X.1. Rural South: Individual Biographies

This interview is part of the Southern Oral History Program collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Other interviews from this collection are available online through www.sohp.org and in the Southern Historical Collection at Wilson Library. X.1. Rural South: Individual Biographies Interview X-0007 Selma Evans 29 March 2015 1 Abstract p. 2 Transcript p. 3

2 Abstract Selma Evans Interviewee: Selma Evans Interviewee s Grandson: Zachary Evans Interviewer: Hannah Collier Interview Date: March 29, 2015 Selma Evans was born on the 22 of November, 1928 in the area between Perquimans and Chowan Counties in North Carolina. She grew up and lived on a farm all of her life in Hertford, N.C. Selma worked for a shirt factory in the same area. The interview begins with Selma talking about her family, she was one of five children. Selma mentions Yankee s baseball player Catfish Hunter and how he used to ask permission to hunt on her land. She also tells the story of meeting her husband out on the front porch of her house just by waving at him. She discusses what she used to do for fun as a child, playing ball and going to the movies, and briefly mentions her schooling. She did not complete high school. Throughout the interview, Selma gets distracted from the topic of conversation and often looks out the window at people walking around in the parking lot, comments on her dying flowers on her dresser, or tries to remember the date. The interview continues on with stories about her neighbor coming over to kill a snake, mentions of going to Bethel Baptist Church, and then her time working at the shirt factory. Selma broke her tailbone during her time at the factory, and believes the management raised her salary so that she wouldn t sue. Selma and her Grandson, Zachary Evans, discuss more of the family, and Selma tells the story of a school bus incident. The incident is foggy in the interview, and the actual accident that Selma is recounting happened in the early 2000s, not when her children were young. Selma then talks about her husband s own struggle with mental illness on his deathbed. The interview has several references to North Carolina foodways, with Selma touching on everything from cooking squirrels to a hog killing, her little vegetable garden, cooking breakfast for her grandson, and a particularly great story about making cornbread for the men that used to work on her farm. This interview is part of the Southern Oral History Program s project to document the rural life in the American South.

3 Transcript Selma Evans Interviewee: Selma Evans Family Member Present: Zachary Evans Interviewer: Hannah Collier Location: Raleigh, NC Date: March 29, 2015 BEGIN INTERVIEW Hannah Collier: So you were telling me a little bit about hog killing and your family growing up. How many children were in your family? What did your home life look like when you were younger? Selma Evans: How many was in our family? There was five children, about seven of us. Eva, Hazel, Joseph, Mable, Selma, Vila. I can name them all. HC: Wow. SE: Eva was my oldest sister. Hazel Marie, Eva Mae. There s more boys than there was boys. Seems like the girls was better than the boys just because there was so many of them. It s gotten plenty warm, are y all too warm? It s plenty warm in here.

4 HC: Do you want us to turn the heat down? [Selma points at Zachary s camouflage sweatshirt] Zachary Evans: Yeah you like that? I ve got to have camo so the squirrels don t see me on campus. Hey your son raised me. Lloyd was the one that raised me! SE: Was he? Time goes--. Today is Sunday HC and ZE: Yes mam season? SE: Tomorrow will be Monday, yesterday was Saturday. The season is, what is the HC and ZE: Spring. SE: Spring, its right behind you on the wall. HC: Yeah you got a little cheat sheet. SE: March, that s the March calendar. So what is today, the 15 th? ZE: The 29 th SE: The 29 th, wow it s about out? April will be there tomorrow or the next day. ZE: It s going to be April Fool s Day, you got any pranks planned? SE: Oh lord no, I don t want anyone to make a fool out of me. HC: So you were telling me about hog killings and chicken and things from your childhood. Is there anything else you remember from growing up, where did you grow up?

5 SE: I haven t grown up yet. HC: Well where were you born? SE: I was born in Chowan County. You know where Elizabeth city is? You know where Edenton is? I was born in Perquimans County. You know Catfish Hunter? You don t remember him. ZE: I do. SE: He used to hunt on my land. HC: Who is Catfish Hunter? SE: Hm? HC: Who is that? SE: He s a guy who lived over there. He used to hunt. Catfish Hunter. Do you remember Catfish Hunter? I m getting old I can t remember things anymore. HC: That s okay. SE: He d come banging on my door. I would hide, a lot of times, because they d want permission to hunt on the land. Because they can t go hunting on the land without permission, they d get in trouble. And I don t know these strangers coming through around near the house, shooting. So I d hide, so they couldn t find me. [Laughter] HC: So you wouldn t give them permission to hunt? SE: I mean you don t want strangers walking around with a gun.

6 HC: Absolutely! SE: Some of them don t even know how to hunt. So I m not down there anymore. We had two houses, I think the other one s already been sold. And I m not going to get married again, so I m probably stuck here in this room. But it s okay HC: Can you tell me about your husband and getting married and how y all met? SE: Ooooh that s been so long ago. How did I meet my husband? It s a short romance. He passed and I waved at him and he waved back and he came back and never left. That s the story I told the people. [Laughter] How d you meet your husband? I said well, I was sitting out on the porch, and he passed and waved and I waved and he came back. And they said that s not true. I said yes it is I ve got kids by him now. I said we didn t have sex that night! HC: How old were you when you met? SE: Oh lordy I don t know. I m so old now I don t know how old I was then. That had been so many years ago, so many birthdays ago. I was a young teenager, because we weren t allowed to date and go out until we got older. My parents were real strict on us. They were always scared we would go out get pregnant or something and they d say Nooo, no no no. But I lived through it--. [Distracted by cars in parking lot] growing up? HC: So if you weren t allowed to date when you were younger, what did y all do for fun

7 SE: Go to a movie. We had a group that used to play ball, on an afternoon. Batting the ball and hitting the ball. We had more fun with a ball than we did sitting around looking at a movie. That s what you should do go out and hit the ball. When you re stuck in the house you can t do anything. [Distracted by dead flowers on dresser] HC: Did you go to school when you were younger? SE: Yeah, we used to walk to school, because we were about a mile and a half from Perquimans High School. It was the kind of school around...hertford, Edenton NC. And we used to walk about a mile and a half to school, because there wasn t anyone coming around picking kids up. I remember walking to school. Everyday get out and walk on. Now kids ride an air-conditioned car to school. They don t know how to walk. HC: How much schooling did you get through? SE: Oh, I m still going to school. I thought I d go back, I wasn t ready to go back because I was doing so well. I thought Okay I ll come back and be a teacher. But not me, I m a lot older now, I can read a book. HC: Do you like to read? What are your favorite things to read? SE: I used to have a list of the ones that I liked. The authors of the books. A woman, her books I liked all her books. But I ve gotten out of it now. I used to read and read and read. It s gotten awfully hot in here? Ain t it warm for you? ZE: Are you warm, do you want me to turn it down?

8 HC: No, it s okay. HC: So you were talking about how you and your husband met, what did y all do after you got married? Where did you go from there? SE: Oh I can t tell you everything we did. Once and a while we had sex. [Laughter] SE: Then we found out what caused all the babies to come HC: Well I meant more like where did y all live but that s good too. SE: We lived on the farm HC: What was living on the farm like? SE: Oh I loved living on the farm. I wanted all my kids to live on the farm. My boys liked living on the farm. HC: And how many children did you have? SE: Guess. Can you guess? me? HC: Five. That s a trick question I already knew the answer. Can you name them all for SE: Lloyd Jr., John Roland, Jane, Linda and Cathy. That s Cathy Faith, Linda Ruth, John Roland, Lloyd Jr. did I leave anybody out? Let s see Gracie? No that s my granddaughter--. But they ll be around when a new baby comes because they think I should give them something. Everyone thinks there s money in my hand. I will always love to give gifts, but sometimes

9 you ve got to look after your own self instead of waiting for somebody to do it for you. I like my window now, do you like my window? HC: Yeah it s pretty SE: Sometimes I have to close the blinds it s so bright HC: Do you remember what your house was like on the farm what that looked like? SE: Father s day? HC: No, back when you lived on the farm. you do town? SE: Farm is just like town. I think town came to farm. Do you like the farm better than HC: Yeah I like living out in the country better. SE: Do you like city life? HC: No I m not a city girl SE: Well what do you like? HC: I like the farm best, I like being out in the grass and things like that. SE: You like it all. Because the whole world is out there. It s not just you. You like to see everything and work and get in the grass and cut the grass. It s a nice and wonderful thing that nobodies shooting us all the time. We live in a nice country. HC: Do you remember what y all raised on the farm?

10 SE: Soy beans, cotton, snakes, deer. Snakes. [Air conditioner goes off] SE: It s been quite a while now, the man that lived across the road from me... I was up in the kitchen looking out the window. Big back yard. I looked and there was a snake coming towards the house, crawling. So I called Fred, my neighbor. He says Hello I said Fred yes Ms. Selma. I said I got company coming. He said okay I said but it s a snake he said oh I ll be there in a minute. [Laughter] He came and shot the snake and carried him back on a pole. That was the longest snake I ve ever seen. Yeah, I told him I had something coming. But the snake he was in the grass. And I didn t want him to get up there too close that he could get in the pipes or something and get up in the kitchen. So he killed the snake. That s fine, but I won t go back any more to live. My husband s gone now. I don t plan to have another man. HC: How old was your husband when he passed away? Do you remember? SE: I think he was, 87. He was old. [Air conditioner on] HC: Do you remember how long you all were married for? SE: We ve been married all our life. [Laughter] I can t remember. When you re married, you re married for life, and then you forget how long you ve been married. [Distraction out the window] HC: Do you remember the things you used to cook on the farm when you would cook for all your family?

11 SE: We d cook chicken, we d cook a big roast. They liked chicken. I don t know what else we had. It s been a long life. ZE: Do you remember what you cooked for me every morning for breakfast? SE: What was it? SE: Cinnamon rolls and bacon. SE: Ah, cinnamon rolls and bacon. ZE: That s why I look so filled out now. ZE: You got no belly now. You play ball, you skinny. Keep it that way. You feel better that way. How old are you now? ZE: 21 SE: Ah he s a free man now. Do you have plenty of money? ZE: No, do you have some to give me? SE: I don t even have a penny. I don t even have my billfold [Air conditioner down distraction] HC: So I know Zach has told me stories about you cooking squirrel for him and I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about that and when the guys would go out and shoot the squirrels and what you remember about that whole process. [Laughter]

12 SE: The good life. Don t you think it s the good life? ZE: I thought it was, when you cooked those squirrels for me flowers went? SE: I m going to throw those flowers away up there. Don t you think it s time those HC: Yes mam, whatever you say. SE: They re dead. Don t you think they re dead? HC: Do you like to have fresh flowers? SE: My daughter usually brings flowers. [Distraction about dead flowers] SE: Today is Sunday. ZE: Did you watch her on church this morning? think. SE: I don t know whether I saw church this morning or not. We had something here I younger? HC: Do you remember going to church when you had a family or when you were SE: What. Going to church? HC: Where did you go to church? SE: When? We always went on Sundays.

13 HC: Do you remember what the church was called when you lived in Hertford on the farm? SE: Ooh it s been so long. We always went to church on Sunday. I m thinking about the name of the church at the time It was in Bethel. A little place called Bethel. Bethel Baptist Church. It was a right big church. I m sure it s probably not even there now. It s a country church. [Distraction outside in parking lot] HC: What else do you remember about church? [Distraction continues over parking lot] SE: Oh, it s a boring day. HC: Boring day! We re not making it exciting for you? Spring. SE: Today is Sunday. Tomorrow will be Monday, yesterday was Saturday. The season is true? HC: I was wondering also, I know Zach said you used to work in a textile mill. Is that SE: I did something there. I used to work a lot around. ZE: Was it a shirt factory? SE: That s what they called it, a shirt factory. HC: Do you remember what you did there, or where it was?

14 SE: Yeah there was a shirt factory, we made shirts, good shirts, shipped out. I got a raise, showing people how to sew in that shirt factory. What was his name, the headman, he was a little bit sneer. He d give me a raise because we d send out good products, shirts. And whenever he d give me a raise I did a good job. HC: Were you good at sewing? Did you do it by hand or on a machine? SE: On a machine. We had a lot of machines. Some of these women don t even know how to thread a machine. HC: How did you learn? SE: The threading? You don t know how to thread a machine? HC: I probably could figure it out, I ve done a little sewing. SE: Yea, yea it s electric. That s how I broke my tailbone. HC: You broke your tailbone? Can you tell me about that? SE: Yea, I was checking the work. And the mechanic went by, and took the pedal, there was something wrong, and he needed to help on that machine and he took the pedal on the floor and I stepped on it and fell and broke my tailbone. They were afraid I was going to sue em. They upped my salary. They were paying for my tailbone. HC: You didn t sue did you? SE: Things went by. But that place closed, I don t know where it went. It went somewhere. But it was a big thing, they had so many people employed there.

15 HC: Where was it? SE: In Hertford North Carolina. That s where I m from. Do you know where Chowan County is? No, Perquimans County? HC: Do you remember how old you were when you worked in the shirt factory? Was that before or after you got married? SE: I ve been married so long I forgot. How long have I been married? ZE: You ve been married a long time. SE: I don t know ZE: 50 some years, you were married 50 some years. SE: That s a long time to be with a man isn t it? So I should ve traded to be in a new--. Is that what you re trying to say? ZE: It s a good thing you were with him. Otherwise you wouldn t have me. [Laughter] HC: Do you remember when any of your grandchildren were born? SE: I guess I do. How many do I have, do you remember? ZE: Let s see, you have me SE: Are you the oldest? ZE: No, I m the oldest son of your oldest son but I m not the oldest grandchild. So there was me, and there was Kristen and Rachel. So Kathy had Kristen and Rachel. Right?

16 SE: You re checking the brain out. ZE: Do you remember who Linda had? She had Evan and Laura and Sarah. SE: He knows more than I know. ZE: And Jane, Ashley is the oldest, Ashley s the oldest daughter of Jane. And then there s Emerson SE: Lordy, Lordy you lost me HC: That s okay ZE: You have a lot of grandchildren. SE: Well I m not dead yet. ZE: No, you ve got great grand children SE: Are you one of them? [Mumbles, distracted by flowers and heat] process at all? HC: Do you remember when your kids grew up and left home? Do you remember that right person. SE: It s sad to let a child leaves home, go out in the world on his own. I hope they get the HC: Do you remember what your children did when they left the farm? SE: Different things. I can t remember now.

17 HC: Did some of them go away to school? SE: I think so. HC: Do you remember taking them to school at all? SE: They used to ride the school bus. The school bus got hit. I remember the day that the school bus had a wreck. It s been a long time but I remember it happening. Somebody hit the back of the bus, I don t know it s been a long time. HC: Were any of your children on the bus when it got in a wreck? SE: Well children were on the bus. Because the mothers were rushing down to try and get the children off the bus. See, the thing about this thing, you don t want that bus to catch fire without getting the children off the bus. That s why they were trying to get them off and away. Some of them were jumping the ditch to get away from the bus. I remember this, it was years ago, but I thought that was the most terrible thing I could hear, about a school bus getting in a wreck and catching fire. Then I would take my children to school, not put them on a school bus. Does the school bus still run? HC: Yes it does SE: Well I guess they have to, because there s still children being born. HC: So did you still send your kids on the school bus after that wreck or did you take them to school then? SE: I liked to take mine [so] that I know that their safe and come back safe. School buses, I used to think they were wonderful things but sometimes they are the most dangerous thing out

18 there on the highway. Stopping and getting on, getting off. Little ones want to run out to get on the bus and they never stop before a car come along and hit them. It s dangerous. I don t like that. HC: How far was y all s farm from the town? I know you lived out on the farm? SE: How far was it from the town? HC: Do you remember how far it was from the drug store how long it took to get to--.? SE: Lloyd Jr. could run it from home to the drug store. It s about a mile and a half, 2 miles to get there. HC: Would you walk to the drug store or would you drive, to get things you needed? SE: We d do either way. Lloyd Jr. used to get out and run, he d get there before the school bus left. School busses still on the road now a-days? They re the most dangerous things on the highway. HC: Did you drive on the highway? SE: A car. HC: What kind of car did you drive? SE: I had a Chevrolet, and a Ford. Now I don t drive anything--. My husband, they had to talk to him about--. He was getting sick, mentally. The worst thing in the world, is seeing a person get mentally sick that brain up there. They re not thinking right. You re scared for them to get out, they may not come back. That s the worst thing in the world. And you can t stop none of the problems because there s not a pill that can stop it. What causes mental problems?

19 HC: They re still trying to figure it out. Is that what happened to your husband when he was getting sick? SE: Something was wrong. Sometimes you can t put your finger on what it was. HC: And he was Lloyd Sr. right? [AC off] [Distraction outside in parking lot] HC: Do you remember what working on the farm was like? Did you have to work out in the fields too or was that all Lloyd Sr.? SE: Work is work on the farm honey. In the house on the farm raising kids, chickens, hogs, deer. Deer hunting season. I don t want to kill the deer, but they do. And the men would come and they don t have permission to hunt on the land there in trouble too. Because a lot of times they d bang on the door that they could hunt on the land. I don t know these people, I stopped going to the door I d pretend they weren t home. Are we waiting for something to eat? What are we waiting for? HC: We re just chatting. SE: Good I thought there was something midday That s got to go. That flower there. ZE: Do I need to go get you some? SE: No. HC: Do you have a favorite flower Selma?

20 SE: I don t see an ugly flower. My daughter usually puts them in. That ll be fine. ZE: Do you remember when you were on the farm, sharecropping? SE: What do you mean, sharecroppers? What do you call one? ZE: A sharecropper? SE: I know there s a word for it. You work on the farm--. ZE: A tenant? SE: Yea, you get paid for it. I don t know what they do now a-days. ZE: Do you remember that from when you were younger? [Beeping monitor in background] [Mumbles] you? HC: Did you have any experience with tenant farmers and people coming to farm for SE: Well farmers had a hard life. Yeah we had people come and work. [AC on interruption, distraction out the window] SE: Is today church day? ZE: Today is church day [Date distraction]

21 HC: Did your mama and daddy take you to church when you were younger? Do you remember anything about that, going with them? SE: Mama was a little woman. My daddy was a big man. Mama was small. Her name was Janie. Janie Elizabeth. Janie Elizabeth. HC: What was Daddy s name? SE: We always called him Baker. Charlie Baker Boyce. C.B.Boyce. I don t know where he got that from, Charlie Baker Boyce. He and Eva, my oldest sister I don t know how old Eva was--. It was Eva, Hazel, Joseph, Mable, Selma Boyce--. I can name all of us. Eva, Hazel, Joseph, Mable, Selma Boyce. Five. HC: Did you grow up on a farm as well? [Nod] HC: So you worked on the land all your life? Was it hard work? SE: Hot, it was hot work HC: What did you do when you worked on the farm? SE: Chopped the hoe. Get all the weeds and stuff out of there. [AC off distraction] HC: So you were telling me about working on a farm and how it was hot? [Flower and Date distraction.]

22 ZE: So when you were on the farm, you were in charge of digging out the weeds? You were the weed eater? em out. SE: You got to get rid of them weeds. Along with the other products out there. Squeeze HC: What kind of plants did you grow on your farm when you were growing up? SE: Plants? HC: Crops? SE: Hash potatoes, corn, cotton, soy beans. We had deer and hogs and snakes, chickens. HC: Ms. Selma when were you born? Do you remember what your birthday is? SE: I was born in Chowan County HC: Do you remember the date? SE: 11/22/28, I m an old Chicken. ZE: You still look good to me. SE: Huh? ZE: I said you still look good to me. You look young, ready to go. SE: Where we going? HC: Where do you want to go? SE: [ ] Today is Sunday, tomorrow will be Monday, yesterday was Saturday.

23 HC: Yes mam SE: The season in spring and you got 31 days in this month. All months don t have 31 days now do they? 30 days has September, April, June and November. I wonder what day is Friday? March has 31 days. HC: So I know that earlier you were telling me about a pig roast. SE: Huh? HC: I know earlier you were telling me about a pig roast? SE: A pig roast? HC: A hog killing? SE: You ve never been to one? HC: I ve never been to one can you describe one for me? SE: Bring her around I ll take her to one one day. It s like killing a chicken, you just kill a hog. Have you ever killed a chicken? HC: I ve never killed a chicken how do you kill a chicken? I ve cooked a chicken SE: Well don t cook that poor chicken until you kill it. HC: Do you remember what they would do with the hogs after they killed them? SE: Yes, you ve never seen a hog? ZE: Oh I have.

24 HC: You get down and put them in hot water and pull them out and scrape all that stuff off of them. And then hang them up, gut them and hang them up so the blood will drip out of them. Now you about ready to eat a hog? [Laughter] HC: Then what do you do with them after all the bloods out? SE: Yep. That s not nice but it s how people make their living. We make a living eating hogs, eating chickens, eating deer, haven t started eating snakes yet. HC: Did you eat that snake you found in your yard? SE: No we killed him good cook. HC: What was your favorite food to prepare in the kitchen? I hear you were a mighty SE: I used to cook a lot. And I used to have to feed all of the men that worked for us, and boy they come to my house. And the joke is I was pregnant and I was having another baby. When they see the house building on, I m having another baby. Selma s having another baby. I was having it with my husband. That s how we had to remodel the house to have a big family. Of course I knew how to cook, but these men would be glad to come help us because they loved my cooking. They d come in through the den, they d come up on the porch. The house has been built in three different times. They come in the den, and they come through the bar between the kitchen and dining room and I d have some little snacks up there. They d come in to use the bathroom, but they didn t just walk through, they stopped and got something to eat to go in the bathroom to eat!

25 HC: What kind of snacks were they? SE: What I had on the table. HC: Do you remember what kind of food that would have been? SE: Yeah, it was something I would have fried. They loved my fried cornbread. That lace edge cornbread. Then they had some chicken or something. And I thought to myself I m getting old, I don t need this mess. HC: Do you remember how you made your cornbread, what you put in it? SE: Yea, my cornbread I mixed it with water and corn meal and a little flour and some salt, and I d get my oil or butter or something in the frying pan full and let it fry, turn it over let it fry. It d be lace edge cornbread. And these men had never seen it before in their life. They d come through there to help with the work. They d stop there before they get to the I had two bathrooms. One here and one down, down farther. But they d stop to get that and carry it in the bathroom and eat it. They couldn t wait to go on in there to use the bathroom come out and wash their hands and sit down and eat. They had to stop to pick them up they were afraid they wouldn t get any. I thought my days got to get better than this, I m getting old. But they loved that cornbread. And I bet they ve never had it that good. We had our own corn ground for meal. We didn t go buy it. But you ve got to put a little flour in it, because if not the consistency wouldn t stay together if you didn t have the flour. HC: How do you make cornmeal? SE: Out of corn.

26 [Laughter] HC: Well I get that much! But do you have to dry the corn? SE: Yeah. That s country stuff. HC: Well teach me about that country stuff! [Interruption by cars outside] ZE: Do you remember that blue pickup truck? Granddaddy s old pickup truck. SE: You got it? ZE: No, Collin has it SE: Really? ZE: John has it. SE: How old is Collin? ZE: He s a freshman in college, he s 19 SE: That boy grew up fast didn t he? I must be getting old. I must be getting older. I m already old. How old do I look? ZE: 30. SE: Best tell the truth now, the Lord will love you. ZE: 15.

27 SE: I forgot to tell you, how old am I?--. 11/22/28 HC: I m no good with math, ask this one over here. ZE: You re 86, you ll turn 87 at the end of the year SE: Well, I ll try to kick another man in the ass now. ZE: I think you re good to go for another 100. SE: Liar. HC: So you were telling me about your cornbread. Do you remember cooking for the family at all, not just the workers? SE: Yeah, cornbread, fried cornbread. And I ll tell you, you couldn t never fill them up. You fry it in grease, get your grease right. Get your cornmeal right. With enough flour in it so it will stay together. It had the little lace edges And they d eat it and they d eat it and they d eat it. I didn t think it would fill them up. One time I started telling them we re out of business. That s why they came to help us, because they wanted that cornbread. That s alright. It s a happy time ZE: Do you remember your little vegetable garden? Do you remember what you grew in your vegetable garden? SE: What did we grow in the vegetable garden? that? ZE: Yeah you had a little vegetable garden when I was really little. Do you remember SE: Yeah.

28 ZE: Do you remember what you grew in that? SE: What did we have in that? ZE: You had some butterbeans, we had them almost every year. [Nurse Interrupts] Nurse: Because she got five kids, three girls and two boys SE: I didn t know when to say when Nurse: Your grandma is a mess, I love her to death. ZE: She s crazy SE: Somebody said one time when I was pregnant. Somebody said well what happened? I said I didn t know how to say when. Nurse: You didn t know how to say no. Like I did. When! SE: Well everybody says say when when you want it to stop. Well I didn t say [Laughter] Nurse: Because she s a mess! She s a mess. SE: Is it lunchtime? ZE: No it s past lunch time. SE: Are we gonna eat lunch today?

29 HC: You gonna cook us some lunch today? SE: Oh we already have? ZE: You already did, see those crumbs on your shirt? SE: Oh I ate already? ZE and HC: Mhmm. HC: What s your favorite food to eat? SE: Well I don t know, I like good food. HC: What s good food? ZE: Something fried? SE: I don t know. Let me think what I like So we already had lunch? ZE: Did you like those croakers we would always bring you? Do you remember those croakers we would always bring you? SE: Croakers? ZE: Yeah, you remember those fish we would always bring you, we would scale them on top of the roof? [Laughter] ZE: Do you remember us doing that, can you talk about that? SE: I heard something about it.

30 [Distracted by nail polish, interruption outside] HC: Do you remember having a pecan tree in your yard? SE: How many did I have in the yard? ZE: You had two. SE: Two? ZE: Yes. HC: What would you do with the pecans? SE: Oh I loved pecans. Pecans is good in what? ZE: By themselves? ZE: Did you make pie with them at all? SE: Pecan pies? Yeah. I used to cook all the time I don t no more. I got lazy, my kids got grown. I didn t have to cook all the time HC: Did you cook for the kids a lot? SE: Yeah those poor little things had to eat something HC: Did you enjoy cooking for the gamily? SE: Mhm, sure. I loved my family. Sometimes they get mean a little bit I d like to rent them out for a day. [Distraction flowers]

31 HC: Alright Ms. Selma is there anything else that you remember about your family on the farm that you would like to share with me or any other stories that you would want to tell that you would want to get recorded? SE: No. HC: Well thank you so much for letting me talk to you today SE: Well, enjoy it. HC: I have enjoyed it, it s been very fun. Thank you. END OF INTERVIEW- Transcribed by HANNAH COLLIER Edited by Stephanie Cornelison