Oral History ( James Johnson & Rosa Nixon) By Egypt Bracey
Abstract
In my interview with my grandfather on May 11, 2015 at 6:23pm, he talked about a place called the Black Bottom in West Philadelphia. When he was around 8 years old he moved from 60th & Callowhill to 38th & Fairmount ave. My grandfather said he moved down their because his mother and father broke up and she didn’t have any money to stay where they were at first so they moved down to the Black Bottom where it was predominantly African Americans which is the reason why it’s called the Black Bottom.
Research
In the source I found it tells where the Black Bottom is and what it is. The Black Bottom was a part of the city in West Philadelphia. It was referred to as Area 3 but is now known as University City. In the source it says “The Black Bottom was framed by 33rd and 40th Streets on the east and west, and Lancaster / Powelton and Curie Boulevard (University Avenue) on the north and south. The Black Bottom received its name from its location at the “bottom” of West Philadelphia.” In another article I read it talked about the wealthier white people lived towards the top of West Philly. Both sources below are for the same topic of the Black Bottom.
Sources:
https://theblackbottom.wordpress.com/communities/blackbottom/history/
Transcript
Grandpa Interview- James Johnson & Egypt Bracey (May 11, 2015 @6:23pm)
Background About My Grandpa: My grandfather was born and raised in West Philadelphia in 1939. He lived on 44th and Fairmount Ave which is called “Down the Bottom.” He learned to drive at the age of 14. He had one brother who went into the Army and later died. AT a young age he had various jobs and later became a chef working at many restaurants. In 1968 he met my grandmother and they got married and had two children. He still lives in West Philly with his wife, children and grandchildren.
EB: Hi I’m Egypt
JJ: Hi I’m James Johnson grandfather to Egypt Nixon.
EB: Okay I’m just gonna ask you 10 questions about your childhood and segregation, discrimination when you were younger.
JJ: Ok.
EB: Okay umm, how was your life during segregation?
JJ: Well it was pretty rough. I live about 44th and Fairmount Ave and I was born in raised in Philadelphia. So it wasn’t to much segregation where I was at.
EB: Okay. Was the school you went to segregated
JJ: Umm… No
EB: Ok. Did you ever experience any discrimination while you were in school or were you ever bullied?
JJ: Yes I was bullied.
EB: Can you tell me more about that?
JJ: Ok well yes because I was bullied because I was by myself i guess. I went to school by myself because I was the only child, well not the only child but I was the only young child from my mother and I went to school and all that and I guess I was bullied more because most of the kids were darker than me and I was lighter. And actually my grandparents, my grandmother was white and grandfather was Indian. Ok and I was really born and raised 60th and Callowhill, I was born and raised up here, and actually when I was living up here on to the age of eight it was really integrated. But it was only three black families on the block. On the five city blocks of 60th and Callowhill on down to 60th and Haverford on over to 60th and Market.
EB: Were you ever disrespected by anybody white?
JJ: Yes
EB: Okay umm, do you have any personal experiences with discrimination or racism?
JJ: No, not really.
EB: Do you remember being friends with any white kids?
JJ: umm, yes. They kids I went to school with when I was living up here on 60th street there was a boy named Louis Brogen, he was white and umm, there was white families on both sides of me. On 60th street there was white families that lived on 60th street on both sides of my house.
EB: Ok. Was the neighborhood you lived in mostly blacks or whites.?
JJ: Mostly white when I was younger and as I got older we moved from mixed neighborhood to the thing that was called the Black Bottom down 37th and Fairmount and that was mostly black. My mother and father had broke up, so my mother didn’t have and wasn’t earning enough to live up here so we moved down to the Black Bottom.
EB: Were you ever bullied in school about your skin color?
JJ: Yes.
EB: Can you tell me more about that?
JJ: Well I was mostly lighter than the rest of the kids, most of the kids were dark skin and I was brown skin.
EB: How is your life different now than when you were a child?
JJ: Well it’s great now. Its altogether different than when I was a child. I have a good life now, good life.
EB: Were you ever apart of any Black Movements such as the Black Panthers?
JJ: No.
EB: Okay Well thank you for letting me interview you.
JJ: Ok
Abstract
In my grandmother’s interview on May 11, 2015 at 6:10pm, she discussed that she moved up to the North from North Carolina in 1966 during the Great Migration. She was born in Washington, NC and grew up in a predominantly black community. The stores weren’t good to shop at and her mother and father couldn’t really make a living down there. When my grandma turned 23 she was searching for a job so that she can support her mother. So she moved Philadelphia to search for a job, she then started a career as a nurse at the University of Pennsylvania hospital and made a living in Philadelphia.
Research
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration
http://www.blackpast.org/aah/great-migration-1915-1960
http://www.inmotionaame.org/print.cfm;jsessionid=f83070871432006737061?migration=8&bhcp=1
Transcript:
Grandma Interview- Rosa Nixon & Egypt Bracey (May 11, 2015 @6:10pm)
Background About My Grandma: My grandmother was born and raised in Washington, North Carolina in 1943. She lived on a farm in an eight bedroom house and was one of the nine children in her family. Se is the second oldest and also named after her mom Rosa. She migrated to Philadelphia in 1966 where she became a nurse at the University Of Pennsylvania Hospital. Then she met my grandfather, James Johnson and had 2 children in 1972 and 1977. She then retired in 1998 at the age of 55. She now lives in West Philadelphia with her two kids, husband and grandchildren.
EB: Hey Nana, I’m Egypt you know me already.
RN: Hi Egypt, I’m Rosa Nixon, Mrs. Nixon
EB: Okay, well I’m gonna ask you 10 questions about your life and umm segregation and how you're life was when you were a child.
RN: Okay
EB: Okay, first question is, how was your life growing up in segregation?
RN: Umm… in segregation when we was growing up umm I had kind of a normal life umm, we lived on a farm and uh we grew um, is that ard? We grew uh peanuts, corn and soybeans and uh we used to have to stay home from school a couple of the month in September to work on the farm to help, you know to help our father and um, then we would go back to school and we would go to school almost everyday. Im there was eight of us, there was nine of us but one of us died you know died. The school we went to was all Black school and umm there was no caucasians, and you know the principal was a good principal and we would ride the school bus to school and umm, we umm you know, we would go to school from 8:30 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
EB: Okay, umm where were you born? Were you born in the South or the North?
RN: Oh umm I was born in the South.
EB: Where at in the South
RN: I was born in North Carolina in Washington County
EB: Okay, was the school you went to segregated or no?
RN: They school was not segregated in those days and this was in the 50’s the late 40’s the 50’s and the early 60’s.
EB: Okay, um, did you ever experience discrimination while in school?
RN: No we never um I knever well I don’t remember experiencing any uhh...
EB: Discrimination
RN: Discrimination in school no.
EB: Okay, um, were you ever disrespected by anybody who was white?
RN: The only time I could remember I was intimidated by white kids is umm when we would go shopping. My father did not want to shop in the community that we lived. SO the white people would shop in the good markets which was out of town and my father would drive all the way out to the good market where the white people shopped at and we would have to stay in the car until my mother and father went in to do the shopping. And the white kids would be in their car and they would look over at us and stick their tongue out at us, you know I don’t know why maybe because we were black and they were white and we would do the same thing back at them. *(Laughter)*
EB: Umm okay, were you ever friends with any white kids while you were in school or anything or when you got older?
RN: No. In our neighborhood the black people mostly kept to themselves and the whites live out away from the community we lived in because it was an all black community we lived in and the only contact I ever had with white people was when after I graduated from high school this white lady had just had a baby and her husband had to go away uhh, and she need somebody to help her with her baby. one of the black ladies in the neighborhood that knew my mother asked my mother if I could go and stay with that particular lady. And I went and worked with her for a week, for one week.
EB: Okay. Umm
RN: And she had two kids so I got to know those two kids in a week.
EB: Were they ever mean to you or anything?
RN: No they were nice people. They were nice people. So they were the only contact that I had up close with another group of people.
EB: Okay were you ever bullied in school about your skin color?
RN: I was never bullied about my skin color but I was bullied about my head being small. *(Laughter)* They always called me little head
EB: Okay umm. How was your life different now than when you were a child?
RN: It’s different now uhh, then when I was a child, like I say we as black people kept to ourselves. Now a days there’s people mixed different people and different cultures is mixed today, more mixed today then when I was coming up.
EB: Okay last question. Were you ever apart of any Black Movements such as the Black Panthers or anything?
RN: No I was never part of any umm movement.
EB: Do you know anybody who was?
RN: No I really don’t, I really don’t.
EB: Oh I have another, umm why did you choose to move up to the North?
RN: Oh I moved up to the North so that, I had graduated from high school and I moved to the North so that I can get a job and help send money to my mother so that can help the family out.
EB: Okay well thanks for letting me interview you.
RN: You welcome.
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