Title:Oral History Interview with Jessie Streater, November 10, 2001.
Interview R-0165. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007):
Electronic Edition.
Author:
Streater, Jessie,
interviewee
Interview conducted by
Copeland,
Barbara
Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the
electronic publication of this interview.
Text encoded by
Jennifer Joyner
Sound recordings digitized by
Aaron Smithers
Southern Folklife Collection
First edition, 2008
Size of electronic edition: 124 Kb
Publisher: The University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
2008.
The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.
Languages used in the text:
English
Revision history:
2008-00-00, Celine Noel, Wanda Gunther, and Kristin Martin revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic
edition.
2008-01-04, Jennifer Joyner finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing.
Source(s):
Title of recording: Oral History Interview with Jessie Streater,
November 10, 2001. Interview R-0165. Southern Oral History Program
Collection (#4007)
Title of series: Series R. Special Research Projects. Southern Oral
History Program Collection (R-0165)
Author: Barbara Copeland
Title of transcript: Oral History Interview with Jessie Streater,
November 10, 2001. Interview R-0165. Southern Oral History Program
Collection (#4007)
Title of series: Series R. Special Research Projects. Southern Oral
History Program Collection (R-0165)
Author: Jessie Streater
Description: 135 Mb
Description: 23 p.
Note:
Interview conducted on November 10, 2001, by Barbara
Copeland; recorded in Durham, North Carolina.
Note:
Transcribed by L. Altizer.
Note:
Forms part of: Southern Oral History Program Collection
(#4007): Series R. Special Research Projects, Manuscripts Department,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Note:
Original transcript on deposit at the Southern
Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.
Editorial practices An audio file with the interview complements this electronic edition. The text has been entered using double-keying and verified against the original. The text has been encoded using the recommendations for Level 4 of the TEI in
Libraries Guidelines. Original grammar and spelling have been preserved. All quotation marks, em dashes and ampersand have been transcribed as entity
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Interview with Jessie Streater, November 10, 2001. Interview R-0165.
Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Streater, Jessie,
interviewee
Interview Participants
JESSIE
STREATER, interviewee
BARBARA
COPELAND, interviewer
[TAPE 1, SIDE A]
Page 1
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
BARBARA COPELAND:
Of the Mormon church on Berini Road in Durham. My name is Barbara
Copeland. I will be interviewing Mrs. Streater. Today's date is November
10th in the year 2001. Okay, Mrs. Streater. Just wanted to ask you a few
basic questions. If you could just tell me briefly about your childhood
experiences, where you were born and where were you raised and how many
siblings do you have.
JESSIE STREATER:
I was born in Durham, North Carolina, and I have three sisters and three
brothers. There are seven of us and I'm in the middle. We were raised in
Durham and we lived in the Haytie area, which is mostly highway now.
It's off of Fayetteville Street.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Yeah, Fayetteville Street. Is that the only area that you lived in
throughout your childhood?
JESSIE STREATER:
No, we lived in quite a few areas around Durham, but the longest length
of time was in Haytie.
BARBARA COPELAND:
The Haytie region. How many siblings do you have?
JESSIE STREATER:
It's three sisters and three brothers.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So it's seven of you. What schools did you go to?
JESSIE STREATER:
We went to W.G. Piston School that's elementary and Whitted Junior High
is middle school and Hillside is high school. But of course I did not
graduate from Hillside. I quit school, but I went back and got my
GED.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Well that's good. That's good. So how long, about what age was it then
that you moved from home?
JESSIE STREATER:
I was about sixteen.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Wanted to know if you could tell me a little bit about what you all did
at home like for entertainment with your family.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, as kids we rode bikes and played cards and just did kids'
stuff.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Wanted to know how many children do you have now.
JESSIE STREATER:
I have three children and eight grandchildren.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Wow. So where did you meet your husband? Was he also from Durham as
well?
JESSIE STREATER:
He was originally from Chesterfield, South Carolina, but his grandma
moved to Durham sometime in his earlier years. I met him in the Hoover
Road area off of Angier Avenue. He is quite some
Page 2
years older than I am. He's six years older than I am, and he was coming
out of the Job Corp, and of course I was fifteen then when we met each
other.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So actually then he's your first love? Okay. Okay. Wanted to know also
your children, did you decide that you wanted to raise them the same way
that your parents raised you?
JESSIE STREATER:
No, I wanted them to be raised differently. I just knew that it was a
better of raising children than the way we were raised.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. So what were some of the things, I know that you've mentioned a
particular television program that you really patterned your ideas
behind. What program was that?
JESSIE STREATER:
Father Knows Best.
BARBARA COPELAND:
That was what you saw during—
JESSIE STREATER:
Father Knows Best and I thought of another, My Three Sons and stuff like that I thought maybe that
sounds like, well, that looked like what I wanted.
BARBARA COPELAND:
How you wanted to raise your family. Did you see that as being very
different from the way you all were raised?
JESSIE STREATER:
Oh yes. Oh yes.
BARBARA COPELAND:
About discipline, how did your parents discipline you all and do you use
the same strategies, did you use the same strategies with your
children?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, my mom she talked a lot. My dad he didn't talk at all. He didn't
care what the explanation was or anything. He was ready to beat. In my
house I did a lot of yelling. My husband he was the calm one. He didn't
do anything. It was all my disciplinary actions. The kids didn't pay me
much attention because I could hear them outside the window one day
saying little girl was saying, "I'm going to tell your mom," and my
daughter said, "I don't care. She's not going to do anything but holler
at me." So evidently mine wasn't all that great either.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Would you say then that your discipline strategy was like the opposite of
how you were raised? Because you said that your dad was the more
disciplinarian one, and so now you were the more. So it switched.
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah. Very much so because my husband he's just so calm and patient. He
just let them run over him. Somebody had to step in and take over. It
was me.
Page 3
BARBARA COPELAND:
How important was religion and religious training in your home when you
were coming up?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, I don't think it was really important because my mom and my dad
didn't go. So it was up to us whether we wanted to go or not. If we
went, that was fine. If we didn't, that was okay. But I had a godmother
that stressed the issue of going to church, and I stayed with her a lot.
So I went to church a lot.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Did you feel that religion was very important in your immediate household
with your children once you started bringing them up?
JESSIE STREATER:
I did. But it was just, it was I went to so many churches trying to get
the feel of what I felt was right, and so it was hard for a really long
time.
BARBARA COPELAND:
What types of, what church denomination did you belong to when you were a
child?
JESSIE STREATER:
Mostly Southern Baptist.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Southern Baptist. And so in your adult life you were Southern Baptist
also.
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah, but then we changed to Pentecostal and Holiness. We went to quite a
few of them.
BARBARA COPELAND:
What were some of the things that you liked or disliked about the church,
those churches?
JESSIE STREATER:
I had a lot of questions and they would answer them, but it just wasn't
satisfying to me. Some of the things that they did I didn't think was
right. So I just decided that I'd just go to the next one and try the
next one and keep trying and keep trying until I felt comfortable with
whatever I was learning from that particular church.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So then you were soon after that you decided to go to the Mormon church.
Can you tell me a little bit about that, that conversion?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, my sister lived in Wilmington. She moved to Wilmington. My children
went there for the summer, and they just kept telling me about this
church that they went to and how nice it was and everything. So I said
when we, my husband and I came we would go to this church and see what
it was about. Actually my brother in law introduced us to the church,
and we went to the church, and we had the missionaries come out and give
us some lessons.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So what exactly did you like about the Mormon church that was so
different from the other experiences that you had at the other
churches?
Page 4
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, in the beginning it was the same questions that I had asked other
churches I asked the missionaries and of course the bishop of the church
and everything. The answers were more satisfying to me. I thought that
hey, this must be what I'm looking for. So I continued.
BARBARA COPELAND:
What were some of those like questions and then answers?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, my first question was why did I need to be baptized because I was
afraid of swimming. I don't know how to swim, and I didn't want to be
baptized, and just about every church you go into they tell you in order
to be a member you have to be baptized. I was saying, "Well why do I
need to be baptized? What is the significance of being baptized and
everything?" One of the churches told me so you can work in the church,
but I was already working in the church. So if I was already working in
the church, I didn't need to be baptized. But when I went to the Mormon
church and I asked the same question, the answer was totally different.
It was that I was making a covenant between God and me for certain
things and that that's what baptism was. It was like, I thought it was
to work in the church. That was what was told to me.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Did you see or feel any spiritual differences being in the Mormon church
from the other denominations.
JESSIE STREATER:
It felt really funny the first time I felt the spirit in the Mormon
church because usually in the other churches you have the piano, the
drums and all these other things. Of course you feel this feeling all
over you that makes you want to move and everything in the other
churches. But when I went to the Mormon church, there weren't all these
drums and everything. Of course there was the piano and the organ, but
when the spirit just came over, it just felt so different. It just
tingled all over, just made me want to cry, just bust out and cry.
Everybody was asking me what was wrong with me. It was nothing that I
could say was wrong with me. The only thing I know was I just felt weird
on the inside.
BARBARA COPELAND:
That's good. So could you tell me a little bit about your children's
experiences once you decided to continue in the Mormon church? How do
you see that it had an impact on them making the switch?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, when we joined the Mormon church, my oldest child was nine and so
that means that only she and I and my husband could be baptized because
you're baptized when you are eight in the Mormon church. We were
baptized and everything, and then she started going to all the classes,
and they
Page 5
were increasing her knowledge in religion
and everything, and it was just totally different. She felt a part of
something. She wasn't just going to church sitting beside mom and dad.
She felt that she was a part of something because they had their own
little Sunday school, and they could testify in their own little Sunday
school and she could give talks and all this stuff. Where in the other
churches only the adults, well the preacher preached the sermon and all
of this stuff. She felt really good about the fact that she could do
these things. Even the other two felt really proud of themselves too
because they had their own class and they could identify with the
children that were in the class that they were in because they were the
same age, and so it was quite different for them.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. As far as discipline did you find that the Mormon church helped in
the ways of discipline? Did it help you to be able to do a better job as
being a parent?
JESSIE STREATER:
I can say that the Mormon church gave me a quite a few ideas that I never
thought of. Some of them really did work. But like I said I already had
in my mind what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Just going back to when you were talking about those particular programs
that you really, really liked and you said to yourself this is how I'd
like my family to be. Did you see any of that sort of like coming
through the Mormon church like the Father Knows Best
family TV shows and the My Three Sons. How does that
sort of did you get any sense or feel of that coming from the Mormon
church?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, in a sense I did because of the priesthood and the husband he led
the family, but he wasn't in charge. His wife was right there beside him
and whatever she said mattered even though he was the one who was over
her and everything. I kind of like put those two things together and
said yeah this is it.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Typically they say well from what I've understood is that it's very hard
when African Americans are, that a lot of the African American women
like to have a certain amount of control, and I was just concerned that
within the Mormon church there's a hierarchical structure. How do you,
how are you able to reconcile or take that view of the ideal of there
being a hierarchical structure and your not being able to really have
but only a certain amount of control in the church?
JESSIE STREATER:
That doesn't bother me as long as I know that my opinion matters as well.
Even though I'm not the one in charge, in control of the whole thing my
opinion still counts.
Page 6
BARBARA COPELAND:
It counts.
JESSIE STREATER:
It's taken into consideration.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Wanted to know like if the Mormon church authority leaders were to say
that you, call you to perform a certain function in the church would and
if you felt that well this is not something that I could do at this
time, would you feel okay to say that or how would you go about still
obeying a church leader's authority?
JESSIE STREATER:
Usually what I do is I ask, "Are you sure? Did you really pray about
this?" He says yes or whatever, and I say, "Well, I think maybe I should
go and pray myself about it for a little while and whatever the spirit
tells me that's what I will do. Even though I feel that this is a little
bit more than I can handle I will listen to the spirit," because I have
had a calling that I thought was a little bit more than I could
handle.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Oh you have.
JESSIE STREATER:
I did go pray about it, and it just kept laying on me that it was the
right thing to do. So, and of course my bishop then was one that was
saying okay you can do it. You can do it. You can do it. No matter what
you say. You can do it. You can do it. Okay so I'll see you next Sunday
in your calling. So I went on and did it, but it was really a great
experience.
BARBARA COPELAND:
What was that calling?
JESSIE STREATER:
It was second counsel in primary. I just knew that I would not be able to
stand up in front of them and give a lesson and all this stuff and
everything, but of course I made it through.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Normally how long is the calling for? How long a period?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, it all depends, usually well, it all depends on what the calling is
because you can, you can be a librarian for eternity.
BARBARA COPELAND:
A librarian.
JESSIE STREATER:
A librarian. You can work in the library forever. If you're in relief
society usually, you can ask to be released anytime you want to. Usually
when the presidency, changes everything changes. So that's a year or
two.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So explain, I guess maybe I should kind of back up and ask you to explain
what is meant by when they say someone is called to do something? What
does that really mean?
Page 7
JESSIE STREATER:
It means that you are asked to perform a specific service.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Within the church.
JESSIE STREATER:
Yes, within the church. That's what they will call you, set you apart and
lay hands on you, pray for you or whatever, set you apart and that your
calling that will be your duty for a time.
BARBARA COPELAND:
For a specific period of time.
JESSIE STREATER:
Period of time
BARBARA COPELAND:
So this calling who does it normally come from. Is it just the highest
church leader, the bishop or is it maybe one of the elders who has a
priesthood ranking? How normally gives out the callings and how do they
come about getting that information that someone is called to do
something?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, from my understanding it's the bishop and his counselors. Of
course, they know when there's, I wouldn't call it an opening but a
space that needs to be filled, a position that needs to be filled. They
gather the names together and they pray over them and whatever name that
they feel the spirit has given them that's when they go to that person
and ask them will they accept this calling.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So then it's just the bishop—
JESSIE STREATER:
And his counselors.
BARBARA COPELAND:
His counsel.
JESSIE STREATER:
That's my understanding.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. Right.
It's been told to me that prior to the year 1978 there was a ban on
African American males gaining access to the priesthood. Did you know
anything about that?
JESSIE STREATER:
Oh yes. It was still that way when we joined the church. I didn't, at
first I felt kind of uncomfortable about it, but I thought about it.
With segregation and all this other stuff if a black person was to hold
a position like that, we thought that there would be trouble. Back in
Joseph Smith days it would've been even worse with black people as they
would say quote trying to be the head of something or in authority of
something. So that's—
BARBARA COPELAND:
So what year was it then that you joined the Mormon church?
JESSIE STREATER:
'79.
BARBARA COPELAND:
In '79. So then this was only a year, a year after they had released that
ban. Were there many African Americans in the Mormon church or in the
church that you went to?
Page 8
JESSIE STREATER:
Not in the one in Durham but the one in Wilmington had quite a few
African Americans. When I came back here and we searched out the church,
there was only I think one other family.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So back at the branch or the church in Wilmington where there were more
African Americans how did most of the African American church members
feel once they made the announcement and they released, that the ban was
released and that now African American males could gain access to the
priesthood? How did the African American members feel at that time? Were
they scared? Were they nervous about that or did they talk about it any?
What were some of those feelings?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, I'm not sure exactly because of course we were just visiting there.
But my brother in law he felt relieved that he could go higher in the
church than where he was. He did feel good about being able to rise up
higher.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Because actually what does having the priesthood, as a male having the
priesthood, what does that mean for the family? What kind of benefits
does it give for the family?
JESSIE STREATER:
Being a priesthood holder he can administer blessings and a comfort or
sickness. He can do quite a few things—
BARBARA COPELAND:
That he normally would not have been able to do for his family if he
could not gain access to the priesthood. What about going to the temple?
What does that, having access to the priesthood allow you to do when you
go to the temple? Aren't there like certain functions that only someone
in priesthood authority could fulfill in the temple?
JESSIE STREATER:
I'm not sure. I've been to the temple three or four times, and it wasn't
anything that a priesthood holder per se was involved in what I was
going to the temple for. I'm not sure.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Because I thought that they could do sealings, like what is called
sealings binding families together. Do you know anything about that?
JESSIE STREATER:
No I haven't been sealed yet.
BARBARA COPELAND:
What basically what does that really mean because I may have a wrong
interpretation of that?
JESSIE STREATER:
Sealing families together throughout eternity not just for to death do us
part but through eternity. Being together forever and ever.
Page 9
BARBARA COPELAND:
So like in an afterlife you mean. So basically the Mormon tradition
believes that after death there will be an afterlife and the family that
you're with now, that's the family that you will have in the next life
if you're sealed.
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah, and if you continue to do what you know is right. Just because
you're sealed together doesn't mean that you will be together You still
have things to do. You still have to do the right thing in order to go
to the right place.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Wanted to know how important is that to you—
JESSIE STREATER:
Being sealed together.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right and assuring that your family will be together in the after life.
Is that of a great significant importance to you?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, it is a great comfort in knowing that there will be, you would
still know each other and be with each other. Then it's not so hard when
one of us leaves, one of us dies because we know that we will be
together again.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. Okay.
Wanted to also know that when you converted to Mormonism, how did your
community, how did your neighbors, what was your experience from your
neighbors?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, I'm not a socializing person. So there was only I think one maybe
two neighbors knew that I was Mormon, maybe three. But it's not like we
socialized. So it doesn't matter to them whether I'm Mormon or—
BARBARA COPELAND:
They probably didn't know. What about your family, your extended family
members like other brothers and—
JESSIE STREATER:
My siblings.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Yeah, your brothers and sisters. Did you tell them that you
converted?
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah, I had a sister that came once or twice, and she decided that's not
what she wanted. Another sister came and her husband was a preacher. So
we knew she wanted be by his side no matter what she thought about the
church. She wanted to support her husband. So and they don't, they don't
hold it over my head or against me or anything for being Mormon.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So they don't treat you any differently.
JESSIE STREATER:
Uh uh.
Page 10
BARBARA COPELAND:
Do they ever comment on differences that they may see in how you raise
your children according to the Mormon tradition or anything like that?
Do they make any positive or negative comments?
JESSIE STREATER:
No, well the sister that her husband is a preacher, she's really
supportive of the family because I just had a granddaughter that was
baptized. She just turned eight, and we usually do everything together,
Christmas and New Years I mean Thanksgiving whenever we can. So she
feels that we are like one. So whatever happens in my life she knows and
whatever happens in her life I know, and we try to support each
other.
BARBARA COPELAND:
That's the sibling that you're closest too. Does she have a lot of
children?
JESSIE STREATER:
She has three also.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Wanted to know how important is prayer in your life? Does it play an
important role in your life?
JESSIE STREATER:
Oh yes it does. Before I can get in my car and drive off, I've got to
pray. I might not make it to the corner without that prayer. I get up
each morning I just feel like I need to thank God because today wasn't
promised to me. That's another blessing that was given to me.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Wanted to know how important are denominational differences to you like
the other traditions or other denominations?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, to me I feel like to each his own. If you want this over here,
that's fine. If I want this over here, don't try to knock what I want.
Just I just try not to think about what other people—
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. Right. So do you see from the tradition, the denominations that
you were in coming up as a child in your early adulthood before you
converted to Mormonism do you, can you appreciate some of the
differences in the Mormon church than from—
JESSIE STREATER:
Yes.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Also in like the Pentecostal, the Holiness and the Southern Baptist
churches when there is just a lot of spiritualism with the shouting and
the praising and things of that nature. The call and response tradition
that normally African Americans have when the preacher is preaching and
you'll automatically hear someone in the congregation say—
JESSIE STREATER:
Amen
Page 11
BARBARA COPELAND:
Say Amen or preach Rev and giving him that support, and it's what we call
call and response. They, I noticed that you really don't hear that in
the Mormon church. Do you get a sense of missing that, being able to do
that or that closeness, that community of feeling when you were in that
environment of being able to support what your—
JESSIE STREATER:
Fellow man is saying. Well, no because I feel within myself if I agree
with whatever this person is saying to me within myself, I can say Amen.
I can agree with them. Afterwards I can go to them and tell them how
much I appreciate what they have given unto me this day.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So you mentioned earlier that one of the things that you, that the Mormon
church was able to answer a question that was just really pressing on
you that other churches couldn't answer and you mentioned that they
answered the reason for baptism. So that was satisfactory to you. So
have you been baptized?
JESSIE STREATER:
Yes.
BARBARA COPELAND:
You have been baptized, even despite being afraid of water you
mentioned.
JESSIE STREATER:
In order to be a member you have to be baptized.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Baptized. What are some of the most important things that you remember in
religious life coming up from your childhood?
JESSIE STREATER:
It's not too many because I just went because she wanted me to go.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Your godmother.
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah. I liked the music.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. Was it gospel?
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Mostly gospel music.
JESSIE STREATER:
I love the hymns that they're singing, and yet I still listen to those
hymns.
BARBARA COPELAND:
What were some of your favorite songs? Do you remember and do they sing
any of those songs like in the Mormon church but maybe in a different
version?
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah, Amazing Grace and of course the Mormons sing more
like opera.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Opera.
Page 12
JESSIE STREATER:
It's a little bit more like opera. My voice doesn't agree well my
children say my voice doesn't agree with any of the music.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Well, wait a minute now. Why is that funny because they sing it in opera
and when you're in the Southern Baptist church, it's gospel so. But is
it funny because maybe you're more used to the gospel way of hearing it
and then when you hear it in the Mormon church, it's just so, so
different?
JESSIE STREATER:
I guess it's—
BARBARA COPELAND:
Or is it because you can't sing opera.
JESSIE STREATER:
I can't sing. It's not really opera, but to me it's—
BARBARA COPELAND:
High pitch.
JESSIE STREATER:
But I like it. I'm not saying that I don't like the music. I like some of
the songs I just sit there and hold the book because I can't sing it.
That's in the other church too. When they get to now in the other church
when they get to that rap, some of it I just don't like it. That rap
because I don't know what they're saying. I can't feel something that I
don't know what it is.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Exactly. Exactly. Right. Right. Have you noticed like in the church that
you go to, the African Americans that are there, have you noticed a
steady increase in more African American members attending and joining
up or has it been primarily been the same amount for so many years.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, lately it's been an increase. Mind you I've been there for
twenty-one, twenty-two years. But lately it's been a steady increase,
but my daughter is in the military. So when we go to visit her, in a lot
of their wards, there are much more, many more African Americans.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Where is that?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, they lived in Florida and Norfolk and Virginia Beach and right now
they're in Quantico. Actually in Quantico in her ward they look like
black, but they're not. They look like African Americans, but they're
not.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. [Recorder is turned off and then back on.]
So then there were more African Americans in those churches.
JESSIE STREATER:
Um hmm.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. Okay. Do your children still go to the Mormon church now that
they're adults?
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah, my adults daughter her husband was a non-member and now he's
converted. He's been in the bishopric in, he's been doing everything
that he can do. He's been into everything organization
Page 13
almost, and she's been relief society president. Now she's
a Sunday School teacher. She has three children, and they're really
involved into the church. My daughter she goes to the church and of
course my son he still goes to church. They are still really active in
the church.
BARBARA COPELAND:
That's wonderful. That's wonderful. And your husband is he, does he hold
office in the church?
JESSIE STREATER:
No. No. He goes whenever he feels like he wants to go.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. Okay. But he does consider himself Mormon.
JESSIE STREATER:
Yes, he's a real shy closed in person and much more shy than my son.
Sometimes he feels uncomfortable. So he doesn't go that often. But he
will go and when we go visiting, he will go. It's because nobody knows
him.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Did he belong to another tradition before converting?
JESSIE STREATER:
He was non-denominational.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So what caused him to, did you encourage him to convert or did he
encourage you to convert?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, as a matter of fact he encouraged me, and he was active for a good
while. He has a few things that he needs to get rid of and he hasn't.
It's really hard for him to do so and he feels, I think that's one of
the reasons too that he feels uncomfortable. Smoking is one.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. Okay. So tell me a little bit about that then. Some of the things
requirements that the Mormon church establishes that would make you a
member and some of those things that you have to get rid of that you,
that a lot of people just take for granted and do every day. Tell me
about some of those things.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, we feel that Word of Wisdom is a really important part of keeping
your body, your temple clean. Coffee is not a good thing and cigarettes,
tobacco is not a good thing because you know tobacco was used a long
years ago for medicine for animals. You know of course tobacco causes
cancer and all this other stuff. So and strong drinks are not a good
thing for you. So we try to practice and keeping those things or
whatever.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Now when you say strong drink, do you mean alcohol?
JESSIE STREATER:
Um hmm. All kind of alcoholic beverages and stuff.
Page 14
BARBARA COPELAND:
So like Coca-Cola and hot chocolate and things of that nature also are
banned.
JESSIE STREATER:
No, hot chocolate is not. But Coca-Cola has a lot of caffeine in it, but
it also has potassium in it and if potassium is one of the things that
you really need, then I feel it's not a problem in drinking a Coke. But
anything, any dark sodas like that are really bad for the body.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Because I've had different members to tell me no, we're not supposed to
have tea, coffee—
JESSIE STREATER:
Right.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Even hot cocoa and I said gee that's very interesting.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, I didn't know about hot cocoa. But yeah. Even though I don't drink
it. Maybe they think because of something in the cocoa bean or
something.
BARBARA COPELAND:
I think chocolate might have caffeine. I'm not really sure. But I've just
heard just various different versions of it.
JESSIE STREATER:
But you know each person has their own view about what's good for them
and what's not.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. So now if a member feels that they can't give up smoking, then
they do they still consider themselves a member until they can give up
smoking, or do they consider themselves not a member or inactive because
they smoke?
JESSIE STREATER:
No, they consider them a member, and they even also try to get help for
you, counseling for you and all this. But again it all depends on the
individual. You're going to do whatever it is you're going to do no
matter what the consequences are.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Tell me a little bit about how the Mormon church reaches out to try and
help families that are in need. [Recorder is
turned off and then back on.]
JESSIE STREATER:
How they try to reach out to—
BARBARA COPELAND:
Help families that may be in need. Like if a family like if a family is
out of work, loses their job that sort of thing or is trying to
transition from one job to another.
JESSIE STREATER:
Okay, well it's like any other church you have tithes and you have
offerings and all that. The tithes go towards keeping the church up.
Offerings if you write down a specific offering and say offering for
missionaries, of course they try to help the missionaries. But others
the church puts that money aside to help try to pay your rent if or your
lights or whatever. We also have a storehouse for food where we have a
farm where they go to the farm and dig up potatoes and all this stuff
and we can these foods [unclear] —
Page 15
BARBARA COPELAND:
Oh they do that.
JESSIE STREATER:
We have a storehouse. So that if you are in need of food, you go to the
church, and it's like ordering groceries. You have a list, and you order
the stuff that you normally get. They provide.
[END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]
[TAPE 1, SIDE B]
[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE B]
Page 16
BARBARA COPELAND:
The storehouse and food, did they expect you to pay it back?
JESSIE STREATER:
Some years ago they said that you need to do a service to sort of work it
off or whatever. Say maybe go to the storehouse and work to put up some
of this stuff or whatever.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Some kind of community service within the church.
JESSIE STREATER:
Um hmm in order to pay that. It's been some time since I've heard anybody
say anything about them having to repay back. So I don't know whether
they still do that or not.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Do you ever see where it looks like there are abuses among members or
maybe not necessarily members but maybe people who come to the church
primarily because they know that the Latter-day Saints church gives,
will give, and so they come just for that. Have you ever seen that to be
the case?
JESSIE STREATER:
No, because whatever a person is in need in the church it's not an open
subject. Whatever is done for a person is done between the person and
the bishop or the person and whomever, whatever organization is over
that. So it's not an open book to the members per se.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. Okay. Do you ever at times see church members who are just, who
just come to church sporadically or do most of the church members come
on a regular basis?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, most church members come on a regular basis, but like any other
church sometimes you feel like you need a rest or something. You'll lay
out for a little while. They usually come back.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Pretty much, pretty regular. Do you all have like a home teacher. I
understand that within the Mormon church there's something that
functions as a home teaching or someone who normally comes out to the
home. Could you tell me a little bit about that and how that works?
JESSIE STREATER:
Yes, we have a home teacher. They come in pairs. He comes once a month,
and he gives us the spiritual lesson or whatever you prefer to talk
about. If he doesn't know, then he will find somebody that does, and
when he comes back, he will inform you of whatever it is that you would
like to know.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. How often do they come around?
JESSIE STREATER:
They come once a month.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Just once a month.
Page 17
JESSIE STREATER:
Once a month unless you tell them that you want them to come more than
once a month. Not only do they come and give you spiritual lesson. They
also come and help you with whatever needs you need like some single
parents she can't hang curtains and maybe they can hang curtains or she
needs a tree cut down in the yard. They can cut down trees and rake up
leaves and do just about anything you need help with. They're there to
help you.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Are these people, the members that come in pair, are they
missionaries?
JESSIE STREATER:
No, they're home teachers, just home teachers. Every family in the ward
is supposed to have home teachers. They come to visit you once a month
or whenever you need them to come. They also can give blessings as well
as the priesthood holder. They are priesthood holders.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So then they are primarily males that—
JESSIE STREATER:
The home teachers are males. But we also have visiting teachers. Visiting
teachers are females who visit the females.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Oh okay. Only.
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah, and they give us a lesson once a month or whatever it is that the
female really needs and she wants her visiting teachers to help her
with. They are there to help her. But the home teachers are for the
whole family, not just the male but the whole family. But the visiting
teachers are for the females.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. Did you ever have any hopes that your children would go into the
missionary? I understand that parents often look forward to their sons
primarily to go out and do missionary, do a year or two of missionary
work directly after high school. Was that a goal or a dream of yours
with your son?
JESSIE STREATER:
It was, but he decided that that wasn't something he wanted to do. He had
so many excuses about what he thought he should do before he went on a
mission, and then last he wanted to be married like everybody else was
married. He was always one thing or another that would take the place of
it. I feel that eventually he will be the one who regrets the fact that
he did not have this experience.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. Right. What about for your daughters. Did you want them to go out
and mission also?
JESSIE STREATER:
No. I was kind skeptical about the girls.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Yeah. Well they say—
Page 18
JESSIE STREATER:
I hoped that they would have a returned missionary as a husband, but
being an African American that would've been something really rare to
find—
BARBARA COPELAND:
Find. An African American male as a missionary.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, since there weren't any in our ward—
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay right.
JESSIE STREATER:
When the missionaries, when the missionaries are in your ward, they're
not to socialize. They can't have girlfriends and stuff.
BARBARA COPELAND:
While they're doing their mission.
JESSIE STREATER:
Right because their main focus is on Heavenly Father and—.
BARBARA COPELAND:
And gaining converts. Okay. Tell me a little bit about, now I understand
that each everyone in the ward explain to me a little bit about what a
ward means and how it is that you belong to one specific church in one
specific region and that you don't go and visit or you don't belong to
every Mormon church just one particular one, one particular church.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well when you say you don't belong to any other Mormon church—
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay, well maybe I need to explain it a little bit. It was my
understanding that each, that what it means by a ward is that you belong
to the church that is in your vicinity of where, the district that you
live in. So that's the church that you go to and that you wouldn't
necessarily go to a church that is not that is outside of that
prescribed district. You wouldn't go to another Mormon church in Raleigh
or Chapel Hill on a regular basis if you belonged to the one, they
assign you to one in Durham. Tell me about how that, a little bit more
about that.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, it's mostly for your convenience. I mean, like we have more than
one ward in the Durham church. A lot of people since we have more than
one ward we go at different times. Like one session will go in the
morning and another session will go in the afternoon. Some people feel
that I can't go to church in the afternoon. I have to be home. Well,
you're allowed to go to the other ward, but you don't work in the other
ward because that's not your ward. But you can go to the other ward on a
regular basis, and then the next year when your ward comes up in the
morning time, you can go back to your ward. You can do that, but it's
best to be in your own ward so you can know the people that's in your
ward and you can socialize with them, get to know them and do things
with them and be a family.
Page 19
BARBARA COPELAND:
That's where that whole emphasis of family cohesiveness comes in because
everyone knows one another—
JESSIE STREATER:
And then too you need as many as you can in one ward because everybody
has to do their job not their job but everybody has to keep the church
going, keep the ward going. So if you're in another ward and we have
this space over here and you're needed, then I feel you should be over
here where you belong. [unclear] we're
forced to do one thing, but it's not that way.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Well, I was wondering how easy it would be for African Americans to be
able to meet other African Americans since they're so very few in the
Mormon church. If they specifically had to be assigned to one particular
ward, then that means that, wouldn't it mean that their potential
marriage mate would come from that ward and primarily from that ward
only because that's the ward that they belong to.
JESSIE STREATER:
No. We get together on socials, and the wards meet with each other and
then of course the single people, quote single people have their own
ward. So the single people go elsewhere, and all these single people
meeting and they're coming from all, everywhere. So they're not
alienated from each other.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. So now the singles ward. Is there maybe one singles ward for
Durham, one singles ward for Raleigh, one singles ward for Chapel
Hill?
JESSIE STREATER:
I don't know, but the last time I heard about the singles ward of course
my children were single at that time. It's been quite some time. That
was in Chapel Hill, which is not that far because that's the stake
center, and when we have state conferences, we go to Chapel Hill.
Everybody goes to Chapel Hill. So then everybody is together again.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay, because I was thinking that if the singles ward of Durham, and
there's just one singles ward, then all of the singles who belong to
that particular ward that district, their potential marriage partner
would only come from that ward meaning that that's the pool that they
would have to pull.
JESSIE STREATER:
No, uh uh.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So it's not like that.
JESSIE STREATER:
Right. Uh uh. Then they have the singles ward have lots of functions
where they all get together and do things.
BARBARA COPELAND:
So they go to visit other singles wards.
Page 20
JESSIE STREATER:
I would imagine. I don't know. I know they have a lot of potlucks and a
lot of socials, dances or whatever, firesides and all that. Firesides
they come from everywhere.
BARBARA COPELAND:
What is the fireside?
JESSIE STREATER:
Fireside is when they have satellite sessions. Somebody speaks or
whatever or they have somebody special come in and live and somebody
speaks or whatever. They just socialize together.
Would you say in all your years of being a member that most of the
couples that have gotten together met each other through their singles
wards or would you say that they met their mate outside of the singles
ward?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, say for my family they met their couples outside of the singles
ward. A few of the teenagers that grew up with mine they met their
couples outside of them. But they do, a lot of them go off to college
and they meet their mate in college.
BARBARA COPELAND:
That way.
Okay, wanted to know also are there a lot of mixed couples? Have you
ever, do you see a lot of mixed couples in your ward like African
Americans married to—
JESSIE STREATER:
African American and white.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right.
JESSIE STREATER:
I only knew one African American married to a white and one I think she's
Asian or Korean or something married to a white.
BARBARA COPELAND:
But primarily African Americans are able to find other African Americans
in the Mormon church.
JESSIE STREATER:
Um hmm.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Do you think it's pretty easy or is it a long, do you see people waiting
a long period of time to find like one African American to find another
potential African American mate within the Mormon church?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, nowadays they don't care. They don't care whether he comes from the
Mormon church or where. So it's kind of hard to say that they are
looking, seeking for a Mormon mate. I think now they're just seeking for
a mate. Wherever he may be usually they convert him.
Page 21
BARBARA COPELAND:
Oh okay. From what your experience is a lot of the Mormon singles are
marrying outside of their faith and are managing to—
JESSIE STREATER:
Convert them.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Convert them.
JESSIE STREATER:
Now one of my daughters met a Mormon potential, but he was so far away.
So that was Florida. That's quite a distance to say that we are
talking.
BARBARA COPELAND:
That distance relationship it's hard. Especially if they're from another
religious faith. Would you say that, I guess then what you are saying
then is that a lot of the Latter-day Saints that are single are not
having a lot of success finding people of their same faith, other single
Mormons within the church. So they're just looking outside and settling
for people who are not their faith and then converting them. Wanted to
know how does the bishop or church leaders feel about that. Do they
frown on that or do they talk about it much? What kind of counsel do
they give for that?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, I really, I really don't know about that. I feel myself that you
can't tell the young people anything. They're going to do what they want
to do. But it's hard for the African American to find an African
American because there's not that many in the church. So there's no
other choice but to look outside and hope and pray that you have one
that you can convert to what you believe in. But in order to do that you
have to have communication from the start. So if with me I tell my
children if you can't communicate with this person you're considering to
be your mate, then there's no reason for you two to be together from the
start. Whether it's religion or what it is because communication takes
priority over everything other than trying to say, prioritize over the
Heavenly Father. Communication is the most important thing. If you feel
that this is going to be a problem and you know that you're strong in
your religion and this is going to be a problem and he's not going to
convert, then I sort of advise you not to be involved with this person
because if you're strong enough in your faith there's nothing that's
going to turn you away from it. In order to keep down confusion it's
best you continue to look until you find somebody is willing to be what
you want them to be.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. Right Now I understand that there is a cutoff age in the singles
ward that once you become thirty I believe or thirty-one that you no
longer—
JESSIE STREATER:
Considered [unclear] .
Page 22
BARBARA COPELAND:
Right. So what kinds of outreaches do they have for men and women who are
still single but are over thirty or thirty-one years old and they are
trying to find a potential mate.
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, we also, in the regular ward we also have lots of outings and
socials, Christmas gatherings, dances, picnics and all these things. So
you still have a chance to meet other people that are single as well.
You just are not quote teenage young. I guess they feel that if they had
a singles ward for the teenagers or the younger adults that it would be
less problems for them.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Okay. Okay. Right. Right. Let's see. I had a few more questions. So now
the two mates that your, the mates that your daughters are married to,
have they converted to Mormon?
JESSIE STREATER:
Yes.
BARBARA COPELAND:
They have converted to Mormonism.
JESSIE STREATER:
Of course you know one of them is deceased, but my son's bride, she
converted as well.
BARBARA COPELAND:
That's really wonderful to be an African American family raising up a
family, a generation in the church and then to see your own
offspring—
JESSIE STREATER:
Continue in that.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Yeah, continuing with their religious tradition, their religious beliefs
and then also being able to also marry and convert their spouses to
Mormonism as well. I think that that's very interesting. What would you
say just in talking with your children throughout their dating that
their times when they were dating were some of the struggles that they
had, that they expressed in trying to find a mate? What were some of the
main things do you feel they were looking for?
JESSIE STREATER:
Well, my children—my oldest daughter her mate she knew him from
childhood, and he was considered more like a brother to her. I never
knew, but he looked at her as more than just his little sister
basically. So he's been infatuated with her for a very long time, and he
admired all the things that she was doing and accomplishing and
everything. So he wanted to be a part of it. So it wasn't really hard
for her to fall for him. But she had other boyfriends that she brought
to the church that for one reason or another he decided that that wasn't
what he wanted, and it was a good thing because he really didn't turn
out to be who she thought he would be. My second daughter, she was more
of a rebellious kind of person that wanted to—
BARBARA COPELAND:
There's always one in the family, isn't it?
Page 23
JESSIE STREATER:
Yeah. So when she went off to college, she dated quite a few people, but
then after she graduated she decided it was time to become serious, and
so she met this fellow and settled down. It was quite hard with him, but
he was changing just before he passed. He didn't become a Mormon, but he
was in the process of wanting to seek out more about the Mormon
church.
BARBARA COPELAND:
Do you think because of his illness maybe that brought him closer to
thinking about things regarding spiritual things and in a spiritual
nature?
JESSIE STREATER:
No, he was a Jehovah's Witness. He wasn't practicing his religion, but at
one point he was strong in Jehovah's Witness. So he was confused, and he
was trying to figure out what he thought—
BARBARA COPELAND:
Was best for him. Well that's interesting. I was trying to think of some
other questions that were just at the forefront of my mind and can't
seem to think about any others right now. But we could certainly do
another interview if some other questions come up. I did want to just
say thank you so much—
JESSIE STREATER:
You're welcome.
BARBARA COPELAND:
For spending the time and allowing me to interview you and to share and
to talk about what Mormonism means to you and how it has affected your
life and how it has lent itself to helping you in raising your family.
So I did just want to say thank you for sharing that with me.