The Story Of Nathan Padgett

https://www.wevideo.com/hub/#media/ci/194889491?timelineId=194695035

The Story Of Nathan Padgett

Abstract

This is the story of Nathan Padgett and his memories of the years before and  the 1960’s. Nathan tells about his life in the city of Philadelphia,PA. You will hear about the fun he had and the dangerous things he did in his years. He will tell about the riots and the destruction that when on during the 1950’s and 60’s. You will be told that it wasn’t just the blacks and the whites.

​

Research

African Americans  would start riots in the 1960’s because they weren't being paid enough and whites just would not hire them.  In the 1960’s is when the schools were integrated. In philadelphia at the time the wasn't segregation so blacks had to go to school with whites. Whether they liked it or not whites had to share a school with blacks. They had to share bathrooms and jobs. There were more fights than riots in philadelphia.

Sources

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-38E

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Philadelphia_race_riot

http://northerncity.library.temple.edu/content/collections/columbia-avenue-riots/what-interpretative-essay

http://northerncity.library.temple.edu/content/historical-perspective/why-philadelphia

Transcript

Interview with Nathan Padgett

5 May 2014

NP:  What is your name?

Nathan Padgett: Nathan Robert Pagett.

NP: What year was you born?

Nathan Padgett: 1951.

NP: What school did you go to?

Nathan Padgett: Vare elementary, Skisky Elementary, Furnis, Southern.

NP: What was it like to go to school at that time?

Nathan Padgett: When I was going to Skisky… Going to elementry school time  was alright but when I got to junior high and  high school. It wa’ent alright. It was a lot of riots… riots going on den. Between the blacks and the whites, the Irish and the Pollar, the Italians.

NP: Did you have to walk to school?

Nathan Padgett: Everyday.

NP: Did you see a lot of things going on?

Nathan Padgett: Oh Yea! Seen a lot of people get… get stabbed, get shot.

NP: How old are you?

Nathan Padgett:  63.

NP: How old were you when you got your first job?

Nathan Padgett: 14.

NP: Where did you work?

Nathan Padgett: Einstein hospital Northern Division. Broad and olney.

NP: What did you do?

Nathan Padgett: I worked in the umm… In the morg.

NP: In the morg??

Nathan Padgett: I went up and brought dead bodies from the room down stairs.

NP: Ewe.

Was there a lot of kids your age working there?

Nathan Padgett: Yes.

NP: Was it hard to get that job?

Nathan Padgett: No when we got… When I got my working papers.  Uhh around the houston community center on 8th and snyder. They used to get teenagers gobs and thats the job they got me.

NP: What are your personal experiences wit… with segregation segregation?

Nathan Padgett: Well. We. With segregation?  We still. Umm a lot of fights. Like. Like I said it was a lot of riots. They didn't want, want. Segregation with us. See we had. We went to white schools. Whites and blacks went to  black and white schools. See we just didn’t like each other thats all. Thats why we had a lot of fights. We. You know, we all. There was no segregation here in philadelphia. All you know. Whatever school you went to there was whites and… whites and blacks mixed in to one school together. But like I said we just didn’t like each other. thats why we had a lot of fights, a lot of riots.

The whites didn’t like us coming in their neighborhood going to school and we didn’t like going down there. So we had to go down to, uhh 2nd and mifflin to go to junior high school. We had to go to 9th and mifflin to go to  elementary school. Well Skisky was on 8th, 9th and mithlin. Southern was on broad and snyder. We had to fight the white boys going to school and coming back from school. Junior high and high school. No matter which way you went. You had to fight them going to and coming back from school. That's why, you know, as far as segregation they didn’t want us in their neighborhoods and in their schools, but we went anyway.

NP: Umm.  As bathrooms and like water fountains. Was there separate bathrooms?

Nathan Padgett: No. No they wasn’t. If a white boy, a white guy had to go to the bathroom and it was blacks in there he went in there. Blacks, if it was whites in there we went in there and went to the bathroom. That's all, we didn’t, you know.

NP:  Did you serve in the Vietnam war?

Nathan Padgett:  No i was, no I didn’t go to Vietnam. They sent me to oknowood trained. Training people to go to Vietnam.

NP:  How long did you train for?

Nathan Padgett:  6 months

NP: was it hard work?

Nathan Padgett:  I wouldn’t say it was hard work but it was dangerous because I was working with explosives. TNT, C4, digni might, stuff like that explosives. And if you messed up in the wrong way you could blow yourself the heck up.

NP: Was it a lot of people training with you?

Nathan Padgett:  Yes, it was about 12 of us that was training for it. Well not really twelve it was like a hole butane each. One was, had a different job we had to do. I was in the 1371 combat engineer so, I was teaching how to blow up bridges, blow them up and tear them down. I blew them up and we build them. That's what we did.

NP: Did anybody die while you were training?

Nathan Padgett:  No, but a dude blew off a couple of his fingers. He was messin around with a blasted cap and he pressed the thing down too hard. It blew 3 of his fingers off.

NP: Did they like, put him back together?

Nathan Padgett:  No. No he got a medical charge and went home.

NP: Oh.

Nathan Padgett: You put a blasting cap into TNT or C4, got a little pair of pliers there called crumpets. That you crimp. Down to make sure it say in there. And what he did, he pushed down to hard on the crumpets, and it blew his thumb and 2 fingers off. He got a medical discharge and went home.

NP: Do you regret anything about your life?

Nathan Padgett:  No. I don’t regret a thing.

NP: Umm so if you could go back and change anything, you wouldn’t change nothing?

 Nathan Padgett:  I would change the drinking. All the drinking that I done. I would change that. But being in the service. I wouldn’t change that. I had a ball in the service.

NP: What would you say is the most important thing. Your most important memory.

Nathan Padgett:  Most important memory. The day my son was born. That was important. That was the most important. The best thing i ever done in my life was to uhh, I stayed and helped my sister out.