An Interview with MRS. EMILY COACH December 13, 1977 ...da.mdah.ms.gov/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU335_099216.pdf · Put them out there under this tent, they'd build this tent

An Interview with

MRS. EMILY COACHDecember 13, 1977

Interview~d byDaisy M. Greene

MississippiDepartment of Archives and History

and theWashington County Library System

Oral History Project:Greenvi1~e and Vicinity

NOTICEThis material may be

MISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY protected by cOPYrightlaw (Title 17U.S. Code).

{fJ335OR 1979.l.036Interviewee:Interviewer:

Title:

Collection Title:

Scope Note:

Emily CoachDaisy Greene

An interview with Emily Coach, December 13, 1976/interviewed by Daisy Greene

Washington County Oral History Project

The Washington County Library System, with assistancefrom the Mississippi Department of Archives andHistory, conducted oral history interviews with localcitizens. The project interviews took place between 1976and 1978. The interviewees included long-termresidents of the Greenville-Washington County area intheir late 50's and older.

1

This is December 13, 1976. This is Daisy Greeneinterviewing Mrs. Emily Coach of 357 North Orange Street,Green~ille, Mississippi.

GREE~ffi:What were your parents names, Mrs. Coach?COACH: Henry Langston, that was my dad and my

:mother was named Lillie Langston.GREENE: So your maiden name was Emily Langston

Coach -- Emily Langston.COACH: Emily Langston.GREENE: Do you have any children?COACH: Five.GREE..1Iffi:How many are at home right now?COACH: Well, "there is just two.GREE~m: I understand you work. You lived on a farm.COACH: Yes.GREENE: Where was that?COACH: It was out at Anchorage.GREENE: What place was that near?COACH: Well, it's down there on the other side of

Louise. They call it Ancho~age Curve.GREENE: Anker s CurveCOACH: Anchorage Curve.GREENE: I see. Did you own the farm?COACH: No, ma'am. J. B. Barret's farm. NOTICE

MISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY

ThiS material may be

protected by copyright

law (Title 17U.S. Code).

Coach 2

GP~ENE: Was that sharecropping?COACH: Yes, ma'am. Sharecropping.GREENE: I see. Just how does sharecropping work?COACH: Well, you rent and they call it renting. Share-

cropping makes you have so many acres that they rent to you andfor the rent they pay one-fourth and you get one-fourth. It paysyou how many dollars of what you make.

GREE~lli: Something I should have asked you first iswhat is your birth date?

COACH: My birthday? Well, I th1nk I was born on theninth. I would have to call Cosnello to get that birth date butit is this month but, anyhow, I will be fifty-six.

GREEllli: Well, your birthday is sometime in December?COACH: In December, yes.GREENE: And yeu will be fifty-seven.COACH: Fifty-seven.GREErlli: Do you know the year you were born?COACH: 1919.GREENE: 1919. Now we were talking about the share-

cropping on the farm. Just what was provided on the farm?COACH: Well, the boss man give you Well, just.like the first of March and you would get limit check and it was

according to how many you had in the family. You would get thatfor six months and then after that you would be on your own.You would go back to picking cotton. You would pick bales andthen you would get the seed money and that's what they had to

NOTICE

MISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORYThis material may be


law (Title 17U. S. Code).

Coach 3

live on was seed money. And, then, after then you know when theysell the cotton we'd settle, they'd call it settlement. If youcleared any money you'd get it, if ~ot you wouldn't get nothing.

GREENE: Roughly, how many bales did you make perseason?

COACH: Well, you see it was according to how manyacres of land you had, you could make bales because say, if you~ad 30 acres you could make about a bale to the acre, I think itwas.

GREENE: Do you remember what th~ highest amount was?COACH: I remember one "time we made forty bales of

cotton.GREENE: What did you get for each bale?COACH: For each bale? Well, I simply forget how much

it was, how much they allowed for a bale but when they sell itnow like you get 'maybe a hundred and some odd dollars for eachbale. You see, the white man had to get his part out of thereif he sold. Anyway, if you come out in the clear you would getit. Just like the way you would clear five or six hundreddollars or maybe ten hundred or whatever, like that.

GREENE: HOyT did you get your cotton pickers?COACH: Cotton pic~ers?GREENE: How did you harvest the cotton?COACH: Well, we would have to pick it with our hands.GREENE: You didn't hire anyone to help you pick it?COACH: Well, sometimes, just like you made maybe

NOTICE

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Coach 4

20 or 45 biles and you couldn't get it yourself you had to hiresomebody. The boss man would have to pay and then he wouldtake it out of what you were going to clear.

GREENE: About what year was this?COACH: What year it was? I can't remember. I forget

what year it was way back. It was about thirty some years ago.GREENE: Do you remember how much people were paid to

-pf.ck cotton?.<

COACH: Yes, ma'am. In that time, way back in thattime, they wasn't getting over $1.50 a hunared and from that toa $1.00 and then back there, about ten years ago, it went up to$2.00 a hundred. I remember then the last cotton we made theygave me $2.50.

GREE}lli: What about your schooling for the children?COACH: Well, you see it was kind of poor --- walking

so far before they could get to school. That was before theystarted buses, you know. Then after they started the buses they

I

had to meet the bus at a certain place so all my children wouldmeet it at Anchorage Curve. Now it is called Louise School butbefore that they called it Hall School. It was about a mileaway from the house. .GREENE: You said the children had to meet the bus atAnchorage Curve?

COACH: Yes, ma'am.GREENE: A-n-c-h-o-r-a-g-e, Anchorage Curve. That's

not far out from Yazoo City. NOTICE


This material may be


law (Title 17 U.S. Code).

Coach

COACH: Well, it's. about 14 miles from Yazoo City butit is about 6 miles from Louise.

GREElffi: You were fairly close to Louise.COACH: I was close to the Curve. I was six miles

away fr'om Louise.GREENE: Coming back to the school? What was the

condition of the school? Do you remember how many teachers there:were in it?

COACH: No, ma'am. I don't know how many teachers wasin it.

GREENE: Was it a church school?COACH: Church school? No, it was just a big school.

The first name of the school, I done forgot the name of the firstschool. It burned down. Then they built the school back and itwas named Hontgomery.

GREENE: Montgomery?COACH: Montgomery High.GREENE: Montgomery High. You said they went to

Montgomery High?COACH: Yes, ma'am.GREENE: Well, that's the same school that is called

Humphrey College - that's a .Training School.COACH: They they went to a school down there at --

on the other side of •------ That was the first schoolthat's the oldest boy that was there.

GREENE: How old is he?NOTICE


MISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY protected by copyrightlaw (Title 17U. S. Code).

Coach 6

COACH: The oldest. boy? He's 37 years old now.GREE~~: Did you have any fun on the farm,

Mrs. Coach?COACH: Yes. It was a lot of fun at that time, it

was a lot of fun. K lot of people living close around, youknow, and a lot of houses. It was a lot of fun.

GREErJE: But, what did they do for fun?COACH: For fun? They would just go out, you know,

and meet up at Louise and have a little fun at the camp sittingat places like that and sometimes we would'"give a box supperand things like that at the chur~h, you know, and so I'd callit a feast in the wilderness, then sing. You know, going tochurch, we'd have a lot of fun out of it then.

GREENE: How often did your church have services?COACH: Every 'third Sunday, once a month.GREE~~: Do you have any idea what they paid the

Pastor for his services once a month?/

COACH: It was a dollar. It was at first seventy-fivecents and then went from there to a dollar.

GREENE: You mean each person paid a dollar onthe Pastor's -- ?

COACH: A dOllar. It was according to how many wasin the family. If they was grown they paid a dollar, if theywas children they paid seventy-five cents, and then it went upfrom that to two dollars and three dollars.

GRE1NE: Do you have any idea how many people wereNOTICE



law (Title 17U, s. Code).

Coach 7

in that chUrch?COACH: No, ma'am. I don't have no idea now. It

was quite a bit, sometimes it is around 300.GREENE: And the grown members paying $1.00 eac.

He got .$300.00 for qne Sunday?COACH: I imagine he did. I know he di~ sometime

he would get more than that.GREENE: Have you heard your parents say anything

about slavery?COACH: Well, I used to hear them.:.talk about it a

long bit ago. They would talk aQout, you know, how theywould do in slavery, he working for white people. They couldn'tgo nowhere until he tells you. And they'd have to do whatever"Old Haster" say do. Of course they couldn't tell what timehe coming in or what. It was just like they was in jail 'causeyou couidn't do nothing unless it was what they tell you to do,so they stayed there and cooked, cleaned up and washed and dowhatever they telled you to do and I don't believe theie's toomuch fun unless you can do like you want to do.

GREENE: Well, I guess not.Well, do you remember hearing them say how the small

children were treated when the parents went to the field?COACH: Well, they had to take them to the field with

them. Put them out there under this tent, they'd build thistent and put them under this tent with food and water and everynow and then, they'd go back and check on them - give them water



law (Title 17U. S. Code).MISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY

Coach 8

or give them sone food. They'd have to do that from six o'clockuntil twelve, then they'd go to dinner and come back at one,then they would get off at six in the evening.

GREErffi: I forgot to ask you about the condition ofthe house that you l'ived in on the farm?

COACH: Well, it wasn't too good.GREENE: vlhat about the water?COACH: Well, remember, it was pump water. You just

go out and pump you some water. This thing like a pump - youknow about don't you? "'.a pump,

GREENE: Yes.COACH: Well, that's what they mostly used.

Well, wells -- It's been about ten years ago they put wells,you know, but mostly you'd have to go up to the well and pumpthe water out of there, you know.

GREENE: What about the toilets?COACH: We was without toilets.GREENE: Well, after you had harvested the crop did

you have any time left to have a garden and raise chickens?COACH: Yes, we had time to raise chickens and a garden.

You know about the middle of the summer you go plant you a fall.garden and along about in January you start your summer garden.

GREE!ffi: What about the chickens?COACH: Well, you could raise your chickens just like

you want because you'd have to feed them in the mornings, youknow, and late in the evening and then put out water for them

NOTICEM This material may be

ISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY protected by copyright

law (Title f7 U.S. COde).

Coach 9

and you could see to having some chickens.GREENE: I've heard that quite a few people who lived

on a farm didn't have a vegetable garden. How was it in yoursection?

.>

COACH: Well, in my section we always raised a garden.GREENE: Did you can any fruit for the winter?COACH: Yes, ma'am.GREElill: Was there much spoilage?COACH: Well, there wasn't too much. The biggest

spoilage was you couldn't get corn ~--- ~ Like peas, corn,okra and greens and stuff like that it kept right good.

GREENE: The corn spoiled very easy.COACH: Yes, very easy.GREE}lE: What did you do at Christmas time on the

farm?COACH: Well, at Christmas time we would have to go to

t own and buy a little Santa Claus for Christmas and if youIdidn't clear any money, you know, the white man would loan you

alittle money for Christmas.GREENE: Shopping at Christmas on the farm wasn't

anything like the shopping you do here?.COACH: No, ma'am. What you paid a dollar for then

you could haul a big load home but now what you get for a dollaryou get just one little baby thing. It's very different fromwhat they cost. They cost more than the little money you makenow.



law (Title 17U.S. Code).MISSISSIPPI DEPT. OF ARCHIVES & HISTORY

C.oach 10

GriEE!lli: When did your husband die?COACH: Hy husband died -- He's been dead nine years.

Well, let's see, about ten years now, he died in 1966.GREE!lli: How long did you and your husband live on

this f.;irm?COACH: Well, after we got married we lived on one

farm for about 22 years. As long as we lived together we lived:down on one farm, just moved from house to house.

GREENE: This is the farm at Anchorage?COACH: Yes. "'.

GREENE: When he died did you get Social Security foryourself and your children?

COACH: No, ma'am. I didn't get Social Security, hedidn't have a Social Security number. He did work under SocialSecurity but he didn't Have a Social Security number and when hegot sick he thought he wouldn't be here to get it, you know,and he never did have one - a Social Security card - so Ididn't get no Social Security.

GREElffi: Well, you got nothing for the children?COACH: Nothing for the children but welfare. See,

after I tried to get it -- See, he has a living wife now. I,

told them he had a wife. I live here, but the money you get forthe wife, the first wife, I don't know how that did come outbut I know I didn't get nothing on account I didn't have nocard and the children were not able to get it.

GREENE: So, you don't know whether his first wifeNOTICE

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Coach 11.

got anything or not?COACE: No, ma'am. I don't know whether she got

anything or not out of it.GREENE: You say you got what aid for the children?COACH: We-II, it was welfare.GREENE: Why did you leave this farm, Mrs. Coach?COACH: Well, it got so they wouldn't sign nobody

-but tractor drivers so the biggest boy had gone in the Army.and I didn't have nobody big enough to drive a tractor. Hecame up here to Greenville visiting and he"'wouldn't come back sothat made me have to move after my husband died because mychildren were small and we wasn't living on anything but welfare.It wasn't no good taste for us, so we moved up here to Green-ville.

GREENE: How did you manage Costello's education?COACH: Well, he borrowed money under the student

loan andGREENE: You said Costell~ borrowed moneyCOACH: It's C-o-s-t-e-l-l-a, Costella Coach.GREErffi: Yes. Well, he borrowed moneyCOACH: From the bank. He went to Alcorn.GREENE: Alcorn, A-l-c-o-r-n. Now, where aid you

say he got this money from?COACH: From the bank, he borrowed from the bank on

this Bill.GREENE: What arrangements were made for him to pay

NOTICE




Coach 12

it back?COACH: Well, he'd pay it back after he got out of

school and got a job, then he'd pay this money back.GREElill: He went somewhere else to school besides

that, d"idn't he?COACH: He went to Alcorn and he went to Jackson

State.GREENE: So far has he gotten a job?COACH: No, ma'am. He hasn't gotten a job yet.GREENE: Well, now that he is out of school now is

he making it now?COACH: Well, he can get out to different places to

try to get a job - he's been down to New Orleans, he's been toJackson and he has tried here in Greenville but he hasn't hadany luc~ getting any 'cause they don't have a job here.

GREElm: Did you tell me what school he went tobesides Alcorn?

COACH: Jackson State.GREENE: He went to Jackson State.COACH: But here in Greenville he went to Coleman

High.GREENE: Well, is .that the same boy that has a

Master's degree?COACH: Well, he tried to get it. He went in for a

test last week, but he hasn't finished enough to get it.GREENE: So he hasn'tquite finished yet. NOTICE




'aw(Title17 u.s. Code).

Coach 13

COACH: He doesn't, know exactly when he's going toget tt.

GREE~~: He has every reasonable reason to believethat he passed?

COACH: Yes, ma'am.GREErffi: Then he will have a Master's degree in Manual

Training or something of that sort?COACH: Yes, ma'am.GHEENE: Do you work and what type of a check you said

getting? ".you wereCOACH: Welfare. .GREENE: How much may you make and still get the

check?COACH: Well, they didn't tell you how much you can

make, y~u just get out and pick cotton in the fall, you know,and the children, you make a $1.00 or $40.00, according to howmuch cotton you picked every week, you know.

GREENE: I mean here in town.COACH: Oh, here in town? I haven't done any work

since I been here. I was disabled before I moved up here. Igot sick on the farm, that's why I can't work right now. I got

,sick, you know, so I was on ,the aid, you know.

GREENE: Now, that you're getting this welfare checkyou may not work?

COACH: No, ma'am. You can't work if you draw thischeck. If you told them you were disabled you can't work. I was

NOTICE



law (Title 17U.S. Code),

Coach 14

poorly disabled. I was able.to work but the children had justlittle piddling jobs.

GREENE: What is it that disables you?COACH: That disables me? Well, they say I have high

blood pressure, my heart, kidney trouble. I have fluid all in myflesh because I have thyroid trouble.

GREEI'IE: Do you like it here in town better than youaid on the farm?

COACH: Oh, yes, ma'am. They have so many betterconveniences for you here in town. You ha~e all the convenienceshere but when I was in the country we had no conveniences. Youhad to tote your water maybe a half a mile near about if you'rewalking. The well water, you know, come from a hydrant, but thepump water, you know, that wasn't so good and that was what givethe peop~e kidney trouble, that's hard water, you know.

GREENE: So, from your explanation life on the farmwas not too good.

COACH: Not too good. It was good at that time but Idon't want none of it now.

GREENE: I forgot to ask you two questions, Mrs. Coach.How far were you able to attend school?

COACH: I wasn't able to attend school. I didn't getno further than the first or second. That's as high as I got.

GREE1~: You said something about the end of the yearyour boss would settle with you, that sometimes you didn't getanything. NOTICE

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Coach 15

COACH: That's right.GREEl;E: How did this happen?COACH: Well, you see, they made bad crops and they

wouldn't make that much they would not -- there would be nothingfor you but because 'it was according to what you make --- if youcleared any th Lng they would give it to you and if you didn'tyou'd just have a bad • If you have anything to live off:of they'd have to loan you a little something, because every now.and then you'd have a bad crop year.

GREENE: Who kept the books?COACH: Kept the books~ Well, the boss man.GREE1~: You and your husband didn't keep books too?COACH: No, ma'am. They didn't allow you to do that.

Just like if you make a bale of cotton, the seed that come out ofthat, the seed ticket had a certain amount on the seed ticketthat come to you, but just bothering with the money - they keptup with that.

GREENE: I see.GREENE: The correct date of Mr's. Coach's birth is

December 19, 1919.(End of Interview)

(Transcribed by Vivian Broom)FINAL by V.B.11-14-1977



protected by copyright1!.aw1(:r.ille~.7U.S. Code).

INDEX

OF EMILY COACH

Alcorn (College), 11

Anchorage Curve, 1, 4, 5, 10

Ankers Cllrve, mentioned, 1

Army, 11

Barret, J. B., farm owner, 1

•.Christmas, 9.>

Coach, Costella, 2, eon,e, 11-13

Coach, Emily: sharecropper, J. B. Barretts farm, ~, 2,

14, 15; children's education, Hatl SchoQl, 4; Mont-

gomery High, 5; social life on farm, 6; slave parents,

7; farm house conditions, 8; Christmas, on the farm, 9;husband's death, 10

Coleman High, 12.

Hall School, 4. See also Louise School

Humphrey College, 5

Jack~on State (College), 12

Langston, Henry, father, 1

Langston, Lillie, 1

Louise (Miss.), 1, 5, 6Louise School (formerly, Hall School), 4

Manual Training, 13

Montgomery High, 5New Orleans (La.), 12

Orange Street, mentioned, 1




law ("Htle 17 U. S. Cod~j..

-2-

Santa Claus, 9Sharecropping, 2, 3, 14, 15

Slavery, 7, 8

Social Security, 10

Welfare, la, 11, 13

Yazoo City (Miss.), 4, 5

.>

c,




~ (T.ilJe 17lJ. S. Cod~.

Documents

An Interview with MRS. EMILY COACH December 13, 1977 ...da.mdah.ms.gov/vault/projects/OHtranscripts/AU335_099216.pdf · Put them out there under this tent, they'd build this tent