mule to a tractor.\u00a0 And it was an old lug-wheel (word?) mule\u2026today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Where is it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 It\u2019s down on the home farm.\u00a0 And it made things a lot better for them.\u00a0 Of course, in some of that buckshot land, you use to get stuck all the time.\u00a0 But it did a lot of things to help him handle a bit more land.\u00a0 And the unfortunate part about it is that there was not a great deal of land available; because many of the farmers were Blacks who had acquired land\u2026And, of course, we had an uncle who lived on a little piece of property.\u00a0 His wife was related to my grandmother.\u00a0 And they had a piece of land.\u00a0 He was a veteran.\u00a0 He was in World War I, World War II, and he had acquired some land.\u00a0 And they wanted some of the\u2026they didn\u2019t have any children.\u00a0 So they wanted one of us to come and stay with them.\u00a0 And they made sure they wanted me to do it.\u00a0 I was the youngest, and I just couldn\u2019t see leaving home; but he was able to use the equipment to help him do a lot of this work.\u00a0 But in the latter years, of course it has helped in terms of expanding operations.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve been able to do a lot of things with the (word?) operations.\u00a0 And with the GMO\u2019s, whether that\u2019s good or bad I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I guess we\u2019ll know after years of \u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 What are GMO\u2019s?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 (Genetically modified?).\u00a0 They\u2019ve done some things to turn some increase in years.\u00a0 But the bean is certainly, probably a more, I don\u2019t know, I guess that\u2019s good for eating dinner, your crops, and you can control your vegetation better and that kind of thing.\u00a0 But for some reason, they don\u2019t tend to hold up as good as the older beans.\u00a0 But you can certainly handle more, because you use the RoundUp to keep the crops clean.\u00a0 But we\u2019re getting (word?) with the quality of the bean.\u00a0 For some reason, they don\u2019t stand up under extreme temperature stresses.\u00a0 When you have a high humidity and a high temperature and a late harvest, you can (rot right in the parks?).\u00a0 And that\u2019s been the drawbacks of the bean.\u00a0 And, of course, you can (word?) reproduce these beans\u2026(words?).\u00a0 And if you saved some beans, then you could use them.\u00a0 So it\u2019s got its trade-offs.\u00a0 It\u2019s got its trade-offs.\u00a0 Technology has helped.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 What technology, as far as farm equipment, do you use?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, we\u2019re not using any guided systems, but we\u2019re using\u2026All of our stuff is now computerized\u2014recordkeeping, payroll, those kinds of things.\u00a0 We\u2019re moving toward the guided systems.\u00a0 That\u2019s a little ways for us right now.\u00a0 We\u2019re not using that type of technology yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Can they perform work?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 We had to\u2026One particular one is changing to more vegetables.\u00a0 And a part of that is the acquisition of the kind of land that is more productive with vegetables.\u00a0 And it\u2019s\u2026And, really, it\u2019s probably a transition that many small farmers will have to make if they plan to stay in because you cannot generate the path of income that you need off of a row crop if you don\u2019t have large acreage.\u00a0 And so, you can generate the money it\u2019s going to take.\u00a0 It takes a lot of work.\u00a0 It does take work.\u00a0 And the other tough part about this is that you don\u2019t have a lot of young Black farmers out there.\u00a0 I would say the average age of Black farmers now is probably in the 60, 55-60 range.\u00a0 We have a few small farmers that are coming in, but the land\u2019s not there.\u00a0 I mean, the land\u2019s there.\u00a0 It\u2019s capital (word?), so you\u2019re going to get a lot of stress in cost, and the rental is extremely high, so it makes it pretty tough for a small farmer to get into business.\u00a0 And you can imagine if you paid, some of the federal land is renting for around 75, 80, 100, 110, 115 dollars.\u00a0 And I was talking to some guys in the Bolivar area, and it\u2019s like (words?).\u00a0 So if you\u2019re interest is 10%, you\u2019re already off $15.\u00a0 And that does not\u2026and that\u2019s before you put seed in the ground.\u00a0 You\u2019re looking at quite a (inaudible).\u00a0 The equipment costs is outrageous.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Phenomenal.\u00a0 Has the land been divided over time?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 No, it has not.\u00a0 It\u2019s still\u2026 In fact, we have a\u2026It\u2019s a thing where we possibly looking at, not dividing it per se, but settling some of the family members because we have several groups that are a part of the original tract.\u00a0 All of mine is distributed\u2014my kids, my wife.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 How many kids do you have?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 I have four boys.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Farmers?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Nope.\u00a0 Well, I have a pretty good cross section.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got one who\u2019s a chiropractor.\u00a0 My youngest one is in the (inaudible), and the other one is a mechanical engineer with Ford. \u00a0I hope one day they\u2019ll generate something that will bring something back; bring as many back as possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Are there any buildings on the farmland?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 Well, on the original, you know the family tract, the original family tract, there is a house that my dad built.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 It\u2019s still standing?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 When did he build it?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 I was born in \u201845, so he built that house, I think, in like \u201946.\u00a0 And, he of course, built a new barn to work in and another storage shed and stuff like that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Are those still standing?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Well, they\u2019re still standing.\u00a0 One is leaning on the everlasting arms.\u00a0 We will probably tear it down.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a storage shed where we kept cattle and feed and cotton.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 But it\u2019s going to have to come down eventually, right?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to have to take it down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Are you planning on keeping the house there?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 Do ya\u2019ll still stay there?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 We have some people staying there, because all of us had scattered.\u00a0 And (words?).\u00a0 And we have to do some repairs on it, but that\u2019s sort of in plan.\u00a0 My son wants to change it to a bed and breakfast (words?), or something like that.\u00a0 But we\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Besides the house and the other structures, have you ever built a structure of your own?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 On the land we first got here, we had to build a\u2026Well, at the time were doing hogs and little catfish.\u00a0 So we built a large shop (inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Can you give me a general lay of the land?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 The piece that we have here is an, it\u2019s an 80–, well, where the storage shed is, it\u2019s an 80 acre tract.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Is it square or\u2026?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 It\u2019s rectangular.\u00a0 And a stream flows through it.\u00a0 And this would be north; this would be south.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 The stream goes from north to south?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 The stream\u2026This is where the\u2026This is the west edge of the crop.\u00a0 And the stream, it flows through that crop.\u00a0 And, of course, what\u2019s here is\u2026this is eleven acres of land, and this is the stream coming\u2026(inaudible).\u00a0 This is what I call a little small piece of (inaudible).\u00a0 And then, this is where the barn is located.\u00a0 Then this piece tapers off\u2026(inaudible)\u2026and it\u2019s a little stream comes on through this way.\u00a0 And then these are three farms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 So these are all farms right here?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 We decided, when we stopped raising fish\u2026and, of course, you know, back in the 80\u2019s, (words?).\u00a0 We opted not to knock the farms down.\u00a0 And, of course, my son, the youngest, he definitely wanted to do some crawfish, catfish.\u00a0 So we basically (inaudible).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 And what about the other one?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Okay, there\u2019s a\u2026on down this way, there\u2019s another (word?) to the tract, which that same stream flows through.\u00a0 So it would be like down here.\u00a0 It\u2019s not adjoining.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 It\u2019s rectangular as well?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 It\u2019s rectangular.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 And the same stream kind of flows through?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 It flows on down this way, eventually going to the Sunflower.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Okay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 And back there, we just use at least (words?).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 And are there any structures on this end?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alright.\u00a0 What would you tell a young person who was interested in agriculture today?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Of course, I would first tell them, you need to be seriously into what you\u2019re doing.\u00a0 That he needs to get first get him an education.\u00a0 Get him a good agricultural education.\u00a0 And even to the point of getting your Master\u2019s.\u00a0 Because he needs to be able to\u2026depending on what is outlook is, he would need to augment his income for farming.\u00a0 If he\u2019s looking at something extremely large; or if he wants to go into produce, that means that he has to look at the kind of land that he wants to acquire. There are just a lot of things that he needs to look at.\u00a0 Of course, the other thing he needs to\u2026if he\u2019s not married, he needs to know what the wife\u2019s thinking is.\u00a0 He needs to talk to her.\u00a0 (Words?) because that\u2019s a large part of it.\u00a0 Some ladies are just not interested.\u00a0 When you come off of farms, (inaudible).\u00a0 So, you have issues there.\u00a0 Of course, he has to look at financing, his ability to get financing.\u00a0 He ought to make sure that he has his credit in order.\u00a0 And he\u2019s got to be committed.\u00a0 He\u2019s got to be very committed to agriculture and have a knowledge of what he\u2019s getting into.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a good life.\u00a0 You just have to make sure that you (duck, serve, and order?).\u00a0 You have to make sure that everything is planned and laid out.\u00a0 And from a record and management standpoint, with the programs that are available, the computer programs and record systems and guided systems and all that, he can do a good job.\u00a0 He\u2019s definitely going to have to be computer literate.\u00a0 It\u2019s a must.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 What is the value of your land to you and your family?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 When you say value, what do you mean?\u00a0 Do you mean dollar value, or do you mean as a livelihood?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Yea.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 Ok, I think it\u2019s a way of life that I\u2019ve really come to love.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t given me all the financial rewards that I would like to have, but it is probably the best place now to raise sons.\u00a0 When I left the health center, it was a question as to whether I was going to stay here or whether I was going to move and go to another job in another area.\u00a0\u00a0 And I had some offers in Alabama.\u00a0 I had some offers at another health center down there.\u00a0 Even Jasper, and a couple of other places.\u00a0 Because at that time, the health center movement was pretty strong.\u00a0 Do you know anything about OEO?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 That\u2019s before your time.\u00a0 That was the Office of Economic Opportunity.\u00a0 And it was sort of, primarily during the latter part of the Civil Rights struggle, you know, in the \u201860\u2019s.\u00a0 And it was a program that was designed to sort of help poor people.\u00a0 And with folks some economic kind of development, but primarily health care, meeting some of the basic necessities of life\u2014water and suage, disposal\u2014that kind of thing.\u00a0 And it gave rise to some of the programs that came out of\u2026HEW, which is Health, Education, and Welfare.\u00a0 It was very important in some of your headstart programs.\u00a0 Getting back.\u00a0 The land\u2026the issue of\u2026so I stayed with my\u2026I opted, after I parted with the health center, to purchase additional land and stay and farm.\u00a0 My dad was living, and I was working some with him, and doing the farm thing here.\u00a0 So, it worked out well as it was the raising of the kids.\u00a0 See one of the big things I know, I learned that if you can keep your boys busy, (words?).\u00a0 Always like that.\u00a0 Always.\u00a0 And so it was very valuable at that time.\u00a0 We were doing fish, and they could test the water, keep oxygen up in the pond, and go out at night and that kind of thing.\u00a0 So it was a real good thing for us for the raising of the kids.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Do you see a time when the land will no longer be in your family?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Definitely not.\u00a0 We\u2019ve planned.\u00a0 In fact, we\u2019ve been meeting.\u00a0 So our plan now is to\u2026all of my brothers are older than I am.\u00a0 And our plan now is to begin to pick those kids, our grandchildren, who will now be the managers.\u00a0 When I say managers, I mean, handle the resources.\u00a0 That\u2019s real important to us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 How do you feel about keeping the land in the family for future generations?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 It\u2019s just\u2026It ties people, and it gives them a sense of ownership\u2026a sense of stability.\u00a0 My children, you know, often, whenever they can, (words?), you know, do all kinds of things because they relate that way to it.\u00a0 It\u2019s already in them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Ok, and has the family utilized any assistance to continue farming?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh yeah, my father\u2026You know, I told you he was having some pretty tough times dealing with the local lending institution.\u00a0 Of course, he worked around it.\u00a0 But then he worked with Farmers\u2019 Home Administration, which is the Preamble to FSA.\u00a0 And it was Farmers\u2019 Home, and then it was FHA, then FMHA, and now it\u2019s FSA.\u00a0 And, of course, he\u2026This was, perhaps, just before we left going to college.\u00a0 Well, before I left, I think, starting with the (words?), looking to expand to purchase some of the tractors and stuff that he needed to operate the farm.\u00a0 So he used them and then we used them to (words?).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 What lenders do you use?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Oh, we use the Farmers\u2019 Home.\u00a0 We\u2019ve used NRCS, and Dad used it for our conservation programs.\u00a0 We have used\u2026It was a water management district, sometimes they would have resources to help farmers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 (words?)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RM:\u00a0 Each town.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Now YND, I know.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 Well, YND is different.\u00a0 YND basically helps the water wells and looking at the water table\u2019s level and (words?).\u00a0 But we didn\u2019t have the (word?) back in that time.\u00a0 We just had water districts that helped do some drainage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 How has race affected your family, besides the lending to the farm?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M:\u00a0 What now?\u00a0 Rice?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 Race.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 R-i-c-e, rice.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EA:\u00a0 R-a-c-e.\u00a0 Like when you said your father went to get loans and stuff.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

R.M.:\u00a0 Oh, how has race…?\u00a0 I can assure you that he\u2019s been affected significantly by the race issue.\u00a0 It was a typical situation.\u00a0 Dad always had to go in the back door.\u00a0 That was typical of his time.\u00a0 And if there was anybody there who came in during that time, they were certainly waited on before he was.\u00a0 It certainly affected his ability to do the kinds of things he needed to do, because he was only getting enough to do the actual farming and not enough money to take care of a family.\u00a0 In other words those living expenses\u2026But it made him tough.\u00a0 It made him look for ways to do that.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where we were at.\u00a0 Milked the cows before we went to school (words?).\u00a0 Same thing in the evening.\u00a0 Even with the cotton gin, it wasn\u2019t like this community.\u00a0 You had Black farmers in this community that had cotton gins (words?).\u00a0 He had to wait his turn.\u00a0 His turn was usually when all the other cotton was ginned.\u00a0 And there was a man who (words?), at that time.\u00a0 And he kind of took in Dad, and he was President of the cotton gin (word?).\u00a0 And he always made sure Dad\u2026his cotton was ginned.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TAPE STOPS<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

END OF DOCUMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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