Interview with Geneva Hunter Pope, April 26, 1990

Partial Transcript: This is Teresa Scott. I'm interviewing Geneva Pope on how it's like to being a Black Lexingtonian.

Segment Synopsis: Geneva Pope is introduced. She talks about her parents and her siblings. She talks about being married twice.

Keywords: Brothers; Death; Farming; Fathers; Husbands; Lexington (Ky.); Married; Marshall Pope; Mothers; William Hunter

Subjects: African American families; African American farmers.; African Americans--Marriage.; Logan County (Ky.)

Partial Transcript: So after this last husband died in '83 well I stayed around home til '84 and I decided I would come to the Lexington Senior Citizens Center.

Segment Synopsis: Pope talks about working at the Lexington Senior Citizens Center. She talks about childhood jobs. She talks about her husband's work at various hotels, and discusses where they lived.

Keywords: Brown Hotel; Children; Farms; Hammonds Nursing Home; Husbands; Laundry; Lexington Senior Citizens Center; Louisville (Ky.); Low income housing; Moving; Schools; Seelbach Hotel; Stepchildren; Switchboard operators; Wood; World War II

Subjects: African American families; African Americans--Economic conditions.; African Americans--Education.; African Americans--Employment.; African Americans--Housing.; African Americans--Social conditions.; World War, 1939-1945.

Partial Transcript: Okay. What about, uh, your grand--do you remember your, your parents?

Segment Synopsis: Pope talks about what she remembers of her grandparents and their occupations. She talks about their formal educations.

Keywords: African American farmers; Blind; Doctors; Fathers; Gardensville; Grandmothers; Grandparents; Great grandmother; Great grandparents; Jobs; Lawyers; Mothers; Occupations; Raining; Russellville; Schools

Subjects: African American families; African Americans--Education.; African Americans--Employment.; Family histories.; Family--history

Partial Transcript: Can you tell me from the schoolhouse you walked to. Could you describe it to me?

Segment Synopsis: Pope talks about her experiences attending school in a segregated one-room schoolhouse, talks about discipline in school, and the games they played during free time.

Keywords: Benches; Discipline; Games; Learning; One-room schools; Outside toilets; Punishment; Segregated schools; Used books; Water; White schools

Subjects: African Americans--Education.; African Americans--Segregation; African Americans--Social conditions.; Childhood; Discrimination in education.; Race discrimination.; Race relations--Kentucky; Segregation in education--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: We had that little old--we had coal oil lamps all the way around.

Segment Synopsis: Pope talks about staying out of trouble as a child. She talks about working in a store as a salesperson.

Keywords: Drinking alcohol; Sales; Smoking; Stores; Watches; Working

Subjects: African Americans--Conduct of life.; African Americans--Employment.; African Americans--Religion.; African Americans--Social conditions.

Partial Transcript: Then I talk a lot, that's the way--you study people, see?

Segment Synopsis: Pope says her parents separated during her childhood, and says her family was poor. She talks about working to help support her family, and discusses race relations.



[An interruption in taping occurs during this segment.]

Keywords: Clothes; Dancing; Food; Home remedies; Lunches; Mothers; Parents; Poor; Separation; Shoes; White families; Working

Subjects: African American families; African Americans--Economic conditions.; African Americans--Employment.; African Americans--Social conditions.; Childhood; Race discrimination.; Race relations--Kentucky; Racism

Partial Transcript: --cause my mother's grandfather, the one that I didn't know, he died and left this home to my mother.

Segment Synopsis: Pope describes her childhood house, how her family cooked and heated their home, and her mother making and selling butter and other goods. She talks about her childhood chores.

Keywords: Bathtubs; Bedrooms; Brass beds; Chores; Churning butter; Cooking; Eggs; Electricity; Houses; Iceboxes; Layout; Potbelly stoves; Raising animals; Running water; Selling; Smokehouses; Straw mats; Wagons; Washing dishes

Subjects: African American families; African Americans--Conduct of life.; African Americans--Economic conditions.; African Americans--Housing.; Childhood

Partial Transcript: And------?? and my mother would have the ministers of Sundays for dinner.

Segment Synopsis: Pope talks about her mother having ministers as guests in their home. She talks about the role of religion in her life.

Keywords: Conditions; Guests; Hand-me-downs; Husbands; Influence; Ministers; Mothers; Siblings

Subjects: African American churches--Kentucky; African American families; African Americans--Economic conditions.; African Americans--Employment.; African Americans--Religion.; Childhood

Partial Transcript: Okay, um, could you tell me--okay, you said you have two stepdaughters.

Segment Synopsis: Pope talks about her stepdaughters' experiences in segregated and integrated schools. She talks about the jobs available for African Americans and talks about her husband's career.

Keywords: Bartenders; Black neighborhoods; Bryan Station High School; Calumet Farm; First Presbyterian Church; Husbands; Integrated schools; Job opportunities; Oakwood; Restaurants; Segregated schools; Stepchildren; Stores

Subjects: African American neighborhoods; African Americans--Education.; African Americans--Employment.; African Americans--Segregation; African Americans--Social conditions.; Race discrimination.; Race relations--Kentucky; Racism; School integration--Kentucky; Segregation in education--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Can you tell me what you did for entertainment?

Segment Synopsis: Pope talks about what she did for fun. She talks about her religion, and taking trips.

Keywords: Drinking alcohol; Elks Club; Entertainment; Illness; Paducah (Ky.); Sick; Traveling; Trips

Subjects: African American churches--Kentucky; African Americans--Conduct of life.; African Americans--Recreation; African Americans--Religion.; African Americans--Social life and customs.

Partial Transcript: Okay do you remember when Martin Luther King got shot?

Segment Synopsis: Pope discusses her reaction to hearing the news of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, as well as John F. Kennedy's death.

Keywords: Chestnut Street; Cousins; D. E. King; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; John F. Kennedy; Louisville (Ky.); Nurse aides; Nursing homes; Protests; Reactions; Working

Subjects: African American leadership; African Americans--Employment.; African Americans--Social conditions.; Assassination; Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963; King, Martin Luther, Jr., 1929-1968

Partial Transcript: Okay, uh, is there anything you want me to know about you that I haven't asked?

Segment Synopsis: Pope describes her childhood, touching on the subjects of raising food, transportation, and chores. The interview concludes abruptly.

Keywords: Buying; Cars; Chores; Farms; Fear; Games; Garbage disposal; Horse and buggy; Learning to drive; Mills; Raising food; Self-sufficient; Stores; Transportation; Trash disposal; Washing clothes

Subjects: African American families; African Americans--Conduct of life.; African Americans--Economic conditions.; African Americans--Recreation; Childhood; Food habits