Document text
Eugenia _Martin
1028Westmoor Drive, N.W.
WPA -6orker HousedcWaping Aide
•By
Gzieva Tonsil'
./Tufc
I MANAGED ir
ON
"Is am the offsPrin3* of Thomas nnd Lucy Collier. Their
rarents were slaves. Mother .71d father were also slaves.
Illy mother was a descendant of the Cherokee Indians on her
mother's side and Anglo-Saxon on her fatherts aide. -Iothers
father, Dr. Virgil A. T:Aller, was well educated. He taught
school and practiced medicine. As far as could be ascertained
he was a ba-chelor and mother was ,his only heir.
"My 7randfather on my father's side was'Rage Wooten, who
was called a free man because his master was his father.
9-81ng a free man'he was allowed to' have privileges that were
not accorded slaves,. He ,waa-permitted to go and Came at
'will. He was s'flshermah and ppent quite a, bit of time
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away
from -the plantation. F.eid visit his -wife and children every
A.01'
fortnight and he was never molested by those ipis. authority.
He hadight sons:‘
uPather's mother WEIS of pure Afrioan_descent. She was
healthy and strong andihaVing7Come fromfrica where more or
less she wqs free sn'l not curbed ,as she was forced to be as
a slave, she never would take flomings from her raster. Mother
often told :us how she would fight like mad when they atteirited
to whip her.,
"t'ath'er 0 Vine Ca by a rich planter, R. M. Colter, whose
name_he had to adopt. ijothea- waS owned by the Prix family and, 4
therefore, she was called Fri. You understand that slaves
always took the name of their maser.
"Several 'years' after the reeonstrWctl'on- period, Mamas
Collier arid Lucy Frix were marripi.' She often told us of -her
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marri as° to Amy, fapier Baing pined ,by' very culture& and wealthy,
ili4, ei 4..
Wh*tWiti,-i,,e mly a'er an'. mo-ber assimillatties,ome orthat cialtUre.
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They were also well liked by their master and, when they were'
'married, they were FiVn a wedding with nll the a'ctendants.
They were mnrried a white Ba-otit minister, a Rev. C. T.
Jackson. There were twlve children born to my mother and
father, six boys and six girls.
"Prather was a prosperous farmer. He was successful and:
accumulnted tery rapidly. 'Of course, he didn't have the handl-
cap of most slaved, that is,: starting out without anything at all.
'nsteadlhis master)_bsing,quite fond of himIgave him a start and)
being industrious afid energeticvfather made good. He knew all
the herbs of the forest and their tOdicinal value.", He spent
'quite a bit of his time,, aside from his regular routine,
cOmpounding herbs into medicine. Both white and black carile
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to him for his m:eilicines.
"Mother ,w as an industrious. farmer' s wife and -a devout
Christian Of the
the needle, desi
garment that she
She looked after her children, kept the house ad helped father,
Baptist faith. She was Very artistic with
ng, any pattern Of lace, quilt, spread, or
saw. As a htusewife her work was never done.
toiling, toilingeh froM sun to. sun.
"Father taught his'children to work, td be. honorable) and'
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'make Food citizens. He believed in education, alth6Ugh he
'wasn't permitthd to g t 'an education. He was, however, able
to learn more than.thejordinary Slave and knew the value of
an education for any people', 'regardless of color and to this
end he worked and sent four of his children to college. Two
of these -children completed the college course and two married
before reaching the .end toward which father had worked so hard,
Father's great ddaire was to see his race share the blessings of
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,other ,people, equ4,14ights, -similar worlang OPOiti one; decent
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living conditions and. educational advantageS
'Nothr apd father have died. He did,' however, live t
see some of h_s dreams realized. For he lived to see aome of
his children through college and see the Aace enjoying some of
the things for which he had worked, and nrayed. 'also eight
of my brothers and -sisters have died. Some of them died -rather
young and others later in life.
"After finishing elementary school I was one Of the four
who entered college. I worked'nert of my way thr'ough sdhool.
It seemed that father felt that one'acComplished mpre,when he
too had to help secure it end, according to him, 'He could
apPreciate it more.' I' was able to co114:16te six years study,
and then dedided to come' out cif school to work. I succeeded
in'getting work as a teacher in an A. M. A. school. I worked
here'three years and was quite sUccessful'ln this work. Being
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a person who liked diversidh-I resigned this work and accepted
n job as clerk in 9 photograph gallery. I,learned vite a bit
about pictures, re-touching,(developing ane, moUtting. One of
the most interesting things I noticed while 4okIn, here was
watching the romely types come in to. be photographed and when
they wbuld me back for their picturertheir Vexation at the
Photographer -because he didn't, make them 'beautiful' on the
picture. And although the picture would be a perfect likeness
they wouldn't want that picture becau.ae it was 'ugly', or 'it
doesn't look like me,. I gave up,this work to get married.
f'
flI married a young map, who was a minister in the uolored
'ietbodist'piseopal claurCh. I enteredheartily into' this new
life a minister's wife. I took' an active part in his church
work, helping wherever possible. I worked from one place to
4,
the church., S‘cailetiinea I
was a. *yer ]eads ir C -lass
:11441,1 14-aall
'meetings; other times I WaF working Ath the Missionary Society,
or with/the choir as 'organist. In fact, anything tnat was to be
done, I did it cheerfully to help my husband succeed in his work.
enjoyed every bit/ of it. ,Being a Methodist minister we were
often moving about. We served both small and large charges,
sometimes in the' rural section and then in the cit7. In fact, we.
went joyfully wherewr the bishop ,sent us.
"11band'S' work in the early days of our marriaq;e was
filled with hard work and 17.anys.lcrifices hut he was a'hard
worker and promotions came rapidly. He went from the pastorate
led')
to district superintendent.and then elected as -a genera officer.
As general officer we went to Nashvielle, Tennessee, headquarters
for the. Sunday Sthool Department of,the colored Methodist
EpiscOpal Church. His duties lit this office were to edit 411
Sunda* Sdnool litirat,xre for the Colored *et.nodist ChUrch In the
Pnited States and this conaisted of Sundely$Schonl 1uarLelts and
Periodicals. In the early days of this work, while still in
its infancy, husband had to travel everyWIsere to -make the wort
a success and I ':orked,as,secretary assistant,bookkeeper, and.look
Qd after the business side for him. Finally, after several-sue,-
cessf4 years, the fehergl conference changed the location of the
Sunday Sdhool Departimentsendswe Were transferred to Our native-
state, Georgia, and the _editorial offiee,was established and main
tamed in ,tlanta.
"ter coming to Atlanta, and after much of the former
duties had been displaced by.the fact that only the editbrial
office -was in Atlanta, I didn't have to spend any of my time
helping husband. Instead he Iared-youngwQmen tc do the office
work whidh I formerly did. Irwas'fthen able to give lary at-bentiwi
terothr'thing*., I bad,a6re tillwto'looko, ter household4uties '
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nd over„see the work done in -the home,
to do the heavy work in the home for me.
ue end 'hired semeone
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The annual conference, of which husband was a meqber,
was in s ession and he left home just three weeks before Christia0,
to be rresent at the conference roll call. He was stricken ill
soon, after retching the conterence_and died before be was able
to be brought home andel% so a he was brought back tome a corpse.
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"Since his death I was compelled to work. -It, was very
difficult for me to readjust myself Se he'd alway looked,
after everything. He even purchaSed my 4othes and shoes.41016
It :k•Jas so hard at first but I came to realization that I had to go,
it for mjself. The responsibility was mine and ',took hold.
"When we first came to Atlanta' husband had a home built,
and at 'his deathIle hadn't 'finished paying for it. _ I,had to take
hold and try to ilaY for it ,for I didn't have any children or' any-'
k.ne ta help me;.the job was, mine. _ 1,had the notes readjusted
and they/cut dqwn to 06..00 a month, this was as lovf es, I Could
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get them because the house cost a lot) and when he lived he Was 6,
able to keep up the high notes. His salary/was, go od and) being
a general officer of the thuiche was paid --11410610.44st regularly.
With notes on the-homeLaf ::36.000plus my living expense and
the general uPkeep of the house )I found it ney:t to impossible
to live. Of course husbevA left me a ]Attie money, ver7 little
L
r,
however, at his death and this: waa soon ethausted., I then tried
to get work to maintain mysey.., IMade every atteMpt to get work
in nrlvnte indastr/ --ah4)being unsilocesIsful, was compelled to
get Tork on TPA. I was reillotant'at first to_ go to WPA, for
heretofore .it hied seemingl-y been the consensus of many' that, only
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.the shiftless, Uay,and lower types resorteq to relief agenciee.
Thf need of vr, 41;tric was So ireet, that, 'Ulla barrier va‘a Soon ?medicated«,
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aure, ;exparietaced, the
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humilities tint go with the process, of securincr this work and it
was disfrenointing at times but I VIPS giowing more =,nd_ more in need
Pnd this caused t e- keep on trying. I finally succrseded in being
certified and then was Toter nssigned to work.
"I Was assigned to a rroiect known as the Surve7 for White
Cc liar nn S17111ed Negroes. 'Phis was a Most interesting work.
We first went out and found all the white collar and skilled
workers among the Negroes here in Atlanta. This was done through
a house to house canvass. These workers were interviewed as to ids
their father's occupation, their schooling)and occupation.
We .found those wh.a had followed their- father's oocunstion and those
who had deviated r' We checked on how Trianywhe had ,Iigrated from
rural to urban localities, occupations trained for) and Whether,
they were engged in those occupations,' Or whetheri be cauee of
emPloyment conditibns) they were forded to work at occupations
re
not trained for. I enjoyed it sct much. After we go ti all of
the inforration, together, it was then cdmpiled in tables and.
wad .put in book form.
"I warked hard every day andnt to school at night)
where,' took a two-year commerical course. I completed the
course as prescribed by the 14oard of hducation, City of Atlanta.
"After that- project ended I 'was s ent to the sewing project,
and here too I found the work,interesting. I had a knowledge
of sewing and because_ of this experience I N,_s put or a,group
of women as 'floor woman' and like, the former project I enjoyed
it much." After this work I was transferred_ to the Housekeepers
t.
Aid Project. This was a idst unusual experience for me. I hid
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worked in the church, comtng'in contact with the poor a 1.-1 needy,'
the/sick and suffering but it Was nothing cempa:red with ths.t which,
I found or experienced on this -rojeot. I never realiied bef
just what ws out there in those alleys, in the slums, thespovO,
and illiteracy qiat existed there. I TM glad I have had the oTi-
norturity te worl- on WPil, first becaose it has provided me a
Lihood ,Ind second for the experience I've gotten, which I wouldntt
have gotten Otherwise. It enabled me to keep 1,110 riynot.s on my
home. I haven't been able to saVe anything _since iworlcing on '41'A
but' it enabled re to carry on. I mimtly could not have hwld out
this long had it not been for TPA. The e xperience caused,me to
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care for the -sick the old age pensioners and perforrissii: their
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'househerd work which they were triable to do. In fact, all Sorts
oe •h-uman suffering has ,be,en witttess,ed in my work.
"I have enjoyed working _among those unfortunate peoPle,
-deo the nleasant contacts of itty supervisors, and I feel in this
work I have been able to cast ,a. ray of sunshine arid gladness in
'homes and he arts doomed without.
"In working in the latter job, where I worked until the re-
cent' law was -passed that all workers who have done 18 months ser-
vice on VPA be relea,ied, I was able to learn much abOut"the fwd.-
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lies and some of their. backgrounds.
One of the. families, an old woman, whose house .I looked atter
avid whom, I, nursed, was a remarkable old soul.: She was a hundred
year old. She told me that She, lived. in Atlanta when it was call-
ed kaithasvillei She h,'ad, lived in that ,little cabin on London Lane
for fortya-six years. She told me 'of the many rich white families
she had served before she became too old to wbrk. She loved her
neighbors'and whenahe 'was able to wort she cared for the sick
and needy in i;Ler neighborhood and. helped enever she dould, and'
everybody in ',that alls,y) lolies, her and calls her 1,1Asmuty.,.' She is
1.04e ed but ver Inte-ligen
f,
'was
lur
a nied„pld. 9-erOie1 to vim*, With.
or
than any other itide.
She is unable to do for herself now and. has to be dependent upon
her Social Security compensation and WPA. She gets her pension
and surplus food. She doesn't have any relatives at all and
depends solely an relief. She cannot read and gets pleasure
out of hearing someone read to her. It was a pleasant duty to
-reads to her, she was such an interest
listener.
Of course, I couldn't ..68.1f, the same Tot another 'old woman
I cared for. She was just the reverse.
her long at the time. She didn't have a
come intc her home to do a thing for her
No One could Star with
neighbOr tht would
and it was becaute of,
her attitude toward them. I think I stayed in the -home longer
I was .with her six weeks and after, that
time I too was cOmpelled to leave her I was transferred to
another case,
"This old. woman had been a good,liver, owned,the six -room
'house,in which she 'lived. She was under the imorersion that
everyone Who Came around her -Was. stealing her possessions.
She ma4e it miserablefor those about her. After six weeks,
when I was forded to leaNe bor..andAI did hate to leave, becaliSe
knew the attitude of her neighbOrs...ii. I knew they would leave
',her there in that house Alone. I knew this because on my week-
ends, when I was not wdrking, I would go around before I left
and try to -e sOmeone to prOmise that they would go in to
look after her from time to time, but no one consented to do so.
Hers was
later, I
learned
her lamp over in
a pathetic case. After I was trangferred, some months
that she had in sone way during the night turned
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the bed' onjperself and'was a human tor dh when
entrance was ,ade in the hOme. She died from those burns.
I made, of my ownaocOrdy three visits to the undertakeils eg-
ILApp,ipbmiii!0,w11.15-Vp-ohe-,wits:H,131p4to:Apfo' iridaybilb=ever 440*
take her body in charge, any of her relatives, and, found to my
dray thqt nn one ever did and finally the little neighborhood
church, the `'hurCh of God, sent Fame of it members who had cnrs
to the funeral and cemetery and she was buried in a pauper's
arnve no doubt. I felt cuite sad for that old woman, although I
felt she died as he had lived, alone. She had often told me
while I waited on her that she had -a cemetery- lot out on the
Tobie Grant estate and that'her two husbands were buried there.
She wanted so much to be buried b: side them. It seemed I
wanted so much to see that wish granted but it was nothing I
could do and so she was buried in LincOln gpmetery,dalone.
"I'm telling you ofthese,instances that you may see just
what I experienced, I dLn't know whether it is or interest to
you or others but/t911 these experiences that you may see just
what I witnessed.
"I also went into the superstitious and nerYf illiterate homes,
I cared for another case, a *Oman, who was a believer in with
craft. .0f couise, I realized that this old superstition was
handed down from the forefatherS, land didn't try to change her
views at -that age. I have bp belief in it and really don't want
to discuss it because we as a race are trying to get away from
those old superstitiOns and beliefs and/ I'll be perfectly frank
It galls me to know that it really exists in the present day.
So great was.her belif An this sort' of thingithat she would
do wlAt she called,'dress her table' once _a week,to prevent
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evil from befalling her. Sheswould,also I''dress the table' for
others who would come in td See her. Of course, it was all
foreign to ,me and I had no encouragemmt for, such a thing but
I pray the day is z_•)ot far away that all pf that old,fdgism is
entirely era sed (Air' 1b4i,c7,..
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by him nutting a /s-oPlll on her. She was
"I had another woman who believed she had been conjured
her hrsband pfld that her suffering for many years was caused
suffering from a
sore le f= (1-adritt been able to walk for many months.- She
had gone on suffering, not seeking medical aid, beepilse she
believed her husband had 'tricked' her. She had, however,
been to different people who practiced witchflcraft and th-e7 had
failed to do her any good_ A little old white man came elonm
one clay and told her that he could aare her. He used some
medicine 'which he made from herbs._ She helleved he was a
conjurer and permitted him to treat her. That man told me
that he had to treat'hor according .to her belief, so she would
take the medicine. He told me she was a victim of social disease.
Re really cured her. I waS with her five months. She hadn't been
abLe to walk aboutiOlor do anything but when I left the leg was
cilred aad the was -able to walk. The man told me he had to work
under th:tise-of a root doctor —because of the medical profession
for :he would be prosecuted. He didn't want his idehtity known.
He told me he muld surely cure aay csse at social disease.
"You asked 'how I accustomed myself to working in such homes
and how I managed to protect myself.. First we were taught
hygiene and the necessary_precantions to take. _I had to use
rubl-e glover,-in fact, this was reguired of us all. We all
wore uniforms in the_homes end wAen we,were finished for the day
we chenged into our street clothes, after cleaning up. There
were trained nurses- who woi7Id lecture to us on sanitation and
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we-wePe instructed to carry a11 personal n60115 and. use -nothing
else. -"All problems -afrepting the -/ides were worked out conference
in the office with the surerri..7o.r;
ti.13,041eZiA.:KC the proiwe wet/ sent tw sit on iTpente
'using gloves or other precap,tions. They'd say we thought orr-
pel,rec better +-11q.r they./Of corrse, we, world have to be diploma-
tic to get t.lose things o:t of their htqlds. 1 ‘,177.177- lad some
logical excuse end sn :Ewes always able to get this out of their
mind and ever -70/2e 1 c-,Trie in'cnntact with seemed .to like me.
I never ate at the homes. I would eat my breakfast at home
and also dinner. I never carried any lunch. I found some of
my clients would do little things to hel-, relteve me; others I
found, althopgh able to do a little sometl-ing, would Just be stis-
fied'to welt until the /tde came to de everything, even the little
tbtngs t'net ()plaid be done by that indlvidual.
"Our clients were made up of recipnts of reli4f, those
people receiving aid from the Department of Public Welfare.
The visitors of that derartMent would turn the cases over to
the Hor,ekeeiling Denqytment for care whenever the individual
we unable to do for himself r herself. Aides were'assigned to
those: people by the eupeTvisor. I was, along with ell other
aides, trained in our department end targht 1---t.7,1-1,nt„t' do
end how to handle those cases.
"I can't describe to you just what going into those homes
has meant to me. It trright me many things and greatest of ,-111
are tolerance end anpreciatinn. If I were ever inclined to be
unapprec4etive of what I had I am really cured of 'Ghat now.
For you, come to wonder just how -people really exist and how:
they have made themselves stay in those.places. I really eame
to realize the- logic of that statement, 'One half of the world
doesn't know how the other half That really applies to
a city or comMunity for that matter. And to be frank, the
expertenee was really an eduoltiori, for I was always tuarded)
Husband al:woe-kept Someone totwossiet me-wtt14 mY,
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horse work and the heavy duties a'ooIlt home were done oy
women he hired washtng, hesvy cleaning sn' the like. Of course,
you know it was a bit strange -at first for me but I adjusted My-
self -and -the exnerience has been another educaton to me.
"I hsve looked 46,1-;ard to being reassirmed to 'PA or
getting work in private-industryond something must come nn
soon for me or I don't knowlwnat wtll han-^en. The notes on my
home sre getting behind. See, I haven't been able to pay any-
thing since I've beep out of work. The holder of the_ notes
gsve me four months grace.and I have been off -three months
alrea' Y. I have,madelkyery effort to secure work thst may
mt have to ,go back to WPA but I have failed. Thee seems ao
little work for Ne4roes. We, hive so few rlaces and -they are
all overcrowded., -1 am beginning to pet aEraid for I had_only
my earnings to depend 'on but -I guesi be able,to_carry on
somehow)but something will jiaat have to turn up for me soon.
It must, I dust can't Rive ur here.- Bach ne*, day brings me
new hope and courage for that day and T cnn feel the nresence
'that
,of a gond spirit vAth me, and so I go on like each day."-
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