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the teaches for the children looked up to as a lot. Singing
was alivis Where I wuJuld etAne AN1 I did pretty good when it
come to reciting. AO bud a swimning hole out there in South
J-oksonville and even after 1 got grown I hated to see it
filled, up and houses built on it. I 11A a hxd time learning
to swim but the kids kept razzing ma ufitil I decided I would
le,411 tht day. wells 1 went in with them and nearly drowned,
but I have Awl, been a determined auss Aid when I found out
that had to weim or drown, 1 mimed.
*There are several incidents that stnd out In my memory,
one was the severs beating 1 got fox letting berliice, my little
niece, fnll out of the Use. She lu,s just a toddler thee and
when she fell, she sprained her feet, and my ther beat me
almost to death.
°Another one was noe I was on the ferry boat going to
jaoksonville, 1 sAr eight people get drowned. These people
Wel* on a dredge boat and all at once a etorm out of nowhere
just cams up and the oaptain of the ferry boat had Ul that hit
could do to keep us from turning over. The storm rIged and
the dredge boat rocked and ranted. Finally it turned over and
those eight people all drowned. The ferry boat nit the wharf
with owls a orash th:it it ja;:red everybody IR it, and most of
the passengers got bust, but not a swat& did I get.
'Where did you go to school?
want to the Florida Baptist ileademy when I was 14.
It was in Jacksonville thak and oalled that, but now it is in
St. Augustine and known as Florida Normal and Industrial Institute.
.3.
wo used to pay $I a month. I studied *swim' and MAO. I
used to go to Sunday Sohool and shun* all the time and was
oonvertod at the ago of 15. I was elected to go as a delogoto
every time the Sunday Sohool or S. T. I. U. bad to semi one.
Whoa I was lit ay father died and this are pat a primp ins*.
I had to quit school and this nearly broks ay heart for I
*sated to finish so I oould toseh. I was in the llth wade
thou Three tags after my father died, my sister peed'
diod, and she left a little baby girl eighties months old,
whose name sea iservios. This kept as from playing like I
used to bioauas I hal to look after her. Tau veil, by my
father dying, Mamma had to work very hard then to take oar* of
us. While she went outside to work 1 had most of the work
to do at home. While ay father lived, oho did not Immo wag
thing but her housework to do as he alwevs wade a good living
as a earpentor and we had as aloe a things as aura* else la
our aolghborhood, most of the tine we had biter things. I
do not know her aueh he rads but he was certainly able to
provide for use My mother worked after his death doing domestie
work, I don't think she made wavy Ewa. She eould not nevi
any mon* because she did not sake so mush and she had not
boon Waist aged to handling it mob either, so we had a right
hard time of it soastiass. Often the things were very hard
and ws oauld not get along wad I would wish I vas able to de
something to help her. Wit did not know whams the nest seal
was coming from at tines tut is sou' may she made a way to got
us one. She always taught as to be brave and take whatever
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comes like a good trAlper. I loved my mother dearly Awl
there are things V ,t she Vugbt me thJt have helped me to
met the world today.
Then I ws seventeen ye rs old, I met Aid m7,rried
0. T. 3111i me. He we 1. medium height clrk brown skinned
wait a mill h7-nd rlad very selfirh. I 1.1d two Children by
him. I don't tlink that a woman st.Juld have any more children
than she on take °axe of decently. TO; know it is -ot
easy to raise ohllAren now 7r it we when I came along. You
did not give them so much cod liver oil and things like that,
things were cheaper and you did not need as muCh educvtion.
You were born, married and died. Wow you are born, educated,
careered, enrried then you die. We moved to Melbourne after
we got married. This man turned out to be the meanest man
in cniptivity. He wnuld bet me for nothing; just seemed like
he got a kick out of hearing me holler, and after I found
out thfit ty hollering he would stop, man I it up Frme squawking
then. You know girls it even seventeen now, wouldn't think of
letting a men get away with ttis I sr.Juldn't either now.
*After T kLAd my second d2ild, I entst very, very sick.
My no good hueband did not gire me the :Iroper treatment and
when you Add to that, th:.t ifis weak from so many beatings,
,ou can see what a time I had, My mother sent for me to cane
home. Before I got up from this illness, my sight started
to get dim. Dimmer and direr it got until just as I turned
19 I was blind. I went to ever so many eye speeisliete but
to woman.
*re. Jackson is rather sensitive in conneetion with hex
blindness.
*Sew hero I an with two 04ildrill and blind. Three added
burdens to my mother, she must take oars Ono and my tme
children. She willingly scooptod the responsibility of us
and did the very best she oould, by us.
"My mother died in 1924 and that mug the mem thee
eves had to foes. You know being blind is almost a calamity
whom you have your mother to help you over the bumps, and
when she died it felt just about like a prop heti been jerked
out from under as. I than had to get adjusted all over
again.
"You know the little strl that I bud to look after ',boa
her &other died and left box a little baby? Well, she had
to look after me thou Even Stephen. Around ia a cisolelbui?
She .sent as mousy regularly from St. Petersturgo A few month*
after my &other,* death, ay oldest boy died, than I vent to
St. Petersburg and spent three months with Bernice. While
was there I oertainly did fuse well, she did not went me to
leave, but I wanted to come on bask home.
*Urals, looked after me until I aiaried ain. 1 met
Rana Jackson, who is a sLort, da4k brown, mai and a very siee
person. Be was blind too, but we decided as soulA naLybe
get along as good, as other people, and wanted im 1930.
learned then that being blind did not keep you from essalas
a living if you worked hard enougft. Be hadaguitar and
sure was patient learning se to ploy it. We would prastitee
way in the night and wake up and start early in the sorning
again. After we had breekst, we would practice some morr4
then it would be time for him to go out in the streets to
play. I h.A Hlw!lys liked music oad i soon lerned to plaY
good. After I tvi:1 learned good enougn we would go from
one street to another, one city to kt.nother and from state
to state, giving concerts, playing on the streets and at
various °Lurches. he would play and I mould sin& aad he
would sing 4ad 1 would play. While we were in Aashinton,
D. 0. he bought me a guitar from 3es aoebuck and then
we wAild both play and sing as we felt like it, sometimes
he would be at one place and I mould be at au ther. In
this way we coined mpney. It was notuing for us to make
from 0,5 to !'.60 clear one week, you kaow, both of us
together.
"Tell me e met11.ng of your life in the differen* cities
where y.Du went with your husband to play, wont you Atlas*?
"There is notLing to tell. we were both Cliud and there
was no need to spend money d time. is got a room at 90180
place where they gave us board, attended to our businese
iTtat we went to do and left.
"In 1932 I found myself in family way aad sciAt a te
stop going ,,i.rJund. Fox about a year I stayed home. The
baby died and then i started going *ith ab- n. te .Loved.
in our new house in juue 1933. It is a all rm bougalow
that has never been oa.tnted. it leaks oadly now but we
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nonage to keep dry if it storms beoause we it:Low just not
where to sit. we can still call it ours, anyway, the happiest
day of my life I think, was when we moved in it. We did not
owe one cent to anybody on it. we built it bit by bit, paying
cash as we went aL)ng. we saved out just enough for us to
live on and )ut the rest in the house and every nail and
stick of w,od th,.t went in CAs house, we got it by singing
and "playing.
'owe furnished it with what we had and a few -laces that
people gave us, and what we o)uld not buy spot oush, we did
not have in that house, for we wanted t be very sure that
what we carried in there, stayed in there. fou ki,ow we could
have got a neap of new furniture, but you can't depend an
whAt people would gi e geu.
°Mrs. 4,cksonis living room is the best furnished one
in the house. There is a brown overstuffed three plea* suite,
old style, but me tht lam been trellted with care. The rag
on the floor stows a deal of wear and was onoe a belutifdl
one. This :Jon was very neat and clean. Her bedrocs has an
aplearanoe of °comfort" The bed has been placed in the eeolest
spot, a table in reacting distance, a little rug that is laid
lengthwise so that she can follow it to the vanity. The ben&
plloed crosswise so she can just bend after reaoring the vanity
and find needed :!rtioles. kaah article on her vanity has its
plaoe and the 'man TerLo helps her knows to put then exactly
back in the 5015 spot they were occupying.
ftreJalokson, how much do you pay this gamma?
"Oho I pay her nothing, not in money. Mho ha no plaos to
live and we let het stay with us. When she is working she
gets up early and does what she can. lou see it is better this
way fez we both ttink we are helping each other. Sometimes
she helps me 000k.
"helps you cook?
"Yes, helps me cook. You sound like you don't think I
can 000k. If nobody moves my things out of their place, I can
turn out as good a meal as anyone else, at least I AR satisfied.
*I do some of my washing too, my undsrpieoes, because I
don't have to iron them.
"It is a very good thing thit we saved while we were
making and put it to good, use for after while the depression
otos along and people either did not have anything to give
us, or they kept it, for we did not do near as well. Where
we hag been making 145 to $60 a week, our evney fell off to
120 to M. but limo was a good sport and we made out
niosly. we had to stop traveling because the last two times
we went off we had to take all "h -t we made and Iv -t we h.d
-"ready and find the cheapest way to get back. he stayed hero
and made the rounds :Ind never fell below 120 a week. Then in
1937 we were told that a 1 ,w had been passed where you would
be ',Alt in jail for being an the streets and we pat in for
Aid to the Slind. The last )art of th t year we started
getting it and me Ind Aenry both get Ill a month, that makes
us have t22 a month to live on wherein we used to have more
than that a week but by misdng here and ekipping there, we
somehow manage to keep from starving.
"Mrs ,Vahkson, how do you Matiag* to live on $22 a month?
*Live! There is no way to live on it, try to exist is
lhat you sbould say.
At this pOiAt MTS. Jackson laughed as tnough tale was
the funniest thing shit had ever heard.
lit4e owned a oar 3nee but tines got so hard we oouldnot
keep it up, so we sold the oar and did some little things
around the house.
"I never bother about voting because it is so inconvenient,
and then I could not stand up all day like we have to de to
vote and then sometimes the time is out theytell me and we
(Negroes) hlve not voted yet. I think that President Rooeevelt
is 'just all right' mad I don't hold his responsible for the
way they dish out tis maney for relief, he means for us to
get our ahare just like the others, tut he is not here to 000
and know about the way we are treated.
"All in all, I don't taink my lot is as bad as some
folks I kaow. Henry and me get along nicely and enjoy eel*
other's oavany arid we are in love with one another. Although
we cannot live like re aged to, we are ha,Jpy. Our financial
situation remains unsolved as it looks like it will be bit
and miss from now on. 10t of the clothes we wear are given
to us beoauae we can hardly buy the cheapest kind.
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"Our living standard is not as good as it used to be
but we must have upS and downs like the other people. At
one time in this oommunity we *ere about the best livers.
"Whlt do you do with your spare time?
"I go to school, four days a week, and Rev. StuOkey the
instruetor for the blind is teaching as how to make a lot
of things that I !Agbt be able to sell it I earn to make
them good enough lnd o,n buy the La:Aerial. I can make belts
and I am making a :docketbook DOW* I just finished a wins
set made out of bee.
"t0b.t does your husband do in his sp re time?
the is a great churOhworkoz and likes to visit his
cronies.
"Or ODU:80 1 will never atop singing until something
hai)pens to my voloo or I die, for mynas anybody asks no
to sing on a program and fixes a way for me t get there
and back, I go, for I sure love to sing.
*what is your favorite song?
0%016 My Hand, Precious Lord That song tils more feeling
in it for me than any I kla:m. It makes no differesee *bother
there is anybody there to hear me or not, I just like to sing.
',Shy do you always carry the guitar, Mrs. Je,ckson?
you see, this guitar hall been my support a 1)/4
time, and after God I love my hisband, myself and my guitar."
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kielms, has h.td, quite a deal Of Ooaohing aa she
recites a deal. She :11mays gets s.meins who is supposedly
good in English to road the Dooms to her and correct hes.
The made a vellf noticeacle effort in giving this interview
to use good 13nguage. Ordinarily I t;z.ink she uses a few
idioms.