{"id":9279,"date":"2023-04-19T22:26:55","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T22:26:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9279"},"modified":"2023-06-19T21:56:27","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T21:56:27","slug":"sterling-smith-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/sterling-smith-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Sterling Smith 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

Sterling Smith 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=”1681942773468-10″ tab_id=”1681942773468-7″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1681942773477-10″ tab_id=”1681942773478-7″] [\/page_link][page_link title=”Visit<\/strong>” id=”1681942781932-10″ tab_id=”1681942781933-9″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1681942782488-4″ tab_id=”1681942782489-8″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1681942783112-5″ tab_id=”1681942783113-9″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1681942783774-4″ tab_id=”1681942783776-3″ 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]July 28, 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n

Transcribed by N. Hector\/K. Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Interviewed by Eleanor Green and Emily Weaver<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG: \u00a0\u00a0My name is Eleanor Green I am sitting here with Sterling Smith on July 28, 2006 at the Indianola Public Library.\u00a0\u00a0 We are interviewing him for the Delta Black Farmers History Project.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Can you tell me your full name?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, actually my name is Sterling Sylvia Smith.\u00a0 I was named after a horse. My father use to raise horses. He had a real good horse and her name was Sylvia; this horse passed and he named me after that horse.\u00a0 My middle name is Sylvia and I was named after that horse.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 That an interesting story\u00a0\u00a0 When were you born?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 \u00a0I was born on January 3, 1947.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Were you born in this area?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 No, I was born in Ofahoma, Mississippi, that\u2019s in Leake County out between Canton Mississippi and Philadelphia Mississippi.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Were you born on a farm?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I was born; born and reared on a farm that\u2019s all I ever known was farming. On the farm we raised everything. We raised our own food. We raised cotton, we raised corn, we raised peanuts, we raised potatoes, we raised cows, we raised horses, we raised ducks, we raised geese, we raised guineas, we raised chickens, we raised everything you could possible raise on a farm.\u00a0 We raised our own food.\u00a0 We raised cows, we milked cows and sold butter for a living to help us out.\u00a0 We also ate the butter and drunk the milk.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How many acres did you have?\u00a0 Do you know?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Five hundred acres and that\u2019s right.\u00a0 My granddaddy was a farmer.\u00a0 The land was handed down from generation to generation.\u00a0 It\u2019s still being handed down.\u00a0 I am away from my family. It is too far for me to go and farm our land.\u00a0 So, I had to find land up here where I live.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How did you end up in Indianola?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Ok.\u00a0 The way I ended up here in the Delta. I went to Mississippi Valley State University and we had a principal in Rolling Fork, MS named Mr. O.E. Jordan.\u00a0 He moved from Carthage, MS to Rolling Fork. When he found out I was graduating from Mississippi Valley, he came and found me and gave me a job.\u00a0 So, I ended up going to Rolling Fork, MS.\u00a0 I eventually left Rolling Fork, MS and came to Indianola, MS, where I have been farming for about twenty-five years.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How much land do you farm here in Indianola?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 One hundred and fifty acres of soybeans.<\/p>\n

EG: You grow soy beans?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Is that all you\u2019ve ever grown there?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, I have tried other crops.\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried corn. I\u2019ve tried Milo but I feel I was more successful growing soy beans.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How did you get the land here?\u00a0 Did you own the land or rent the land?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0\u00a0 I rent the land. I go around just by trial and error and mouth to mouth contact and ask people about land.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Have you rented the same land most of the time?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I\u2019ve rented various plots of land not always the same because sometimes people change and tell you the rent is ended and they would like to work it themselves.\u00a0 So, I have to go and find other land to rent.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Are you still farming it today?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes, I am still farming it today, as a matter of fact I am heading to my field now to see has it begin to rain.\u00a0 Sunflower, MS, that\u2019s where I am headed when I leave here.<\/p>\n

EG: We hope for rain.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yah we\u2019re hoping for rain. Also, we need some rain.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 What do you do with the soy beans?\u00a0 How do you sell them?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, you\u00a0 take them to a grain bin and dump them there and they will ask you if you want to spot sell them or do you want to put them in storage. \u00a0Based on the prices there you can sell them right then or you can store them for whatever time period that you would like to store them because sometimes the prices go up \u2026 you want to wait until the prices go up and get more for your product.<\/p>\n

EG: You grew up on a farm that your family lived off of what came out of the ground.<\/p>\n

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

EG: Everything.\u00a0 Um, what made you change from that type of farming that you grew up with to more commodity farm?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, it all depends on your area.<\/p>\n

EG: Um hmm.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 If you\u2019re in Rome, you have to act like the Romans.\u00a0 And see, up in this area, it was more prevalent in this rich, fertile land up in the Delta\u2026it was more feasible to grow soybeans in large plots than to just grow small plots in the hills up there.\u00a0 You got small farmers in the hills, but you have very large farmers up here in the Delta.\u00a0 So, since they have this large, vast amount of land, you have to make the adjustment and do what\u2019s better for you based on where you are at that particular time.<\/p>\n

EG: Do you grow any vegetables still for yourself?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Uh yes.\u00a0 I grow vegetables now. I grow watermelons, I grow okra, I grow green peas.\u00a0 I grow turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, rutabagas.<\/p>\n

EG: And it\u2019s for your family?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I grow it for my family and I sell some also. I was born on a farm where we raised everything, we sold some of our products along the way.\u00a0 We would make extra money like that.\u00a0 We\u2019d do anything we had to do to make an honest dollar.\u00a0 I was born and raised like that.\u00a0 The Bible says train up a child in the way he should go when he is young.\u00a0 When is old he will not depart from it. So, I haven\u2019t departed from the way I was trained.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, you said that your grandfather, uh, the lands that you have, was your grandfather\u2019s and it was passed on through generation.\u00a0 Do you know how the first person came to own the land and where they came from?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, my grandfather\u2026 only thing I know they were in Ofahoma, Mississippi.\u00a0 They were in Ofahoma and my great-grandfather was in Ofahoma.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where they originated from.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know where they came from. \u00a0Matter of fact, my grandmother originated in Inverness, Mississippi.\u00a0 Somehow or another some of the hill people used to come to the Delta at some time and would help pick cotton up here \u2018cause they had lots of cotton up here\u2026they used to pick cotton by hand.\u00a0 Somehow or another, my grandfather met my grandmother during the time.\u00a0 \u00a0They became acquainted with each other and they got married.<\/p>\n

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

SS:\u00a0 And that\u2019s how she ended up back there, but he was already in Ofahoma.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How has technology changed over the time that you grew up farming and your own farming years?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Ooh (laugh), it\u2019s been a tremendous change. It\u2019s been a gigantic change. Years ago when I was farming, uh, when I began farming in Ofahoma, Mississippi, we would farm with mules.\u00a0 We would plow mules and horses.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have the modern technology of a tractor or something like this.\u00a0 We\u2019d plow those mules from can to can\u2019t.\u00a0 That\u2019s from sun up until sun down, from the time you can see until you can\u2019t see.\u00a0 We plowed those mules and it was hard work out there plowing those mules.\u00a0 Uh, we did everything as far as cultivating the soil, we\u2019d do that with those mules.\u00a0 As far as cotton is concerned, you\u2019d have to chop that, go out there and chop that cotton and anything else you had.\u00a0 You had to chop it and clean the grass out.\u00a0 Now, you don\u2019t have to do very much\u2026 you don\u2019t have to do any chopping\u2026they have chemicals that you go out there and just spray and kill the grass.\u00a0 Matter of fact, they have that Roundup ready cotton, corn, and soybeans.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to do any chopping unless you just want to raise a organic garden and don\u2019t put any chemicals on it\u2026some people are doing that now\u2026raising organic gardens or something like that.\u00a0 But it has changed\u2026it has made a tremendous change.\u00a0 Technology\u2026mechanization…It\u2019s putting a lot of people out of jobs too, especially around here in this Delta, \u2018cause many times students, children, would, in the summer time they were able to go and chop cotton.\u00a0 But now they can\u2019t chop cotton.\u00a0 Machines have cleaned the cotton up and the chemical has already cleaned it up.\u00a0 So it leaves the children with nothing to do.\u00a0 You know this old adage that says \u201can idle mind makes a devils workshop\u201d.\u00a0 So, they have plenty of time to get in trouble because they don\u2019t have anything else to do.<\/p>\n

EG: What kind of machinery do you use now in your farming?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I have…I purchased two big tractors.\u00a0 I purchased two big tractors and I don\u2019t have to hire very much help, mostly I do it all myself.\u00a0 If I get in a tight, I might hire somebody to assist me sometimes.\u00a0 Those two tractors do all that I have to do.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, do you use GPS at all with your farming?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 What is that?\u00a0 What is GPS?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Glo…global pos…global positioning satellite systems.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Global what?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 positioning satellite systems.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Naw, I haven\u2019t used that.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Well, um, I wouldn\u2019t ask, but the farmer we interviewed on Wednesday said that it\u2019s all the rage now.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 What do they use that for? I don\u2019t use that.<\/p>\n

EG: I think that you can like…he said something about you can um map out the land…<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Uh huh.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And the highs and lows…<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Uh huh.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And so, and then you use it on your tractor and it would know to put more fertilizer here …<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Uh huh.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 But less here…and….<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well I don\u2019t use that, I just use my personal knowledge.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Yeah, it was from the Alcorn demonstration farm.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Right, right.\u00a0 I use my own knowledge of that, and so far I have been successful.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying that method is not good.<\/p>\n

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

SS:\u00a0 But my method has proven to me to be successful and as long as you\u2019re being successful, you can\u2019t argue with success.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Have you had to make many changes over time to make the farm work?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Aw yes, I\u2019ve had to make changes.\u00a0 I started out planting corn.\u00a0 But see I wasn\u2019t able to purchase an irrigation system.\u00a0 If you plant corn, most of the time, you\u2019re going to have to have an irrigation system.\u00a0 You can\u2019t go out there setting up a irrigation system on somebody else\u2019s land because they might rent it to you this year and then the next year they might take it from you.\u00a0 So that wouldn\u2019t make good sense to do that.\u00a0 So I changed from corn to milo.\u00a0 Milo, that\u2019s a grain that they plant for animals.\u00a0 You cut the seeds in the top of the plant.\u00a0 They grow that for cows, and horses, and chickens, and stuff like that.\u00a0 But I changed from milo.\u00a0 Then, I was noticing that other farmers was doing well with soybeans, so therefore, I changed to soybeans.\u00a0 In the last ten or twelve\u00a0 years, that\u2019s all I been growing is just soybeans.\u00a0 I found that easier for me to raise because I don\u2019t have to fertilize those soybeans \u2018cause they fertilize themselves.\u00a0 So that\u2019s a break right there.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How do they do without irrigation?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 The key now, based on my knowledge and skill that I have learned over the years, you go out there and if you plant them early, by late March or early April, during the time that there is a lots of moisture in the ground, most of time, they will be made before it dries up.\u00a0 If you get those spring rains, they will be made before long.\u00a0 Therefore, I can do without irrigation.\u00a0 I learn a lot by observing others.\u00a0 I said, well if they can be successful doing that, I can too.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Does anyone else in your family farm currently?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 I have a brother.\u00a0 He raises watermelons sometimes.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Is he in Ofahoma?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yeah, he lives in Ofahoma.\u00a0 I have a sister.\u00a0 My sister and husband are cattle farmers.\u00a0 They raise cows.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Do you have any children?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes, I have two children.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Are they carrying on the farming tradition or…?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 No, well, my two children….my daughter, when I was in school there I observed that physical therapists were needed in the area and when she was a small child, I told her I wanted her to be a physical therapist.\u00a0 I schooled her from the cradle.\u00a0 She went to school and graduated from St. Joseph\u2019s High School and then she went on up to Mississippi School for Math and Science at Columbus.\u00a0 From there, she went to USM and she got a degree in Biology and from there, she went to Arkansas State in the area of physical therapy.\u00a0 She graduated two years ago in physical therapy.\u00a0 I encouraged her to go in physical therapy because I didn\u2019t want her to put up with what I had to put up with. Ha ha ha.\u00a0 And my son…my son he\u2019s a …he\u2019s a recent graduate of Jackson State University in the area of Psychology.\u00a0 He is also a minister.\u00a0 He took after his granddaddy.\u00a0 His granddaddy was also a minister.\u00a0 He has been admitted to the Belhaven MBA, Master of Business Education, program and so he is attending Belhaven right now.\u00a0 He started this summer.\u00a0 He\u2019s trying to get his Master\u2019s in Business Administration.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And, but in addition to farming, you had another career.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes, I had another career.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Can you tell me about your career?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, I started out at Piney Woods Junior College down there in Rankin County.\u00a0 You ever heard of Piney Woods?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um, Yeah.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Down in Rankin County?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um hmm.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 It was traditional for my family to attend Piney Woods.\u00a0 It was ten of us in my family.\u00a0 My father didn\u2019t have very much money to send us to college.\u00a0 So therefore, we had a little professor by the name of Dr. Lawrence C. Jones, who was a friend of our family.\u00a0 He was the president of Piney Woods.\u00a0 They educate your head, the hands, and your heart.\u00a0 You have to work, go to church, and go to school…the head, hands, and the heart are educated.\u00a0 I attended Piney Woods Junior College for two years and worked my way down there at Piney Woods.\u00a0 It was similar to what I was doing at home already.\u00a0 We\u2019d milk cows down there. \u00a0Girls would do typing and accounting and this type of thing.\u00a0 They had a job for everybody.\u00a0 My father paid twenty-five dollars for me to go to Piney Woods.\u00a0 I graduated from Piney Woods in 1967.\u00a0 Then from there, I attended Mississippi…MVSU.\u00a0 I received a B.S. degree in Social Studies.\u00a0 I was given a job in Rolling Fork, MS.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Were you teaching?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes, I was teaching.\u00a0 I went in the field of education.\u00a0 I was teaching Social Studies. To make a long story short, I recognized a need in the area of Special Education.\u00a0 I went to Delta State and I majored in Special Education.\u00a0 I taught Special Education for eighteen years in four different school districts.\u00a0 A job came open in Indianola.\u00a0 I had gone back to school and prepared myself.\u00a0 I had gone in school administration and I had a triple A degree in school administration. I applied for the job and was given the job based on my degree and certification.<\/p>\n

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

SS:\u00a0 I worked in the area of school administration fifteen years.\u00a0 I retired in 2001 from the Indianola School District as the Special Education Supervisor and the Deputy Superintendent of Education.\u00a0 My farming background taught me how to work and how to get out and hustle for a living.\u00a0 I learned to work early in my life and I appreciated my heritage and my training that my father had given me.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 What were some of your chores or responsibilities, like from younger ages on up to the older years?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 When I was at home, I was my father\u2019s right hand man.\u00a0 I made sure that everything was done.\u00a0 We had hogs.\u00a0 We had to feed the hogs.\u00a0 We had to feed the chickens.\u00a0 We had to feed the ducks.\u00a0 We had to mow the lawn.\u00a0 We had cows.\u00a0 My brother and I had to \u00a0milk about ten cows every morning before we went to school.\u00a0 In the afternoon, you had to separate the calf from the mother cow.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 What would you tell a young person?\u00a0 What advice would you give a young person who wanted to….was interested in going into agriculture today?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I would tell them that agriculture is a wide-open field and you need to try to study and let people guide you to go into agriculture.\u00a0 You ought to try to go to Mississippi State or Alcorn State.\u00a0 It\u2019s a wide open field.\u00a0 You can go in different areas of agriculture, chemical engineers\u2026you can go into grain…inspection.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot of different areas of agriculture that you can go into.\u00a0 I\u2019d encourage them to go into agriculture today.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good field to go into.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 What would you say is the value of land to you and your family?\u00a0 How important is land…like being part of the land?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 All richness comes form the ground.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of anything that we use that didn\u2019t derive or originate from the soil.\u00a0 Everything comes from the ground…oil and gas and everything comes from the ground.\u00a0 It\u2019s just something that you cannot do without.\u00a0 It\u2019s a must.\u00a0 You have to have that ground.\u00a0 All richness comes from the earth.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Have you ever thought of selling your vegetables at a local farmers market?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I\u2019ve tried that.\u00a0 Matter of fact, when I was growing up, my father and I used to have so many vegetables until we had to sell it at the farmer\u2019s market.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 The farmer\u2019s market in Cleveland is new….<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0 They don\u2019t charge a fee.<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0 For farmers, it\u2019s uh….<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 You mean they don\u2019t charge a fee?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Setting up and selling.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Oh, oh that\u2019s good.\u00a0 That\u2019s good.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know that.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 We\u2019ll give you some information later about that. Do you see a time when your family will no longer will be associated with the land?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, the only time I can see is when, when you get too old or something like that and can\u2019t do anything.\u00a0 I don\u2019t believe my children will be interested in doing farming, I really don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Do you think that, because they were brought up around the farming and the gardening, do you think that they would, um, at least have their own garden?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I think they would.\u00a0 I think they would have a home garden based on what they have learned.\u00a0 They always praise me.\u00a0 They say \u201cDaddy, ooh you sure are a hard worker.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to be like you.\u201d\u00a0 I mentor some children too in the community.\u00a0 Sometimes I get them to help me in the garden.\u00a0 I train them how to work and they are learning from me also.\u00a0 Some of the children that don\u2019t have anything to do in the summertime come help me pick my peas and butterbeans and be around me and help me change the oil in my tractor… and they are learning also from me.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 They have a farmer\u2019s marked in, uh, Noxubee County….<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0 Where they have the kids come and they pick…<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Uh huh.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And then they earn money to go to camp…<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Okay. Hee hee hee.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 From picking for the…those farmers.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 I had thought about…<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Keep \u2018em out of trouble.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I had thought about one time setting up a community garden.\u00a0 We…I belong to the Raspberry Men\u2019s Club.\u00a0 We had thought about purchasing us a tractor and setting up a community garden and just having it for the whole community.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 That\u2019s a neat idea.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 We had thought about that but we haven\u2019t gotten around to doing that yet.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Have you, uh, used any…utilized any assistance, such as FSA programs or USDA programs or co-op assistance to continue farming?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes. I have utilized a system.\u00a0 I have attempted to utilize assistance.\u00a0 I speak the truth and I\u2019m not here to make any false statements.\u00a0 I went out to the Farmer\u2019s Home Administration and I tried to get a loan.\u00a0 They told me they could not give me a loan because I was in the teaching profession and I was making too much money. \u00a0I said, well you got other people in other professions that are making a whole lot more than I do.\u00a0 I said, \u201cWhy are you not giving me the loan?\u201d\u00a0 I need the loan.\u00a0 I want to farm.\u00a0 I said, \u201cYou won\u2019t give me the loan.\u00a0 Well, I feel like you\u2019re discriminating against me.\u201d\u00a0 From that, I was involved in a class action suit through the United States Department of Agriculture.\u00a0 I was successful in that suit.\u00a0 They gave me a little money out of it, but it wasn\u2019t near enough to compensate for what I had lost.\u00a0 I could\u2019ve made more if they had given me the loan. \u00a0I would have rather had them give me the loan.\u00a0 I came out behind\u2026came out in, in the red so to speak.\u00a0 I was along with a whole lot of more farmers that are still under litigation.\u00a0 \u2018Cause a lot of us are still not satisfied.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0 How has um….how would you say race has affected your farming?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 (Cough).\u00a0 Well, I just fore stated I feel like I was discriminated against because I was black.\u00a0 Because I feel like they give other races more money than they give us.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t even want to give me the small amount that I wanted.\u00a0 I said, well I knew I hear other farmers say they get almost whatever they want.\u00a0 I asked for\u00a0 just a little mediocre amount and I was not able to get that.\u00a0 So I feel like I was discriminated against.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 In one interview, we heard that, that, basically the same thing you\u2019re saying.\u00a0 But he was also saying that women were discriminated against…women farmers.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0\u00a0 Ha ha.\u00a0 I believe that.\u00a0 All those minorities, women, blacks, probably Chinese…all those minority people are being discriminated against.\u00a0 Indians…they discriminate against Indians…Native Americans.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 How would you say the Civil Rights Movement and the years which followed affected the atmosphere in farming and in this community?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Years ago you had slavery, whereas it was against the law for people, black people, to learn how to read.\u00a0 Nobody wanted you to learn how to read.\u00a0 After the Civil War, people began to go to school, learn how to read, and they learned how to do things for themselves.\u00a0 Along the way it has gotten a little better.\u00a0 The Civil Rights Movement has been a tremendous asset to all of us.\u00a0 Things used to be real bad, before Dr. Martin Luther King came into being.\u00a0 Fannie Lou Hamer and Annie Devine, and all those good people…and Rosa Parks, all those good people…stood up for their rights.\u00a0 Now you still have that slave mentality.\u00a0 Some people still don\u2019t want you to be successful…still don\u2019t want to help you.\u00a0 The only way you\u2019re going to be successful now is to try to do it yourself and have a strong constitution and a strong will to succeed.\u00a0 If you go and listen to people, people will talk down to you and discourage you.\u00a0 But you got to do it for yourself and get out there and beat the bushes.\u00a0 Things are not just going to happen, you have to make something happen.\u00a0 Those three Civil Rights workers in Philadelphia, MS, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Shroener, gave their lives to help us learn how to vote.\u00a0 They were killed, simply because they were trying to help somebody else.\u00a0 That\u2019s wrong.\u00a0 So what you get now, you\u2019re going to have to fight for it.\u00a0 There is no harm to fight…you gotta fight.\u00a0 If you roll over and play dead, you\u2019re not going to achieve anything in life.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 That\u2019s true.\u00a0 What would you say is your most memorable moment growing up on the farm?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 My most memorable moment is when we plowed those mules all the time.\u00a0 Sometimes those mules would have the colic…they\u2019d get sick at night.\u00a0 When they got sick at night, we would have to go up and doctor on them.\u00a0 My father had a medical background.\u00a0 His daddy was a doctor.\u00a0 He was a self made doctor.\u00a0 He used to take care of all of us when we had colds and things like that.\u00a0 They called him Dr. Carroll.\u00a0 He\u2019d take care of the mules also…he taught my father how to doctor on mules.\u00a0 One night that big \u2018ole mule got sick…she had the colic.\u00a0 You could look at her and tell because she wouldn\u2019t be still, she just start prancing backwards and forwards.\u00a0 I looked at her…I ran and told my father \u201cI believe that mule, old Kate is sick out there.\u201d\u00a0 He said, \u201cWell, we have to go do something for her.\u201d\u00a0 He had some colic medicine.\u00a0 We got up in the little wagon and pulled her close and gave her a whole bottle of that colic medicine.\u00a0 We stayed out there all night long.\u00a0 It was a little cold…chilly too.\u00a0 We had to build a bonfire out there.\u00a0 Doctoring on the animals was my most memorable moment in farming…doctoring on those animals and things.\u00a0 I loved to do that.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 That\u2019s all the official questions. \u00a0Do you have anything that you\u2019d like to add?\u00a0 Anything you want to tell us about?\u00a0 Or any questions?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Naw.\u00a0 I would just like to say that I\u2019m proud you are trying to receive some history.\u00a0 I am proud you came down here and asked me some questions about this.\u00a0 That shows that you\u2019re concerned..<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Well, um, I thought of one thing.<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0 Um..um…what…how do you prepare your vegetables?\u00a0 I mean do you cook or does your wife cook?\u00a0 Or…?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 How do I prepare my vegetables to eat?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Yeah.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 I tell you one thing.\u00a0 Say for instance, from my mother\u2026I learned all of this at home.\u00a0 Whenever we picked our vegetables, like peas, or okra, or butterbeans, or something of that nature, we would shell them and place them in a deep freezer.\u00a0 We shelled them on a pea sheller.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 There\u2019s technology.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yeah, technology helped out instead of this right here.\u00a0 I could shell peas until my thumb was just blue.\u00a0 People normally used to blanch their vegetables, but see, my mother taught me better than that. \u00a0She taught me, they say, when you shell your peas and stuff\u2026or whatever…just wash \u2018em off, put them over in a plastic bag almost full of water, close it up, and put it in your deep freezer.\u00a0 When you freeze them, your vegetables are frozen in the ice, and it locks in your freshness.\u00a0 You freeze it in the ice, so that automatically preserves those in the ice. \u00a0If you do that, then when you get ready to eat it, all you do is just take it out and put it in your pan and its ready to go. \u00a0So that\u2019s, that\u2019s a technique she taught me how to do.\u00a0 And I passed that technique on to a lot of people and they say it\u2019s a very good way and they enjoy it too.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Can you tell the difference between store bought vegetables…or like canned vegetables…and fresh?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Ooh.\u00a0 Ooh, it\u2019s a tremendous difference.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 You can tell?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Ooh, it\u2019s a tremendous difference.\u00a0 That store bought vegetable it\u2019s just not as good as that farm raised vegetables.\u00a0 You see, store vegetables have gone through so many processes.\u00a0 Travel from California or Mexico or wherever and they\u2019ve lost all of their freshness.\u00a0 When you bring it straight from the field and put it in your pan, it taste a thousand times better.\u00a0 It really does.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Do you remember the first time you ate vegetables from a can or anything like that?\u00a0 You opened a can of food or anything?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yes, I can remember eating some when I was a little boy.\u00a0 Yeah, I remember eating it.\u00a0 But it didn\u2019t taste good…ha ha ha.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t taste good.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t eat too much from the can, we ate it mostly from the fields.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um hmm.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Ha ha ha.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Umm, I wanted to give you a little background.\u00a0 Uh, in the letter, we stated that we\u2019re working on this letter with Ben Burkett.\u00a0 Do you know Ben?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Naw, I don\u2019t know him.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Ben is uh, he\u2019s uh a black farmer from Indian Springs, MS and he is in charge of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives, which is a cooperative of cooperatives.<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0 And they\u2019re almost all African American cooperatives.\u00a0 And uh, my husband and I have been working with him for about 12 years.<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0 And um, he also works for the larger organization called the Rural Coalition, which brings together minority and limited resource farmers across the country and farm workers.\u00a0 And um, next…you reminded me of this…\u2019cause next week we will all be in Washington, DC at a USDA annual partners meeting.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Um huh.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And um, it\u2019s the third time they\u2019ve done this.\u00a0 And they bring together some farm workers and limited resource farmers with USDA and the, they…the USDA now has a Secretary for Civil Rights.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Um huh.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 And they meet with them and one the issues that is discussed is the black farmer lawsuit.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Aw, okay.\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Hee he he.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 So, I thought that, that reminded me of that.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 Well, I tell you one thing, long as President Clinton was in there, everything was looking good.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have to get off in politics, but I, I don\u2019t have no reason to be reserved or anything.\u00a0 When President Bush got in there, I knew we weren\u2019t going to get any help.\u00a0 So we haven\u2019t gotten any help since President Bush has been in office.\u00a0 He has only hindered African American farmers.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 That\u2019s another thing about Ben Burkett.\u00a0 Ben has a very large afro.\u00a0 Because when Bush got elected the first time, he said that he was not cutting it until he was out of office.\u00a0 He really that would only take four years.\u00a0 He\u2019s still growing it.\u00a0 He\u2019s started braiding it some because it\u2019s rather long.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Um huh.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 But he knows he\u2019ll be able to cut it when he gets, cause he has to leave this time.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 You\u2019re right.\u00a0 Well I hope we\u2019re success to get somebody in there that can help us and be fair to us, because we haven\u2019t had any success in the last what, eight years…going on eight years.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Do you see yourself farming until you just can\u2019t walk anymore?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 I feel like farming because, farming it helps me out physically also.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any major physical problems now.\u00a0 Of course I picked up a little weight in the education system because I was away from farming some and I wasn\u2019t doing enough farming.\u00a0 But when I was on that farm in Ofahoma, I was slim trim.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a weight problem.\u00a0 But it still helps me out physically, I keep going. A lot of those fellows around there say \u201cwell, I wish I was like you, you\u2019re in good shape\u201d.\u00a0 I was out there picking some peas out there, the other day, and I was just perspiring…sweat was just pouring off of me.\u00a0 The man said, \u201cWell, man, I can\u2019t do that. You\u2019re in good shape. I can\u2019t do that, I\u2019d fall out there doing that.\u201d\u00a0 I said, well, I enjoy doing it.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 My granddaddy said that trick was always to get out there before the sun came up…you\u2019d…and then you stay out there, then you don\u2019t feel the heat as much.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 Right.\u00a0 That\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 If you go out there at nine o\u2019clock in the morning, you\u2019re going to feel it.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 That\u2019s right.\u00a0 You\u2019re right about that.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 So it\u2019s more gradual.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Yeah, that\u2019s right.\u00a0 But I enjoy doing what I\u2019m doing and let folks look at me.\u00a0 I believe people envy me for me raising a garden out there.\u00a0 \u2018Cause they tell me, some of these people, say \u201cyou work harder than any man I know around here…why you still work that hard?\u201d\u00a0 I grew a crop…we didn\u2019t get very much rain, but my peas did well.\u00a0 Everybody is asking me for peas.\u00a0 Matter of fact, it was a minister out there building a house there.\u00a0 He came up to me and he said…he was building a house right next to where my pea patch is…he came and asked me, he said, \u201cWell, ooh you made a lot of peas this time.\u201d\u00a0 He said, \u201cwhat do you sell \u2018em for\u201d.\u00a0 I told him $15.00 a bushel.\u00a0 He said, \u201cWell, I have eight children at home and I just, I just don\u2019t have the money right now.\u201d\u00a0 He said, \u201cI\u2019m gonna have to get me some whenever I get a little\u00a0 money.\u201d\u00a0 And I picked a bushel of peas and I carried it to the minister.\u00a0 I said, well these are your peas, you can have these peas.\u00a0 He said, \u201cWhat you mean I can have them?\u201d\u00a0 I said, I\u2019m giving these to you.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t believe.\u00a0 He said, \u201cWell, God is good. And I appreciate it.\u201d\u00a0 (Laughs)<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Well, uh, I would, um….<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Let me say this right here.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Um hmm.<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 My Christian faith, my faith in God, has allowed me to get where I am now.\u00a0 I always treat people the way I would like to be treated.\u00a0 My father was a minister…he was a good man…a good hard-working man.\u00a0 I try to take patterns after my father because it\u2019s very important for young people today to have role models to go after.\u00a0 It was important then and it\u2019s important now…it\u2019s gone be important in the future…always gonna be important.\u00a0 My son is a hard-working boy.\u00a0 He tried to help me.\u00a0 I can say it\u2019s gone…his working attitude has carried over to his schooling.\u00a0 He works hard at school to try to pass.\u00a0 And right now he got a scholarship from the United Methodist organization for $2500 because he had a high average and they saw his average.\u00a0 They gave him $2500 to go to Belhaven to work on a scholarship in Business Administration. Yeah, so, so, I…my trust in God, my faith in God, has allowed me to get where I am now and I just appreciate being able to be in the land of the living.\u00a0 (Laughs)<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Is there is anything else you wanted to add?<\/p>\n

SS:\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s about it.\u00a0 I\u2019m so, so happy that you all have come to interview me.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 Well thank you so much.\u00a0 I\u2019m so glad to that Otis gave us your name.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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

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