The Journey Continues project, spearheaded by Lyle Foster, Dr. Tim Knapp, and Lucie Amberg, is a way for the experiences of African Americans to be recorded and preserved for future generations. You can find out more about it HERE.
Transcript for the above video:
This interview with Norma Duncan was recorded on July 28, 2016.
Springfield has a rural background. And a lot of the black people that are here, they started out with the people who settled Springfield. And they came in with those families so they had the history of farming, and all of that, and that’s what makes us unique-is because we had the ability to raise our own food, we had natural resources. This area here was rich in natural resources with spring water, lots of trees, trees that were fruit bearing, small animals, squirrels, rabbits, fish out at the park, and all of that and everybody knew how to garden. A lot of people raised their own chickens, you know. My grandparents used to raise chickens at their house. And so we weren’t deprived of the basic resources of life.
You did not discuss the racial segregation. And people wonder, well, how did black and white people get along if you didnt talk about it? Because you couldn’t do a thing about it. And so they talked about other things. They talked about the weather, they talked about their kids, they talked about recipes, they talked about church, but the race issue was taboo and you didnt talk about it.
When we traveled, because we were traveling before the time of integration, and the reason we traveled was because my grandmother had a twin sister in a mental institution in sedalia. We would travel to see her. My dad would have to drive us, you know, up there. You carried toilet paper in the car, carried a picnic lunch, you carried water because a lot of places you couldn’t even stop and go to the bathroom.
Integration actually took place in ’54 here. We integrated immediately because Mr. Graph was a foresighted educator. I can remember being at Lincoln at one of the last graduations over there. When people did know what was going to happen, or how this was going to go, and he told everybody at that graduation “We will integrate.” and nobody knew how this was going to be, because they left it up to the cities and they never stick they just said, “do it,” you know? We are in this and you do it. We didn’t know what that meant for us because Springfield was a tightly segregated town, and we didn’t know how people were going to accept that. Are we going to get beat up when we go to school? Then integration happened. It happened just like that. *snap*
When the supreme court decision was handed down, they told the schools to integrate with all deliberate speed and they did not. This one here did.
This interview with Richard Lewis was recorded on July 22, 2016.
I enjoyed my childhood here. It was unique because at that time all of the families were so close. We didn’t even lock our doors. You could come home, [there] might be a note on the kitchen tables saying “I borrowed some eggs”. There’s not much of that kind of thing nowadays. We were spread over the area in pockets. There was a pocket in what we called the East End. A pocket in what we called West Port. And there was a pocket in what we called South Town. And…there was quite a few families, probably ten or twelve I would say, in those areas. I went to an all black school for the first eleven years. I was one of three black seniors that went over to Central.
I enjoyed Lincoln [high school]. Far more than I enjoyed my one year at Central [high school]. But, Lincoln had its limitations. Our assignments were based on text book availability and who lived close to each other. Because there wasn’t enough to go around, so we would get a text book and we would share it. We lived close together. Our principal, he quite often had me to go over to the board of education to pick up stuff and whatnot. I realized then, we were only getting what was left over. We didn’t have textbooks, and those that we had, they were ones that were given to us after they had worn out or become obsolete in the primary school system. Well, there wasn’t a whole lot of interaction. Now the kids, there was a lot of interaction between the kids, because we didn’t really care. We would walk up to Landers Theater and some of our white friends would meet us. When we got there they would go down stairs and I had to go upstairs. When the movie was over, we would get together and go back.
A little later I realized that required reading, Little Black Sambo, several other scenes along the same line. There at Lincoln, we used to have what they called Little Skits. And I recall standing on the stage there at Lincoln School, singing Old Black Joe, reciting Little Black Sambo, Singning the Missouri Waltz and if you’re not familiar with the words to the Missouri Waltz, you should look them up. The ones I recall vividly:
Way down in Missouri,
Where I long to be,
When I was a pickaninny,
On my mammy’s knee,
The banjos were strumming,
And the darkies were humming
So sweet and low.
I’m 78 now, and they’re still indubitably etched in my head. Most things, they don’t go away.
The two versions of the Missouri Waltz:
The African American version- 1914
The Missouri State Song version- 1949
This interview with Gertha Clark was recorded on July 22, 2016.
When my children were all in school, my youngest child was in the first grade and then I went back to school. That’s when they brought in Liscenced Practical Nursing. You didn’t have to go to school as long, but you did have to have some basic training to become a nurse. And that was in, through the board of education. You was, uh, supposed to be a helper between the RN and the Nurse’s Aid. And so, since I wanted to be a nurse and this was the closest thing that I could get to it, I started to go to school for nursing at the Cox Medical Center.
So when I graduated, I worked at Cox and I worked at Cox for almost 40 years. My sister was an RN. She was the first black to go to St. Johns. She graduated with honors and stuff. Blanche told me one time, this girl kept watching her and she said when she pulled clothes off, she was looking and looking and looking. She said she asked this girl, “What is it? Why are you just staring at me?” Blanche said, she told her she said, “Well, somebody had told her that…that we had a long tail.” And *through fits of laughter* she was looking to see if Blanche had a tail *laughter* A long tail. Cause she stayed at the dorms.
Interviewer: She wanted to see if it was true. So what did you sister tell her?
Gertha: *though fits of laughter* Yes.. Yes.. She let her look. *laughing* Ahh, my sister’s a hoot.
More information about this myth can be found in the book Misguided Intentions by Codis Hampton II pg. 41-42.
To buy this book go here: Misguided Intentions
This interview with Betty Ransom was recorded on July 29, 2016.
You know, your life if what you make it. We were taught that we can be anything that we wanted to be. Just get a good education and there is no ceiling. Just keep heading, keep fighting for your hopes. Being a child, it seemed easy enough because I just took things for granted, you know. I recall one time, there came an annoucement over the radio that they were going to have recreation at one of the public parks. I think I was probably about 8 years old. So I asked my mother, I said, “Oh mama, can we go to that?” And she said, “No. When they say everyone, they don’t mean us.” So that was one of the first times that I realized I was different.
I know I worked in a dress shop and it was a small dress shop on St. Louis Street, and a lady came in one day to buy a dress. Well, the boss was in the back, so I helped the lady and she bought the dress and then the boss came up and she said, “Well, you know I can’t give you credit for selling that dress.”
And I said, “Why not?”
And she said, “Because you’re black and you’re not supposed to be selling dresses.” Isn’t that something.
My husband and I had started the first black janitorial company in Springfield, in 1963. And then I remember when he was president of NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). He helped a lot of people in Springfield. If we were driving down the street and he saw the policeman pull someone over, he would stop, get out of the car, walk up, give them his card and say, “If you have any problem, call me.” Now usually, when police are interviewing somebody, they will tell you, “Keep going.” They didn’t tell my husband that. Because, if he saw someone in trouble, he would help them. They didn’t matter, black or white.
I was a very strict mother. I still am. My children worked from the time they were able to empty a waste basket, but I’m glad that we brought them up that way because they’re really well rounded men and women today.
You know, you live your life and you think bad things happen to you, but that’s all a part of growing up. And those memories will be put in the archives of your mind. And I always told my children, “Live every day like it’s your last. Because when you get older, you know, you can have memories.” And, uh..I think that’s what I did.