Speakers-Clotell Brown, Yolanda Harrell

Audio Quality-Good

Location-Pendleton, SC

Cassette 1

Side 1

00:25--Brown notes that she was born on January 14, 1890 in Pendleton, SC. Her parents were James and Lucy Hellums Scott. Mr. Scott's father is Monroe Scott; he lived to the age of 108. Mrs. Brown has several siblings and five children.

3:52--Mrs. Brown recalls a few other older family members. F. Watkins and Jim Watkins are her aunt and uncle.

4:51--Her family owned their own home when she was a child. The family worked on a farm until their father had enough money to build them a house.

6:08--Monroe Scott was the last in Mrs. Brown's family to be included in slavery. He was raised in the North Carolina Mountains and had farmland of his own after he was free.

7:23--Mrs. Brown recalls that most of her family members are buried in the Kings Chapel cemetery. The graves are marked.

9:36--Frank Brown is her husband and his mother was Mandy Brown. She and Frank had five children: Joe, Lucy, Frank, Monroe, and Isaac.

11:29--Mrs. Brown's family was farmers; her father owned his own land and her grandfather started out as a sharecropper. They grew or raised everything that they needed.

13:15--She recalls some other relatives in the Pendleton area. George, her brother-in-law lives close by; her son Joe Brown lived in Charlotte. The rest of the family moved up north.

15:45--Jobs available to blacks during the early twentieth century--Mrs. Brown explains that men were farmers, carpenters, or worked on the railroad. The black women would take care of the house, be cooks, midwives, or nurses. Ms. Brown herself was a nurse, a midwife, and picked cotton as a child for $0.35 a day.

18:31--Mrs. Brown's family shopped at Hunter's Store in Pendleton for sugar, coffee, and rice. The other things that were needed were grown or raised. Black families were allowed to buy on credit in white stores. The family made their own clothes and quilts.

24:00--Mrs. Brown's father made a table for the house. A wedding present from her mother was $5.00, two pigs, and a rooster.

26:00--Mrs. Brown does not recall any musicians in the family. The family members were craftsmen's and the ladies did needle work.

27:42--Brown recalls a tornado that went through Pendleton. While Mrs. Brown's mother was in bed with a baby the tornado blew the roof off the house.

29:39--Mrs. Brown recall the flu epidemic. Brown herself was a nurse; she wore a cloth with medicine around her neck so that she would not get sick while helping others.

32:12--Audio ends.

Cassette 1

Side 2

00:10--Brown explains her involvement with Kings Chapel AME church. She has been a member since she was fifteen years old. Kings Chapel was the largest black church in the area. Rev. Daniel was the first minister she remembers. The extended family of Mrs. Brown attends Kings Chapel and Mountain Springs.

02:15--Kings Chapel cemetery was located in the north side of Pendleton. The church held camp meetings yearly. Mrs. Brown ran tables, which means she cooked and sold food all day long. She prepared fish, chicken, ice cream, and sandwiches (sold for $0.50 each). The camp meetings were held in the summer and were normally two days long.

5:31--Mrs. Brown recalls singing conventions. She would attend them with her sister. They were held about three times a year, and normally lasted one to two days. She was in the choir at her church and sang soprano.

10:18--Education--She attended Oak Grove School; a one room log house that utilized a stove for heat. Mr. John Coleson was her teacher. She attended school until sixth grade when she stopped and got married at the age of seventeen. The school year was three months long; the day lasted from 9am to 3pm. There was an hour lunch break at 12. A new school was built and it was much nicer. Mandy Crawford was the teacher. Mrs. Brown's mother did not attend school but her father did.

19:36--Mrs. Brown's children were the first to attend college in the family. Her baby sister did complete high school.

21:18--The books and newspapers that were at Ms. Brown's house included the bible and the Anderson Independent.

22:36--Mrs. Brown recalls that the white schools were much nicer, bigger, and had better books. They also went to school for longer semesters during the year.

24:00--When Mrs. Brown's father died, she received 25 acres of land. Mrs. Brown and her husband gave some of it to her uncles.

26:20--Mrs. Brown has taken care of 26 children total, including her children and grandchildren.

26:54--Brown's father was a member of the Masonic Lodge and was also an Art Fellow. Leaders of those groups included Peter Webb, Bob Johnson, and Jim Watkins.

32:11--Audio ends.

Cassette 2

Side 1

00:40--Mrs. Brown's mother raised her well; she was taught proper values and how to take care of herself.

1:44--Her father was one of the first individuals in the area to own oxen and horses; he utilized these working animals on local farms.

3:55--Lynching--Mrs. Brown had always heard talk of them, but had never seen one herself. Rather, her grandparents had more intimate knowledge of such events in their own day. They were originally from the mountains, and life there was much harsher than what they found when they moved to the Piedmont.

5:00--Mrs. Brown is unaware of any heavy-handed tactics by local law enforcement against blacks. She personally had no problems.

5:33--Male/female roles in regards to relationships and marriage are briefly discussed. Marital roles between her parents, as well as those of her and her husband, were equal. There was no "boss." Mrs. Brown was married to her husband for 63 years.

8:51--The treatment of mulattos--in general these individuals were treated with respect, but some tried to "pass for white." Mrs. Brown had a number of mulatto family members.

9:30--When she was a youth, the family would go to Anderson, SC twice a year in order to attend the county fair and the movie theater. They would occasionally go to Greenville, SC to see relatives.

11:10--When the subject of jobs and employment is brought up, Mrs. Brown briefly mentions that she worked as a midwife in the Clemson and La France communities for 26 years.

12:45--She can't really say if blacks from different areas such as Seneca and Pendleton had similar or dissimilar experiences, or if any one black community was better off than the other.

13:02--Holidays in the black community--the Fourth of July would bring all of the black community churches together for picnics and fellowship. Christmas involved visits by Santa Claus. The children would leave little sacks in hopes that Santa would fill them on Christmas Eve. On Christmas morning one could usually find sacks filled with fruit, candy, and nuts. Families usually visited each other around New Year's.

16:46--Mrs. Brown didn't attend cakewalks and other such parties; her upbringing frowned on that type behavior.

20:25--Mamie Crawford was an especially admired adult to her. Mrs. Brown can remember eating Sunday dinner with her on many occasions.

21:44--Mrs. Brown's house burned at some point in her life. At the time she was looking after 9 children. Her sisters helped out tremendously.

23:40--Some of her fondest childhood memories are of eating with friends and family on Sunday afternoons.

25:30--Relationships between whites and blacks seemed to be positive.

27:00--Mrs. Brown briefly describes her church conversion as a youth.

29:42--Mrs. Harrell thanks Mrs. Brown for the interview and the audio ends.

Cassette 2

Side 2

Blank