Introduction Edith Fields was born on an early May morning in 1935 in Portsmouth, Virginia, the heart of the Great Depression. And 23 years before the Brown vs. Board of Education case, which outlawed school segregation in the United States. An African American woman born and raised in the United States South, her culture is one full of obstacles, rich history, and texture. From her firm religious beliefs to the way she still cooks Sunday dinners for her family every week, her culture and values are unique. I met Ms. Fields in 2016, while volunteering at the local Habitat for Humanity restore where she has been a frequent donator since she retired many years ago. I was fascinated by her firm yet kind approach to everyone she met. She displayed a no nonsense attitude and seemed to take in everyone at the store as if they were her own family member. These are only a few examples of significant parts of her culture as a working class African American and Senior …show more content…
Citizen. Her culture can be summed up in three words, Faith, Family, and Food. And in the words of Edith, “in that order.” Interview Edith was the 3rd child of 7 children, and the oldest girl. She grew up with her siblings and parents, primarily raised by her mother. Her father wasn’t around much. While he took on the protector role when he was, their relationship was strained for most of her life. Because of this, her mother was the one that taught her everything she knows. Being raised by a mostly independent mother she holds a strong belief in women being capable to hold their own and provide for themselves. While she does believe in certain gender roles, she’s does believe in a level of equality between women and men. From her upbringing Edith doesn’t think marriage is for everyone, she does believe everyone should commit in relationships and each person should pull their share in one. In addition to romantic relationships, she holds strong beliefs in the upbringing of children as well. Her parents were stern with Edith and her siblings, and spankings and physical punishment were common. This was passed on to Edith as well, who believes that spankings are necessary to discipline children. But to her a good parent is anyone who truly does “the best they can for their children, and God handles the rest.” From her family she was also taught affection. For example, as physical space she believes everyone’s personal space should be respected. With family, and close friend’s hugs and cheek kisses are usual greetings and ways to depart from each other. She also learned a few things about healing from her mother, that have stuck with her. While she strongly believes in visiting the doctor and taking medications, she also relies on home remedies as well. She has a large box of healing recipes passed down from generation to generation, some even from the days of slavery. Being an older sister to 4 siblings, Edith spent much of her time looking out for them and caring for them, in a way becoming their main defender. This taught her the importance of family values at a young age. Frequently visiting her cousins, uncles, and aunts her family was a tight knit one. Family is one of the main pillars in the African American community, and was especially during that time period in America. In some cases, family was the only bright spot in tumultuous times. A common practice that still persists today, is “extended unofficial” family members, which are people unrelated by blood but are taken into families anyway. They may be children in the neighborhood, or good friends of parents. But it wasn’t unusual to dub them “Cousin” “Auntie” or “Uncle.” In her culture today, family is still essential, and a definite structure exists in it. The eldest members are the ones at the top, influence wise. They are to be respected and their advice is valuable. This dynamic persists in her own family today, where her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, know to “never play with Grandma.” And when conflict arises in her family or even outside of it, she strongly believes in her own personal way of approaching it. She never skirts around problems with others, she acknowledges it head on and “saying her peace.” After that she will put it behind her, and never hold a grudge. Being the matriarch of the family, she has mediated many conflicts over the years with her children, grandchildren, and even their children. A few additional parts of her culture include her religion, and work ethic. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t in church” Edith says of her faith. She was baptized at age 13 along with her sister. She took her children to church when she was older, and still belongs to one to this very day. If Family was a pillar of her culture, faith is an even larger one. As a Christian, she is a part of the dominant religion in America, and has no doubt been influenced by it. For example, her work ethic is important and is taught through her religion. After graduating high school, she worked various jobs over the years, becoming manager at a number of establishments. Though she wasn’t rich, she was able to provide for her children her entire life, and even had enough to help feed some of her neighborhood children. She didn’t see college as a necessity for herself but for her children. Education is something she has always believed in, and taught to her children. She was born at a time where education was not guaranteed to her, so she made sure her children took advantage of it. Being a hard worker her entire life, she’s also a stickler for time. She believes being on time is late and being early is on time. Even now she relies on others primarily to get around. She tends to get upset, and slightly disrespected when others take their time when she travels with them. Edith has lived a long life full of joy, yet significant obstacles as well. She was not allowed to vote until she was in her 30s. With the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 she was to finally exercise her voice in the country she had lived in her entire life. The landmark Brown V. Board of Education case of 1954 directly affected her children, the oldest being 5 at the time. It allowed her children greater opportunities for education than she had ever had in her life up until that point. Ultimately, she completely identifies with black culture. As it’s the “only one [She] knows.” However, she considers herself a little detached from the technology heavy culture of today. Technology isn’t her main focus, and she sees no reason to keep up with it. Therefore, she isn’t assimilated in the millennial culture that is so overpowering today. Edith mentioned the slight difficulties she had when joining the workforce. She’d been mostly segregated for her life, and working with people of other races was an adjustment. White culture being the “dominant” one in America, was what she was forced to assimilate into to move up the ladder. However, it never changed who she was at her core. From the interview there were similarities that I identified between her cultural upbringing and mine. As a Baptist, religion played a large role in my life, especially through my own parents and grandparents. Family continues to be one of, if not the most, significant part of my life. I have several “cousins” who I am not related to by blood, but consider them no different than my biological family. Even with a 60-year age gap, my upbringing held many similarities with Edith’s. Things such as affection and corporal punishment, attending church regularly, and the power structure in my family are reflective of her experiences. No doubt a result of us both being people of color. Edith’s comments about assimilation into the dominant culture also struck a chord with me. As a minority woman, I’ve frequently been asked to change or act a certain way that’s more reflective of mainstream culture to fit in or be better qualified for a job. Reflection Towards the end of the interview, Edith said something so significant that it will stick with me throughout my career.
“You don’t have to talk to us old people a certain way, because we’re the same as everyone else.” I believe as a society we have a way of discrediting the elderly, or treating them in a lesser way because of their age. It’s important to continue to give senior citizens the respect they deserve. That does not mean to ignore the issues that are unique to the group, but we must not allow it to cloud our view and influence our actions towards the group. Born in the middle of one of the worst economic crisis’s in the world, she has known a lifestyle of frugalness. A stark contrast to my generation’s culture of excess. Through talking with Edith, if I were to work with clients who were brought up in those times I’d have to ensure I was relatable and not inadvertently showy. It’s essential to establish a proper understanding of someone’s background to efficiently determine how to
react. While there were many aspects of her culture that I knew, I was slightly surprised to learn of a few liberal leaning beliefs that she held, especially for the time period in in which she was raised. Her views on marriage were surprising as it’s never been a necessity in a solid relationship to her. Previously I’d always assumed it was the only way for a relationship to be legitimate for those over a certain age group. Conclusion This project was a way to explore diversity in a different way. Honestly, I’d assumed that beliefs were pretty uniform among each race. However, there are an abundance of subcultures that are never considered. This underscores the significance that effective communication can have in understanding someone that is different from you. Proper interpersonal communication can help build bridges and form relationships with people from a multitude of diverse backgrounds.
Hale, Grace Elizabeth. Making whiteness: the culture of segregation in the south, 1890-1940. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1998
On the night of Saturday, February 1, 2014, I sat down with my grandfather, David Latta, to conduct an interview with him. He currently lives in Clarkston, Michigan, in the newly refurbished basement in my mother's house, along with my step-father, sister, and her son. One could say that my mother's household is quite the crowded nest, with four generation living under one roof. The perspective my grandfather obtains from living in such an atmosphere, is not only something I kept in mind while conducting this interview, but something that guided my questions.
Glenda Gilmore’s book Gender & Jim Crow shows a different point of view from a majority of history of the south and proves many convictions that are not often stated. Her stance from the African American point of view shows how harsh relations were at this time, as well as how hard they tried for equity in society. Gilmore’s portrayal of the Progressive Era is very straightforward and precise, by placing educated African American women at the center of Southern political history, instead of merely in the background.
Students were assigned this essay as an inside look at oppression and racism from the last one hundred years, told by two elderly ladies in the book, Having Our Say. 100 Years of Degradation There are several books that have to be read in English 095. Having Our Say is one of them. My advice is to read this book while you are still in 090 or 094, just to get the advantage. These are some things that you will discover in this extraordinary biography. This book is tough to take as humorous, because it’s heart-wrenching to look at racism in America, but Having Our Say, manages to pull off the feat. Having Our Say really makes you think and tries to somehow reflect on the past as if you were actually there. As a white male, I am amazed at how these two African American sisters were able to live through over one hundred years of racism and discrimination, and then be able to write about their experience in a humorous, yet very interesting way. Having Our Say chronicles the lives of Sadie and Bessie Delany, two elderly colored sisters (they prefer the term colored to African-American, black, and negro), who are finally having their say. Now that everyone who ever kept them down is long dead, Sadie and Bessie tell the stories of their intriguing lives, from their Southern Methodist school upbringing to their involvement in the civil rights movement in New York City. Sadie is the older, 103 years old, and sweeter of the sisters. The first colored high school teacher in the New York Public School System, Sadie considers herself to be the Booker T. Washington of the sisters, always shying away from conflict and looking at both sides of the issue. Bessie is the younger sister, 101 years old, and is much more aggressive. A self-made dentist who was the only colored female at Columbia University when she attended dentistry school there, Bessie is the W.E.B. Dubois of the sisters, never backing down from any type of confrontation. As the sisters tell the stories of their ancestors and then of themselves, and how they have endured over 150 years of racism in America, they tend to focus mainly on the struggles that they encountered as colored women. Bessie brings laughter to the book with her honest, frank, and sometimes, confrontational take on life.
Anne Moody’s memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, is an influential insight into the existence of a young girl growing up in the South during the Civil-Rights Movement. Moody’s book records her coming of age as a woman, and possibly more significantly, it chronicles her coming of age as a politically active Negro woman. She is faced with countless problems dealing with the racism and threat of the South as a poor African American female. Her childhood and early years in school set up groundwork for her racial consciousness. Moody assembled that foundation as she went to college and scatter the seeds of political activism. During her later years in college, Moody became active in numerous organizations devoted to creating changes to the civil rights of her people. These actions ultimately led to her disillusionment with the success of the movement, despite her constant action. These factors have contributed in shaping her attitude towards race and her skepticism about fundamental change in society.
The Author of this book (On our own terms: race, class, and gender in the lives of African American Women) Leith Mullings seeks to explore the modern and historical lives of African American women on the issues of race, class and gender. Mullings does this in a very analytical way using a collection of essays written and collected over a twenty five year period. The author’s systematic format best explains her point of view. The book explores issues such as family, work and health comparing and contrasting between white and black women as well as between men and women of both races.
Growing up as the young child of sharecroppers in Mississippi, Essie Mae Moody experienced and observed the social and economic deprivation of Southern Blacks. As a young girl Essie Mae and her family struggled to survive, often by the table scraps of the white families her mother worked for. Knowing little other than the squalor of their living conditions, she realizes this disparity while living in a two-room house off the Johnson’s property, whom her mother worked for, watching the white children play, “Here they were playing in a house that was nicer than any house I could have dreamed of”(p. 33). Additionally, the segregated school she attends was a “one room rotten wood building.” (p. 14), but Essie Mae manages to get straight A’s while caring for her younger sibli...
My grandfather, Larry, served in WWII. He enlisted and stationed at Camp Polk. He went through places like New Guinea and the Philippines during the war.
To the modern white women who grew up in comfort and did not have to work until she graduated from high school, the life of Anne Moody reads as shocking, and almost too bad to be true. Indeed, white women of the modern age have grown accustomed to a certain standard of living that lies lightyears away from the experience of growing up black in the rural south. Anne Moody mystifies the reader in her gripping and beautifully written memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, while paralleling her own life to the evolution of the Civil Rights movement. This is done throughout major turning points in the author’s life, and a detailed explanation of what had to be endured in the name of equality.
In the early 1940’s Marie was born into a small tight knit family living in a small rural Kentucky town. Marie is now in her seventies and has led a very interesting life traveling the country, raising four children, and shaping her chosen profession. Our interview sessions were conducted over a period of time, as Marie is very active and has little “free time” to spare.
Mrs. Maxine represents my archetypal view of the healthy "seasoned citizen." Maxine is a Caucasian female born in rural, Mullens, West Virginia in 1926. She is the only child of a Southern Baptist, "middle class" family. Joseph Hammond, her father, was a farmer. Her mother, Ruby, was a "full-time parent" and prided herself on "running the house." Maxine explained that farmers wife's were routinely responsible for the day-to-day operations of the household. Her Southern Baptist faith was complements of her parents and minister grandfather.
Older adults are a very knowledgeable population and have had a lot of life experiences. As people age, things start to change physically, mentally, and socially. It’s important to understand the process of aging, so that older adults can be taken care of properly. I interviewed P.R. who is a 71-year-old male that lives alone in his home. P.R. is a retired coal miner, and is currently living off his social security and savings. He lives close to both his daughter and son, who frequently help him out with things that are needed. P.R. was able to give me a lot of insight about specific challenges that he has experienced in his life that is associated with aging. I will be discussing challenges that P.R experienced physically, mentally,
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.
Aging is about the experiences and there are several chapters in older people’s lives. We can learn from the elderly and their lives. (Tappen, 1981). The interview was very interesting to discover how people thought and lived in the 1930s and 1940s. In addition, how hard it was to get opportunities to get educated and get a job. People were stricter about specific topics such as sexual orientation, morality, sex. The majority of older people lived in poverty, and they married underage, as well as they had a lot of children. Also, older people had to do hard work because they don’t have a chance to get a college degree. Parenthood was very different in these days, and they were stricter to their children, and the