Why are family gatherings so important? They are times to be thankful for having family together. They’re also events for everyone to learn history and culture from the older generation. My dad (James E. Austin, Sr.) was born in Maxton, North Carolina, and raised in a little area of Laurinburg called John Station. He quit school at age thirteen, worked on a farm for many years, and then married at a young age. The changes that took place in my father’s life happened during the time of segregation in the South. Daddy said, “Working on a farm here in the South made me the man I am today, and that’s a blessing.” He will always be a humble man to me.
On Sunday afternoon when my dad got home from church, he and I sat at the dining room table for the interview. Daddy attended Pedal Creek School back in 1939. He said, “All his sisters and brothers had to attend school.” The school was one room, and all the children were in that one room until they reached the sixth grade. Then they were put in another room with a different teacher. Back then schools were segregated. The white children rode the bus to school, and the black children had to walk. It was more important for him to make money than go to school, so he dropped out at age thirteen and started working on the farm with his dad and four brothers. They worked from sunup to sundown, every day -- except Sunday when everybody had to go to church.
It was 1945 when my dad dropped out of school and started working on the farm. He did all kinds of work: picked cotton, tomatoes, and corn; plowed the fields; fed the chickens and hogs; and milked and fed the cows. Everything that needed to be done, he was right there helping his father and brothers. Daddy said, “They had all their food either out the front door or the back door.” The fields had collards, cabbage, corn, sweet potatoes, butter beans, tomatoes, and okra, and there was a peanut field. In the backyard was a smokehouse full of meat. A hog was killed, cut up, and cured out at least four times a year. In addition, once a year a cow was slaughtered. When something was needed, it was outside. The only things his dad had to purchase from town were a block of ice, sugar, and coffee. Since they had no refrigerator, the food was put into an ice chest that had broken pieces of ice to keep the food cold. Dad and his brothers would dig a hole in the ground, lay dry cotton seeds in the hole, and then place the block of ice in the hole. Potatoes were done the same way. A hole had to be dug, dry pine straw was placed in the hole, potatoes next, and then a hill of dirt piled on top of the potatoes to keep them fresh. They stayed fresh almost two years.
During the fall my dad did not have much to do around the house, so he went got a job. He worked for another farmer making fifty cents a day pulling cabbage and collards and picking tomatoes. He had to pick fifty to a bunch. Meanwhile, if the boss caught someone talking, he would send that person home because he would say, “If you talk while you work, how can you get the count right?” This made sense. Back in those days two dollars and fifty cents was big money. He saved his money and bought a 1938 Ford. After working all week, he enjoyed going to the movies on Friday and Saturday nights. The location of the movie theater was the very spot where the LOF glass plant is located. His mother would always tell him to make sure not to spend all his money in one place. He paid fifteen cents to see a movie, six cents for a soda, five cents for a pack of peanuts, and sixteen cents for popcorn.
My mother and father met while working in a cotton field. He said, “That girl can pick some cotton.” Once they dated for a while, he asked her to marry him. On the day of their wedding, he kissed his bride and back to the cotton field they went. He said he married her because she picked cotton so fast. My mother and father got married on August 23, 1953; they have been married for fifty-seven years. In 1961, they moved up north to New Jersey to find work. They lived there for thirty three years and then they both retired; it was back to the South to spend the rest of their life.
My dad is seventy-eight years young, is in good health, and doesn’t mind helping others. He still works part-time five days a week and goes to church every Sunday. His motto is working, staying busy, and treating people right are what keep him alive. Children should take the time to listen to their parents and grandparents; it would help them to learn about their history and culture. It may help them to understand more of themselves; then they can grow up to be better adults. I am so proud to be the daughter of a man with such humbleness and even prouder to say, “That’s my daddy.”
Work Cited
Austin, James. Personal interview. 12 Sep. 2010.
Note: Christina Austin-Campbell, who lives in Laurinburg, is majoring in social work at Sandhills Community College where she is pursuing an associate in arts degree.
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