The Black Labor Experience in Kent County, Maryland

Hello, my name is Nina Johnson-Wright, and I am the Executive Director of Sumner Hall. Sumner Hall is one of two African American Civil War veterans posts that is still standing in the US today. Sumner Hall has partnered with Washington College to showcase the Smithsonian exhibit on the way we work, along with our companion exhibit titled 'The Black Labor Experience' in Kent County. Through our collaboration with Kent County High School's broadcasting class, we are presenting oral histories of a few local African American community members sharing their experiences working in Kent County and beyond.

Hi, I'm Stephen Newcomb and I'm Xavier Jones, and we are seniors at Kent County High School. And, we're also involved with the high school's radio station 90.5 WKHS.

We both had the opportunity to sit down and interview members of our community, some of which will be shown in this video. The members of the community that we interviewed answered questions about what was it like to work in an environment that tested them physically and emotionally immensely. Through these interviews, I hope that we can showcase the way that they work. We really hope you enjoy.

1^st student interviewer:

As a part of the companion exhibit at Sumner Hall, the Black Labor Experience in Kent County Maryland, this project features oral histories of local community members interviewed by broadcasting students at Kent County High School. This covers the 1930s up to the present. We asked people to share their stories of their dream job, the first job they held, what limitations and challenges they faced in their careers, work ethic, and some life experiences worth noting.

2^nd student interviewer:

These oral interviews have allowed us to learn more about our community and how they work. It also allowed people to learn things about a community that may have not even been known but before the African American work experience.

Topic: What was you “dream” job?

1^st Interviewee:  Well, when I first grew up as I recall, my mother wanted me to be a minister and to preach the gospel, and we always had a lot of books that I could read and study religion. As I grew older and started in elementary school, I changed my viewpoints a little bit and wanted to be well, I like drawing and painting, and want to move towards being an artist.

2^nd Interviewee: Our doctor came from Chestertown mm-hmm, and I wanted to be Dr. Richmond, who was a black doctor, and I thought he's the greatest man ever lived, and I wanted to be just like him.

3^rd Interviewee: It's either going to Africa being like a missionary or a police officer that's been a major part of my aspirations growing up and modeling.

4^th Interviewee: And coming from a family, of educators, naturally it was expected that I would also become an educator. So, I did want first, I wanted to become a nurse, mm-hmm. This is interesting; the reason why I changed my mind I was afraid of the deceased, I was afraid of dead people, mm-hmm. So, I knew I would not make it as a nurse, mm-hmm. So then, my interest went into teaching, uh-huh! I wanted to be a teacher, like my aunts were.

5^th Interviewee: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I think mainly a teacher.

Topic: What was your first job?

Interviewer: So, what was your first job, speaking of jobs?

6^th Interviewee:  My first job actually, speaking in the county, I was at the age of 16. And I worked a summer job at Vital Food. But I didn't have no other choice. That was the only thing that was open at that time for kids around here. But I didn't care for it because I worked so long but didn't make no money. After I graduated from school in 1963, I went and we used to call it back in them days, going up the line. Going up the line was going to Wilmington, Delaware to work. And I got there, I went to Wilmington, Delaware and joined the local called 199. That was a labeled local. 199 and 63. You had to join it in order to work these jobs.

Topic: What was your first job?

7^th Interviewee: My very first job was at Vital Food during the summer. They started hiring 16-year-old kids. So that was my very first job that I could think of.

8^th Interviewee: The first job I had was working in a hotel. And I did that when I went to college. Because I had to work. I had to go to work during the summer. Make enough money. And see education wasn't that expensive as it is today. And make enough money to get into college. The funny thing is it only took me to the first semester. And then my aunt, this is where my aunt came in. I love her dearly. My aunt came in and she would finance me for the second semester. And then I would come back and do the same thing all over again. Work during the summer, finance the first semester. My aunt would take care of the second semester. And I'd come back and do the same thing all over again.

Topic: Were there limitations in pursuing your career?

2nd Interviewee: I didn't have the means and privileges that a lot of kids had to pursue my dream.

9^th Interviewee: Yeah, the jobs were very limited. If it hadn't been for the factory job, I'm not sure what I would have done. There were very few jobs around at that particular time for teenagers.

Interviewer: And, were there a lot of people working in the factory? Was that a popular job?

9^th Interviewee: That was a popular job. Many of the women in the county and some men worked at that factory for years. And probably what happened was the waste product. There was so much brine. So much salty water. That the town's system could not handle the waste water. And they finally closed that place.

3^rd Interviewee: I've dealt with all kinds of people. All colors.  And for the most part, I've realized that ignorance was just a state of mind. Sometimes you could penetrate that. Sometimes you couldn't. And that's with any color. But being a black police officer, I think I had dealt with some things that ordinarily or normally I wouldn't have dealt with. Responding to calls. Like if I went with a … I was the only police officer, female, when I came on board. So, it was always a white male that I dealt with, especially in the later, well not necessarily the later years. Lieutenant Rudolph Brown was a black police officer when I came to Chestertown.

Interviewer: You are a World War II veteran? Sir? You fought in the war?

2^nd Interviewee:  Invasion. D-Day. We were in Normandy Beach.

Interviewer:  Oh my, wow.

2^nd Interviewee: What happened?  We went out on - they were supposed to go before the 6th. And we went out on the 4th. It was cloudy. Oh wow. English Channel - they couldn't get ships down there. So they had the infantry and marines go to Omaha Beach in '46. And they saw from the beach up. Got rid of the pill boxes. We went to Normandy Beach. What was right up the road. Six yards or something from Omaha Beach. And the beach, they say 'beach,' you know, it's not like Borterton or Rock Hall. We went in on the LST boat. And the hill was just like this wall out here. We had to get up there - just straight up? And straight up. They had the pillboxes where the machine gun was set, and they were clear.

And the boys said they saw dead people on the soldiers on the beach. I didn't see it, man. I was trying to look out for myself. I didn't see it. But we went over on troop ships. We had warships to escort us. And the first people that went were doctors and nurses, hospital ships, and supply ships. Supplies consisted of food and ammunition.

Interviewer: That's so amazing.

So, I was blessed to be back. And I was discharged November 22nd, 1945, in Fort Meade.

Interviewer: Thank you so much for your service. Yes. It means a lot, right?

10^th Interviewee: How did you get started in bus driving? My husband worked as a mechanic. And the funds were not enough for us when we first got married. So one day, I just decided to start driving buses. And then I fell in love with it. I didn't really have to drive. Mm-hmm.

Interviewer: So what got you through all the years? Did the kids?

What got you through all the, like, what made you get up every morning and drive buses? It was Madame. I had to do it.

11^th Interviewee: The jobs that I enjoyed, the one in New York City, I enjoyed that tremendously. I enjoyed living in New York. And it was just a really learning experience being off the Eastern Shore. Mm-hmm.

Interviewer: And going from Kent County to New York City, it was a big life change.

11^th Interviewee: It was a very big one. A small, quiet town. A small, quiet Eastern Shore. To a huge, booming city. And I handled it well. Mm-hmm. I just, I fit right in. That was a great learning experience. And then from there to Atlanta, trying to be a merchandise manager. I was an assistant merchandise manager. That was another learning experience. Because, you leave from the North going down to the South. And it was, yeah, I had a couple instances where I had to stand my ground because of one big promotion that I wanted. I knew why I didn't get it because of racial reasons. And I had to move forward. I had to become; I had to assert myself.

 9^th Interviewee: Back in 1963. Right. I remember this just, just like it was yesterday. Oh. And I'm talking about, that was the time when the schools in this county and different places wasn't integrated. Garnet High School had won the championship. For that year.

And we were the black school. Chestertown High had won the championship for their school. They were the white school. Right. So, what happened? We had to go to, we had to play the tournaments at Weissen College. Before we could go to University of Maryland. That's where they integrated all the players. Before we could go to Weissen College, they had a bus come pick us up at Garnet. Take us to Chestertown High. And play a scrimmage against Chestertown High. When they took that bus up to Chestertown High from Garnet. We went into the gym. We went into the auditorium. They locked the doors behind us. It was only two teams. Garnet, Chestertown High was the only two teams in there, and the coaches.  The next week they brought us back.

Chestertown High bused down to Garnet. We did the same thing. They locked the doors. Mm-hmm. And didn't let nobody in. Because Garnet had never played a white school and Chestertown High had never played a black school.

Interviewer: So, you were a part of history, huh?

Yeah. Chestertown High was supposed to play Mason Lane, and we were supposed to play Colonel Richardson. So, when we went to West Virginia State College, we knew we guys from Garnet and the guys from Chestertown High had become friends because we were basketball players. So, it didn't make no difference whether you were black or white. So, when they went up there, Chestertown High had to play one game to go to the University of Maryland. Garnet had to play four at Weissen College.

Chestertown High got knocked out by Mason Lane the first night. We played four different games, and we won all four of them. So, Garnet won. So, we went to University of Maryland, and the first team we played was Hancock. It was all white schools. They were from the Western Shore. The Western Shore. And we played there. Okay. And our principal, Mr. Hawkins, we were losing back there; we were losing the first half. Mr. Hawkins came into our locker room and said, 'Don't embarrass me over here.' We come back and we beat them. Beat Hancock 98 to 50. Poolesville was integrated. They had both black and white. And we weren't.  So, we weren't adjusted to that.

So we played Poolesville first half.  Poolesville ran us out of the court, ran us out of the gym. But the second half we came back. And they beat us by six points? Six. But we did get a run-up for that.

Interiewer: So, but you made it a close game, you know what I mean? And you made it that far.

Yes, we did. All right. And we were the only one that did make it in the years that were left.

[end, 9^th Interviewee]

Topic:  Generational Values Work Ethic

12^th Interviewee:  You know, being able to raise a family, take care of your family, and even my grandparents, that was instilled from generation to generation. And we can appreciate that, because we often sit around and talk and say, 'We don't know what it's like not to work.' We've always worked.

Even before I got the job at the CEDA program with being a recreation aide, we still had responsibility. You know, I maybe helped babysit or do something else. I didn't get paid a whole lot, but even with my brother. But once we started working and earning a paycheck, we don't know what it's like not to work. You know, because we've been taught to work hard, work smart, you know, have a good work ethic - meaning you go to work on time. You do your job to the best, you be professional and you be respectful, courteous. And, you know, right. It pays you back when you do that, you know. And to learn how to get along with people.

Interviewers: Thank you for watching the WKHS video on the Black Labor Experience in Kent County, Maryland. To hear the full interviews conducted by the broadcasting students, you can visit Sumner Hall's listening station. This has been a 90.5 WKHS production.