Well, mine is a strange story, and it certainly is not going to fit
anything that you have in your mind, I don't think. And yet, there were
women who were influential in my life, and all the way. But when I spoke
of Mrs. Thompson, whom I ran into at Morris Brown, I would think she
probably more nearly filled the role that you're thinking of. Because,
not only did I admire her greatly, but I admired her for so many
different things. I would love to have been like her. I thought she knew
everything. And I thought she was the best of everything.
Page 50 And I liked all of that. And she made demands of you. She
didn't want anything shoddy from you. She didn't accept any substitutes
for the real thing. All of which commanded my respect, and I liked that.
I had had a teacher in the eighth grade who sort of did that sort of
thing to you. When you came into her class, you came into her class
prepared. And if you weren't prepared, you tried to think of a thousand
different ways that you didn't have to get to that class. Really,
because you just felt like you were not only doing something to
yourself, but you were doing something to the lady. She was one teacher
that I always thought about as being the kind who really made you tow
the mark, and how very wonderful it was that somebody like that had come
along in your life. Well, Mrs. Thompson was like that, too. But after
that, I ran into, interestingly enough, I was saying something about Mr.
Rose, evidently. I don't know what prompted it. But, I left home quite
early. Because, you see, my mother died. I never lived at home again. I
would go home and maybe stay a week or so, and then I'd be on my way.
And as soon as I got out of school, I was definitely on my own, and
working. Not that I ever had—I hasten to say this—I never had any
feeling that I wasn't welcome at home. My stepmother was a very nice
person in her own way. And, of course, my father—I always felt he was
great. It wasn't a matter of feeling unwelcome, but I felt I had to make
it. I felt I was on my own and I had to make it. Consequently I went
right on out and tried to make it, to the best of my ability. But, I was
very fortunate. For instance, I told you I went from Tuskegee to
Jackson, Mississippi. And without being able to tell you why I didn't
want to stay at the place that they had arranged for me to stay, I
immediately started making arrangements to move. And one of the first
days I was in the office, the girl whose place I was taking, I asked her
where she lived. And she told me. And I asked, do you think the lady
would take me? So she says, maybe, I don't know. But any rate, out of
that—and I know you don't want to hear all that detail—I did go to see
this
Page 51 lady. And they, incidentally, were Coxes,
too. Honestly. Mrs. Diamond Cox. And she said no, she wouldn't take me.
Of course I asked why. And she said that they had been so pleased with
this girl who lived with them, that they felt quite sure they could not
have another young woman coming in, and they would be equally as
pleased. Therefore, they were not going to try it again. And they had
had a large family of daughters, and they were all grown. They had only
one son, the youngest child, still there. And he was maybe seventeen,
eighteen; sixteen or seventeen. Well, I made a proposition. I said, why
don't you let me come and stay, and I'll pay you for the first month.
And, if at the end of the month, when I offer you your money, you say
no, I'll know you mean for me to move. And if you take the money, it
means I can stay. And I won't argue with you. I won't plead with you. I
won't do anything. I'll just try to make arrangements. So I paid the
lady and I went there. And it turned out to be the loveliest experience
of all. In a little while the lady was treating me just like I was her
daughter. And I felt in love with them, and they seemingly in love with
me. And so that was a very nice experience. I left there and I went to
Oklahoma City. I went to live with a lady and in a little while she was
doing the same thing for me—just as nice as she could be. She treated me
just like I belonged in the family. I left there and I went to Arkansas.
And there, they had carried me to another place to stay—the boss, whom I
was going to work for. The next day at the office, I asked the girl down
there was there any place. And I had no reason. I couldn't tell you why
I didn't like the places. They were nice, clean homes and everything.
And so, somebody told me about a lady that lived not too far from the
office where we were working. She said, if she'll take you, it'll be OK,
but she's awful tough. I wouldn't recommend her, but if you don't want
to stay where you are, maybe she'll take you. So I went to see the lady,
and the lady took me. She not only was not 'awfully tough' in my book,
but she was even nicer than the other folks. It turned out in Little
Rock, I had people there I knew, and I didn't
Page 52
realize that I knew them so well. They were the same family that I spoke
of: the Johnsons in Macon? My teacher was living out there where she's
married. And one of the daughters that I was very fond of, had married a
doctor and she was living there. So, I hadn't been there a week before I
had found out they were there and they knew I was there. So, I was
invited out to one of their affairs, or something of the kind. Getting
the invitation was not that early, but that's when I discovered they
were there: about a week later. But, about a month later, I was invited
to something. And when I told Mrs. Davis about the invitation, she
looked at my wardrobe and said, you don't have anything to wear
[Laughter] . I was pretty shocked. Because I
didn't know I was in that bad shape. But she knew where I was going, you
know. She took me down to one of the biggest department stores in Little
Rock and got me the prettiest dress that I had ever had, at that time,
since I'd grown up, and didn't have for a long time after that. And the
shoes, and everything. And told them to open me an account and she would
stand behind the account. I went to that lady's party, and I was the
most dressed thing you ever saw. But I had that sort of that experience
all the way through my life. When I say these people treated me like
that, they not only did things like that for me, but they guarded me. If
I would get an invitation to something, they'd say, no; no, that's not
the place for you; don't accept that. Or, somebody would want to take me
out. I had to tell them, you know, who it was, and then they decided,
no, or yes, that's fine; you can go. At a time in my life, that was a
wonderful thing to happen to me. See, I'm out on my own; I don't know
from nothing; I had grown up in a fairy tale world. I just hit with
women who were mothers and had girls as old as I was, you know, and that
sort of thing. And they just took me over. Luckily for me, I had grown
up being accustomed to obeying my mother and my father. So, I didn't
resent it. As a matter of fact, maybe that's why I got along as well.
When they would talk,
Page 53 I would accept what they
said, you know.