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... HOPES 'AT SOMEBODY
WILL COME ALONG TO TALK TO
(Georgia)
"Yeah, I'll tell you all about myself,
I got plenty ob time. I jes set right here all day long and hopes 'at
somebody will come along to talk to."
"I'm from Lithonia; I was born there on a farm. My dad and mother had five
children, me and four sisters.
"Yeah, I called 'em Dad and Mother, but I was de only one ob de children
'at called 'm 'at - the rest called 'em Mamma and Papa.
"My dad he died about nine years back; my mother died when I wus small. I
have a sister in Cincinnati and one in Decatur. The rest is dead. Dey said
'at my mother died wid T.B.'s She wus sick jes 'bout one year. My dad he
jes got sick and died. He wudn' sick long and I don't know what he died
wid, but he didn' die wid no T. B.'s. One ob my sisters died wid pneumonia
and de other 'n she got shot. She went in a room where another man and
woman wus fightin' and got shot accidentally. My other two sisters is
married and is gittin' along right well.
"We worked de farm in Lithonia on halves. The man furnished all de seed,
feed, mule, tools, and ever'thing; and we got half uv ever'thing we made.
Yeah, we had plenty to eat and I guess I had a right good time when I wus
er growin' up. I sho did want a bicycle though but I never did git none. I
had 'at mule to ride though and 'at wus better 'n a bicycle but I didn'
know it then. Yeah, my dad could er bought one if 'en he 'ad wanted to
'cause we most always had some money left over after seddlin' -up time.
When we had a good crop we'd have about five or six hundred dollars left
after all de bills wus paid.
"I never went to school much, jes about two years. I can't write none to
do no good and I can read jes a little bit. My sisters went to school a
whole lot more 'an I did. I done most ob de work. I don't remember much
about 'at school. We jes had two teachers and I don't jes know how many
went but de wus a good many. Naw, we didn't have no playgrounds nor nothin'.
It wus jes a country school.
"We played marbles most all de time when I wus a little boy. Sometimes we
played baseball though.
"When I wus a pretty good size boy, I used to work here in Atlanta in de
winter time. I wus a pretty bad un then. I got locked up for shootin' crap
or eye-ballin' most ever' Saddy night. Awe, eye-ballin', dat's when you
aint gamblin', you is jes watchin' de game. Dey locks you up though jes de
same. My boss-man he always got me out. Yeah, dey had 'at kangaroo court
in 'at jail. If 'en you paid 'em a quarter though you wouldn' git no
licks. Yeah, I always give 'em 'at quarter.
"I went to North Carolina to work at Big-Rock Quarry when I wus about
twenty-four years old. I made five-twenty er day up there drillin' rock.
Awe, I worked in 'at rock quarry at Lithonia some and 'at's where I
learned to drill rock. Dey jes paid me a dollar and er half er day for
workin' there though. Awe, I jes made er dollar and er quarter when I wus
drivin' teams in Atlanta.
"I didn' stay in North Carolina long, jes 'bout six months. I went to West
Virginia to work in de coal mines. I made eight dollars and one penny er
day er drivin' er mule in dem mines. Later on, I made ten er twelve
dollars er day loading coal. 'At wus hard work but de more you worked de
more money you made. Awe, I could load about four er five cars er day. Dey
wus cars dey use in de mines, dey holds four er five tons.
"Naw, we 'ad plenty ob work to do ever' day in de week. I never did git
laid-off none, not one day. I'd work about three er four months though and
den I'd jes stay off er week er two. Naw, I wouldn' git tired er workin',
jes tired er goin' to work ever' day. Naw, when I'd go back dey would
always put me back to work.
"I still shot craps most ob de time
when I wudn' at work and I made money when I gambled. Sometimes I'd win
two er three hundred dollars. Naw, dey don' lock you up fer gamblin' up
there. They don' pay no attention to you. Naw, I wouldn' lose near as much
as I'd win. Naw, I didn' save none ob my money. I wus a fancy dresser in 'em
days and I spent most ob my money on women.
"Naw, I never did git married. I wouldn' marry no woman pig-in-the-sack.
Dey might be er 'possum in 'at sack. I had to try 'em before I married 'em
and when I tried 'em, well, I jes never did marry 'em. I would er married
one though but she wanted to git married too quick and we fell out.
"Dey got me in de army in 1918. I wus sent to Camp Lee. Naw, I didn' do no
fightin'. I jes stayed at de camp. Naw, I wudn' scared, I wanted to go to
France and fight. Some uv 'em wus scared though but most uv 'em wanted to
fight. Naw, dey wudn' nothin' but colored men in my company. We 'ad some
white officers though. When der war wus over dey sent me down here to Camp
Gordon. Den dey let me out.
"I stayed around here fer a while and den I went to Tom Creek, Va. I got a
job loadin' coal at de V. I. C. mine. I worked there 'bout four years and
'at's where I got my legs cut off.
"One Tuesday mornin' I went to work and dey wudn' no empty cars on de
tracks to load de coal in. I walked up to where de cars wus, and when de
engine started to pushin' down to where we wus er gonna load 'em I went to
swing on one to ride down there and my foot slipped and I fell under de
car. De wheels run over me and cut off both my legs up above my knees. I
wus in de hospital for seven months. When I got out dey sent me to de poor
farm. My cousin, Ethel Brown, come 'air and got me and carried me back to
West Virginia to live wid her.
"Naw, dey didn' pay me nothin' fer gittin' my legs cut off. Dey aint never
give me one cent. Dey give me some artificial legs but I aint never been
able to use 'em. You see when you git both yo' legs cut off above yo'
knees you can't git about on no artificial legs and crutches. You see when
I gits to standin' up on 'em legs and crutches I can throw my legs out in
front of me but, wid my legs like 'at, how is I gonna git my crutches off
the ground then and how is I gonna git my legs back under me again. You
can't do it so you jes falls down. If I had jes one knee joint I could git
about on 'em legs all right.
"I stayed wid my cousin fer two or three years and den I went to Lynch,
Kentucky, and lived wid another one ob my cousins, Doll Hawk, fer 'bout
two years. Den I went back to West Virginia to live wid Willie Hawk. He is
another cousin ob mine.
"I got me a truck and sold produce in West Virginia. I made five er six
dollars er day. I made my own livin' fer a while but then it got so I
couldn' sell enough to pay the boy I had drivin' 'at truck so I had to
quit. 'At boy wrecked 'at truck a while after 'at when he had it borrowed
and I never did git it fixed up no more. 'At truck never wus no good much
nohow.
"De American Legion man got the government to pay me forty dollars er
month. Den I could pay some board and de folks didn' mind me bein' aroun'
so much.
"When Roosevelt got in office he cut my check down to thirty dollars. I
show will be glad when de Republicans git back in, so I'll git my ten
dollars er month back again. Year, I's er Republican. I voted for Hoover
and Landon. Naw, I won't vote next year if I's still down here. I jes
votes when I's in West Virginia. Us Niggers don' vote down here.
"I think dis WPA had jes made er lot er lazy Niggers. When I had my legs I
didn' want de government to give me no job nor nothin'; I could always git
one fer myself. Well, maybe jobs is harder to git now den dey wus twenty
years ago. I never thought about it like 'at. You is right, it wus about
eight or nine years ago when I had to stop sellin' produce 'cause I couldn'
sell none hardly. Will said he had been ever'where for er job and couldn'
find none. I guess he is havin' a hard time er payin' de rent and de
bills. I pays him four dollars er week though fer my stayin' here and
Essie, Will's wife, she works and makes six dollars er week, but Will he
stays out of er job 'bout half de time and when he's got one he don' make
nothin' much.
"Yea , I gits tired settin' here all de time. I don' think about nothin'
much. You see, I done got used to it now. I can git down de steps and go
down to de corner but it's more trouble 'an it's worth. I has stomach
trouble and it keeps me feelin' bad pretty near all de time now. I has had
it fer years. I's been aimin' to go out to Forty Eight Hospital and see if
I can't git somethin' done fer it but I jes keeps puttin' it off.
"Naw, I don' never go to church; I used to go sometimes before I lost my
legs but not very much.
"I's goin' back to West Virginia, if I gits to feelin' better. I believe I
like it better up there. Money is easier to git up there.
"Well, I guess I'll be settin' right here when you comes back along. I'll
talk wid you any time."
Archie seems to be about fifty years old and would weigh about one hundred
and seventy-five pounds, if he had his legs. Both legs were cut off high
above his knees. His clothes were old and tattered; he had a worn-out
piece of leather under him, which was laced around his hips and leg-nubs.
He moves himself along by raising his body from a sitting position with
his hands, then throwing his body forward, then lowering his body to a
sitting position again. He uses two wooden"trowels", he calls them (they
are made like plasterers' trowels), to protect his hands and to increase
his reach about four inches.
The house where Archie lives has four rooms and is in good repair.
Archie's cousin, his cousin's wife, and Archie live in two rooms on the
left side of the house. Another couple occupy the other two rooms. All the
furniture in the left side of the house is new and a new rug is on the
floor. A large console radio stands in the front room. Archie sleeps in
the kitchen on a cot. They cook their meals on an oil stove. There is no
bath room in the house; a flush toilet is in the back yard. There is no
sink in the kitchen; a spigot is on the back porch. Both rooms were very
clean and neat, quite a contrast to Archie.
I guess Archie is still sitting in that doorway waiting and hoping "'At
somebody will come along to talk to".
Archie George (Negro)
180 Sampson St., NE
Atlanta, Georgia.
By William Jenkins
November 17, 1939
Text from: Library of
Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers' Project Collection
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