- Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Title:
- Interview with Valerie Lockett and Evelyn Howard
- Contributor to Resource:
- Lockett, Valerie
Howard, Evelyn
Hamrick, Peggy - Date of Original:
- 1984-09-01
- Subject:
- Lockett, Valerie--Interviews
Howard, Evelyn --Interviews - Location:
- United States, Alabama, Jefferson County, Birmingham, 33.52066, -86.80249
- Medium:
- interviews
transcripts - Type:
- Sound
Text - Format:
- audio/mpeg
image/jpeg - Description:
- In this interview, Valerie Lockett, with help from her sister Evelyn Howard, recalls various aspects of black society from the days of segregation. Lockett remembers the social clubs for black women in the thirties and forties. She says they focused on everything from preparing girls for debutante balls to civics to playing Bridge. Lockett also talks about the music scene in Birmingham, how many famous jazz musicians had been in Birmingham, and in Fess Whatley's band, such as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong. She also describes how different groups hung out on the four corners of the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Seventeenth Street. Lockett and Howard talk about living in a segregated society. Lockett says it didn't bother her to have to walk back to the black side of town to eat when she was out shopping in a white area. While that seemed normal, not being allowed to use the restrooms or drinking fountains frustrated her. Howard remembers getting off a bus once because she refused to give up her seat to a white man. She says it made her so angry she cried. Lockett recalls being harassed and followed by a white man, but she didn't report it because she didn't think that would do any good. Lockett and Howard describe time with their family. Their entertainment was reciting poetry, playing the piano and singing, and playing bridge and outdoor games like croquet. Howard also recalls going to church with her grandmother and talks about the importance of gospel music. Lockett talks about teaching high school from 1945-1952 at Parker, the only black high school in Birmingham. While she found the school's focus on industrial education good, she also remembers how the principal was of mixed race, so she feels like the light-skinned students has an advantage. She remembers that the drama teacher didn't like to put darker blacks on stage; in one instance, a light-skinned girl who couldn't sing was cast in a play, and a darker-skinned girl sang her part off stage while she mouthed the words. Lockett also talks about working with musicians Fess Whatley and Malachi Wilkerson through the school.
The digitization of this collection was funded by a gift from EBSCO Industries. - Metadata URL:
- http://digitalcollections.libraries.ua.edu/cdm/ref/collection/u0008_0000003/id/43
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Images are in the public domain or protected under U.S. copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), and both types may be used for research and private study. For publication, commercial use, or reproduction, in print or digital format, of all images and/or the accompanying data, users are required to secure prior written permission from the copyright holder and from archives@ua.edu. When permission is granted, please credit the images as Courtesy of The University of Alabama Libraries Special Collections.
- Original Collection:
- Working Lives Oral History Project
- Contributing Institution:
- William Stanley Hoole Special Collections Library
- Rights:
-
