Oral History: Nileka Barker
Abstract:
In this interview Betty Jane talks about her life during the Civil rights movement and anything she can remember. She is African American and grew up in Philadelphia, she is currently 69 years old. She expressed in the video that it was a very hard time and they didn’t have that much to eat and that the world has changed a whole lot over time. She described her experience in direct with white people and she said she was not targeted but she can still see when you go somewhere and in older white people in their late 70s towards early 80s have attitudes.
Research:
In the video she talked a lot about Martin luther king and she also described what kind of shoes she used to wear. like for example one was a real shoe and the other was like a cardboard box. The civil rights of movements were a bunch of political movements for equality,we all know that AAM get had less so of course they didn’t have fancy clothes and such. She said she could remember hearing a lot about Martin Luther king and her family talking about him, he died in 1968 so she was about 23 years old at the time.
Sources:
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1896%E2%80%931954)
NB: Hi my name is Nileka Barker and I’m interviewing my grandma. Today’s date is May 18th 2014 and it’s 4:08 pm. I’m going to be interviewing my grandma about the Civil rights Movement and how it impacted her.
The phone is ringing…..
BJ: Hello
NB: Hey mom-mom
BJ: hold on a minute sweetheart
NB: okay.
BJ: hello
NB: hey, how are you ?
BJ: I’m good dear how are you ?
NB: Yeah I’m good, can I ask you some questions about the Civil rights movement ?
BJ: Yeah I hope I can answer them for you, wassup
NB: okay um, how old were you when the Civil rights movement started ?
BJ: How old was I when the civil rights movement started ?
NB: Yeah
BJ: Um, I was around 10 years old
NB: oh okay, how was life around that time ?
BJ: Life around that time, well um how can i say this
um we didn’t have a whole lot
NB: mhm hmm
BJ: Um my mom worked and everything you know, and liked she cooked, and say for instance if she cooked and if we happened to have pork chops
NB: uh huh
BJ: We were lucky enough to have pork chops, it was one for everyone of us that might have been in the house and we had to eat…things were leen you know, it was hard times.
NB:yeah
BJ: It was hard times, we didn’t have a lot of stuff you know and it’’s almost kinda like it is now for a lot of people who is struggling, you know black people struggle
NB: uh huh
BJ: Black people struggle you know and if you.. it was just rough
NB: Did you, were you targeted, did people target you ?
BJ: Was I targeted ?
NB: yeah, since you were so young ? You could see a lot of racism
BJ: No, No, Nooo, I never got targeted when I was young. No
NB: okay
BJ: Noo I didn’t get targeted. Now uh I can’t say the same you know about my Mom because my mom was born in Alabama and she came up here when she was a teenager but I don’t remember nobody in my family ever saying they were targeted or anything but when I was a little girl
NB: Mhm huh
BJ: My dad, I know I heard that you had to ride on the trolley cars
NB: This was when your mom was young ?
BJ: Yeah we couldn’t go, I was born but I was real little. You know certain neighborhoods couldn’t go onto the ...
NB: Oh really ?
BJ: Like near Girard avenue they had like white, wherever it was white folks at they didn’t want us blacks folks to be at.
NB: yeah
BJ: Have you seen on Documentaries on the Civil rights movement ?
NB: yeah like we’ve been watching a lot in class recently.
BJ: Well it was like that
NB: Oh wow.
BJ: Yeah it was like that, you know and a lot of times I had holes in my shoes and they would put cardboard in my shoes
NB: How was school around that time
BJ: Well from what I can remember school was okay you know and when I first started school it was some white people in high school and I don’t remeber you know when I stopped seeing them because that was Elementary school
NB: Oh so they weren’t there in Middle school and stuff ?
BJ: I hadn’t seen any, I got to look on my graduation pictures from Jr. High school. I don’t think it was no white kids in my class.
NB: Ohh
BJ: I don’t remember no white kids being in my class in Jr. high school but, and I don’t remember in white kids being in my class in Elementary school, and kindergarten and first grade because I went to.. I don’t remember no white kids being in any of my classes.
NB: Oh really.
BJ: It was so long ago, what you see in them documentaries it’s pretty much like that
NB: Oh that’s crazy
BJ:I had grandparents that had a club and they made money like that and it seemed like it was the elderly people who owned homes and stuff like that and then my Uncle worked for what is called Septa right now it used to be called the TTC back during the Civil rights movement.
NB: So like how much has the world changed since then ?
BJ: Huh ?
NB: How much has the world changed since then ?
BJ: It has changed a awful lot except for maybe like a lot of us are still disenfranchised, you know what I’m saying ?
NB: yeah
BJ: Like it seems like since our president got elected it seems like racism has raised over head again, you know what I’m saying ?
NB: yeah
BJ: Now I had people that act nasty with me in stores you know different times in their mid 70s early 80s and the Civil right’s movement was over with. You know Martin Luther King had died
NB: Wait so you was
BJ: They don’t wanna wait on you or something, you know what I’m saying
NB: Yeah did you ever meet him
BJ: No, uh uh
NB: he was like alive during your time right ?
BJ: He was alive, yeah
NB: Ohh
BJ: I think he got assassinated in 68 i think
NB: Ohh
BJ: I think he did Ima have to Google that
NB: Thank you Mom-Mom for the answers
BJ: You know they bombed the church with girl in it
NB: Oh yeah, how old were you around that time
BJ: And, wait a minute. That was around in early 60s.
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