TRANSCRIPTION
What are your favorite childhood memories?
When it rained! I liked when it rained, because we would stay home. We would all be there playing games, my whole family. I liked that! It was homie. My mother would close up the kitchen area, probably because it was too cold, but we had a little stove and we would cook there. So it was more togetherness. And my mother would be there with us and we all would be playing and talking.
How did your family spend your evenings?
We'd say a lot of jokes. My father would help us do a lot of our math, my brothers and I especially. He would always give us problems and then we'd have to figure it out and we would always play races to see who would be first. And then, we'd play cards -Poker! My mother used to like bingo.
What did your family do if someone in your family got sick?
First we would try herbs or home remedies and if that didn't help then we'd go to the doctor.
Did y'all have a washing machine?
We had one of those wringers that you put the clothes through, Instead of wringing it with your hands. You wash all the clothes in the same water then we had another place to rinse them out then run it through the wringer. When I moved over here (to her home after getting married) we didn't have any electricity or water or anything so that was my washer. I had two or three tubes and I would wash cloths in one, rinse them out in another one and then I would put it through the wringer. After that I would hang them.
Did you ever eat at a restaurant?
We always ate at home. Well, my brother took us to Dairy Queen. It wasn't a restaurant but we would eat in the car. And that was something different. I don't remember ever going unless it must have been a very special occasion.
What was your families' first car?
The one I remember was a 1951 Chevy and I remember it because my brother bought it and then my father had it for a while after that because my brother bought a different truck after that. And then my father gave it to me. So I got to have it, so that's why I remember it.
What was school like when you were younger?
I loved school. I always liked learning. I would really take in everything the teacher was saying. All the way to high school I loved learning.
What form of discipline were teachers allowed to use on students when you were younger?
All sorts… They would spank us. They would leave you after school and give you a lot of homework. But spanking was allowed. At first they didn't even have to ask the parents. And then later on they had to have permission to spank. Now they can't even touch the kids, not even the parents.
At what age did you start migrant work?
We started going really young. I started going even before I could remember, but I remember like when I was about 5, 6, or 7. The last time I went I was about 15.
Did being a migrant worker ever affect you going to school?
No, No, My father… One thing we didn't have is that he would never take us out of school just to go work in the fields. He would always wait till school was out and then right the next day or two days we would leave and then we would always came back about a week before school would start.
When you would go picking cotton was it just y'all or did more family go?
Actually we would call it a family reunion. Because we would all go. Our Uncles,Aunts and cousins. We would always go together and we would get to stay in those houses together. So we were always playing all the time when we would get back from working. We would all sleep outside at night, because the house had one little room. Just to put all your stuff and quilts and whatever else you had and cook in there. But most of the time we ate outside and slept outside. My parents would sleep inside. And if it rained well, of course we would sleep in there, but most of the time all of us would be outside.
Did you sleep on the floor or did you have sleeping bags?
I had an Army cot that I would sleep on. I cheated!! Everyone else slept on the floor outside on quilts and blankets.
Describe a typical day during the time of your migratory work.
Get up early before dawn, my mother would start cooking while we were getting ready. She would make us lunch. And then we would go get on the truck. If it was close by we would walk but if not then we would hop in the truck and drive. We would drive through all the rows of cotton. Sometimes we would drive over them and we could hear them under the truck - blunk, blunk, blunk!! And we would go park at the end. And then all of us would start at one end of the row and go all the way to the other end and come back. When our sack was full we would put them on our backs and take them to the person that would weigh them and then we had to climb up on the trailer and dump them in there. Then go start all over again.
How big were the sacks?
Well I don't think I ever got more than a ten foot one. I think maybe mine was about eight feet. My brothers would get a 12 foot.
Where the sacks really heavy after they were full?
It just depends, most of the time I was taking about fifty, sixty, seventy pounds the most. But my brothers would take over a hundred.
Do you remember how much they would pay for the sacks of cotton?
I don't remember, I know it depends on how much they weighed. They paid like certain amount per pound
Did you and your family go every summer?
We would go every summer. That was like our vacation. Most of the time we would go all over South Texas. The last time we went, we went all the way to Wisconsin. Driving!!
What do you remember about the trip to Wisconsin?
I remember it was long. It took about three days to get there. We were like two, three cars all together driving. And if one had a flat tire then we all had to stop. For us kids it was nice because we got to get out of the car and be out there for a while. But they would fix it then we would continue. Where we stayed at, it was a beautiful house. An old house. Nobody lived there. To me it was beautiful because it had a lot of old things like and old wooden stove that you would put wood and cook there. They had beds. We had never stayed somewhere where they had beds. We always just had a plain square room with nothing. And we would always take our little stove. It had two burners. And whatever we needed we would take it in the car. But that time we had everything wee needed so to me it was NICE! And then we only got to work not to long because we worked doing the cabbage. And they just started growing and we had to go along the row. My brothers would go in the front with the holes and they would take off most of it and leave a little bit and we would be behind on our knees and take out the rest leaving just two or three there. So we did that all day long and the next day we couldn't get up. It felt like someone was holding us down. We were trying to move and we couldn't move. We were sore. When we went to go work in corpus, we went in a car. I don't know how my parents did it. We were all in that car. Not only us but all of our things. We had our dishes in there and our little stove. We piled stuff on top and tied things on the fender and everywhere. So when we would pass by the people that had the fields they already knew. They would stop us and offer us jobs. That was good! I wasn't old enough to be embarrassed, I guess at that time. Everybody was doing it so it was ok.
So on your drive to Wisconsin; did y'all stay at a hotel to sleep?
No we would sleep on the road. As far as I could remember we would stop on the side and sleep a little bit and then take off.
What is one of your favorite memeories when y'all would go to the cottons fields?
One afternoon when I was walking down then road between the cotton fields I saw the biggest orangest sun that I had ever seen!! It was beautiful! Also at night we would sleep under the stars, there was hardly any space without any stars. They were all bright and beautiful!
Were you expected to be married at a certain age?
No, that was one thing my parents never forced on me. Actually they were kind of upset when I was wanting to get married. They wanted me to finish school and have some time to do what I wanted to do in life.
How old were you when you got married to Grandpa Abraham?
I was eighteen years old. And we were married for fifteen years
How was it having your first child?
Well, the first child is always special because you're all excited. You don't realize all the problems, all the worries and everything that comes with it. But then you're all excited because of it. But then when your expecting the other one... it's not that you don't want the baby or you're not excited about it. You know that it's gonna be more. Say your barely making it with your money and then you have another one. You know your gonna have to stretch that money some more, so I guess the first time is just exciting because you don't know what you're getting into. And after that... they're all welcome! I mean I love them all but,it was like WOW another one, what are we going to do? But once they were here we somehow did it.
Did you always want a lot of kids?
I never thought of it really. I never wanted boys, that's one thing I did know. I just wanted some girls. I don't think I wanted eight. But I must have wanted more than two. For sure I wanted more than two, I didn't just want two but I don't know about eight, or if I even thought about having that many. I'm glad though!
How would you say that woman's roles have changed from back then to now?
At that time woman couldn't do certain jobs. Most of the time you could say doctors were doctors and they were always men. And the nurses were woman. And secretaries were woman most of the time and you wouldn't think of a woman air plane pilot. There might have been some. And they couldn't go out and fight. I think right now they do. I think right now they have everything they wanted. They were fighting for equal rights so now they have to do a lot of the things men do.
Do you remember if it was easy for woman to get a job when you were growing up?
It wasn't too hard if you were looking for the right job. But if you wanted to get a male job then it was hard. I'm not saying they didn't get it, but it was hard.
When you were growing up did you feel you were treated different because you were a woman?
Yes! I had trouble with that. If I would have been male, I wouldn't have been treated different. For anything… Say my parents, ok since I was a girl I was not allowed to go anywhere, but my brothers could go anywhere but I had to go inside and do house work. They kept me inside the house. So I couldn't be out there and that's the main thing when I was younger. I didn't like being a girl because I wasn't allowed to do a lot of things. Jump around, run, do stuff sometimes, which I did anyway, it was when they saw me they would get after me.
If you could, what would you change from your past?
If I could I would not go to the past. I wouldn't want to go there anymore. I don't think I would want to deal with what a change would bring. I already know what happens. That's it, Leave it alone!!
What is something you have now that you didn't have then?
FREEDOM!! I was always under somebody. First my father then I got married and then I got married and then I got married and now I'm alone so I got my freedom!! When I was young, my father would give anything we wanted I don't think I ever needed anything more than that.
Do you have any advice for woman?
Be yourself! When you're young don't get involved or get married young. If you do get married, don't let your husband run over you. Don't allow them to take over you like if you belong to them. Make sure you show them who you are and just be yourself!
Who or what has been your lifes inspiration?
I would have to say my Mother!! Because I always catch myself doing and saying things that she used to say.
Is there anything you would like to add to this interview?
Only that right now is the best time of my life. I'm by myself. I'm doing what I like to do, out in the ministry all the time. Talking about what I like to talk about -Jehovah - and about the new world.
