{"id":9287,"date":"2023-04-19T22:44:57","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T22:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/?page_id=9287"},"modified":"2023-06-19T20:58:38","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T20:58:38","slug":"mitchell-williams-oral-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/mitchell-williams-oral-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell Williams 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

Mitchell Williams 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=”1681943860463-5″ tab_id=”1681943860463-10″] [\/page_link][page_link link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/guides-to-the-collection-page\/” title=”Collections Portal<\/strong>” id=”1681943860471-8″ tab_id=”1681943860471-9″] [\/page_link][page_link title=” Visit<\/strong>” id=”1681943867911-3″ tab_id=”1681943867912-1″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/visit\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Make a Request<\/strong>” id=”1681943868605-0″ tab_id=”1681943868606-7″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments\/archives-museum\/requests\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”About Us<\/strong>” id=”1681943869811-10″ tab_id=”1681943869812-8″ link_url=”https:\/\/www.deltastate.edu\/library\/departments-archives-museum-about-us\/”][\/page_link][page_link title=”Yearbooks Online<\/strong>” id=”1681943870382-3″ tab_id=”1681943870382-3″ 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]May 17, 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n

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

Transcribed by Wanda Ray<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am Eleanor Green.\u00a0 I am here with Mitch Williams interviewing him for the Delta Black Farmers Oral History Project.\u00a0 May 17, 2006 at 8:30 in the morning.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We will start with an easy question.\u00a0 Can you tell me your full name?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mitchell Williams.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can you tell me about when you were born?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 May 11, 1936.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Happy Birthday. \u00a0You just had a birthday.<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can you tell me where you were born?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mound Bayou, Mississippi.\u00a0 Bolivar County.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What were your parents names?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gentry and Delora Williams.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Delori?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 D-E-L-O-R-A.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 D-E-L-O-R-A okay.<\/p>\n

EG\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 :\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Were they from Mound Bayou?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 My dad was born in Mound Bayou.\u00a0 We are ancestors of the first chartered members of this community known as Little Mound Bayou.\u00a0 My grandfather came over here in 1887.\u00a0 And they were chartered members of this community, Little Mound Bayou Community.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Where did your grandfather come from?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Columbus, Mississippi.\u00a0 Lowndes County.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lowndes County.\u00a0 How did he come to the Delta?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That, I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s okay.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But I think they heard about Mound Bayou and came up here (inaudible) and Columbus and see the distance from here to there in 1887.\u00a0 That\u2019s quite (inaudible).\u00a0 But my understanding they came up through what they call the Sunflower River.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know how they connected those rivers to get here.\u00a0 But there\u2019s about fifteen miles from the Sunflower River.<\/p>\n

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

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Five.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do they all of them live in the area?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, some of them live in this area and some of them out of state.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And how much land did or does your family own or work?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We \u2013 now we own, this family owns 150 acres.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know how and when your family acquired this land?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0 \u00a0 Acquired it back in the early \u2013 the plot we are own we acquired it back in the early \u2013 the late \u201850\u2019s \u2013 the late 40\u2019s or the early \u201850\u2019s.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know, did you purchase it from an individual or like some\u00a0 people we interviewed purchased their land from the railroad?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, I\u2019m not sure where we purchased it from.\u00a0 The original plot that we settled on, the family lost it in the 1920\u2019s.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the land is currently located where we are on Gentry Road?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, most of it is adjacent to Gentry Road.\u00a0 Adjacent to Gentry Road and Grainger Dorsey (inaudible) that way, go back south.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And the land is still being farmed?<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And are you the one farming it?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, right now we are renting it out because (inaudible) so we are renting it out.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know what is produced on the farm now?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mostly soybeans.\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 son is at school and he said he is planning to farm when he is completes his scholarship.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Your son is in college and he wants to farm when he gets out?<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s good.\u00a0 Can you tell me some of the history of the land?\u00a0 What has been farmed there and grown in the past.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We grew the basic crops at that time which was cotton, soybeans, and we produced our own vegetables, grew our own beef, poultry.\u00a0 We also grew crops for the livestock like corn, hay, soybeans and alfalfa, was grown for the stocks.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What livestock did you have?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just basically livestock for survival.\u00a0 Mules was the main source for operating the crops.\u00a0 Cows produces milk and butter.\u00a0 The hogs produced the meat.\u00a0 Cows also produced meat and chickens produced meat.\u00a0 We grew our own vegetables.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Was the farm ever used for share cropping or tenant farming?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 At one time we did have a share cropper.\u00a0 It was small but we did have a share cropper.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How has technology and what you produced changed over time?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Quite a bit.\u00a0 When we first started we farmed with the mule with a plow called a double shovel.\u00a0 You go down the row on one side and come back on the other side walking behind that plow called a double shovel.\u00a0 Then from the double shovel to a one row plow which was called a gang plow. That one you would not make but one trip down there it carried both sides of the row.\u00a0 Then we moved from that to the two rows.\u00a0 Then we purchased a little tractor and it carried two rows.\u00a0 And that was how I saw technology change.\u00a0 And from that to four rows (inaudible) and finally to six and eight rows.\u00a0 And all the cotton and corn was cleaned by hands with the hoe.\u00a0 There were no chemicals.\u00a0 We had to chop the cotton and chop the corn.\u00a0 (inaudible) it had to be done by hand.\u00a0 You worked from sunup to sunset.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know if chemicals are used now on the soybeans?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 Today there is no hoes in the field for chopping and cleaning the cotton.\u00a0 And there is no plow used.\u00a0 It is called no till or reduced till.\u00a0 So they have gone to a great drastic change.\u00a0 And they harvest the cotton by picking by hand.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No, early years we picked cotton by hand with a sack.\u00a0 We had sacks of different lengths.\u00a0 7 foot sack which was the shorter sack and 9 foot sack.\u00a0 We picked the cotton by hand and put it in a sack.\u00a0 Weighed it.\u00a0 Carried it to the gin and the gin would separate the seed from the lint.\u00a0 Now they have machines that pick the cotton and very little hands touch the cotton now during the harvesting.\u00a0 So I have seen quite a change, quite a change over the years.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To make the farm work did you have to make specific changes every time?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, I changed with the times or you get left behind.\u00a0 And some of those changes were welcome.\u00a0 You think about walking behind a mule kicking up dust for about twelve hours every day.\u00a0 It will wear out your knees.\u00a0 So that has been a big change and now you don\u2019t have to do that.\u00a0 So that has been a big, big change.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know if your family farmed elsewhere before they moved to the Delta?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My grandfather used to tell us before he left the hills that he stayed on a plantation out in Lowndes County.\u00a0 He lived over there on a place called Washings Place in Lowndes County.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Has the land been divided or added to over time?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah we added to it, we originally started with 40.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You originally started with 40?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 40 yeah.\u00a0 And then when I was grown I purchased until it is the size it is today.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And was your brother farming with you?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes he was farming.\u00a0 At one stage we were all farming together.\u00a0 My father, my brother.\u00a0 And\u00a0 my father passed in \u201976 so then it fell on (inaudible) and gradually moved out of it.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know about buildings on the farm, what buildings were originally here and if any of the buildings are left?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Time has taken care of those.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did your family have to build their own homes and farming structures?\u00a0 And can you tell me generally how it was laid out originally?\u00a0 Where a barn was?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The original house that we lived in earlier is on the end of this 40 which was about a quarter of a mile that we grew up on.\u00a0 The remains of the house was torn down last year.\u00a0 But we built different houses.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And are all these houses in your family?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 This house was built last year but the other house burned in \u201904.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the value of the land to you and your family.\u00a0\u00a0 Now so much the monetary value but how do you and your family feel about the land?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We cherish it because we worked hard.\u00a0 Long days of hard work in that sun trying to keep that land and maintain it and make a living.\u00a0 Because at that time the only living that we had came from the farm.\u00a0 Father did not work anywhere but the farm, didn\u2019t do anything but the farm.\u00a0 So we had to work hard to make a living, for survival.\u00a0 We had to work to earn, to get our school clothes.\u00a0 And to carry from one crop year to the next.\u00a0 So there was a lot of hard work and preserving.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you learn all you know about farming from your father?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of it, I had to change with technology.\u00a0 But the basic yes.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Shirley thought that you maybe you had been to college.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes I did.\u00a0 I went to college in 1957.\u00a0 I graduated from high school and went to college.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where did you go to college?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mississippi Valley.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And what did you study there?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I majored in Mathematics.\u00a0 Came out and taught in the school system awhile and then I left there (inaudible) Delta Health Center for awhile.\u00a0 And then after that, the North Bolivar Water Association.\u00a0 You may have seen the tank up on 61.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah, we stopped and took a picture.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that was the result of my experience with the environmental health component along with seeing the need.\u00a0 There was no one in the environmental component \u2013 we would go through the northern part of northern Bolivar County putting down hand pumps and privies.\u00a0 Because the people had no place to dispose of their secretions.\u00a0 So we built those.\u00a0 Then I left there and saw that there was a need because this was the only section of northern Bolivar County that didn\u2019t have decent water.\u00a0 The other part of the county had water associations.\u00a0 So this part of the county didn\u2019t have one.\u00a0 Seemed to be the neglected section of the county.\u00a0 In 1993, no I really started on it in 1973.\u00a0 It took me twenty years to get it off the ground.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was going to ask you how long it took.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So in 1993 we finally got funded for a water association.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s a great feat.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And now we have everyone in this section of the county has access to decent drinking water.\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 Some of the best water in the State of Mississippi.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, then I will have to have some.\u00a0 Do you see a time when the land will no longer be in your family?\u00a0 Or do you hope not to see?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I hope not to ever see that day.\u00a0 And even after I am gone I hope that does not happen.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You said that your son would like to farm?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes he did.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is he studying?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) said he was going to take up agricultural farming.\u00a0 (inaudible) He is enrolled in Coahoma Community College.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What advice would you tell a young person who wanted to go into farming in your family?\u00a0 What advise would you give them?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Be prepared.\u00a0 Be prepared to grow it like you would any other business.\u00a0 Prepare yourself to go into that business.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So it is very important to you to keep the land in the family for future generations?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Very, very important.\u00a0 There has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears that has gone into it and I would like for them to continue to keep it.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Has the family utilized any assistance to continue farming such as coops and USDA programs?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, we were involved with USDA program; Farmers Home.\u00a0 A lot of headaches and a lot of battles to fight in order to maintain the farm.\u00a0 USDA is the old Farmers Home.\u00a0 It was a hard to get funds (inaudible) and get the services provided.\u00a0 They had two sets of \u00a0services, one for black and one for white.\u00a0 The blacks, if you got money from them they would want to know how many chickens you had, how many hogs you had, how many hens you had, how many hens were laying, how many eggs you got per day.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That brings me to my next question, how has race effected the farm?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It has effected a good deal.\u00a0 (inaudible) a struggle to survive because of the color of our skin.\u00a0 As I said earlier, there were standards for black and standards for white.\u00a0 The black standards (inaudible).<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you feel like it has gotten better over time?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A little.\u00a0 Not much.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then it still has a way to go?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In my opinion it does.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did the Civil Rights Movement in the years which followed effect the atmosphere on your farm and in your community of neighbors?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Somewhat.\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 In the atmosphere, the total atmosphere, because we in the Mound Bayou area had a different atmosphere then surrounding bi-racial community.\u00a0 (inaudible)<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What is the most memorable moment growing up on the farm?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seeing my parents \u2013 seeing my mother out in the field chopping cotton.\u00a0 Stopping\u00a0 at 11:00 to<\/p>\n

Go prepare lunch \u2013 dinner.\u00a0 And then come back to the field with us.\u00a0 I look and it now and wonder how she did she do it.\u00a0 Work with us and come back and prepare us three meals a day and then come back and work.\u00a0 I look back now and wonder how did she do it?\u00a0 How could one person have much energy to do all that \u2013 every day for five days a week.\u00a0 I look back and that was quite a job.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That was most of the official questions.\u00a0 Is there anything you want to add or anything you want to tell us about farming?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 During the black farmers of Shelby, there was a lot of discrepancy there.\u00a0 There were a lot of people that who deserved it didn\u2019t get it and some that didn\u2019t deserve it got it.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t see why they would want to discontinue it.\u00a0 (inaudible) Because it had reached a lot of farmers.\u00a0 (inaudible) that should have been getting it (inaudible) and got lost in the shuffle.\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what happened thought but I know some people over there that had been farming many more years than I am old and they had struggled trying to save their land and trying to get justice.\u00a0 So I think that should be totally looked at and looked and reevaluated and hopefully some of those people will stay around long enough to see them get justice.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you have anything else you would like to add?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I would like to see more young blacks farm \u2013 entrepreneurial farmers.\u00a0 Because this is the bread basket of our country.\u00a0\u00a0 Believe it or not.<\/p>\n

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

MW:\u00a0 \u00a0 A lot of people don\u2019t think it, they think that the milk comes from the supermarket.\u00a0 They think that the pork chop and the bacon comes from the supermarket.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t, that is where it ends up.\u00a0 That\u2019s one of the stops on the way to the table.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes I feel like I am the only one that teaches my children where food comes from.\u00a0 Well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to me.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like chicken and the eggs.\u00a0 Children don\u2019t know \u2013 chicken lay eggs?\u00a0 Yeah, they lay eggs.\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 All those pork chops come from the hog.\u00a0 All that steak \u2013 those hamburger steak comes from the cows.\u00a0 The milk you drink, the chocolate milk, they have to add it, but it comes from the cows.\u00a0 Although the cow could be black, the milk is still white.\u00a0 Well, thank you ladies.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have another question.\u00a0 What happened in 1920 that the family lost the land?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Foreclosure.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Foreclosure and\u2026<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Foreclosure.\u00a0 From my understanding it was (inaudible) out to get the black land.\u00a0 From my understanding it was only a couple of hundred bucks.\u00a0 I guess it was a long ways in those days.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But your family was able to acquire more land?<\/p>\n

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

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It didn\u2019t stop them.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It didn\u2019t stop them.\u00a0 It may have slowed them down a little but it didn\u2019t stop them.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you still grow some of your own vegetables?\u00a0 You do?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) after your start growing vegetables they have a different taste.\u00a0 What I call the store bought.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes I don\u2019t make it into cooking them, I just eat them.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With tomatoes.\u00a0 With a fresh garden grown tomatoes I can go out into the garden and pick them and eat them and have that good taste.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The brother that was farming with you, where does he now?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s retired.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s retired?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s retired.\u00a0 Stays just down the road here.\u00a0 Retired.\u00a0 He\u2019s older so he\u2019s retired.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 Would it be alright with you if we took some footage of the land before we go?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Be fine.\u00a0 I shall be waiting to see this in the Archives.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One more question.\u00a0 When did you first purchase a tractor?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first tractor my daddy purchased in 1952.\u00a0 Because we got electricity out here for the first time in 1950.\u00a0 Before then we used kerosene lamps.\u00a0 See that one over there with the globe?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what we studied our lessons by, the kerosene lamp.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you go to school in Mound Bayou?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was interested in knowing about the tractor because I understand up in Clarksdale the man who ran Hobson\u2019s Plantation was kind of a leader in ginning and creating and developing tractor parts<\/p>\n

And things like that and I didn\u2019t know if.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The first tractor we got was a Ford.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ford.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A little Ford tractor.\u00a0 (inaudible) Ford tractor.\u00a0 It carried two rows.\u00a0 Exciting!\u00a0 Now we can carry two rows and don\u2019t have to walk behind that mule.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What kind of tractor do you have now?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now we have a Pace.\u00a0 We still have a John Deere too.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like I said this exhibit will be next spring and would love for you to come see it.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I would like to see it.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So we will make sure that you hear from us.\u00a0 So if you have any photographs or any items that you would like to have on display let us know and we can do a sheet that says you loaned them.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, I will try to see if I can get them together for when the house burned it burned up a lot of those things.\u00a0 A lot, lot, lot of things, grandbaby\u2019s picture (inaudible).\u00a0 Show my grandchildren some of the things (inaudible) show my grandchildren never seen a mule.\u00a0 What\u2019s a mule?\u00a0 I never seen a mule.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My daddy used to tell me about mule races in Duncan.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Said you never seen a mule?\u00a0 I said we used to walk behind that mule and pull a plow.\u00a0 (inaudible) and pull a wagon to Mound Bayou to get water.\u00a0 With a barrel on the wagon.\u00a0 By the time we get back might done have lost almost half from the rough roads and rough ride.\u00a0 Cause can you imagine riding in a wagon with no springs and no rubber tires on it you know?\u00a0 Every bump in the road.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That reminds me, where did you take your cotton to be gin?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes.\u00a0 At that time Mound Bayou had three cotton gins.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are any of them still standing?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One they use for potato house.\u00a0 Just across the street from the high school.\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 We used to carry the cotton to the gin in the wagon.\u00a0 We\u2019d spend almost half a day at the gin waiting to get ginned off.\u00a0 (inaudible).\u00a0 (inaudible) bed yourself down in that cotton, that was a soft ride.\u00a0 But when you came back you had to bounce all the way back in an empty wagon.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That wouldn\u2019t be near as comfortable.\u00a0 Well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well, thank you ladies.\u00a0 You from Duncan?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My daddy grew up in Duncan.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you have any suggestions for people that we might interview?\u00a0 Other farmers?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There\u2019s an elderly man that has been in business a long, long time out on Six Mile Lake.\u00a0 P.W. Watkins.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 P.W. Watkins?\u00a0 Do you know how to get in touch with him?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let me see can I can pave the way for you.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, see if you can do that for me.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See if I can make some contact with him, let him know, tell him who you are and what you are doing.\u00a0 If now, he may not let you in, might not want to talk to you.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There are a couple of people that won\u2019t talk to us unless we bring Ben.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Come by they emerge.\u00a0 (inaudible) Massey Ferguson.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s right cause he sold him.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So he is a retired sales rep?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He was.\u00a0 He passed away in 1979.\u00a0 Boy we had a little toy one that we were allowed to play on.\u00a0 And then we had some toys that we played with your hands.\u00a0 But my brother has got those.\u00a0 And he won\u2019t let me have them.\u00a0 Which I am the only one that has an interest in farming.\u00a0 And I wanted to tell you that we started a farmers\u2019 market in Cleveland last year.\u00a0 Where people bring their truck and sell vegetables.\u00a0 And all of our farmers are from Mound Bayou.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s where you will find the biggest bulk of the small farmers now.\u00a0 Cause the rest of them are the big farmers.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr. Tool.\u00a0 Mr. Cornelius Tool.\u00a0 He sells.\u00a0 Mr. Curtis Smith.\u00a0 We are supposed to interview Cornelius Tool on Friday.\u00a0 Then from up in Shelby, Dorothy Grady Scarborough.\u00a0 She has sold before but she is not very consistent.\u00a0 Because she sells a lot at her house.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So she doesn\u2019t have anything\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 To bring to the market.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So that is where you will find most of your small farmers.\u00a0 (inaudible) from the Sunflower River to the Mississippi River was part of the Mound Bayou community at one time.\u00a0 So you got to get small.\u00a0 Got to be small.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So your land goes this way and that way.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Um hmm.\u00a0 Two forty\u2019s east and two forty\u2019s south.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Are you glad you still live in the Delta?<\/p>\n

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

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t want to live anywhere else?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) I go through the years and I don\u2019t see how people make it in the hills (inaudible).\u00a0 I get lost very easy.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I lived in Starkville but I have gotten used to the flat land.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starkville.\u00a0 Oh you are from way over there.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have a little token of our appreciation.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some good old honey?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some good honey.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Raised right here in Bolivar County.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That reminds me too.\u00a0 I remember when my daddy would go to the woods they would collect honey in the comb.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The woman who raises this is not allowed to use the comb but\u2026<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But that is the way it is in the wild you know.\u00a0 He would go out there and find a bee hive and get some.\u00a0 And we would separate it.\u00a0 A lot of times we would take our hands and squeeze the comb and get the honey out.\u00a0 Pure honey.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And it is good for you too.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And that honey would be left in that comb after the squeeze and we would suck it.\u00a0 It was good.\u00a0 I remember when we used to pick right over here, across the road when all of that section across there was woods, and would go over there and pick blackberries.\u00a0 We would go over there and pick, you ladies probably don\u2019t know nothing about tubs, but pick #2 and #3 tubs.\u00a0 Galvanized tubs.\u00a0 People would come from town, back then people would come in wagons and pick berries for days.\u00a0 And then we would go home and take that old pump and pump that water in that tub on those berries.\u00a0 My mother would go in there and sort.\u00a0 The bad ones would come to the top.\u00a0 And she would dip those off and then she would (inaudible) and cook them.\u00a0\u00a0 Make jam out of them.\u00a0 Cook them (inaudible).\u00a0 Berry pie in the wintertime.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My favorite.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blackberry pie in the dead of the winter.\u00a0 Be cold outside and mama would cook that berry pie in there and put that crust there.\u00a0 Then put some of that home cured salt meat.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now you are making me hungry.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You talk about good.\u00a0 She would take some and make jelly or jam out of them.\u00a0 Get them homemade biscuits.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cathead biscuits.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Put them in there with that jelly and jam.\u00a0 Some of that old cow milk (inaudible).<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you drink the raw milk?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 It was healthy for you.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have friends that still do.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s healthy.\u00a0 It was good.\u00a0 If you ever grew up around cows there were certain (inaudible) cows grazing in a pasture (inaudible).<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And they know that.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you drink that good cow milk you are getting all the herbs, everything right there.<\/p>\n

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

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All that vitamins and nature.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what I heard about the honey.\u00a0 If you eat the local raised honey\u2026<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cause see, (inaudible) pasteurized and homogenized, you kill a lot of that.\u00a0 That\u2019s what pasteurization is, you kill it.\u00a0 When you get that first milk from the cow, you are getting your medicine right there.\u00a0 You are getting a lot of the nutrients right there.\u00a0 (inaudible) pill bottle.\u00a0 Vitamin.\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 But now they say it is not healthy.\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 Separate the butter from the milk.\u00a0 (inaudible) Milk goes through the fermentation it separates the milk.\u00a0 (inaudible) called churning.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did you ever churn?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh child yes.\u00a0 Fresh buttermilk.\u00a0 That was our favorite beverage when we were growing up.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have to watch my granddaddy.\u00a0 Every once in a while he will put some goats\u2019 milk in front of us\u2026<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible)<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Goat cheese.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Goat cheese is lower fat than a cow.\u00a0 But (inaudible).\u00a0 We had a cow that we milked twice a day and she would give five gallons of milk.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ya\u2019ll were rather self sufficient then.\u00a0 Do you remember the first time you went to the grocery store and bought peas in a can?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible).\u00a0 No such thing as (inaudible).\u00a0 When we picked the peas when they were green Mama carried them to the (inaudible).\u00a0 (inaudible) Put them in the barn in a sack.\u00a0 Separate the peas out of the hull.\u00a0 On a good windy day in March you could separate the peas from the hulls.\u00a0 Just hold it up and the chaff over here and the pea go down there.\u00a0 And that was your seed pea.\u00a0 (inaudible)<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My mama was twenty-one the first time she ever had peas in a can.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And meat.\u00a0 You could take that meat.\u00a0 And no refrigeration.\u00a0 Cure that meat out.\u00a0 Hang it out there, we called it a smoke house.\u00a0 And that is the way we kept it.\u00a0 You can go out there in July and August and cut down fresh meat and it was fresh and good.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What were your first chores on the farm?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I guess watering the livestock.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Can\u2019t do much harm there but you can learn a lot.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m telling you that you have to water those livestock now.\u00a0\u00a0 You can show enough get in trouble if you don\u2019t water the livestock.\u00a0 You have to put her out early in the morning in the hot weather, if it is warm you bring her in. \u00a0Put her under a shade tree.\u00a0 Then if it got cooler you could carry her back out.\u00a0 Then when you brought her in you give her all the water she would drink.\u00a0 Carry her out, bring her back, water her again.\u00a0 It (inaudible) was a lot of responsibility.\u00a0 A hog wasn\u2019t as hard, you would have to feed him but he would go out and get muddy.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They take care of themselves.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But a cow you had to nourish him. (inaudible)We used to get a little David\u2019s Grocery Store (inaudible)<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They would do better to put a cow up in there.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) tobacco, sugar, things like that. (inaudible)\u00a0 Mama made our biscuits.\u00a0 (inaudible) Bread pudding.\u00a0 Have you ever had bread pudding?<\/p>\n

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

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 get you some of that buttermilk, cornbread, (inaudible) sugar.\u00a0 I remember when sugar was rationed in 1946 or 1947.\u00a0 Coffee, (inaudible).<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine coffee being rationed.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible)\u00a0 I remember when we made our own molasses.\u00a0 That was so good, sorghum molasses.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ya\u2019ll don\u2019t grow sorghum anymore.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You know we would make sweetened water with it.\u00a0 Go and put that sorghum in a glass of water and stir it up and have sweetened water.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That sounds good.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now it will turn a little brown.\u00a0 But its still good, agitate it good.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Some has a strong flavor.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) That old man that cooked that syrup.\u00a0 He would cook them, it would not spoil.\u00a0 He would cook it in a bucket.\u00a0 It would not spoil.\u00a0 You would have to go in there and dip it out, scoop it out.\u00a0 Good fresh sorghum.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So one person basically knew how to turn the sorghum into \u2026.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 One man around here that everybody carried their sorghum to his mill and he would cook it.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And nobody took up after him?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you know when that closed?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 But I remember he had a big pan. That pan was longer than that couch.\u00a0 And we would take that sorghum over there and (tape cut off) (inaudible) thermometer I guess was built in.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We need to learn how to do that.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My thermometer on my stove doesn\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That wood stove.\u00a0 We had to go out there and chop that wood.\u00a0 We couldn\u2019t chop any kind of wood to cook.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You had to have special?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We had to have ash, oak \u2013 that was the cooking wood for the stove.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Did it hold heat better?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah sure did.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You had a lot more trees back then too.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh, plenty of trees.\u00a0 And it wouldn\u2019t smoke as much either.\u00a0 But you go in there and she would be cooking.\u00a0 Just go in there and she would be cooking those cakes.\u00a0 Come up to Christmas (inaudible) don\u2019t slam the door or it will make the cake fall.\u00a0 (inaudible) you go out that door and you ease the door shut.\u00a0 (inaudible) what you call a pantry.\u00a0 Put those cakes up in the pantry and it would be there from Thanksgiving to Christmas. And they would be just as good.\u00a0 No refrigeration.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t put no cakes in no refrigerator.\u00a0 Put it in that pantry.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do you remember when you first got a refrigerator?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 When we got electricity.\u00a0 Before that we had a ice box.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Where did you get the ice?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eventually a man would come through the country in a wagon with blocks of ice.\u00a0 Later on he got a truck.\u00a0 A man would bring the ice in a truck.\u00a0 But if it rained, all these roads were dirt around here and he couldn\u2019t get to you.\u00a0 You would have to go to town to get fifty pounds of ice or twenty five pounds of ice.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A lot of ice.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You chipped the ice.\u00a0 The only time you chipped the ice was the fourth of July to make ice cream.\u00a0 Homemade ice cream.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have an old ice pick from my great granddaddy.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You do.\u00a0 Do you have one of those hand ice freezers, you remember those ice cream freezers that hurt your hand?\u00a0\u00a0 And when it would start freezing you could tell the difference in that turn when it would start to freeze.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 One of my earliest memories was taking turns.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (inaudible) Get you some good old lemon aide.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You work from sunup to sundown but things like that make it alright.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah, see we would always try to be what you call laid by the crops by the fourth of July.\u00a0 That way we would have the whole day off.\u00a0 We would look forward.\u00a0 Mama would get up early that morning and make the ice cream custard and let it cool down.\u00a0 Then we would make ice cream (inaudible).\u00a0 (inaudible) store bought ice cream.\u00a0 You might go to town and see some ice cream.\u00a0 And then what?\u00a0 It was about a nickel a scoop.\u00a0 A nickel cone of ice cream.\u00a0 Homemade ice cream is the best today.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Still is.\u00a0 Still my favorite.\u00a0 Now if we keep talking like this, man we are going to be in trouble.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I enjoy homemade ice cream today.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My daddy\u2019s birthday is in about a week and a half.\u00a0 My mama always makes homemade ice cream for his birthday.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019re looking forward to it aren\u2019t you?<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Absolutely.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That homemade ice cream was good.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Well thank you.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This has been really enjoyable.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you ladies for coming by.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 I ran out of juice.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You did.\u00a0 (inaudible) Get off in the back and we would get up under the trees.\u00a0 And the adults would be on the other side of the house.\u00a0 (inaudible) And we could tell when it was getting ready (inaudible) top of the syrup.\u00a0 You could turn it and it would come back up.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 A little more air in it.<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yeah.\u00a0 They said it\u2019s ready.\u00a0 And they would say not it\u2019s getting ready. (inaudible) and rise back up in the container.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s good.\u00a0 The perks for being the one in charge of turning the ice cream.\u00a0 You don\u2019t mind if we take a few pictures as we leave?<\/p>\n

MW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Go right ahead.\u00a0 You got some film?<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Yes we have film.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got this yes.<\/p>\n

EW:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See, our technology is beyond us a little bit.<\/p>\n

EG:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My mama had a day care when I was little.<\/p>\n

(tape cut off)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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