The Years Have Changed

by James A. McRae

Long gone are the days of old — the events that happened in the 1960s have paved the way to the future. My mother, Joyce McRae, has painted a picture of the years that she lived and how life have changed.

In 1953, Joyce was born a fourth child of seven of Isabella and Alexander Armstrong. She endured the life of a cotton-picking child, and she had chores that had to be done before any type of recess activities. Washing dishes and washing clothes were among the chores that she had to complete -- washing clothes was a chore in itself.

“You had to scrub the clothes on the washboard to remove any stains and then put them in the washing machine which was located outside. For the spin cycle, the clothes were picked out of the washing machine, one by one and fed through a feeder and then hung out to dry on a clothes line,” she said. “The times have changed a lot because we are used to indoor machine technology and the washing machines and dryers are indoor and everything is done by the machine.”

The schools were integrated when she was in the ninth grade. “People used to look at you weird because you were on their property. Cliques were formed. I was in a class of about one or two blacks. Racism was still prevalent all around,” she said. There was very strict rules for the dress code, and we are still debating the effect of dressing inappropriately in this century. “Boys had to wear undershirts, no hair hanging below the collars, shirts had to be tucked in -- girls had to wear skirts at least three inches below the knee, no exposed skin, no pants, which meant girls froze in the winter,” she said. Times have really changed.

My mother explained how some stores made black people wait in line, and prejudice was prevalent. Signs were put up for “no public restrooms.”  Racism was not as bad here as it was deeper in the South.  “Restaurant waiters and waitresses seemed to overlook a black patron, or it took a long time to be served,” she said. Quotas came into play, and the job market had to be somewhat fair in the hiring process. They had to hire so many blacks to meet a quota.  The service draft was also enacted during this time, and many blacks were called to duty. She said that the black workforce was majorly made up of military personnel, custodians, maids, and service personnel. They did not have access to high paying jobs such as managers or others with high responsibility.

According to my mother, the biggest effect from the March on Washington was that a lot more hate was exposed. The blacks became more outspoken, and they felt like they had the right to many freedoms and values. When James Brown came out with the song, “I’m Black and I’m Proud,” the song was played all of the time by many blacks.  It gave blacks more courage to stand up for themselves, even though they got the evil eye from white people.

This year we celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the March on Washington. Many blacks say that we have made many advancements over the years, but some black people say that we have not overcome. My mother said, “I think that we have made great strides as I never thought that I would see a black president in my lifetime. But I think progress is trending!”

Work Cited

McRae, Joyce A. Personal interview. 14 Sep. 2013.



Note: James A. McRae of Aberdeen, NC, is a culinary student at Sandhills Community College.

A Reaper of What She Has Sown

By A. Michelle McLeod

When you think of the South, what comes to mind?  Do barbeques and pig pickin’s come to mind? Do fried foods come to mind? Southern churches with long-winded preachers? When I think of the South, I remember my own experiences, places I’ve visited, people I’ve met, and television shows I’ve watched that poorly depict the South. I live in Vass, NC, that has lots of dirt roads and dead ends. The neighborhood where I’ve lived for many years has barely any traffic, and only the main road is paved.

When I was a child around the age of two, I began sneaking from my home that was down a hill on a dead end dirt road to my neighbor’s home across the paved road.  In my small town, no one thought twice about a child being harmed by a stranger. No one was a stranger. No one needed to include a last name when referring to someone who lived in Vass. Doors were kept unlocked all day and night. Years have passed and my former neighbor often tells me stories of things I did as a child, and we laugh at my innocence and curiosity. Neither my neighbor nor I knew at the time of my childhood that we would come together years later in a different setting.

On February 22, 1945 in Dunn, NC, a child was born to Lilly Yates, aged 19. The child was named Mary Elizabeth Yates. Shortly after Mary was born, her mother developed tuberculosis and died. Before her death, Lilly requested that Mary be adopted by her best friend. In those years, family members and friends could be appointed guardian of a child without any brows raised or any questions asked. It was assumed that a relative or a close friend would take over guardianship in the event that the birth parents were not able to do so. Mary’s adopted mother didn’t have any children so Mary was an only child. Mary’s adopted mother worked as a housekeeper where she cleaned, cooked, and cared for a child the same age as Mary. The family Mary’s mother worked for was a white family and although the family had no black neighbors or friends, the family treated Mary and her mother no different than their own race. Mary and the child her mother cared for played together while Mary’s mother cleaned and cooked.

At age six, Mary’s adopted mother was no longer able to care for her so Mary was sent to live with her maternal grandmother in Southern Pines, NC. Mary was heartbroken but eventually grew to like the new living arrangement. A young girl four years Mary’s elder also lived with Mary’s grandmother. The young girl’s mother had also passed. The two girls grew fond of each other and soon referred to each other as sisters. Mary’s grandmother was a very religious woman with strict rules. As a teenager, Mary and her sister were required to work in the local cotton and tobacco fields. Mary also worked as a babysitter to many families. It wasn’t unusual for a young girl to babysit. Work came as a priority over school. The school Mary attended was segregated. The grades ranged from K-12. In the South education wasn’t as important as providing for a family. Even though school started in August, Mary and other students didn’t attend until harvest season was over in late September to October. The teachers understood and would never count any of the missed days against the students whose families made them work in the fields.

No matter what the season, Mary had to tend to the family’s food supply. The family’s food supply consisted of hogs and chickens. The hogs were fed slop and fattened up with table food and other scraps and later became the main course for Sunday dinner. The chickens laid eggs that were used for breakfast and used in many delicious dishes. Many families in the 1950s often had to find other ways along with working to provide food for their household. Mary’s family owned a garden which harvested corn, okra, peas, string beans, lima beans, tomatoes, watermelons, and peanuts. As Mary’s school age was coming to an end, her grandmother allowed her to date, but she still had to abide by strict rules. Mary later married, but her jobs still consisted of working in tobacco fields and gardens, and raising chickens and hogs. Field workers had to work from sunup to sundown with an hour or less for lunch.

Mary always attended church, was involved in many programs, and was a member of the choir. Mary always felt like she didn’t fit in with the other children who were more promiscuous because of her religious morals that were reinforced by her grandmother. Mary continued to feel the same well into her adult life and approached her pastor. She was taken under her pastor’s wing and later was ordained as a minister. After obtaining the position as a minister for a few years, Mary was ordained as an elder and began to preach at various churches around NC. After being ordained as a pastor a few years, Mary felt that it was time she spread her wings and establish a church of her own. Being down-to-earth and having a kind heart was what made many people draw near to Mary. Mary’s Christian faith and morals were what Mary continued to cling to no matter what obstacles she had to face, and many wanted to learn what it was that made her steadfast and unmovable. Many wanted to learn how to be like Mary. Mary was ordained as an apostle after being a pastor of her own church for eleven years.

I have been a member of Mary’s church for a little over a year. Along with the Bible lessons, life lessons are also included in many sermons. I have learned a lot from Mary about hard work and faith. I have learned that faith and work go hand-in-hand. Many people don’t think about what earlier generations had to endure just to have food on the table. Many people, including myself, have never experienced working the fields, gardens, and hog pens. Interviewing Mary gave me a new insight and respect for her and earlier generations’ hard work and faith that hard work will eventually pay off.

Work Cited

Kelly, Mary. Personal interview. 24 Jan. 2013.



Note: A. Michelle McLeod, who lives in Vass, NC, is pursuing a degree in medical office administration at Sandhills Community College. She also is employed at Peak Resources Pinelake in Carthage, NC.

A Time to Remember

by Moneé Bratcher

“Mother was the most important aspect of my life. As far back as I can remember from the first day I was born, my mother was always the center of my life. At the early age of three I noticed that my mother was a loving, caring, and a hard working woman. She loved my father, sisters, brothers, and I,” said my 56-year-old grandmother, Mama as I called her, as she looked me in the eyes reminiscing about her past.

“Moneé, I was taught at a young age to be independent,” said Mama. Either you become independent or you might get lost in the daily family-school shuffle. There were a total of seven children in her family, five girls and two boys. My grandmother was the third child of five and because there was a huge gap between four older siblings and her, she had to learn quickly in order to keep up with them. This might have been her first lesson in becoming independent and developing her personality.

“I remember my mother, my older siblings, and I had to get up early in the fall mornings to catch a truck to go pick cotton in Scotland County. It was cold and rainy on the back of the truck to the cotton farm and we had to use quilts to stay warm,” said Mama. My grandmother said that once they arrived at the cotton field they had to check in at the Masters barn and gather sacks to pick the cotton. The cotton industry was significant in the South during the 1950s because it was large part of the agriculture system.

“As a five-year-old I didn’t think that cotton picking was important. I considered it hard work for my family. We did not receive much money for our daily work on the fields; we were only paid 25 cents per 100 pounds of cotton. Backbreaking work and no money,” said my grandmother in frustration. Today that cotton plantation has become a productive well known winery, Livingston Winery.

From my grandmother’s perspective cotton picking taught her that getting an education is the key to a better life and a way out of the South. However, getting an education in the segregated South was not easy. For example, my grandmother had to attend a segregated school, she received second-hand books from the white schools, and rode one school bus that for all K-12 students. In the late 1960s the southern schools began to integrate in the South. My grandmother integrated at Pine Forest High School with hundreds of other black and white students.

I asked my grandmother if integrating with white students made her feel uncomfortable or was it a challenge. She stated that she didn’t feel uncomfortable, but she knew that it was going to be a challenge to make good grades. “A challenge that I faced in the classrooms of Pine Forest was that a white teacher called on all of the white kids and refused to call on me. I knew that I had the right answer, Moneé, that was the first time I felt the sting of a prejudiced white teacher,” said Mama. Mama, how did you feel when the white students called you “Nigger”? “It didn’t make me feel good because no one wants to be called out of their name, but I didn’t let it destroy me because my mother taught me never to be afraid and to be my own person, and to speak what I feel and think.”

“Throughout my living experiences in the South of my 56 years, I have learned to live and be happy and take life seriously, realistically, and logically. At the end of the day I felt like I have accomplished what I have set out to due. With my educational experience I can now be a customer at the winery on that cotton plantation — and not a cotton picker.”

Work Cited

Ingram, Juanita. Personal interview. 2 Feb. 2012.

Note: Moneé Bratcher, who is from Raeford, NC, is pursuing an associate in arts degree at Sandhills Community College as a SandHoke Early College High School student.

The Southern Experiences of Papa

by Auriel Jeffries

To extend information to my generation about growing up in the South, an amazing man who grew up right here in Southern Pines shared his experiences with me. Thomas Braxton Ray, my papa, is now seventy-four years old. Although the experiences were not positive, Papa was still willing to share them and relate his journey as a half Black, half Cherokee in the South. From movie theaters to restaurants and schools, he was wrongly treated — not because of his character but because of the color of his skin.

When he was in school, he experienced much more prejudice people than someone today. The schools that he went to were segregated. When he was in the eleventh grade, Papa had to use old ninth grade books, which were from the school across town that had only white students. The books were so old that the white students no longer used or needed them.

When my grandpa was young, his family was very poor. It was hard for a black family to have a decent paying job. His household contained of four other siblings. With his mom and dad, there were seven people in all. His dad, a Baptist minister, also worked other jobs. Both his mother and his father worked in food service (much like restaurant jobs today). His mother also did domestic housework. There weren’t any good jobs available for people of his status. The saying that they used back then was, “If you’re white, you’re alright. If you’re brown, stick around. If you’re black, get back” (Ray).

Restaurants in Southern Pines were also prejudiced when my grandpa was growing up. Black people were treated differently from the white people at some restaurants. At one restaurant, Papa had to go to a back window to get food. He referred to this behavior as feeling like he was treated like a dog getting food out of a doggy window, though it was common and expected then for this behavior to take place. The restaurants and schools were not the only places my grandpa was mistreated.

A lot of locals are familiar with the Sunrise Theater in downtown Southern Pines. I discovered from my grandpa that the theater was not always as it is now. Because my grandpa was black, he was not allowed to watch the movies like we can now. He as well as other black people who wanted to watch a movie had to sit at the top of the theater where he said they could barely see anything instead of being able to sit in the main floor area where there was a better view.

My grandpa unfortunately experienced the prejudice in the South not only in Southern Pines but in the military, which he also joined. He said that the military was prejudiced and segregated. I would not expect this to be in the military of all places, but apparently it was. The military would do things like rotate the black guys to another company, and this happened to him.

Though my grandpa had a hard time growing up in the South, he let me know that he is glad that he was able to live through the transformation of the South. He experienced not only the bad but the good change that has come today. He feels happier than ever to see that his grandchildren are able to have a better life growing up then he did and can have better opportunities.

Work Cited

Ray, Thomas. Personal interview. 29 June 2011.


Note: Auriel Jeffries, who is from Southern Pines, NC, is majoring in criminal justice and psychology at Sandhills Community College.

Back Then

by Allison Strohacker

I always wondered how different life was when my dad was raised in the South compared to my experience thirty-two years later. I always wanted to know what it was like in the “good ol days.” When I sat down with him for this interview, he told me about school, being raised in the South and what has really changed since the 1960s.

My dad, Allen Buie, was born on April 23rd, 1955 in Vass, NC. My grandparents Johnnie and Irene Buie were both raised in Moore County. He has two brothers, both born and raised here. One lives in Carthage and the other in Michigan. He and his brothers were raised in the same house grandparents live in now. The house my dad was raised in is five minutes from mine. “In the South, many people don’t go too far from home.”

In the 1960s, he attended Vass-Lakeview Elementary School. The teachers were strict and used a paddle. According to him, they were not shy about using it and when a student was sent to the principal he wasn’t afraid either. At school, one teacher taught every subject until you were in the sixth grade. Just like many of the schools at that time Vass was an all-white school. However, when my dad was in the fourth grade three African-American girls were enrolled in his class, and he can still remember their names.

My dad was raised that you respect yor elders. They were older, wiser and always had the best stories. Dad said now elders aren’t considered any of these aspects. He said there isn’t really a respect for anything like there used to be. Sunday used to be a day of respect. Sunday was God and family day. He thinks now people are too busy and fast-paced. He notices that back in the day people moved more slowly. He said it seems like time moved slower, especially in the South; you waited and were patient. There was no instant gratification. “When it happened, it happened.” Nobody knew what it was, but when it happened they knew.

Next, we talked about how time spend during summers has changed. My dad worked in tobacco every summer from age five-eighteen. At first he started working on my great-grandfather’s farm in Cameron. He said that’s what you did in the summer. Nobody sat in front of the TV and played video games. You worked. “If you weren’t working in the fields, you were working on your grandpa’s farm.” Now in the South you don’t see any children working in the fields or farms.

Next, he told me the major differences he has seen between his generation and mine. At first when I asked him so what’s so different about the South, he said, “Everything!” First, the family unit has changed. When he was growing up, there was a mom, dad and children. There were no single moms or teenage moms. Also, family time was valued. Children loved spending time with their family. Now it seems like we can’t get away from them fast enough. Another difference he saw were children these days. When he was young, he spent all his free time outside. No matter what -- children were outside. No one sat inside on beautiful southern days and watched TV. “There were only five channels anyways.”

During this interview, I learned how different it was when my dad was raised in the South compared to my experience just five minutes down the street. I also learned that there are lessons that I was taught that my grandfather taught my dad. I learned that the South has changed drastically. The schools have changed, the way families are built was changed and the way children play has changed. I also learned that there are a lot of Southern customs that still hold true today and will for many more generations.

Work Cited

Buie, Allen. Personal interview. 6 Feb. 2011.

Note: Allison Strohacker, who is from Vass, NC, is majoring in early childhood education at Sandhills Community College.

Way Back When

by Declan Freswick

To learn about living in the past, talk to one of your grandfathers. I learned how much more difficult life was back in those times from Ashley Derrell Blackburn, my grandfather who was born on July 28, 1938 to a large family on a farm. The economic struggle of the present relate to the examples of life then.

Ashley Blackburn was born into a family with six brothers and two sisters. His family members were sharecroppers to their landlord. As the landlord furnished the land and fertilizer, his family tended the land, raised the crops, harvested them, and sold the crops. He explained, “The landlord would take about half the profit, most of the time he would screw us over, but that’s the way things go.” The tractors they had back then were actually mules and plows. The mules were named Red, Pea Wee, and Chim Charlie. He told me every day they worked in the fields from the earliest they could start until the sun went down, even during school days.

He explained a typical day as a child going to school. “We would walk half a mile to catch the bus.” After school was out, the children went straight home to work in the field. Going to school was valued during that time for many reasons. They were happy spending time in school rather than working hard in the field. Another reason schooling was valued was only families of the wealthy had the chance to be educated. This made me cherish the fact it is so easy for me to further my education.

Delicious meals were also valued in that time. “I loved when we got the chance to eat some good fried chicken,” my grandfather replied when asked about his favorite meal as a child. A dish like that was prepared only once a month due to the shortage of income. He told me that the majority of the meals were fish because of how cheap it was. A lot of my knowledge of cooking has come from my grandfather over time. During the interview, I started imagining the times when I was with him in the kitchen standing on a step stool, or sometimes a chair, trying to learn how to cook.

I proceeded to talk about my last topic, which was the evolution of the construction business. He started in the business when he was only twelve years old. His father bought a motor grader, a large machine used to level loose land, and he learned to operate it shortly after. “Well, it started with a mule, then a tractor, then the motor grader. Now there’s lots of different equipment they use.” He explained when asked how the equipment has changed over time. He started in construction as a laborer. He called that job a “ditch digger,” referring to the amount of time he would spend with a shovel in hand. After about thirty years of hard labor, he retired as vice president of Wellons Construction Company.

One can absorb a lot of information about the past easily by listening to someone who has lived it. This information is not only entertaining, but it is knowledgeable as well. From this interview, I started to value my life a lot more from realizing how much easier it is now than of the past. I hope this story has the same effect to others who read it.

Work Cited

Blackburn, Ashley Derrell. Personal interview. 1 Feb. 2011.

Note: Declan Freswick, who graduated from St. Pauls High School in Robeson County in 2010, is majoring in turfgrass management at Sandhills Community College.

Back in the South

by Ashley Smith

Was education important in the 1930s? Was experience needed in order to work? What was done for entertainment? Education was not important to some people because it was easier to get a job than go to school. Betty “Retha” Purcell, my grandma, was born in Hoke County, North Carolina, in 1929. She moved to Queens, New York when she was a teenager. Her North Carolina house was built by her cousins. My grandma sang on the “Loving Sisters” for decades at her church. However, she picked cotton as well as tobacco to earn some money. In addition, Betty used to be a slave in her hometown. Although sixty-one years have passed since my grandma was my age, we both enjoyed school, work, and entertainment.

Education was easier in the thirties than today because now a person needs a degree and experience in order to work. My grandma always told me, “I thought I was hurting somebody else for not going to school, but I was hurting myself.” Betty loves cooking and sewing classes while attending Upchurch High School which is now Upchurch Elementary School. In addition, she attended school for nine years. She did not always have the money to purchase books. In 1932, high school kids were allowed to ride the school bus while the elementary school kids walk to school. In this case, my grandma would walk two miles even through the snow; thereafter, the teachers would soak the children feet in freezing, ice cold water for no apparent reason. Her school experiences is illustrated in this view of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

Black folks worked in the cotton fields since they were eight years old; now they have machines to pick the cotton. My grandma worked at The Quartermaster Laundry at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, for the soldiers. For example, she would wash, dry, and iron their clothes and pick up their laundry on a regular basis. A couple of years later, Betty worked at Burlington Factory in Hoke County to support her family; meanwhile, she got pregnant with her first daughter, Malinee Lynn Purcell Leigh and left Burlington. In fact, money was very important to my grandmother since she took care of and raised some of her cousins and siblings. Betty’s coworkers and bosses treated everybody equally. My grandma used to raise cows, hogs, chickens, horses, and sheep while she worked on a farm with a Caucasian family.

Hide and seek as well as hopscotch were popular games that are still played today. My grandma enjoyed working because everybody treated each other equally and fairly; therefore, there was no sort of racism or stereotypes. She always played with her cousins. In addition, kids were allowed to go outside and play anytime unless they were not finished with their homework and chores. Betty Purcell never listened to the radio like she does today because she enjoyed working instead of dancing and singing to the radio. Cooking and cleaning were my grandma’s top priorities. By the time I was a teenager, my grandma taught me how to cook some of her favorite homemade recipes. For example, collard greens, beef liver, and candied yams; however, I made my own collards greens recipe, although I’m influenced by her techniques.

I have learned that back then people could leave doors unlocked and open because no crime took place like today. Also, they had a store -- “The Penny Store” -- where everything cost one cent; therefore, you could buy a bar of candy for only one cent. Gas used to cost one dollar per gallon. My grandma learned that everything now is way more expensive than during her time. Even though society has changed, people still have to sacrifice in order to go to school, prosper at work, and enjoy entertainment. As Albert Einstein expressed about relating to different times, “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.”

Works Cited

"Albert Einstein." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2011. 7 Feb. 2011.

"Martin Luther King, Jr." BrainyQuote.com. Xplore Inc, 2011. 7 Feb. 2011.

Purcell, Betty. Personal interview. 23 Jan. 2011



Note: Ashley Smith, who is from Raeford, NC, is majoring in nursing at Sandhills Community College.

Baca Parties and Late Birthdays

by Dustin Gainey

When you were nine or ten years old, did you ever wonder what your grandparents were like when they were your age? Did you ever just want to ask them where they were born, or what their lives were like back then? Well, I finally got that opportunity. I sat down with my grandmother Mary Lee Locklear to ask her a few questions about her life, and what it was like growing up as a poor Native American in the South.

Mary was born in Robeson County, N.C., somewhere close to the Hoke County line on April 15, 1944, but she tells everyone she was born on April 23, 1944. Why does she do this? No one knows—NASCAR wasn’t even around at that time. Her mother’s name was Carry “Pat” Locklear, and her father was Bellton Locklear. Bellton and Pat were both from Robeson County. Mary had two brothers and five sisters, and they were all raised in Robeson County. When she was growing up, her family never had a lot of money because they were sharecroppers, but she said, “Mamma and Daddy might not have had a whole lot of money, but we never missed a single meal.” In her mind that made them a very blessed family. Her favorite meals were pork chop with corn, sausage with baked apples, and biscuits with molasses, but they had these only in the fall or winter because that was when they had hog killings.

The next few questions that I asked Mary were dealing with her education, and what her family did for fun when she was a little girl. Back “in the day” education wasn’t a “must have” like it is today. Mary attended school at Oak Grove Elementary School in Scotland County. Remember that segregation was still in effect at this time; however, Mary would go on to finish only the seventh grade because her family could not afford for her to continue in school. Now I understand why she has always encouraged me to do well in school; it was because to her it was a great privilege just to even go to school. For fun, Mary and her family would go fishin’, and on the Fourth of July they would go down to the river to celebrate our nation’s independence. Then in the fall of the year after the tobacco had been cropped, the whole community would come together and have a “baca party,” which was a party to celebrate the good crop they had that year. In the fall of every year, she said, “Daddy would always take us shoppin’, and let each one of us get one outfit and a pair of shoes.”

Mary’s life really started to change in the ‘60s. Her first job was in 1963 at the House of Raeford turkey plant, and it paid a whopping $1.75 per hour. Then in 1967 at the young age of twenty-three, she married Philip Locklear (whom she is still married to this very day). They have two lovely daughters, Joyce Gainey and Sophia “Nicky” Bryant, and five grandchildren. Mary’s favorite meal to cook is collards fried in hot sausage grease with fried chicken and cornbread. An activity she enjoys is to sit and watch older people. For about ten years she would sit with Miss Emma Neal Morrison, a very well-known lady in Scotland County. When Mary was asked, what are you most proud of accomplishing in your life? She said, “First is seeing my two girls get grown. Next, when I got saved; the last thing is when I meet Phil.”

After doing this paper, I have learned a few things about southern culture and a little more about my family history. One thing I’ll probably never forget her telling me is that she tells everyone that her birthday is a week later than what it really is. I thought most people wanted their birthday to come and go quickly. In addition, I had never heard of a “baca party.” I knew that the lifestyle in the South has changed, but I never had thought that it was so drastic. Also, I would just like to thank Grandma for all the cultural connection she has given me to the South. I have really enjoyed doing this paper, and most of all just spending some one-on-one time with my grandma.

Work Cited

Locklear, Mary L. Personal interview. 4 Sept. 2010.

Note: Dustin Gainey, who lives in Laurinburg, is majoring in accounting at Sandhills Community College.

In the Words of “G-Ma”

by Krystal D. Smith

I always wondered what the South was like when my grandmother was little. Was life on a farm more enjoyable than living in the city? Was family as important as it is today? Or was everything the same but only a little different? I found all that out when I sat down with my grandmother who was given the name Betty Rita, but I call her grandma or “G-Ma.” She was born in a town of Raeford in North Carolina. One of the few women in my family whom I look up to, she has southern tendencies just like every other southerner, but by growing up in the South, she has faced a lot of hardships that have molded her into the person she is today.

She was conceived in New York but born in North Carolina. She explained that her biological mother was a singer at a night club in New York, and one day she decided to move to North Carolina when she became pregnant to be closer to her family. She wasn’t used to the slow pace of the South; unfortunately, there weren’t that many jobs like in New York; she was stressed all the time about money, so she didn’t have time to take care of my grandmother like she wanted to. Later, my “G-Ma” was adopted when she was six years old by a lady down the street. “Back then you didn’t have to sign papers just to adopt children; you just simply gave them to someone else,” she stated. By being given away to Mrs. Frances whom she would soon call Mama, she learned things that she wouldn’t have learned from her real mother. For example, she learned how to catch food, make remedies, and ride horses. She started picking cotton and tobacco at a young age. She showed me the scars on her leg from the cuts she got while in the field. “If I had to choose between living in New York or here, I would choose here. I learned about survival. That’s the difference between then and now. You kids now run; we couldn’t run away when rough times came. We had to sit there and get through it.”

Education was important when my grandmother was young, but it also depended on the circumstance. For example, if students didn’t have enough money to buy books, then they most likely dropped out of school. “I thought I was hurting them by not going to school, but I ended up hurting myself.” Because she didn’t have the education to get a high-paying job, she moved to Long Island, New York, when she was in her early thirties. There she worked as a “housekeeper for a rich white lady for two years,” she said. This was the right time to ask her the difference between the North and South. “New York life was too fast. You had to keep up with everyone; there was way more crime there than here, and everyone wasn’t as friendly as the people back home.” Because she didn’t like the job, she moved back to the South and began working at the Burlington Mill. She worked there for twenty years while being a single mother and juggling the responsibility of raising two children.

My grandma had two twin brothers born a little after she turned nine. She was happy that she wasn’t the only child anymore. It made her proud that she was a big sister to them. “In my time, family was really important. We all stuck together and we were always there for each other.” For instance, when she got into fights at school, her brothers were always there for her. Even her cousins were there; no one could ever mess with just one person of the family without everyone getting involved. She explained that some didn’t even have to be a part of the family; everyone who lived in their area was like family to them. “Nowadays families and neighbors are against each other. They don’t want to be around each other. It makes me sad to see families break apart over the littlest things.” I really understood what she meant. Now people have to fend for themselves; they can’t really depend on their family to help them when they’re in need.

By asking my grandmother these questions, I have learned a lot about her and my culture. Sometimes people have to take risks in order to make things happen. School is still important. Back then people didn’t struggle as much as they do now; anyone during that time could easily get a job, but now they have to have an education to get a good-paying job. I took into consideration about what my grandmother said about families not being close like they used to, and it breaks my heart to know that it is true. “People need to come together and help each other, and they need to stop being against each other.”

Work Cited

Purcell, Betty Rita. Personal interview. 29 Aug. 2010.


Note: Krystal D. Smith, who lives in Raeford, is pursuing an associate’s degree in nursing at Sandhills Community College.

Do More Than What Others Expect You to Do

by Rebecca Erbschloe

“Times were different back then than they are now,” were the words my grandmother muttered as she drifted off into an old memory that was recalled when I asked her what things were like in the South when she was growing up. “A lot different, but that’s expected, I guess; times change so fast.” My grandmother, Evelyn Ballenger, grew up in the then-small town of Greenwood, South Carolina. I was fascinated to learn of all the determination and hard work that she put forth to change from an extremely sheltered small town southern girl to an educated, successful, well-informed, southern woman.

My grandmother was born in a house on land that my great-grandfather had bought during the Great Depression. This purchase was possible because he had a strong distaste for banks and believed that putting money in them was a bad idea. When the Great Depression hit, he lost nothing because he kept all of his money in an old tin box under his bed. “There were no ‘easy’ ways to make money back then. The only way was with hard work and long hours.” My grandmother explained to me that in her younger days it was very taboo for a woman to hold a job or even to attend higher education because “women were supposed work at home.” However, her mother was beyond her years even then and attended a business college to become a secretary. Hard work was something that was instilled in her from the time that she was born. Starting in the early morning her father, mother, brother, and she would wake and start the chores that were required to maintain the farm where they lived. Starting when she was about five, it was my grandmother’s job to feed the pigs and bring in the cows. She told me that she was taught by her father that to find the cows in the pasture so that she could bring them in she had to “touch the leg of a granddaddy long-leg and the insect would point to the direction where the cows could be found.” I found it quite interesting that this simple, hard-working farm family depended on the instinct of an insect to do some of their work. This is all they knew. This is where they came from and they were proud of it.

School was not required at this time. In fact, “you attended school only if your family could afford to lose a set of hands on the farm.” However, with the encouragement of her mother and much persuasion of her father, my grandmother began going to the only school in Greenwood. She continued in this “one room school, no bigger than a nice bathroom these days,” until she was in the ninth grade. When it was time for the ninth grade, because they lived in such a rural place, she began taking a school bus into town everyday to attend high school. Although this was not something that many girls got the opportunity to do, my great-grandmother always encouraged her to “do more than what people expect you to do.” Wow! Who would have known that a line that my own mother has said to me a thousand times had been passed down through four generations of Southern women? High school was quite a bit of culture shock to my grandmother. She was an extremely shy southern farm girl who had been suddenly tossed into a world where things were a bit different than what she was used to. When she was in high school, she was sent by her teacher to the office to make a phone call to one of the businesses in the area, which seems pretty normal, except that this was the “first time I’d ever seen something like that; I had no idea what to do.” She was shown secretly by a teacher how to use the telephone, and it was like “there was no stopping me after that.” So much so that she graduated as valedictorian of her senior class. This was a class of only twenty. She went on to attend college, get her first job, and earn a degree in English. The year 1960 was a big one for my grandmother. She became an English teacher and also got indoor plumbing for the first time.

My grandmother, like women in many southern families, has been such an inspiration to our family. She has shown us that even a farmer’s daughter from the small town of Greenwood, South Carolina, can do great things despite what society might expect. She has also instilled in us the value of hard work, culture, and the knowledge that makes us proud to be from the South.

Work Cited

Ballenger, Evelyn. Personal interview. 10 Sept. 2010.



Note: Rebecca Erbschloe, who lives in Aberdeen, is majoring in radiography at Sandhills Community College.

A Humble Southerner

by Christina Austin-Campbell

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.

My Southern Hero

by Deborah S. Burris

As children, we all had our heroes. Some heroes were real, and some were fictitious heroes we watched Saturday mornings on television. Nonetheless, we cherished our heroes and loved them with all our being. Heroes give a young person someone or something to idolize. For me, that person is my grandmother, Bridget Jenkins; to this day, I still consider her my personal hero. My grandmother lived through World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, desegregation and, of course, probably the most trying—my youth. I never realized she was my hero until I grew up and learned to appreciate everything that she had gone through in order for me to flourish. I admire her for everything that she has endured and I thank her for teaching me to be who I am and not to try to be someone I am not.

My grandmother was born Bridget May Elliott on May 3, 1934. A midwife delivered her; as Granny says, “Hospitals is where you went if you had money.” She was the seventh child of nine born to my great-grandparents Matthew and Josephine Elliott. Although once she married, she and her family lived in the surrounding counties; my grandmother spent the majority of her life right here in Moore County, North Carolina. Growing up in a large family my grandmother learned the true meaning of sharing, she says. “We were by no means rich, but my papa worked at the sawmill, and my mama stayed home with us kids.” My grandmother told me she remembers that when she was small, everyone had a job—no matter how small—from taking care of the chickens to feeding the pigs to tending the garden. “We all had chores to do around the house. We grew our own food. We ate lots of vegetables, [but we] also had pigs and chickens” -- a smile formed on her face as she continued -- “a long time ago we had some ducks and guineas too.”

My granny worked around the house and helped her parents, but that was not her only job. She tells me that she was very young when she first started working, although she doesn’t give a specific age, and her first job was working in a tobacco field. “As far back as I can remember, it was handing ‘bacca at the ‘bacca barn.” My grandmother rarely uses slang during our talks. “I don’t know if there were more of them [whites] or more of us [blacks] working back then.” Grandma goes on to tell me about her education. Although her mother stayed home with the children and it was not common for young black children to get a proper education, my grandmother attended school up to the tenth grade when she met and married her first husband, my grandfather. “Most of our education we received at home from Mama. We learned the Bible first and foremost.” Being from the South, religion is a big part of who my grandmother is. She stated, “Mama read the Bible to us kids every night,” which is probably why my grandmother instilled deep religious beliefs into her children and grandchildren. Granny does not soon let us forget that we live in the Bible Belt.

I wondered what development in the American South had the greatest effect on my grandmother because she is African American. I thought for sure she would say segregation or the Civil Rights Movement; however, to my surprise, she said World War II. “It affected everybody. My oldest brother Fredrick was in the war. I had a brother over. . . .” She sank back in her seat a little and then continued, “Other than that it really didn’t affect me.” Grandma was only about five when WW II began. “Except for having a brother over there. . . I mean the war did affect everybody, but I was worried about him.” My grandmother always speaks so highly of her brother Fredrick, and I have a great respect for him, although I did not know him. I asked her if segregation had a big influence on her life. She answered with an emphatic “No.” I was surprised. Grandma Bridget straightened in her chair and then looked me directly in the eyes. “I don’t remember segregation being such a big deal like some people talk about it being. We lived in a mostly white neighborhood, but it was no big hullabaloo.” Grandma went on to explain that blacks and whites all worked together, the kids played together; at the end of the day, the blacks went to their houses, and the whites went to theirs. Listening to my grandmother, I found myself transported back in time. I could see the younger kids playing and the older ones priming tobacco.

Finally, I asked my grandmother about the most important lesson she had learned in her youth that she passed down to her children. Cocking her head to the side, she looked at me and said, “Education and common courtesy come first. Always be courteous and get your education.” Then she grinned, showing all of her teeth, and finished with, “Also, keep your mouth shut and listen. You’ll learn more that way. Y’all talk to too much; nobody just sits and listens anymore.” Heeding Grandma Bridget’s advice, I kept my mouth shut and listened as she went on to say that education is the most important goal a person can have. Although she went to only the tenth grade in high school, she later got her GED, attended college, became a nurse, and retired nearly fifteen years ago. I remember my granny being especially tough on me when I was in high school, and at the time—like any teenager—I resented it, but now that I have children of my own, I understand exactly why she did and said what she did. “Nobody can take your knowledge away from you. Once it’s in here,” she pointed to her temple, “it’s yours and nobody can ever take that way.”

At age 76, my grandmother is such a wealth of information, and I feel truly blessed that she has allowed me to share in her knowledge and, as a result, I can pass that knowledge on to my children. I can see my Southern heritage in my grandmother’s eyes when I visit, and I hear it in her voice when we talk. She is my connection to the past and the gateway to my future -- a past I have only read about in books, yet she brings it to life for me with her childhood stories. She did not live the exact same history as what we generally learn in school; her life is unique. I never realized when I was younger that the most influential person in my life was not someone most kids would think of as their hero. Growing up in the South my heroes were Bo and Luke Duke, Wonder Woman and The Six Million Dollar Man. Now that I am grown up, I realize that my grandmother has had the most positive influence on my life.

Work Cited

Jenkins, Bridget. Personal interview. 9 Sept. 2010.


Note: Deborah S. (Debbie Burris), who lives in Aberdeen, NC, is a journalism major at Sandhills Community College where she is pursuing an associate in arts degree.