Interview with Fannie Katherine Taylor

The following is an unrehearsed taped interview with Ms. Fannie Catherine Taylor, retired teacher, in Richmond, Kentucky. The interview was conducted at her home on First Street in Richmond. Interview was conducted on the 26th of January, 1990. The interview was conducted by A.G. Dunston of the History Department, Eastern Kentucky University.

AD: It started.

FT: I’m Fannie Catherine Taylor and I would like to say how happy I am to have you in my home to gather this information for Afro-American history and it’s, uh, worth and background for the help of our children, who seemingly do not know their background.

AD: Alright.

FT: I am a native of Chickasha, Oklahoma. I moved here at the age of five. I grew up in Richmond and I feel that the information that I give you will more or less be exact.

AD: Okay.

FT: I attended Richmond High School. I am a graduate of Richmond High School, which is no longer in operation. It was closed when the schools were integrated. But, we do still have a Richmond High School Alumni that meets every three years.

AD: The meetings . . . You . . . The alumni?

FT: We come together from all over the, uh, United States . . .

AD: Okay.

FT: For the Alumni meetings.

AD: Oh, alright.

FT: That’s so that we can still band ourselves together and hold together the good positive things that we learned from our teachers. Our teachers mainly were out of towners. At that time, there was no ____ at Richmond High School. They came from Hampton Institute, Tuskogee Institute, Berea College, West Virginia State. We had a cross section of ideas.

AD: Okay. All the . . All the teachers came from what we used to call . . . What we call traditionally black institutions.

FT: Black institutions.

AD: Uh, colleges.

FT: Uh-huh.

AD: Okay.

FT: Well, in fact, all of them did.

AD: Okay.

FT: And Kentucky State College, which at that time . . .

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Was a black college.

AD: Okay.

FT: Now, there were local teachers. I don’t mean that all of them were from out of town.

AD: Okay.

FT: But the majority of them. Well, I think, they were . . . Let’s say, equally divided.

AD: Okay.

FT: We had community input and we had outside input from, uh . . . That gave us our values and background that you did not become stagnated within a community.

AD: Okay.

FT: That you had to reach out and observe other areas . . .

AD: Okay.

FT: Of the country.

AD: Okay.

FT: And this was of great help to us as we were educated. We had a strong school system and Richmond High were it was the first . . . We had a principal, Mr. Fletcher, and he brought into the Richmond Public School Systems, the first testing program.

AD: Oh.

FT: Even the white schools had not tested.

AD: Before he brought . . . .brought it to Richmond High School.

FT: Before he brought it to Richmond High School.

AD: What . . . Do you remember anything about the process?

FT: We used the, um. . . . It was a . . . If I’m not mistaken, now you may have to delete this, I think it was the California Test, but I’ll ask _____ . . .

AD: Alright.

FT: What that test was because she . . . Now, she can give you the complete data on that.

AD: Okay. Alright.

FT: Uh.

AD: Was Mr. Fletcher from here?

FT: No, he came here as principal from Hampton Institute.

AD: Oh, I see. Okay.

FT: He left to Richmond. He was the principal and the basketball coach.

AD: Okay.

FT: And he left Richmond and he went to Kentucky State as basketball coach.

AD: Oh. What . . . What . . . Approximately what time was this?

FT: This was . . . I graduated under him in ‘44.

AD: Okay.

FT: I’ll say he came here. He was here . . . I’ll say maybe perhaps four years, but I’ll have to make sure about that.

AD: Okay.

FT: Now, don’t put, you know, a date.

AD: I understand what you’re saying.

FT: But, he was during the period of the ‘40s. We can leave it at that time.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And he left here and went to Kentucky State as coach because, at that time, we had winning good ball teams and basketball teams, but we played all black schools.

AD: Right.

FT: You know, during that time.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And we had good times too.

AD: Okay.

FT: That was the time, I’d like to put this in, put in that the football field was not large enough and the Women’s Literary Club bought some property and extended the field for the school. Now, they have leased it to the present . . . It’s presently the YMCA, but it used to be Telford Community Center.

AD: Alright.

FT: But, it’s never to be sold.

AD: It . . . It always belongs to the literary club?

FT: It always belongs to the literary club as long as it’s a recreational and active facility.

AD: Oh, okay.

FT: That includes black.

AD: Okay. Alright. So, it must be . . . It may be leased . . .

FT: It is legal. We have papers for it.

AD: Okay. Alright. Lease to only those recreational, um . . .

FT: Activities.

AD: Activities . . .

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: That . . . that come from the black community. Is it for the black community?

FT: Black and white. Black and white now.

AD: Okay.

FT: But it used to be because the black’s field was too short and when they played teams, you know, who came here . . .

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm. The paper, you still hold the papers of ownership?

FT: We still hold the papers of ownership.

AD: Oh, that’s remarkable.

FT: And they are up to the courthouse.

AD: Okay.

FT: I guess, uh, we were the only people who had May Days and wrapping the May poles because we took a joy out of that.

AD: Okay.

FT: That’s a very festive day and, in fact, we were exposed to every facet of living.

AD: Okay.

FT: Sport wise.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Educationally wise.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Club wise.

AD: Okay.

FT: There was the 4-H, the girl reserves, the, uh, uh, high Y.

AD: What was the . . . What was the high Y?

FT: It was something for the boys. We never did understand what that was. (Laughter).

AD: Okay.

FT: But it was strictly boys. I guess it was more or less like the girl reserves was for the girls.

AD: Okay.

FT: The high Y was for the boys. We couldn’t go to their meetings. The only thing that we could go to were their banquets.

AD: Okay.

FT: And that was state wide. And we went to meetings from city to city.

AD: Oh, alright.

FT: We interrelated that way.

AD: Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

FT: And as a result, we were exposed to educators. I’ve heard my four parents speak of when George Washington Carver came and the boys . . .

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And all those people and him, they had the Chatauqua, you know, Chatauqua here in Richmond.

AD: Okay.

FT: Which was a black affair when they brought in all the educators and the speakers. Rosco Clarkland Simmons, and all of those persons.

AD: Okay.

FT: We had a background and a strong background of value and culture.

AD: Alright. Okay. When did, um . . . .You grew up . . . Your early years were spent here. You graduated from Richmond High?

FT: High school. Yeah, my early years was spent here and when I went to _____ to college, I left ____ and went to Louisville to teach.

AD: Alright. Uh-huh.

FT: Then, I received a scholarship and I went into special education.

AD: In Louisville?

FT: Yes.

AD: Okay.

FT: To get my master’s degree.

AD: Was it the University of Louisville then?

FT: The University of Louisville.

AD: Okay. So, it was in the 50's?

FT: Yeah. Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Okay.

FT: And I received my master’s, and in the ‘60s was when they asked me to come to the Bahamas to set up a school for the trainable retarded.

AD: Okay. It is the, uh, the state system . . .

FT: And I spent three years there.

AD: Called for you or was it private?

FT: No, no. It was private.

AD: Okay.

FT: It was run by an association. The Bahamas Association for Retarded Children.

AD: Oh, I see. And you spent how long down there?

FT: Three years.

AD: Three years?

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Establishing a school in Nassau?

FT: In Nassau and I was head mistress.

AD: Okay.

FT: And that was where I received the Queen’s Medal.

AD: Did you?

FT: And I met the Queen’s husband, uh, Philip.

AD: Prince Philip.

FT: Prince Philip. And Lady Stapleton, the school was named from Lady Stapleton. That was when she and Sir Robert Stapleton were in the Bahamas.

AD: Okay.

FT: And, uh, as a result of that, I received the American Freedom Foundation Award.

AD: Did you? What . . . What years were these in?

FT: That was in . . . When was Martin Luther King’s march on Washington?

AD: Sixty-three.

FT: Sixty-three. That was in ‘63.

AD: Okay. And then you spent three years down there.

FT: Yes.

AD: And then after that?

FT: I returned to Louisville.

AD: Okay.

FT: And then after that, my mother had retired and she wanted to come back home and then they asked me to come to the county. But this is going to be a touchy thing for you get on . . . I’m . . . You can say that I taught in the county for four years.

AD: Alright. Madison County?

FT: Yes. I was called to set up the special education program.

AD: Alright.

FT: The prejudice was still rampant in the county. We could kind of doctor this section up. And I left there. Dr. Hayes was the superintendent in the public school, and he asked me to come to Madison High School where I met Sherry. She run the Title VI-B program and the work study program

AD: Okay.

FT: And I retired in ‘82.

AD: Is Title B, a retarded . . .

FT: Title VI-B.

AD: Title VI-B?

FT: Yes.

AD: Is that for retarded?

FT: It’s for handicapped.

AD: Oh.

FT: It is not strictly retarded.

AD: Okay.

FT: But, it’s for the handicap. So, they can have a work study program where they would work on a job. They would go to school so long and work on a job.

AD: Okay.

FT: The government gave matching funds. We paid so much. I mean, the government paid so much and the employees paid the other for them to learn a useful skill.

AD: Alright. Okay. Was that successful? Was the program successful?

FT: Yes, it was.

AD: Okay.

FT: As long as I was there.

AD: Alright. And you left in ‘82.

FT: But it fell under after that.

AD: Okay.

FT: It did have a strong person who could have run it and that was Maria Wade, but I’m not going to put that part on tape. I already discussed that with you.

AD: Okay. Alright. What have you been doing since?

FT: Sitting at home. (Laughter). Not quite. In the last year, I still work as a city clerk.

AD: Okay.

FT: And I still help my community and I’m active in politics.

AD: Okay.

FT: And I try to meet the needs of any citizen in the community and still, both black and white students come to me when they are in need.

AD: Okay.

FT: So, I had some happy years. But, I’m also happy to be sitting down.

AD: I can understand that. Uh, tell us a little bit about, uh, the, uh, your work with the NAACP. Why you . . . why you . . . Did you start becoming active after you retired or have always been active?

FT: No, no, no. I have always been active and always have been a member of the NAACP from when they had the youth group.

AD: Yes. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And our first NAACP executive director was Frank Turner from Richmond, Kentucky.

AD: Okay. Alright.

FT: So, we were born into the NAACP more or less.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Because he was a native son, and he moved to New York, and he still has one son living. Burghart. I know him. He teaches at . . . Now, I won’t say which college in New York, but he is still very active, too.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm. Would you, uh, you became president?

FT: I became president the first time in . . . Now, why would you ask me these questions? It was in the ‘70s.

AD: Okay.

FT: It became a little much and I gave it up. I was president two or three years. I was also chairperson of the human rights commission.

AD: Oh, alright.

FT: I was president of, I mean, chairperson of that, I guess, for about six or seven years, because we . . . I . . . we estimated opening the first office for the human rights commission here in Richmond.

AD: Did you?

FT: Uh-huh.

AD: Was that in the ‘70s?

FT: That was in the late ‘70s. Now, we have a very strong person who is a . . . chairperson, that’s Jose Farris. I would like for you to speak with him, too.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Is he a native son?

FT: Yes.

AD: Okay.

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Well, uh, let’s go back a little bit in time and talk about the community when you were growing up. What kind of community was it?

FT: It was a very strong vital community. I don’t know that, if I can think, very few blacks in this community did not own their homes.

AD: Oh. Alright.

FT: You could count the renters.

AD: Okay.

FT: That’s speaking now when I was in my teens.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: That they were all homeowners, landowners, and they had vital farms in the county.

AD: Okay.

FT: But as the children grew up and moved out and the foreparents died off, they went other places, and they became scattered.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: So, there are very few of the native people here to carry on.

AD: Okay.

FT: Our rich background and heritage. Because we had shoemakers, dressmakers, milliners, our own drug store, uh, doctors, dentist. You name it, we had it.

AD: And gradually those businesses just sort of . . .

FT: Gradually those businesses sort of died out.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: But the spirit, I don’t think has truly died out. If we could . . . I don’t know how to put this. If some way we could reach out to our young children and let them know from whence they have come.

AD: Do you get the impression that many of them don’t understand?

FT: They do not know. That came . . . Now, this is my feeling . . .

AD: Okay.

FT: That came with integration because we were taught black history.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: From the first grade, probably some of us hadn’t been to school.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: But we knew our black history. We knew that the man from Winchester, I can’t think of his name now, uh, uh, . . . He’s the one who designed the traffic signals that we use everyday.

AD: Oh, yes. I can’t even . . . But I know who you’re talking about.

FT: He’s from Winchester.

AD: I didn’t realize that. I didn’t know he was Kentucky.

FT: He’s from Kentucky.

AD: Okay.

FT: Kentuckian . . . Kentucky has had some very, well, not only intelligent but hard-working driving people, who have left Kentucky and gone to other parts of the nation, but they have not left any place they have been without their imprint.

AD: Okay. Uh, we were talking earlier about the numbers of businessmen, business men and women in the community.

FT: Yes.

AD: Where there many who did not own businesses and, if so, what were they doing? Where did they work?

FT: Now, some of them worked at the college. Eastern.

AD: Alright.

FT: At Eastern.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Some of them worked in private homes.

AD: Okay.

FT: And a lot of them were just homemakers.

AD: Okay.

FT: I can recall my foreparents saying a long time before that, though the men worked and they had a business, maybe the women did cooking and took in washing and ironing and things like that.

AD: Okay.

FT: But, not without dignity.

AD: Okay. Alright. Um, do you remember anything significant happening in Richmond happening in the 1960's.

FT: Now, that’s kind of throwing me because I wasn’t here.

AD: Okay. Hmm-Mmm. You said you were in Louisville.

FT: I was in Louisville.

AD: Okay.

FT: I was in the Bahamas.

AD: I was thinking about desegregation of the movement.

FT: Well, it went smoothly. I can say that much.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: In the Richmond Independent Schools.

AD: Alright.

FT: Now, in the county was where we lost our children.

AD: Okay.

FT: Because it was . . . It was not merged then. And the county children who came from the farm, I had been told, had a hard time making it.

AD: Okay.

FT: And as a result, a lot of them transferred and paid tuition to go up to Madison High.

AD: Oh, okay. Hmm-Mmm. I see. Um, how about your parents? Originally from?

FT: My father is from Chickasha, Oklahoma and my mother was born and reared here in Richmond.

AD: In Richmond, Kentucky?

FT: And they both are graduates are Wilberforce University.

AD: Okay.

FT: And then my mother went to Northwestern and after her mother died, she completed her speech therapy work at U.K.

AD: Alright. Hmm-Mmm. And your father?

FT: My father graduated from Wilberforce and then he said teaching wasn’t what he wanted to go into. (Laughter) So, he went in as a hotel manager.

AD: Okay.

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Alright. And I remember, uh, you said one of the posts or one of the places they went earlier in their married life was to North Carolina to Western Salem.

FT: Yes. Western Salem.

AD: Was that their first, uh . . . ?

FT: That was their first teaching assignment.

AD: And then after that they moved . . . ?

FT: They moved to Chickasha.

AD: Okay.

FT: And that’s where I was born.

AD: Where you were born, and then eventually moved back to Richmond?

FT: To Richmond.

AD: Alright. Okay. Uh, you were too young to remember the Chickasha?

FT: No, no, because, see, I went often. My mother and father separated eventually, but I was there as much as I was here.

AD: Oh.

FT: Oh, I know . . . Well, because she taught . . . My mother taught in Chickasha and that’s when Daddy decided he didn’t want to teach anymore. And he went in as a hotel manager at the new Chickasha hotel.

AD: Uh, let’s talk a little bit about how, how do you think or do you remember how your mother became involved with the club movement?. The various clubs.

FT: Now, I don’t know other than she was asked to join because she taught English. She was an English and History major.

AD: Okay.

FT: And she taught English and from her input and activities, through her church work and civic work, that’s the way these clubs made up their membership.

AD: Okay.

FT: You had to have something to offer.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Now, the art club, they were craftsmen. They made beautiful things.

AD: Blankets or . . . or, um . . .?

FT: Quilts.

AD: Quilts.

FT: And bedspreads. You know the popcorn.

AD: Yes.

FT: Bedspreads. And they were craftsmen. While they met, they worked with their hands.

AD: And the literary?

FT: The literary club, they were the book people.

AD: Okay.

FT: And they had to read so many books and it was right up Momma’s alley.

AD: It come back to reading and discussing them.

FT: Back to the meetings and discuss it.

AD: Oh.

FT: They weren’t clubs just to meet and eat.

AD: Okay.

FT: They were intellectual clubs.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: They produced something after that meet.

AD: Well, what was it . . . Were there links with the community?

FT: They had very strong links. Uh, the Women’s Literary Club set up a scholarship fund and they sent students to, uh, at first it was, I guess it still did remain that for a while. It was a scholarship long program and with students who received this scholarship, when they started working, they paid back what they could.

AD: That they got from the literary society?

FT: That they got from the literary society.

AD: Okay.

FT: And the scholarship would be renewed.

AD: Okay. To the college of their choice?

FT: They had . . . They had . . . They went to the college of their choice, but they had to keep up a 3.5.

AD: Whoo. That’s tough.

FT: They had to.

AD: That’s a B plus.

FT: Right.

AD: Okay.

FT: They preferred 4.0.

AD: I know.

FT: But no, nothing lower than 3.5.

AD: So, a student could lose immediately the scholarship if he or she came below.

FT: Right. Hmm-Mmm.

AD: I’m assuming that young men could get the scholarship too, even though it was a women’s club.

FT: Yes. Yes.

AD: Okay. Was it targeted at black young men and women?

FT: Yes, it was.

AD: Okay.

FT: Yes, it was. Because, at that time, some deserving students, their parents could not afford from their jobs . . .

AD: Right.

FT: And though education didn’t seem to be that high then, it was up a little bit much for them.

AD: Okay.

FT: Because they were buying homes in a number of cases. They had a number of children to educate.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And, you know, just the everyday expenses to keep up with.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And that’s why they established that. And they had civic affairs or they brought in speakers or entertainment or had banquets. And that’s where we learned our etiquette.

AD: Okay.

FT: Through the banquets and the little dances for it and so, they’d know how to mix and mingle.

AD: Did you have teas?

FT: Oh, we tea’d out.

AD: Sunday afternoon teas?

FT: I had always _____ (Laughter) when I was small.

AD: Alright.

FT: But, yes, they had tea. Richmond was a very cultured town.

AD: Okay. How about churches? The black churches?

FT: The black churches were very important to these citizens.

AD: Baptist, Methodist . . .

FT: Baptist, Methodist, Predestinarian.

AD: Predestinarian?

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Okay.

FT: Now, we have, one, two, three, four Predestinarian churches left, but the oldest one is the church we have on Irvine Street that we call the church in the bottom. It’s a beautiful little church. You’ll have to come over some Sunday and we’ll go down there.

AD: Okay.

FT: Reverend Turpin. Now, he’s a product of Richmond. He’s a graduate of Richmond High School.

AD: Alright.

FT: And he’s losing his sight now, but he’s minister there.

AD: Is the Predestinarian, is it a, uh, a denomination?

FT: It’s a Baptist. Predestinarian Baptist.

AD: Oh, I see.

FT: But, they are not like the Missionary Baptist.

AD: Oh, I see.

FT: Now, the Missionary Baptist, I understand, you can not commune if you are not of their denomination and the message is if you’ve been Baptist, you can commune.

AD: Commune.

FT: The Predestinarian Baptist, at least I know Reverend Turpin, they have the foot washing.

AD: Oh, I see. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Now, I was baptized in the Baptist church, but I never wished to stay and I always wanted to be an Episcopal.

AD: Okay.

FT: And which I did.

AD: Okay.

FT: I joined . . . I’ve been an Episcopal for almost 40 years.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And, some faiths of the Episcopal church have foot washings also.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 1. BEGINNING OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2.

AD: I wanted to ask you something about the social stratification. Was there much or how . . .?

FT: It was very strict. You did not come from a certain social strator when we were growing up. You were taught to be ugly.

AD: Okay.

FT: But, now, okay . . . I’ll put it this way. It wasn’t the people but it was their actions.

AD: Okay.

FT: If they were drinkers, you know, hard drinkers, that all of them made wine and home brewed.

AD: Okay.

FT: Because my grandmother made it here. And we all knew what liquor was.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: But, I mean if you were a public disgrace, I’ll put it that way, then you were told to speak but ignore.

AD: Oh. What . . .What about the children of that kind of person?

FT: We associated with them but we didn’t go to their houses.

AD: Alright.

FT: It wasn’t an ugly kind of thing, but you were taught. Now, you are . . . You are at this level . . . .

AD: Okay.

FT: And they are at that level, but there wasn’t many of them that you had to ignore in Richmond when I was growing up.

AD: That’s . . .

FT: That’s was bothers me now. The social structure has been completely destroyed. Now, another friend of mine, we were talking. She is quite a friend of mine, Leah Mitchell, she taught at Madison High. We were discussing this the other night and she said, “Well, Fannie, it’s not happening just in the black community. It’s happening city-wide even in the white community.”

AD: Okay. Whereby, if you do this kind of job, and make this kind of money, then you are supposed to be greater than . . .

FT: No. It wasn’t job. No. It was . . . It was attitudes and self-discipline and self-respect.

AD: Alright. Okay.

FT: They didn’t care what kind of job they had. As long as they were honest . . .

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Upright people.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Alright.

FT: And they could do what they wanted to within their homes, but don’t go public with it.

AD: Alright. Okay. Now, it’s different.

FT: Now, it’s very different. They can mix and mingle so all of them go public.

AD: Okay. Okay. And the children of . . . . the children . . . What do you see when you talk to some of them . . .

FT: I see them. . .

AD: Do you see them . . . With a certain respect for . . . ?

FT: I see that they are lost.

AD: Okay.

FT: I had one young girl tell me. She came over the other day, and she said, you know, we thought integration was going to be beautiful, but when we got into the schools, we had no images of ours.

AD: Right.

FT: Now, that has been the battleground.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm. And nobody there to make you do?

FT: Right. And they want to be made to do.

AD: Alright.

FT: That’s one thing I can say about Sherry sees no color.

AD: Okay. Hmm-Mmm.

FT: She would make them all do. She doesn’t care what color they were.

AD: Alright.

FT: But you have very few of those.

AD: Right.

FT: That type of teacher.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Hmm-Mmm. Okay. Well, let’s see, anything else you want to hit on at this time.

FT: Well . . .

AD: I’m going to come back to you time and time again. I think you already know that.

FT: Okay. That’s alright. But, what I’m saying is if you want to go through some of those materials, cut the tape off, and you may have some questions.

AD: Okay.

FT: I have the old minute book from the literary society.

AD: From the literary society or literary club.

FT: Club. Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Okay. We’ll take a look at that.

FT: Oh! Before you turn that off . . .

AD: Okay.

FT: We brought Martin Luther King, Sr. here. Oh, when was that? I wish Sherry was here to tell me about that date. I guess it was in the ‘80s for a program.

AD: Okay. During the . . . Was it . . . ?

FT: No, no. It was in the ‘70s, because my mother died shortly after that. I’ll say about ‘75 or ‘76.

AD: Okay.

FT: And we held it up at Eastern at the, uh, was it the administration building that faces where the president’s office is.

AD: I know where you’re talking about.

FT: And they held it in the, you know, the auditorium . . .

AD: The auditorium.

FT: There.

AD: Uh-huh. Okay.

FT: And that place was packed with both black and white.

AD: Okay.

FT: And we had an integrated program.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: White singers and black singers and speakers and he was the main speaker.

AD: Alright.

FT: Because I had to go to Lexington to pick him up from the airport.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: And he was police escorted in and, oh, it was a big deal.

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: But it was well attended. And we did . . . We had a mayor here at that time by the name of Mayor McKitt.

AD: Okay.

FT: And he donated money from the city funds because he wanted to bring this community back together again.

AD: Alright. Uh-huh.

FT: So, that they have certain moneys that are for ______ and he backed the fees with what . . . We put in a certain percent . . .

AD: Okay.

FT: And he gave us the rest of it.

AD: Okay.

FT: So, we could bring Reverend King, ‘cause it was . . . He was . . . You talk about a money grabber.

AD: He was?

FT: Now, don’t put that in there.

AD: Okay. We’ll look at the records now.

FT: You delete that.

(Tape recorder turned off.) (Tape recorder turned on.)

AD: This is A.G. I’m looking at a plaque that has been damaged by fire and water and so forth, but is a plaque of the Women’s Literary Club, organized September 1904, and this plaque was evidently made in 1940. On it is the object of the organization, which is “To create among the women an organized center of thought and action, to promote the social and education growth, and whatever relates to the best interest of the community.” Also on the plaque are a brief list of the presidents up to 1940. We have Colita Duncan.

FT: Colila.

AD: Colila Duncan, Minnie G. Bennette, Georgia L. Walker, Fannie S. Gwenn, Estella Yates, Maggie G. Wilson, Laquicia Miller, Harriet A. Cholston.

FT: Golston.

AD: Golston. Loretta Embry, Alice C. Turner, Catherine Estill Taylor.

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Willette E. Turner, Dovie C. Newman, Aritha . . . Aritha . . . . A-R-I-T-H-A.

FT: Aritha.

AD: Aritha W. Peace, Mary T. Walker, Charles M. . . .

FT: Irving.

AD: Irving, okay. Lena Mae

FT: Lena Mae Blythe.

AD: Lena Mae Blythe. Uh, also, she has managed to salvage some of the achievements from other plaques.

FT: And I was a past president.

AD: This . . . Uh, just now past?

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Okay. Past president, uh, is Fannie Catherine Taylor.

FT: Hmm-Mmm.

AD: Some of the old achievements are a library achievement in 1912, playground achievement in 1937 and that’s all that’s . . .

FT: That’s a . . . The playground achievement . . . That’s what I was talking about, that piece of land.

AD: Okay. Yes. Alright. Alright.

(Tape recorder turned off.) (Tape recorder turned on.)

AD: I’m looking at some minutes of the Women’s Literary Club. The volume I’m looking at, we show, January the 4th, 1973. All previous notes and information records were destroyed by fire approximately when? Do you remember?

FT: Oh, I’ll say about seven years ago.

AD: Hmm-Mmm. Approximately seven years ago.

FT: But, I’ll correct it.

AD: About seven years ago, approximately. I made mention of one of the lines on January 4th, 1973 from the record. It says two records received from the national headquarters and for national headquarters information, we looked to the _____ Organization and all organization of clubs seem to flow from that original beginning.

(Tape recorder turned off.) (Tape recorder turned on.)

AD: The last page of record in this volume was November 1976, and the Women’s Literary Club met in Lexington, Kentucky.

(Tape recorder turned off.) (Tape recorder turned on.)

AD: Some of the projects for money raising, I found mention of one, where you give a penny for every pound of weight.

Background voices talking.

(Tape recorder turned off.) (Tape recorder turned on.)

AD: With regard to the penny per pound of weight that was one of the ways, one of the many ways the organization increased the funds for the scholarship to be given to worthy young men and women in the community.

(Tape recorder turned off.) (Tape recorder turned on.)

FT: We had a Junior Literary Club.

AD: Okay.

FT: And a Junior Art Club. Where from the age of 12, we were brought up to fulfill . . .

AD: Hmm-Mmm.

FT: Our other places when we became seniors.

AD: Okay. Oh.

(Tape recorder turned off.) (Tape recorder turned on.)

AD: Were all the junior members . . . Were all the members in the junior club the daughters of members . . .?

FT: No, not necessarily.

AD: Okay. Okay. It could be any . . . any young woman in the community?

FT: Hmm-Mmm. Any intelligent young woman. (Laughter) Don’t put that.

END OF TAPE 1, SIDE 2