Archive Record
Metadata
Accession number |
2012.041 |
Catalog Number |
2012.041.001 |
Object Name |
Audiocassette |
Date |
11 Jun 2012 |
Title |
Zella Mayfield interview |
Scope & Content |
Zella Mayfield was born in 1916 in Bossier Parish. This interview especially covers her life as a student and educator in Bossier Parish African-American schools, as well as her transfer to teach in desegregated Plantation Park Elemetary School in Bossier City in 1969-1971, the first year of integrated public schools in Bossier Parish. The interview also briefly touches on her time in Benton, Louisiana politics as alderwoman and Mayor Pro-tem C. 1970-1980 ZELLA MAYFIELD This is Pam Carlisle and today is June 11, 2012. I am here with Ms. Zella Mayfield at her home in Benton, Louisiana. [Carlisle]First off, Ms. Mayfield, do I have your permission to tape record this interview. [Mayfield]I can't hear you. [Carlisle]I am sorry. You still can't hear me? [Mayfield]A little bit better. [Carlisle]Okay, do I have your permission to tape record this interview? [Mayfield]Yeah. [Carlisle]Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, first, when and where were you born? [Mayfield]I was born [indecipherable] [Son]Pleasant Hill. [Carlisle}Pleasant Hill? [Mayfield]Pleasant Hill. [Carlisle]Is that near Benton? [Son]Yeah, Benton Road over there. [Carlisle]It is near Benton? [Son]It is near Benton, right. [Carlisle]Okay, I think I have heard of it. Lets see, you are 96 years old? [Son]Correct. [Carlisle]So, what year were you born? You were born in 19?? [Son]1916. [Carlisle]1916. Okay, and did you grow up in Pleasant Hill? [Son]Did you grow up in Pleasant Hill? [Mayfield]No, I left there when I was three years old and then moved up to Gum Springs. [Carlisle]Gum Springs [Mayfield]Gum Springs, it is Linwood??? Now. [Carlisle]Okay, I have heard of that. Who were your parents? What were their names. [Son]Who were your parents? Your daddy? [Mayfield]Helen Smith Cullen and W. B. Cullen [Son]Helen Smith Cullen [Mayfield]That is all he wrote W. B. Cullen. That is all he wrote. His name was William but he wrote W. B. That is all he wrote. [Carlisle]W. B. Cullen, okay. What did they do for a living? [Son]Do you want me to… [Carlisle]Sure, go ahead. [Son]What did your momma do for a living, Mother? [Mayfield]She was a midwife. [Son]She birthed a lot of us. Brought a lot of us in. Laughter. [Mayfield]She was a midwife for him too. [Carlisle]Wow. [Son]She had us in the back room. [Carlisle]Oh, my goodness. [Son]A lot more in Benton, same thing. [Mayfield]She birthed all my children. [Carlisle]She birthed all your children, wow. [Son]There is a picture on the wall up there. [Carlisle]Oh yeah. Oh, neat. I see it. [Mayfield]Oh yes, see it. [Carlisle]And so, a lot of the babies in this area did she give birth…. [Son]She brought them into the world. Gave birth…. She midwifed a lot of your women. [Mayfield]Just about everybody. [Son]Everybody in the Benton area. She midwife for them. A lot of them named after her. Her name was Hannah. [Carlisle]Really, so a lot of babies were named Hannah? [Son]A lot of the girls are named Hannah after my grandmother. [Carlisle]Oh, that is neat. Do you know how she got her training, did she learn it from another midwife? [Son](loudly) How did Momma learn to become a midwife? [Mayfield]She watched an old lady. I remember her name…. [Son]She didn't work under Dr. Holt, did she? [Mayfield}No. She was an old lady. I can't think of her name now. That is how she got her…. She liked it too. [Carlisle]I bet. Yeah, I have a friend who is a midwife. That profession is coming back. [Son]Is that right? [Carlisle]Yeah. [Mayfield]A lot of people called her Momma Cullen. [Carlisle]Momma Cullen. [Mayfield]Hannah Cullen [Carlisle]Hanna Cullen, that is neat. What about your father? [Son]Grand Dad, look, you see that up there Arkansas Industrial University? [Carlisle]Uh huh. [Son]That was his in 18… something. That is certificate, his graduation certificate from the University of Arkansas Industrial. That is what he grandfather… Was he a teacher? [Mayfield]I will tell you about our dad. He left home when he was 12 years old. I think he was 12. [Son]Kind of like Jesus. [Mayfield]Italians [Son]He lived with some Italians. [Carlisle]Okay. [Mayfield]I guess they kept him because he was such a pretty little boy. But he was living with his sister and her husband. I don't know how they treated him. But he ran off. He stayed with the Italians. He told them if they let him stay with him, he would work for nothing. But they kept him and raised him up and sent him to school. He graduated and went on to college and everything, got his degree and everything. He taught school. [Son]That was her daddy. He was a pretty boy. [Carlisle]Laughter, goodness, yes he was. [Mayfield]I guess they took him in because he was such a pretty little boy. He taught school. He sent himself on to college. They sent him to school, but he went on to college. There is that Arkansas A & M, I think it was Arkansas A & M. [Carlisle]He went to Arkansas A & M. [Mayfield]He taught school all over the parish. [Carlisle]All over Bossier Parish? [Mayfield]Bossier Parish. [Carlisle]Ahh, okay. [Mayfield]Try to see what else… [Carlisle]I wonder if we anything in our archives about him. We might, if he taught all over the parish. [Mayfield]{Indecipherable} probably 170 years old. [Son]I don't know. It was 1800 something when he graduated from the school. [Mayfield]This is his diploma [Son]I can't see up there. [Carlisle]1882, wow. [Son]I think paint got stuck up there where it won't come off. [Mayfield]Well, take it down. [Son]It is stuck up there. [Carlisle]That is neat and it looks like… [Son]Those were his grades. [Carlisle]Wow Silence while they are taking diploma down. [Mayfield]That is something, if you take it down. [Indecipherable] [Carlisle]A drawing, maybe. [Son]A drawing, I believe. [Carlisle]Looks like a drawing. Laughter Wow, I can't believe they graded in drawing. They taught zoology there and geology. [Son]You know my graduation certificate… it says on there a lot people that is younger than I am, lots younger where it says Negro State School, they couldn't believe that. It says Negro State School. You know you can't say that any more. [Carlisle]Right [Son]It says Bossier Parish Schools. On my diploma it says Negro State School. [Carlisle]And that was the training school, the Bossier Parish Training School in Benton. [Son]Um hum, in Benton. [Mayfield]You know you can see a boat in my eye. You know a boat is just a little bitty thing. [Son]Is that what your daddy say. He always said that. [Mayfield]Yeah, he said you can see the boat in my eye, but you can't see the beam in yours. The beam is a great big thing. [Carlisle]Right, right. [Mayfield]You know what I am saying? [Carlisle]Yes, I do. [Mayfield]I got a little bitty boat in my eye. See that. Of course you got a big one in yours and you don't see that. {Indecipherable} You have done something, I don't talk about you. [Carlisle]Right [Mayfield]Think about the things I've done. Worse than what you done. But you always accuse the other person doing wrong. {Indecipherable} [Carlisle]That is right. We always have our blame spots. [Mayfield]Back in them times, people had…I couldn't understand?? [Carlisle]Really. [Mayfield]I couldn't understand you. What can I explain to you? [Carlisle]Well, how about what was… or how many siblings you had. [Son]It was six brothers and or four boys and six girls. [Carlisle]Okay, so… Wow [Mayfield]I was the ninth child. [Carlisle]You were the ninth out of eleven. [Mayfield]Everybody gone but me. I am good for something, ain't I? [Carlisle]Yeah!!! [Son]That was what I was showing a while ago. That is the only one that is not a… that is a niece there. This girl here, that was her mom there. [Mayfield]That is my niece there. She jumped in there, she wasn't supposed to be in there. [Son]All of them are dead except my mom. She was next to the baby. The baby girl was… this was the baby girl right here. She was the last one to die. And my mom is still here. [Carlisle]Everyone looks so nice, so dressed up. [Son]Really dressed up back in the day. That was probably 1953, I believe. [Mayfield]I must have done some good. [Carlisle]Laughter, you sure must have. [Mayfield]You know what, I taught school at Plain Dealing and one girl put a writeup that I was the best liked teacher out of 45 teachers. She wrote that I was the best liked teacher, but I wouldn't let her do it. [Carlisle]Really [Mayfield]Somebody said well you should let her do it if she wanted to. I said I didn't… one teacher said I should let her do it, but I wouldn't let her do it. The best liked and I am the on that spanks out of all…. None of the teachers …. I taught her all the time. She never {indecipherable} I spanked her . [Carlisle]Wow [Mayfield]I don't know why, but they were crazy about me. I get some of them call me right now. I don't know if it is the personality or what it is. [Carlisle]The must… maybe you respected them and they knew it. [Mayfield]I spanked. When I started teaching in Bossier City I had some boys white and black. I told one of the white boys called the other one black. [Carlisle]The other white boy? [Mayfield]Yeah, the little white boy called the other white boy black. He said, you old black. So the boy said, he called my black. I got a piece of construction paper, a black paper and white paper and I put it up there before them. I asked the little white boy, I say are you this color? He said no. I hold up the black one and I say are you this color? Black construction paper and white construction paper, and he say no. I said if you were this color you are just brown. I said you are pink, that is what I told the white boy. I said if you are this color, what would you do? He said, I don't know, I would just go out and go fish. Laughter. I said you are not white and you are not black. I explained it to them real good. [Carlisle]Yes, you did. [Mayfield]I said, you are brown and he is pink. [Son]That was back when you first started teaching integrated schools, you know. She enjoyed those last few years, during integration. [Carlisle]Really [Son]Yeah, Plantation Park School in Bossier City. [Mayfield]He called me black and I said are you that color? And they got allright together. I tell you what I had a boy to beg me to whip him one day. We integrated, a white boy. He said something that I didn't like, something he did, but anyway, he said I said a little black boy and a white boy. They got into to it and I said I am going to whip you, I told the little black boy. I told the white boy I am not going to whip you cause your daddy is Chief of Police in Bossier City and I am going to tell him. He said, Ms. Mayfield, please whip me. I said no. I didn't know his daddy but I knew he was Chief of Police. He begged me to whip him, please whip me. I said no. I was so tickled that I didn't whip either one of them. Laughter. [Son]She tells us lot of these things. [Carlisle]Laughter, these are great. What grade were you teaching? [Mayfield]I taught sixth grade. First place I worked I taught fourth grade then I got up to sixth grade. [Son]She taught in middle school. How many classes did you teach at one time, mother? How many classed did you teach at one time, first, second, third, fourth, fifth? [Mayfield]Indecipherable [Son]{LOUDLY} How many classes in the same classroom, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, all in one room? [Mayfield]I don't know. [Son]Okay, I think about Plain Dealing. [Mayfield]Undecipherable Plain Dealing. [Carlisle]Where did you go to school and what was it like. Where did you go to school when you were little. [Mayfield]What did she say. [Son]Where did you go to school when you were small. Where did you go to school? Bossier Parish Training School? [Mayfield]What is that school. [Son]LOUDLY Where did you go to school, attend school? [Mayfield]When I went to elementary school? [Son]Yeah [Mayfield]I went to Linwood. [Carlisle]Linwood, okay. Is that… [Mayfield]Right here in Benton. [Carlisle]Is that a Rosenwald School? [Mayfield]Huh [Carlisle]Was that a Rosenwald School? [Son]A Rosenwald. [Mayfield]A what? [Carlisle]A Rosenwald School. [Mayfield]Rosenwald, that is right. [Carlisle]It was? Okay, I thought it was. [Son]What does that mean? Rosenwald School Pam? [Mayfield]You know what, when I was… they tore that school down when I left. I left Rosenwald picture up on… I did not get that picture. I don't know who has got that picture. It was a great big picture of Rosenwald. [Carlisle]Okay. [Mayfield]What do you know about Rosenwald. [Carlisle]What do I know about Rosenwald? I have been doing research about it. There is, in fact, I am going to a conference tomorrow I am leaving for a Rosenwald preservation conference at Tuskogee. [Mayfield]Rosenwald School. [Carlisle]Yes, Rosenwald, he was the CEO of Sears and Roebuck back around the early 1900s or 1910s and he donated money for schools for black children across the South. He and Booker T. Washington, I think, worked on it; and at the Tuskogee Institute the came up with the architectural plans for these schools. So they were generally nice buildings, a lot nicer that they originally were. And how many teachers were in that school? [Mayfield]Huh [Carlisle]How many teachers were in the Linwood School when you were there. [Mayfield]How many teachers that were… [Carlisle]Yes, at Linwood. [Mayfield]At that school? [Carlisle]Uh huh [Mayfield]Well, let's see, about forty. [Son]Forty teachers, Mother? [Mayfield]Huh? [Son]Not teachers, Mother? Not no forty teachers. [Mayfield]I thought you said… [Carlisle]Teachers [Son]How many teachers were at that school. [Mayfield]How many teachers? I was telling her how many was there. [Son]How many teachers was there. [Mayfield]At the school? [Son]Yeah. [Mayfield]About forty something. [Son]LOUDLY Forty at Linwood? [Mayfield]You said Linwood? [Son]Yeah. [Carlisle]At Linwood. [Mayfield}At Linwood? I no there wasn't but two teachers there. I thought… [Carlisle]Okay [Mayfield]There but two. [Son]Oh, you were thinking about Plain Dealing, probably. [Carlisle]Yeah, and what subjects did you take. [Son]What subjects did you teach? [Carlisle]Did you take at Linwood, when you were a teacher? [Mayfield]When I was at Linwood I taught third, first, second and third. [Son]What English? Did you teach math, English, history. [Mayfield]Everything in elementary. [Carlisle]Everything? Okay, so did you go to Linwood as a student as well. [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]Did you go to Linwood as a student? [Son]Were you a student at Linwood? [Mayfield]Huh? [Son]Were you a student at Linwood? [Mayfield]Yeah, I taught at Linwood. [Son]No, Mother! A student? Are you a student, what school did you attend. [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]When you were little, where did you go to school? [Son]When you were a little girl, what school did you go to? [Mayfield]I went to Linwood. [Carlisle]You went to Linwood, all right, okay, and then you taught at Linwood? [Mayfield]I started to school at Linwood School. [Son]That is an old school. [Carlisle]Yeah, what was it like when you were little? [Mayfield]When I left Linwood? [Carlisle]When you were a little girl at Linwood, what was the school like, what were your teachers like or your classes. [Mayfield]I don't understand. [Carlisle]Tell me about Linwood when you were a little girl. [Mayfield]When I went to school at Linwood. [Carlisle]Uh huh [Son]How was it? [Carlisle]What was the school like? [Son]What was it like, Mother, at the school? Was everything… how was it with the students and stuff at the school, you know. [Mayfield]I don't know, but I know one thing, they told me when I went there I cried. One lady told me that I cried all the time. I could have just tore you up. [Son]Crying for what? [Mayfield]I was six years old. She dead now, but she told me, you made me so mad. She was a big girl. Said I could have just tore you up, you cried all the time. See I went to school with my sisters and brothers. Said you cried all the time. I could have just tore you little self up. Laughter [Carlisle]You were sad to leave home? [Mayfield]Huh [Carlisle]You were sad to leave home? [Mayfield]I don't understand. [Son]LOUDLY Were you sad to leave home. [Mayfield]No, I didn't want to go, I didn't want to leave home. Laughter. I did not want to leave home. [Carlisle]So, were there… how many grades in each room. Were there two classrooms? [Mayfield]At Linwood? [Carlisle]Uh huh [Mayfield]When I was at Linwood? [Carlisle]When you were a little girl. [Mayfield]How many classes they had up there? [Carlisle]How many schoolrooms? [Son]How many classrooms? [Mayfield]They had two. Well, they had three rooms, but they cooked in one room. The had two rooms and fourth to the seventh in one room and first through third in the other room. [Carlisle]Okay, so did you go there through seventh grade? [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]Did you go there through seventh grade? [Mayfield]To the seventh grade? [Son]Yeah. [Mayfield]To the seventh grade? [Carlisle]Yeah, Did you get to the seventh grade there? [Mayfield}I left there and went to Bossier Parish Training School. [Son]Bossier Parish Training School was in Benton. [Carlisle]What grade was that when you went there. {Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]What grade were you in when you went to the Training School? [Mayfield]Bossier Parish Training School? [Carlisle]Uh huh [Mayfield]When I went there I was in the fourth grade. [Carlisle]Fourth grade, wow. Did you board there or how did you get there? [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]Did you board at the school, did you live at the school, or how did you get there? [Son]She lived with her momma, but she would catch the… you all didn't have a bus, you had to walk to school didn't you? [Mayfield]Huh? [Son]You used to walk to school. How did you get to school? [Mayfield]Undecipherable [Carlisle]Right. So did you walk? [Son]Did you walk to school? [Mayfield]We walked to school. That bus would pass us as we were walking, splash water on us and other things. Anyway, one day, this was after everybody had gotten grown, this is about our own children, we had a white banner and two blacks walking their child over one of then turnrows (they were black boys) old white man and old woman raised then from children. So anyway we were walking to school and the bus driver, son of a banker in later years he got to be a banker, he was on that bus, and the bus that passed up a walking he told one of the boys the bus had hit one of the men. When the bus stopped to find who it was the guy that hit the bus had run. The bus driver got on and said, who was that that ran. Nobody would tell him nothing. Everybody just kept walking and did not say nothing to him. Who was throwing at the bus? The one that threw had run. Well, anyway the bus driver couldn't do nothing about it. Nobody would tell him nothing. Everybody just kept on walking wouldn't say a word. So then after that the bus driver became the banker. The head banker in Benton. He told that joke. Said the boy threw at the bus and I think it hit him and he said this guy went into the bank and the banker told him, said you remember that time somebody threw at the bus and hit one of the guys, that was me they hit. He told the guy the son that hit him, it was me they hit. [Carlisle]Oh [Son]Indecipherable [Mayfield]He became the head banker at the bank. He dead now. He was a nice man. So much history passed. [Carlisle]So how far did you have to walk or how long did it take you to walk to school. [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]How long did it take you to walk to school? [Mayfield]To walk to school? [Carlisle]Uh huh [Son]Laughter [Mayfield]Oh, we walked about three miles. [Carlisle]That was a long walk. [Mayfield]Walking was in style then, so everybody walked then. [Carlisle]Wow! Did you stay at the training school through eleventh grade? [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]Did you stay at the training school through the eleventh grade? [Son]Did you finish high school there, Mother? [Mayfield]High School? [Son]Yeah, did you finish high at Bossier Parish Training School? [Mayfield]At the training school. [Carlisle]At the Training School. [Mayfield]Finished college at… so many colleges I can't name them. [Son]Well, she started teaching before she…. After you finished high school, you started teaching. You started teaching after you finished high school, didn't your? [Mayfield]Did what? [Son]You started teaching after you finished high school. [Mayfield]I taught before I went to college. [Carlisle]Wow, so they had teachers… [Mayfield]I taught about two years before I went….See you could, if you finished twelfth grade at that time you could teach school. [Carlisle]Oh, so there was an extra year where you learned how to teach. [Mayfield]So, I taught school before I went to college. [Son]You were not required to get some college after you finished high school. You could teach after high school. [Carlisle]What year did you finish high school? What year was that when you finished high school? [Mayfield]Finished high school? [Son]Right. [Mayfield]Laughter [Son]I was born in '38, Mother, 37? Was it 36 or 37 Mother? I was born in 1938. [Mayfield]What year… [Son]Laughter [Carlisle]You would have been about 17 in 1933. [Son]She probably finished school before I was born. Momma didn't… her dad plan on having any babies before you were grown. So, Momma didn't plan on having babies before you finished school. Momma didn't play that. [Carlisle]Yeah, so it was in the 30s. [Son]She probably finished school in 36 or 37. [Mayfield]I believe it was 36 or something like that. [Son]It was 36. I was born in 38, Mother. [Carlisle]Where did you go to college? [Son]Where did you go to college. [Mayfield]Wiley… Northeastern. Let me tell you all the colleges I went to. Wiley, Northeastern, LSU, Stephen F. Austin. [Carlisle]Wow, were some of those summer schools? [Mayfield]Indecipherable I went to so many colleges I don't know some of them. [Carlisle]Were some of them up in Arkansas? [Son]No, she didn't go to Arkansas. [Carlisle]Okay [Son]You did not go to Arkansas, but you went to Wiley, Wiley is in Marshall. [Mayfield]I went to Wiley in Marshall, Texas, LSU. [Son]She used to drive to Marshall. [Mayfield]Northeastern, that is in Monroe. [Carlisle]Was some of that summer school? [Son]Was it summer school, Mother? Was it during summer school? [Mayfield]Was it summer school? [Aon]Was it summer school when you was going to school? [Mayfield]I went to summer school. Wiley [Carlisle]So you were basically still teaching when you went to college. [Son]So you were teaching when you went to college, right? [Carlisle]And, did you always want to be a teacher? [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]Did you always want to be a teacher? [Mayfield]I don't understand. [Son]Did you always want to be a teacher? Did you want to be a teacher? [Mayfield]When I was a little bitty girl, we had a class going on, I think I was in the first or second grade, she asked what do you want to do? I said I want to teach school when I was in the first grade. [Carlisle]Great, so was… [Mayfield]I enjoyed every bit of it. The good and the bad. I had a boy to tell me, we need a man. Now he lives in Benton. He said, Mrs. Mayfield, I hated you. I said, you are the first to have told me you hate. He said, you used to whip my butt every day. He said I tried to be good but I couldn't. Laughter He admitted he was bad. [Son]You see back in the day, Pam, they could whip them a lot..My mother taught me too. [Carlisle]Oh, wow! [Mayfield]He said he tried to be good but he just could not be good and said I whipped him every day. Some teachers wouldn't whip. [Carlisle]Wow, maybe… [Mayfield]I didn't understand it. [Carlisle]Sometimes harsh words will work even more than a spanking. [Mayfield]Now, they don't allow teachers to whip children now. Children hit the teachers now. I would not let no child hit me. Laughter The child can hit the teacher but you can't hit him. [Carlisle]Right. I know a teacher that got a concussion, a student punched him. So, was Linwood the first school you taught at. [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]Was Linwood the first school you taught at? [Son]LOUDLY Was Linwood the first school you taught? [Mayfield]The first school I taught was Linwood. I went from there (Indecipherable) I taught school. [Son]She taught at Linwood School… [Mayfield]Please hand me that book. [Son]That is the school I was telling you about. [Carlisle]Write down the title and I will see if I can get that at the library. [Son]The lady that wrote that book, she lived in Shreveport, Ms. Cummins. She tells all the schools. [Carlisle]Emmerson, yeah. [Son]That was her, right there. She is still living. I call her every night. [Carlisle]Oh, neat. [Mayfield]The time she courted Eddie Robinson. You know who Eddie Robinson was? She danced with him, back in the days at Grambling. [Carlisle]Yeah, I will see if I can get that book at the library. So you taught at Linwood and Cotton Valley? [Son]You didn't teach at Cotton Valley, no that was not at Cotton Valley. [Carlisle]No? [Son]Linwood is right up the road here, at Benton. Linwood is considered Benton, right Mother? [Carlisle]But you didn't teach.. [Mayfield]It wasn't Cotton Valley, it was another school. [Carlisle]Another school. [Mayfield]It wasn't Cotton Valley, it was Martin, Louisiana. I taught in a church. [Carlisle]You taught at a church? [Mayfield]I taught at a church at Martin. [Carlisle]You taught at a church, wow. Eventually they built a schoolhouse didn't they in Martin? Did they later build a schoolhouse in Martin. [Mayfield]Huh? [Son]Did they built a school at Mott. Did they build a school at Mott? [Mayfield]No, at the church at Mott then they built a school at Mott. [Carlisle]I heard of a school there, but that is neat. It was a church when you taught. Do you remember what years you were at Mott. What years were you at Mott. You might not remember. [Son]What year were you at Mott? [Mayfield]Let's see, what year was that? I have to think back at the I was at Mott. [Carlisle]We have some school records going way back. I could probably figure that out in our records. [Son]You have the history of lot of that stuff, haven't you? [Carlisle]Uh huh. [Son]That is good. [Carlisle]Yeah. And you taught under Charlotte Mitchell? [Son]Did you teach at Charlotte Mitchell? [Carlisle]Under Charlotte Mitchell. [Son]Okay, under Charlotte Mitchell. [Carlisle}The teacher… the lady Charlotte Mitchell. Was she your supervisor? [Son]Was Charlotte Mitchell ever over you? [Mayfield]No. [Son]Liddy Walker, Liddy Fay Walker wasn't it. [Mayfield]Liddy Walker was my supervisor. [Son]Liddy Fay Walker, you ever heard of Liddy Fay Walker? [Carlisle]I have. [Mayfield]Indecipherable Her name was Ms. Pettit. She came from Baton Rouge or somewhere. She liked me. She was a good supervisor. Everything she did she always included me in. I don't know why she like me so. [Carlisle]Did you know Charlotte Mitchell? [Mayfield]Huh? [Carlisle]Did you know Charlotte Mitchell? [Mayfield]I don't understand? [Son]Did you know Charlotte Mitchell? [Mayfield]Did I know hee? [Carlisle]Um hum [Mayfield]She is the one that called me to work. [Carlisle]Okay [Mayfield]I went to her house. When I went to summer school, I went to Charlotte Mitchell, she was a retired supervisor. I told her, I said I want a better job. She said go to my supervisor, the supervisor was staying at the dormitory her name was Ms. Pettit. She said go up there and talk to her. See, I just went to summer school, I had not been to college. I just went to summer school. Ms. Charlotte Mitchell told me, said go up to the school and talk to her. I went to college, but it was summer school. She told me to go the supervisor to the dormitory and when you go to her look her in the eye, don't look down. If you look down, she is going to look down and you may not get the job. Don't take your eye off of her. So I did what Ms. Charlotte said. So Ms. Pettit came out and I did just what Ms. Charlotte said. I didn't bat my eyes. I told her I wanted to go to school. Ms. Charlotte had told her that when I talked to the supervisor she was going to look down. If I look her right in the eyes, she would not look down, so don't you look down. So I didn't look down. She did just what Ms. Charlotte said. She started to look on the ground. She said I know a school up there and she assigned me to a school. She told me if you look down, you will not get the job. She said look her in the eyes and I looked her right in the eyes and she looked down. I got that job. [Carlisle]And that was when you started at Linwood? [Mayfield]I got that job. [Son]That is when you started at Linwood. That was Linwood. [Mayfield]Huh? [Son]That was Linwood. That was when you went to work at Linwood. [Mayfield]Oh, yeah. [Carlisle]Ms. Pettit gave you the job at Linwood? [Mayfield]She assigned me to a school and that was at Oak Ridge. I taught at Oak Ridge. I taught at Linwood later. Child, I went through a lot of stuff. [Son]What was Oak Ridge, what was Oak Ridge? Where was Oak Ridge? [Mayfield]Up there at Plain Dealing. You turn left like going to the lake. You been there. [Son]I know. I went to school there. [Mayfield]A little one room school. [Son]Yeah, some shooting in there too. [Mayfield]Honey, you have {indecipherable} of school. Some ladies came out there one day and a little boy told one of us a lie. END OF SIDE A SIDE B [Mayfield]The woman that stayed next to the school, she was real nice. She brought one of her grandchildren to school. They come a took the woman {indecipherable} So one lady who was living across the street, I was staying with her mother there, she came across the street and two big women were there and said, don't believe the lie the people are telling you, like they had done or something. Well anyways they live across the street, she came across the street drinking a cup of coffee. She said if I had been able to stand it. The little boy cussing out. Indecipherable. Well, anyway, by that time them two big women walked up there, the one the boy told the lie to. The woman said she had been whipping his tail, she lived across the street. I was living with her momma. So she came across there and she had a cup of coffee in her hand, hot cup of coffee. The two big women came up there, one of them jumped at her, because she supposedly had put some sort of Voodoo over them. She lie said they had put some Voodoo in the road and that was what they came up there for. The lady across the street, they say they are going to whip her. Said if that happened to me, I would be whipping his tail til yet. One of the women jumped at her and she threw that coffee in her face and ran back home. I thought she was running because she was scared. She went back got a single shot shotgun and came back shooting. We had a one room school. She came back shooting and all the children, we had a crack in the floor about that long and about that wide, and everyone of them children I thought was in school, but the had got out. They was scared. The ran, they thought she was shooting. She was foaming at the mouth. She was so mad at them old women, she was foaming at the mouth. The boy had told a lie. Every time she would shoot, I would go around the house and get behind a block so she wouldn't shoot me. Anytime she would shoot, I would go around there. I said, baby please don't shoot. Don't you see these children in school. All the children had gotten through that plank. I thought they were still in school, but they had gotten out through that plank and gone out of there. [Carlisle]Wow! [Mayfield]Well, anyway, she kept shooting and she was foaming at the mouth. Everytime she unloads she would go in back. So her momma came up there. I said, Ms. Mary come on stop Mary Mae, there are children in school over there. I said come here and tell Mary Mae to stop. She came over there and she told to go back to the gun and get some more shells. She was no help at all. Laughter I said Lord have mercy. [Son]She told her to go back home and get some more shell. [Mayfield]Instead of her telling the girl to stop shooting, she the girl to go back and get some more shells. So then the old man come up, her daddy. I said Mr. Means, come on maybe you can stop her. Nobody can stop her, she foaming at the mouth. I looked and he had a double barrel shotgun. I said, he ain't no good at all. [Carlisle]Who were they shooting at? [Mayfield]They were shooting at the school, because them two women had come up there and started a mess, but the woman had got out of the window. They had got out of the window and gone through the woods to the toilet. [Carlisle]So, they were just shooting at the school? [Mayfield]You know what, in a few minutes I looked out there and the High Sheriff was out there. [Son]Tim Bunney, wasn't his name Tim Bunney? [Mayfield]Willey Waggoner [Son]You ever heard of Willey Waggoner? [Carlisle]Uh huh [Mayfield]Willey Waggoner was out there and yard was just full of people. Now this woman had done shot in the school, the woman across the street. She thought she was in there, but she had got out the window. So the police, Willey Waggoner came up there and said, did that woman shoot at this building? I said, I don't know because I was gone. All he had to do was look in there and he would have seen {indecipherable} and he said if you have any trouble, let me know. So anyway the woman that did the shooting, they put her in the car. The car was facing north. I was peeping out the door then and everybody was gone but me. The girl's momma she went to the car, the car was facing north the police car, but she went around the car…. [Son]Seven times wasn't it, seven times? [Mayfield]She first went around that car and they had her daughter, the girl that was doing that shooting, sitting in the back seat on the right side. She went around the car talking to her daughter, I was looking out the window, and I don't know what she was saying to her daughter. I didn't believe in Voodoo, but she made three circles around that car. You know what they did? They let her go. They were going to take her to jail, but when that woman made three circles around that car. Every time she went around that car, she would talk to her daughter. Daughter was sitting in the back in the police car and I am looking out the window. Everybody was gone but me. So, I looked out there and the police let her out. I said, you all are going to make me believe in some Voodoo now. Laughter I said, yes, this is going to make me believe in Voodoo. So anyway they were going to take her to jail for shooting in that building with all the children. You know what they said about her? They said she was a pretty good old gal, never did hurt nobody, never do anything to nobody. I stayed with her momma and I told them you all must be some Voodoo because that man let you out. Everybody said they should have carried her to jail, but they didn't. They were so nice to me, they were real good to me. [Carlisle]Who was? [Mayfield]The one that was doing the shooting? Her parents. [Son]What was her name, Mother? [Mayfield]We called her Ms. Thompson. She was nice to me and everything. She said I was the only teacher that taught up there that would go the house. You see when I got out of school she would be sitting on her daughter's porch and her husband would be at home. She said you are the only teacher that ever taught here that would go to my house. Some of the teachers that taught up there would not go down there if nobody was there but her husband. I said, baby they missed something, they know I didn't mean nothing. Laughter But, anyway, she trusted me for everything, she washed my clothes. They did everything for me. Them people loved me. I don't know why. I liked them too. The all gone now. There are some ancesters… children now. [Son]And that was where? [Carlisle]At the Oak Ridge School? [Son]That was at the Oak Ridge School, right? I remember that school at Plain Dealing. [Mayfield]Then I taught at Lakeport. That was wayyyyyy at the bottoms, wayyyyy up there almost Arkansas. [Carlisle]Okay. What year were you at Lakeport? [Son]What year were you at Lakeport? Do you remember? 1940 something, I imagine, wasn't it. [Mayfield]Let's see… you know what, I can think of it, but I have to go back and check some more. I can't think right now. [Carlisle]I might be able to help too. [Mayfield]I stayed some people at Mounds??? [Carlisle]How big a school was it? [Mayfield]How big a school? Lakeport was one room. [Son]Would like some water? [Carlisle]I would love some, thank you. How many grades at the Lakeport School? [Mayfield]First through seven. [Carlisle]You were one of the first teachers at Carrie Martin right? [Mayfield]No, I went there but I wanted a school closer. So I was at the beauty shop one day in Benton, and the principal at Carrie Martin, he didn't know me, but he walked up there to the beauty shop and asked where is Ms. Mayfield. They said, she is out there in the yard. He came out there and hired me right then. [Carlisle]Wow, laughter [Mayfield]I really liked him. He is dead now. Somebody recommended me to him. [Carlisle]What was his name? [Mayfield]Lyn McDaniel. He is dead now. [Carlisle]And then Carrie Martin, was that a consolidated school? Did Carrie Martin replace some of the little schools. [Mayfield]I don't understand you. [Carlisle]It was a bigger school, right? [Son]Carrie Martin was a large school, like… Carrie Martin was a high school. [Mayfield]Carrie Martin was an elementary school, but it became a high school. [Son]Later it became a high school. [Mayfield]Carrie Martin was an elementary school when I taught there. [Carlisle]When you taught there? [Mayfield]Yeah, I taught at the elementary. [Carlisle]Did students from some of the small school go there? Was Carrie Martin a result of consolidation? How big was it? [Mayfield]It was named after a woman named Carrie Martin. She was a principal. You know about that? [Carlisle]Uh huh and then Charlotte Mitchell followed her. Charlotte Mitchell was the next supervisor. Charlotte Mitchell came after Carrie Martin. [Mayfield]She came after her. [Carlisle]Right [Mayfield]She was my momma's best friend, too. [Carlisle]Do you remember anything about her? [Mayfield]I try to think. Yeah, I remember Ms. Carrie Martin. Whenever they got her picture at the Carrie Martin High School, I am the one that give that to them. [Carlisle]Really! Wow! [Mayfield]Didn't nobody know her but me. Ms. Carrie Martin. [Carlisle]And Charlotte Mitchell, did she retire as a supervisor when you taught, right? Charlotte Mitchell was retired. [Mayfield]She was a retired supervisor. [Carlisle]But she still taught after she retired. Did she still teach after she retired as supervisor? [Mayfield]She retired. [Carlisle]Do you know about what year? [Son]Do you know what year she retired, Mother? [Mayfield]I don't know what year she retired, but her husband was a principal of school. His name was Mr. Mitchell. They buried him…. They carried him back home up in Arkansas somewhere. They buried her out here. She buried in the cemetery right down {indecipherable} over there across from a bridge over there. [Carlisle]What cemetery is that? [Son]What is the name of the cemetery? [Mayfield]I don't… It is a new cemetery. [Carlisle]Is it in Benton? [Mayfield]Yes, over there on the highway. The one with the bridge to the left. [Son]You mean where Clarence Wright and them used to live? [Mayfield]When you go over the bridge, you see all them houses to the left, that is where it is. [Son]Yeah, I know where it is. It is where Montgomery lived. Ain't no cemetery there any more, is it. [Mayfield]Well, it is there but they don't bury anyone. [Carlisle]Were you teaching at Carrie Martin when desegeration happened? Were you teaching at Carrie Martin right before desegeration? Did you go from Carrie Martin to the intergrated school? [Mayfield]In 1969 [Carlisle]Were you at Carrie Martin then? [Son]You left Carrie Martin in 1969. [Mayfield]Uh huh. Went to Plantation Park. [Carlisle]What grades did you teach at Plantation Park? [Mayfield]I taught fifth grade and sixth grade. [Son]You will have to go back and really study this stuff. [Carlisle]Laughter. Yeah, we will have someone who will type it out. [Son]They know what to do with it, huh? [Carlisle]Uh huh. Were there a lot of black teacher there or not many? [Mayfield]There were four. One of the black teachers, her husband died not too long ago, she is still working at the school board. There was a little boy that she wanted him in her class, a little white boy, his momma was teaching there too, so she told me, she lied, she said his momma wants him to be in my room. He is a smart little boy and she was teaching the same grade as I was teaching. She say, his momma want him to be in my room. I said, why does she… [Son]Showing documentation to Pam indicating Ms. Mayfield was at Plantation Park in 1969. [Carlisle]Well, that is a great picture. [Mayfield]She says, his momma says she wants him in my room. The little boy was as smart as he could be. [Carlisle]And, did she get him in her room? [Mayfield]So, what I did, I didn't say nothing. I say I don't know why she wanted him in her room? I say Ms. Gladys say you want him in her room. She said, I didn't say that. Ms. Dannie wanted him in her room, but she put it on momma. She said I didn't say that. Ms. Dannie was lying. Her husband died not too long ago. But, she wanted the little boy in her room because he was smart. Laughter [Carlisle]You were on the Board of Aldermen in Benton? [Son]City Councilman, Mother. That is her badge she had to wear. [Carlisle]Yeah, I wanted to ask you about that too. How did you become Mayor? [Mayfield]The mayor left, he went up in Arkansas, somewhere. I was the Mayor pro tem. I wasn't mayor long, a woman called me and told me, you all aren't doing a damn thing up there. Laughter, a black girl, they called her pussycat. She said you all ain't doing a damn thing up there. She wasn't even in my district. But she called me instead of… she is dead now. She called me and she wasn't even in my district. I said she cursed me out. I told the Mayor and she cusses everybody out. [Carlisle]Oh, no. I guess you have to have a thick skin. What year was that? What year were you Mayor pro tem? In the 80s? [Mayfield]I can't remember but it was not too long ago. [Carlisle]I think it was the 1980s. [Mayfield]I forget these years. [Carlisle]So, did someone appoint you Mayor pro tem? [Mayfield]If you are the Mayor of the town, they have to vote. I am the Mayor pro tem automatically if you leave or quit, I take their place. [Carlisle]I see. [Mayfield]The Mayor left town, somebody on the council he couldn't stand. It was a black woman too. She was rude. So he left town. He went up in Arkansas, and he lives in Arkansas now. He told me why he left. Cause the black woman was rude. But he has been back to see us since then. He shore was nice, I liked him. He was real nice, but she did not like him. I don't know why she didn't like him. They didn't get along at all. [Carlisle]Did you run for Mayor pro tem? Did you have to run for election as Mayor pro tem or did they appoint you? [Mayfield]No, when the Mayor left, I had to take his place because I was Mayor pro tem. [Carlisle]How did you get to be Mayor pro tem? [Mayfield]I was voted in. That is great. What were some of the things you did for Benton when you were Alderwoman or Mayor? [Mayfield]The thing we did, we voted on what we didn't want or what we did want. [Son]As Mayor pro tem or whatever, people would come to you and ask you about the grass growing up in the city or too much grass…. And all the stuff. [Mayfield]The tell you want they need, like spraying for mosquitoes and things like that. [Son]Mother, tell he about Eligh Anderson, Jessie Anderson came to you one time and told you that you'll not doing nothing and you need to cut this grass and you went and got the Mayor. [Mayfield]Laughter. There was a guy, he dead now, I was a City Councilwoman and they would come to me for what they want. I went down there one day, he called me and he was cussing like I don't know what, he was a black man. Said you all are not doing a damn thing. All this grass growing up around here. He was talking to me so bad. I said, well, I tell you what let me go get the Mayor and I will let you tell him about it. He was cussing. So I got in my car and went to the Mayor's office. I didn't said, come on and go with me. He got in my car and we came up to the man's house, man that was cussing about the grass. I said, now tell him about it. He said I was just telling this maid here that the grass needs cutting around here. He was talking so nice to the Mayor but he was cussing me out. So the Mayor gave him a job. Told him to get the thing and go cut all the grass. He got a job by doing that, but he was cussing like I don't know what. You all not doing a damn thing around here. When the Mayor got there, he stopped cussing. Laughter The Mayor gave him a job. [Son]That white man came up he got, oh, I just told her the grass needs to be cut. Black on black, he cussed her out. I told her, you went and got that white man and he straightened up. [Mayfield]I got that white man and he got so nice, the Mayor gave him a job. Laughter I mean he changed. He was so funny. You go through a lot of things when you are in business like that. A lot of things that you shouldn't have to go through. [Carlisle]Like what? [Mayfield]I went through a lot of things. I always carried myself. [Carlisle]What were some of the things… [Carlisle]You know what, I was the person, I would always take up for myself. I wouldn't let nobody run over me. I had a white principal down there at Plantation Park. He did not like black folks. Always thought… I didn't know what was wrong with him. But anyway, I wasn't scared of him. He was prejudiced and I don't know what he thought, but anyway he would come by your room and see what the teachers were doing. He made me so mad I wouldn't know what to do, but he was the principal. You might know him. Mr. McCullough. [Carlisle]What was his name? [Mayfield]Mr. McCullough [Carlisle]What is his first name? [Mayfield]I can't recall it right now. Anyway he used to come around, he just do you so bad. So, anyway, he made me mad one day. He said… he come in your room to see what you are doing. The supervisor came out there one day, Ms. Cubbard, she came to my room. I had a perfect room, it was so quiet. Said Ms. Mayfield how do you keep them so quiet. You are not supposed to whip them. He said Ms. Mayfield how do you keep them so disciplined, how do you keep them so quiet? I said I use my paddle. I didn't hide it. The principal said don't you whip those children, don't you put your hands on them. The supervisor say how do you keep your room so quiet, I say I use my paddle. He said if that makes your room this quiet, I say use that paddle. He went on back and told the principal what he told me. Laughter That same day the principal come up to me in the dining hall, the principal said the same words that he went back and told the principal how my room was and the principal had done dogged me out about it. The principal said, Ms. Mayfield, you see the supervisor said he was 100 percent behind me about that board, and went back and told the principal how the room was. The principal said the same words, I am 100 percent behind you about that board. I turned my head and I didn't say anything to him. So I had the privilege to whip them. But anyway, honey, I tell you you wouldn't want to teach school now. The children can whip you, but you can't whip them. The principal said the same thing the supervisor said, I am 100 percent behind you with that board. I turned my head. I didn't say thank you or nothing. Cause he had told me don't you put your hands on them children. [Carlisle]How about some of the parents, were they prejudiced? The white students parents? [Mayfield]Some were nice and some weren't. One parent came and told me, one of the boys went home and told her something. [Son]Were you teaching black history? [Mayfield]That was part of it, but he went home and told her and she came out there on me about teaching black history in school. I was teaching black history. It wasn't teaching black history. The book I had Mary Alison in it and she was black. She came out there and told the principal I was teaching history. The principal called me in. I said, I was scared, I didn't know what the principal wanted with me. She said, I was teaching black history in the school. I say Oh Yeah. I was teaching geography. You don't want us to teach (whatever it was). She said, oh I want you to teach that. The white lady said, I was teaching black history in school. I said she is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. She was so mad. [Son]But you told her you don't have no black history books in school, but you told him, if I am teaching black history, where are the black history books. You told him that. [Mayfield]I said if I am teaching black history, where are the black history books. When I said that, some other people in the office, they got tickled. Laughter We didn't have no black history books. That woman, she was so mad she didn't know what to do. I always clear myself. Anything come up I know what I was doing. So I was glad the principal stopped tipping down my room. He used to come down, but he didn't come in my room. He tipped by. I think I got him scared of me. I just can't remember it all. [Carlisle]That was the principal that had been so nasty, Mr. McCullough, he stopped coming to your room? [Mayfield]Oh yeah. [Carlisle]Well, I probably kept you long enough, unless you want to tell me some more. [Mayfield]You got nothing to worry about. Always know you are right. [Son]She probably could tell you a lot if she could remember. She used to have to catch a ride to Plain Dealing and stay in Plain Dealing and we would stay with our grandmomma, right next door to here. [Carlisle]Really, when she taught at Plain Dealing, sometimes she would live… [Mayfield]All this stuff I am telling you, you are not going to show it are you. [Carlisle}Well, that was the plan… [Son]That is the history, mother. That is okay. [Carlisle]I have got a form for you to sign that gives me permission to put it in the History Center. [Son]It is to be put in the History Center, Mother. That is an honor, I feel that is an honor. [Carlisle]Yeah, looking at history here. So when you taught at Plain Dealing, was that at Carrie Martin, when she taught at Carrie Martin? [Son]Yeah, that was the year before she went to Plantation Park, like you said in 1969, I believe. [Carlisle]So, when she taught at… [Son]Carrie Martin at Plain Dealing, when she left there they had integrated. What they did was they started busing the kids from different areas and then they transferred my Mon to Plantation Park and that is when she began in the integrated school. She had more whites in that school than blacks. In that picture there was only about two. [Carlisle]I saw that. When she taught at Plain Dealing, you lived up there five days. [Son]Mother, when you taught at Plain Dealing sometimes you spent the night there. What was the lady you stayed with? Who did you live with up there? [Mayfield]I stayed up there and catch the bus the next day. I stayed with my momma's first cousin. Her name was… I can't remember, but I stayed with them. |
People |
Cullen, Hannah Smith Cullen, William B. McDaniel, Lynn Eliot Grigsby, Inez Smith Patty Cenales Mayfield, Zella Ruby Cullen Mitchell, Charlotte Ann Watson Martin, Carrie E. Washington |
Search Terms |
African Americans Arkansas A&M Industrial University Desegregation Gum Springs Jeanes Teachers Lakeport School Linwood School Benton Mott School Oak Ridge School Oral History Plantation Park Elementary School Rosenwald School Politics and Government |
Interview date |
2012-06-11 |
Interview place |
Narrator's home, Benton, LA |
Interviewer |
Pam Carlisle |
Length of Interview |
90 mins |
Recording media |
Cassette Tape |
Inventoried date |
2025-06-12 |