Document text
April 5, 1939.
Robert and Elisa Quinn (negro).
5th Avenue West.
Hendersonville, N. C.
(Electrical Contractor)
Ursa. Luline Labry and Frank Ilassimino.
(Interviewers)
Frank Lassimino4 writer.
A NEGRO IN BUSILMSS
Original biamas
Robert quiun
Eliza Quinn
Changed Names
Luke Davis
Cindy Davis
A NEGRO IN BUSINBSS
A few quick steps off Main Street, down Fifth Avenue,
and you arrive at the one-story office building and elec-
trical appliance shop of Luke Davis", Negro, in the town
of Hendersonville. You can see at a glance that Luke's
is the only frame building in the block; and on inquiry
you find that his is the only business in town conducted
by a Negro, otaer than those kept strictly within the con-
fines of the Negro districts. But what you can't readily
see and what is not at once apparent is the reason why Luke
is able to get along in a business that is competitive with
similar businesses run by white men, and in a sleepy moun-
tain resort town in the South at that.
Blue Ridge mountain villages are, eight months out of
the year, poor and small and listless usually. Of course,
in summer, when the tourists arrive stagnation ceases, busi-
ness in general is brisk and the streets are thronged. But
eight months out of the year the shopkeepers usually stand
listlessly in the doors of their shops, employed, so to
speak, only so far as being deep in wishful tiirik1ng is am+
ployment. Loun3ers loaf in hWdled ,rou,43 on the sunny side
of the streets, where they talk about the weather or the
state of the world in e:moral. There a, -ears to be nothing
else to do. 7xcept on !,7,aturdays, when the farmers isther to
do their tradinl or to see a 'picture the towns might be
dead for all the Activity there appears to be; and for the
sane reason the inhabitants mi,Iht be stricken down with a
sleepin sicknesa.
But not so Luke Davis, whose shops you now p-er into.
As his wife Cindy says, "Drat man oughta have fot hant ant
two bodies. All de time it's Luke do din ant Luke do dat.
tCaint :,uke cone over ant fix my waffle iron,' somebody
calls up, ant he ;two tthout his lunch. tZy 11,01t plant
done :;one dead' somebody fro .,:a the country calls up after
datk, ant it's after nidnilht when he crawls into de bed.
It seems lak me ant de ehillun baldly ever Be'tim in de
daytime anymore. But den its allus_ been lak dot. lust
thing in de motnint he throws his tools in de truck ant
we dontt see 'in 'til dinnah time dst is Wen he in
sit 'way. Erten he saint, it's datk 'fore we see ttm
&sin, 'less he has t* come beck to de house or de shop for
somethint he to/got."
Cindy stands out sharply in the flood of sunli.7,ht that
falls throw;h the open door of the shop and across the
desk where she is seated.. the is over fifty; her features,
though thin, are animated when she talks, end the years drop
away from her when she, smiles. She looks dilnified and com-
posed with her hands folded in her lap ar,d her gold rimmed
glasses on. Her skin is of a eospery hue and freckled; her
hair is straight and her lines finely drawn, he could very
easily pass for an Indian. Orly her voice betrays her rave.
"And what," you ask, wishin to henr in the soft
cadences of her charming voice as well ts to resume the eon-
versation, "is the reason for all this industry?"
t satisfied look comes into Cindy's face, as if she had
been waitin3 for just such a question; and as she picks up
a pencil and toys with it, she resumes with pardonable pride:
"It's just 'cause he's de best Ilectrician in town, I
reevon," she says solemnly. "woe dat church over yonder?"
she asks, turninl from the desk towFu.1 one of the side
windows and pointinz with her pencil to the gethodist church
across the str,”ets "You kin see dat it is biglah een de
colt house. It's the bluest buildin' in these Nitta ant
well, Luke, he got the job wirin' it."
"what?" you as%.., surpritvd. "Does he t work on that
&Gale?"
ehe lamhs softly, not a little wattled over the mild
sensation her words cause.
"Lawdy, yes!" she continues, '6:Oat's only one 0f his
jobs.
he bid on the wirin' of de tows two pioture
houses when dey was beint remodeled an' oontraoks to
do both of tem. He wired one of tem; but when he found
out dat it kept him so busy dat he wa -.34nninl to loss
the pendable little jobs from his reelah oustomahs, he
fimured he bettah 31t back ta his shop trade 'fore he lost
it all, so he sublet de oontraok on de seennd job."
"He 3ot to work some on dat other job, thoulh. Dat
was in :343 Igreement he made wid de new oontraetah. De way
it was, when Luke sold de job he made a ':;retent, n' he
says to de other man, 'I'll sell you die job often you
will 'ploy me jest like one of your own hands,' ant the
man said, 'all right, ant ho paid Luke to' dollahs a day.
Luke told the an, too, that he'd have to have time to ten'
to his shop trade."
"'Tell you what you'll have to do,' Luke says. 'I'm
turninis this job over to you so's I kin k,ep from losIn'
my own trade. Jo you'll have to let me come to work at
nine ant quit at fot.'"
"Ant the man 13reed to do drat, so Luke didn't lose
none 0 his own business. He squeeze in his own work 'fore
the time he went to work at the picture house ant after he
let' in the evening. 'Coles his own jobs is mostly piddlin'
thine, but he jos' naohlly thought he better hatv, on to his
regllah custom hs."
"Wasn't it rather unusual for a contractor to agree to
Luke's conditioneW you not wishinA: to hear her soft
intonations cease.
"1 oat say as how it was," is the solemn rejoinder.
"You see, Luke kin do more wor':c in six hours den most men
kin do in ten, tides, Luke is shalp* He knew a contraotor
who needed de work ant who would 'Ire° to 77iost anything
to :at it. Dat way it was easy fnough. Mil the picture
folks was satiefiod for day knew Luke would etand behinf
the job. I mean, Luke has been heah in business for 'bout
ten years, ant he hes worked for the Duke 7ownh oompany for
twenty-five years, so he has a Iood reputation in lie town*"
*Yes sir, Luke is well known heah 'bouts. I guess day
is even some white folks who imembah when his daddy first
came to die town to live. Diet was in 1n9, Old man ;offer..
son Davis, Luke's daddy, cone from Ireenville, South Celina
wit his wl c what he had jos' married. Dey had thirteen
shillun. How dare is only Luke ant his brothah Ulysses
living heah in town. The rem' is all worlcin out ot town
at odd jobs, veept Christopher Columbus %vie who is a
preochah lak his daddy*"
"Dey was all lood chillun, an I liked T.uke special well.
3o, when the lady who brought me heah from York, couth Cat..
line died, ant he ask me to marry him, I was rilht glad of
the chance. 01 coese, when we was fus married, Luke was
kind ot wild. But he's diffunt now. Age has put a lot of
sense in his heud. But at fus he drunk reelah; and once
he come home dead drunk."
"IliTtht don an' dere I toll him off. '7,uke, say. 'My
daddy was a drunkald ant dat is de reason I come to leave
home when I was a little 7;u1. Vow, often you is goint to
ack de same way, wly don I'm, goin' to be leavin' you, too.'"
"He say he wouldn' get laic dat no mot, an' he didn't;
but I don't know often it was 'cause of what I said or 'cause
of what happen a few weeks later."
"'Cause not long after I had the talk wid him, he went wit
me te see my folks at York. When we .iot to my folks' house
nobody answer de doah, so we jest push it open an' go in.
Well, sir, dere was my ole daddy sittin' propped up aginst
de wall fas/ asleep. I was so 3lad to be 'vim° an to show
off my new husbant dat I jest nachlly was happy to see
even my daddy agin.
"'Pall 7 said, shakin3 him real hard by de shoulder.
'Pa, look who's heah to see yoult"
"tie nevah answer me. Ho jest slid out 0 his chair an'
on to de floe ant tmenced to be sick. He was tubble drunk;
ant de smell was awful, jes lak stale mash."
"Luke he jest stood dere awhile, holdin his hen' over
his mouth. Den he lrab me by de urn- ant say, rrau ant me
has got to et out of heahe Itse bout to 7et sick mycelia"
"Ant nevah another time within my known has he had a
drink 'thout it wa for some ailment."
reolleot, dat all took place back 'bout 1900. Right
after we :got back heah, Luke went to work for is Ilectric
light people an our fus baby was botn. But de baby died
soon after t got out of bcd. In fee' our rust six ohillun
died. We've hod nine an' only de three youngest is. living.
Most of de babies died right after birth. One was killed
in 1926. Be was a fine, bl boy, ant he had a job as
'livery boy for one of de drug stores right heah in town.
Den one day when he was flivering a ordah on his bicycle
a truck ran him down. Dey say when 1 heard 'bout it I had
to be watohed for fear 1 would hurt mysetf I was so taken
on 'bout it.
"But 1 finally got over it, an' I had three other ehillun
to think 'bout, two boys ant a Iul, ant dey is all livint
now.w
*Meanwhile, Ulysses, dat's Luke's brothah, who is a*
chef heah in town, an' Luke went to look ovfne some property
out neah de cemetery on do he'd surface road to Mt. Tis;ah.
Dey heard den e was a seven -room, two-ants.a-half-storey
house for sale very cheap. It was in a nice section ot
town, neah the school an' the church, an' as we was anklous
to move 'way from de trashy folks down on de nud Creek
bottoms, where de men -folk was always fifghtint on Sadedy
nights ant de WOMeL carried on even wolse, an' as Luke had
been =loin' r1:;ht well an saved some mone--, we folded to
MOVe* The house wus b ant olt an' it meant a lot Ot he'd
work for me, but was never so happy in all m life, livint
next doeh to the best cullud people in de TOVells havint de
preaehah in for visits, ttaining the women of the chuteh
at silvah teas an' well, jest livint like decent folks
should."
"Ant after we -loved, %u;ce got real 111,ious, too.
men Kt de church made him a 10E11101, den a membeh of the boald
of trustees; ant on ednesday nights he 'ducted the nrayah
'neetin's. It sure was a emution how it bit him all at ones,
I 'member how he took on once when I me 'bout to skip a
meetint. It was on a 'tednesday night tan' I had a bad
headache* On top of dat it was nainin' outside ant de air
was chilly ant damp. I finally said, 'Luke, I jest (taint
,go to dat meetint tonight* Itee siek,' I to].' him, He
didn't say nothin'. He t ready to go by hissetf. But
jest 'fore he wan out of the house I 'membered I had pronise
to visit a frien' of mine. As I 'member it now, my head
toile jest seism to distpeah. But as 1 reach for my hat ant
coat Luke say to me, 'Cindy, where is you goint?' I tolt
him. 'Woman,' he say, you let back in dere an' get out
your Bible. ffen you caint get to de mooting you oaint
go anywheahst Well, dere aint no use denyint; 1 did what
he say. An' it's been dat way ever since, even with de
ehillun."
"Luke quit the powah company in 19,1 an'
went Into this
electrical contructine business on his own. De chillun was
3rowine fan' an' we had payed for our home. Luke's brother
Ulysses boalded with us a# so did Luke's old daddy. We
just 3ot '1011,3 fine from den on, 'til jest recently when it
aeons that everything bit us at once."
"Fust it was Luke's daddy. lie was gettine to be neah
eighty. One day he call from de bed ant his voice was so
weak dat it sounded Jos like a whispah,"
"'Cindy,' he say. 'Cindy, Ilse powahful weak. Ant MY
back feel lak it swine to bust wide open. C ndy, run
quick any fetch de doetah 'fore I die.'"
"He look so neah to death for a fac dot 1 ran out in de
cold widout my coat on. I ot Doetah Aeddington, dates
our fa-,aily doetah, any he bundled de ole an in his ear any
took him to de hospital, De ole man didn't et no bettah,
no when Luke heard 'bout it, he called in a specialist
from Asheville. De new doetah jest shook his head. 'Dr''
nothine to be done,' he say, ant sure enough the ole man died
jest a week latah. Jet was in February of die year, 1939.
De hospital bill, the doctah's bill ant the funeral eepenses
wan raoreen we could sten'. Luke had to finally borrow money
to pay de bills."
"iut, Lawdi Dat WAS nothing elon side of what ha2pene
to our own lirl or de 'sponse it is iuttine us to. Ant
oominl on top of de ole man's death wr's jcsl lut to it to
serape 'nuugh money to,cethah to live. Put we'd ;Ivo up
our Bible 'fore we'd led our owr Suffah."
"rut !Irwin' die late. trouble is held to bear. t e way
it come 'bout was that Nstavia, date our only daughtah,
who is ninetoen, was riding a bioyole when she suddenly
skidded on de wet pavement an' struck a pole, falling real
he'd on de side 0' her log an' beak. Dat hal-rum bettah
than a year Iv when she was a senior in hilh sohool. Ohs
didn't sfem to 14 hurt bad at de time an' she didn't coos
plain none, no we thought she had jest shook herself up an'
we warnit ooneerned mueh. We did have Dootah Vee.dinIton
look at her, tho', any he took one of those X-rays of Mr
leg, But he say dire didn't seem to be nothing de mattah
with it."
"Bat fall we .ent Ootavia to Barberseotia College at
Conoord, North Callina. At Christmas, when she come home
for de holidays, she looked pert an' even seemed more
fleshy den she ever was before, I Llelzed her how she had
been faelinl."
"lOotaviall I say, Is you havinl any trouble with dat
up
lege:" Do you rest it/like 1 toll you?'"
"Itama, she says, 'I wish you wouldn't 'noy me so. 'Cottle
Ilta all right. Why, T. ben playinl basketball ant tennis
an' I donut nevah think of that old hurtinl anymol
I nevah said anothah word to her 'bout it. I fi,ah.d
was jes' worrying 'bout nothing anyway. An' she did seem
to be doint ri3ht well. But de next summer during her vaoae
tion, she began to fall off in flesh; and before she'd been
home a month she looked as no'ly as a scerecrow. Dat was
last year. Well, we kep her out of school las' fall ant
dis sprIng. But she's been gettin' florv!, worse ell de
time. Doctah (te,dington says de fall she done got must
have hurt her insides in some way, en he soy dat it wee
only becawl, of de exercise she lot in school dat she
didn't suffah the bud 'recta 'til jes' recently. Now her
body is bent tc one side an' she walks with a limp. Ner
akin Is pull tiltt over her bones an' she 'peers to be
ready to die,
elve lied two Asheville specialists to look at her ant
day dist:ere. 'bout her ailment. One 'greets with Dootah
Weddia4ton an' says she is hurt insides any dat it will
take a serious operation to straighten her out. De other
guys it is her hip joint dat is hurt, an' he also wants to
operate. Now if they could Igree, we'd let len go ahead
ant do it. But we feels dat deg ain't sure theyselfs, an'
we aint gain' to have our girl euffeh no mot than she has
to."
"That's quite an expense, not to mention the distress
it must cause you," you any eo-eAserntitvTly. "But than Luke
sera to be a busy chap. Ile must lern a ood deal of money."
busy Inough," is Cindy's dispassonate response.
"But he's a oullu4 an ant he's 3ot to work for le -s than
a white man. '3ides, folks don't always ney him what dey
owe, ant oven if dey W4S to, he wouldn't make moreln thirty
dollahs a
"'Coles, that would be jest fine effen it wnsn't for
die sickness 'opens.. It don't take much to keep us now
we awn our own propahty. :es triou7;h to buy rations an'
pay rent for tta offioe ant run the repair truck. Dere
is some other thin:03 like clothes any our poll tax though
we don't nevah let to vote ant school books, but thirty
dollahs a wok would oovah len all. It's jc40 des sickness
fspensc.s that stretch out ti whole 71ile any us with only
'nough -one7,., to reach 'bout half mile,"
"Dere is some othri• things, co'se, but I ''lazes them
as further worries, I mean things lak nendint de boys to
college. L1e who is foahtAtn an' in the notion' year at
high school, any Oephus, who is a senior ant is sixteen,
want to Io to aollege like they sistah lid. They jest
won't have it no other way. No, 310 An' 7 ',Won maybe
we'll fing a way to send
"Lie Is ri3ht quiet for a boy'. He likes the tleotrical
busInes; ant in a few years he will be a real help to his
daddy. He wantti; to be a Ileetrioal englnr. 7ut de other
onel Lawd I He's owing orazyS All day long, when he (tint
in sohool, he ;:,-lays the radio ant imitat-s the hot bands on
the piany. 3uch music: You aint never her the likes of
it. Pow he wants a saxyphone. He nev efrn ho '1oes to
eollege he wants to study to be a bli band leadah. An'
dare don't see to km) no way of turnint !qs head 'way from
it."
"tCotse dere aint no reason to think he wouldn't make
good at it. Hots pretty *help for a young—un. He's rilht
good in school, too, jest like Lie; and "iss "heobe
initon, she's de eullud woman who has the newspapah Noah
in town, selected him to repott the news at school."
"Dat's Jest the sort of thinIs Cephus likes to do. He
t'.ought ben' a reportah would be real fancy like.'Coe
he nevah got the news, I mean when he start to c'leet it,
he was broullt 'tore de principal. 7)ere aint no news
coin' out of die schools,' he wns told, 'Ant Cephus Davis
you aint to try to :let none neithah." Data all dnt was
said, No reason. No nothint. :est date
"1 told Cephus tint I wish T VP!f9 at dat dere school.
I'd see to it that the little piddling npws was got to the
newspapah office somehow. But he nevelt pay me no ttention,
t ough. I reckon he con of lost interest after de principal
got holt ot him. But that's jest a exanple of how our
schools is run. 7vetybody connected with ten is got a
feelint day is high ant mighty. The teachers get in lood
with tht, prinelpnl an' jeal stays on ant on, Itil at last
the chillun be. ns to lose espect for fe-.. t. ides, some of
the teachers is so trashy theysetves that they shouldn't be
'lowed to be close to chillun."
"But what about the school bourd7" you isk, startled at
this revelation. "Surely there is recourse tpc it if things
aren't 88 they should be-"
"De school boald is white folks," is the laoonic answer.
"Don't do no .s'ood to stir up trouble dere. 'retd ratl-ah
keep our troubles to ourselves. Anyways, for my part, T
don't care. Imean my boys will soon be finished dere.,,.
an' den de school kin do what it wants to, is Washington,
data the newspapah woman, say she is goin to look into the
mattah. But she's jest a fisty young thing fresh from
colleze." And here Cindy gives a snort of derision, "rust
thins she knows, she's goIng to bump her her!cl tlinst dat
school boald an she'll fie out data it's hardah den a
brick wall. Den she'll know where de n17,ger belong."