DAIERA ROBERTS

TRANSCRIPT %u2013 DAIERA ROBERTS
[Compiled February 6th, 2011]

Interviewee: DAIERA ROBERTS

Interviewer: Dwana Waugh

Interview Date: August 5th, 2010

Location: Shelby, North Carolina

Length: Approximately 47 minutes

DWANA WAUGH: Okay, so today is August 5th, 2010. This is Dwana Waugh, interviewing Mrs. Daiera Roberts at White Oak Manor, and thank you for doing this, Mrs. Roberts. Could you say your name and your birthday?
DAIERA ROBERTS: Daiera.
DW: Daiera.
DR: Day-eye-ra.
DW: Daiera Roberts, okay. And when were you born?
DR: Ask my son. He can tell you all that.
DW: Okay, okay. Well, I wanted to ask, could you just talk a little bit about your parents? I know they had a big role in building Roberts Tabernacle CME. Could you talk just a little bit about them and what you remember.
DR: What do you want to know?
DW: Just about what it was like, just anything you can remember about them. What was it like growing up in Shelby when you were younger? What did Shelby look like when you were younger?
DR: It was practically the same (01:27).
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. About the same and then it grew a little bit?
DR: Um-hmm.
DW: Do you remember the street you grew up on?
DR: County.
DW: County Street? Oh, you grew up in the county?
DR: Cleveland County.
DW: Okay. What part of Cleveland County?
DR: Like what?
DW: What part of Cleveland County did you grow up in, were you born in?
DR: I guess I was born, I was born--.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. In Shelby?
DR: Yeah.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am, okay. And I remember hearing that you had played a lot of piano for your church. What made you interested about the piano?
DR: My mother and my father. My father went to school and of course my mother was from a large family, and she didn%u2019t get to go away to school like he did.
DW: Now I remember seeing your father went to (03:00) School. Is that right? Is that where he went to college?
DR: Yeah.
DW: When you went to school, what schools did you go to when you were from a little baby on up?
DR: Shelby School.
DW: Okay. Do you remember any of your teachers?
DR: All of them but I can%u2019t call their names.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. Okay. Do you remember any of the classes you used to take?
DR: Regular. You know, it just falls down from one grade to the other. First, second, third, fourth, fifth, and then the high school. If you were able to go to college, you go and it%u2019s as regular as now.
DW: Did you go to college?
DR: No.
DW: No? So what did you do right out of high school?
DR: I was in boarding school through high school?
DW: Did you graduated from Cleveland High?
DR: Yes.
DW: Okay, okay. And how high up did the grades go when you were in school? Did it go to tenth grade or eleventh grade or twelfth grade?
DR: In the high school?
DW: Do you remember how high the grade went?
DR: Do you mean like first, second--?
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. Did it go up to eleventh grade or did it go up to twelfth grade, if you remember?
DR: The grades?
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am.
DR: It went to the eleventh grade, I think.
DW: Okay, eleventh grade. So, after you finished high school in the eleventh grade, what did you end up going to do? Did you go right to work?
DR: No.
DW: Okay. What did you end up doing out of high school?
DR: Stayed at home, and we had a farm.
DW: Oh, okay. How many brothers and sisters did you have?
DR: I think there was six.
DW: Six? Were they all mostly girls or boys or a good mix of both?
DR: Some of both.
DW: Some of both? Yes, ma%u2019am. Now, were y%u2019all close in age or spread out? Were y%u2019all close in age or spread out a little bit more? Like, were y%u2019all a year apart or a couple of years apart or more years apart?
DR: Spread out.
DW: Spread out apart? Now were you the oldest or the youngest?
DR: I was the youngest.
DW: Okay, okay. Were you the youngest in the house, growing up? Were you the youngest? I%u2019m not asking this right. Were you the baby of the house, growing up, and so all your brothers and sisters were a lot much older than you were?
DR: All of them.
DW: Oh, okay. How many years apart were y%u2019all?
DR: Through the first to [pause]--what?
DW: Oh, from the oldest to you, how many years difference was it between you two?
DR: [Pause] We weren%u2019t piled on each other. We weren%u2019t really spread out, but we wasn%u2019t piled on each other.
DW: Okay.
DR: I%u2019m the youngest.
DW: Okay. And the next sibling up was already--were they already in school by the time you were born? The next oldest? The next to the baby, the next one to you?
DR: I guess about five or six years old, something like that.
DW: Okay, okay. Was education really important to your parents? You had mentioned that your mom didn%u2019t get to go to college, but your dad did. Was that something really important to your parents for their children to have, an education?
DR: I don%u2019t know what you meant.
DW: Oh, was it really important to go to school?
DR: Yes.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. What did that mean, if y%u2019all went to school, what did that mean to you?
DR: It meant quite a bit.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. It was like, what--?
DR: My father was teaching.
DW: In the schools? In the primary grades?
DR: I guess I know what you%u2019re talking about, but he was married. My mother lived out in the county, and so they didn%u2019t attend school together. They didn%u2019t because he was from Shelby and she was from out in Cleveland County. You know what I mean?
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. So there was a little distance for them to get together. One was going to a different school than the other one?
DR: I don%u2019t remember him at all.
DW: Oh, no? Had he passed away by the time when you were really young?
DR: No, he was still living.
DW: Oh, your father? What about your mother?
DR: He lived in Shelby. My father lived in Shelby and my mother lived out in the county. Do you understand?
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. Yes, ma%u2019am. You said your mother got you interested in playing the piano. Did she teach piano?
DR: By the time I was old enough, yes.
DW: Okay. I know the church was really important. How did you get involved in Roberts Tabernacle?
DR: My father was the minister.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. What was it like being a minister%u2019s child?
DR: Everybody asked you questions.
DW: Oh, yeah. [Laughter] Were they good questions?
DR: But they didn%u2019t think we were teachers or preachers. They just asked questions. If you know something, you tell them.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. You mean questions, like about the Bible?
DR: That too, but growing up, regular questions.
DW: Oh, okay.
DR: But we weren%u2019t born like Jesus, that you knew everything already, no.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am. Did that ever bother you that people were asking you so many questions?
DR: Because you told about it every day.
DW: Now did that ever stop by the time y%u2019all got older?
DR: It hadn%u2019t today.
DW: Oh, no, it%u2019s still going on today?
DR: Yes.
DW: I wanted to ask you a little bit about you playing the piano for the church and how you came into that position of playing the piano?
DR: My father was the oldest in his family, so he knew--and the people asked him things.
DW: How many brothers and sisters did your father have?
DR: Six.
DW: How many did your mother have?
DR: I think it was six or seven, something like that.
DW: Big families. Did you know your uncles and your aunts well?
DR: Very well.
DW: Were they all involved in the church as well? I wanted to know a little bit about--I know you had said Shelby and Cleveland County looks the same in a lot of ways to what it looked like when you were coming up. Could you talk a little bit about what your house looked like when you were young, what kind of house you grew up in and your friends in the neighborhood, and the kind of games y%u2019all played and things like that?
DR: My father was a minister.
DW: If you grew up in Shelby, did you have a lot of friends?
DR: All the community were friends.
DW: Did y%u2019all play a lot of games together for fun?
DR: Yes.
DW: What kind of games did y%u2019all play?
DR: Outside games, ball, and inside, cooking.
DW: So, outside, playing with balls and things like that, and inside you cooked for fun? Did you like cooking?
DR: You%u2019ve got to eat.
DW: [Laughter] Yes, ma%u2019am, but did you like cooking?
DR: Yes.
DW: There was one thing I heard people say that they ate around here a lot--livermush--did you cook that or eat that?
DR: Yeah.
DW: That%u2019s good?
DR: It%u2019s very good.
DW: How do you fix it?
DR: Slice it, then you eat it hot or cold.
DW: Oh, either way? You don%u2019t put anything on it or with it?
DR: It%u2019s sliced.
DW: Do you put it on any bread or put it with some tomatoes or pepper or something on it?
DR: What do you mean?
DW: With your livermush, you just slice it and that%u2019s it? You can eat it hot or cold?
DR: You can eat it hot or cold.
DW: Okay, and how did you like yours, hot or cold?
DR: That%u2019s the way your mother fixed your food, so you eat it or get your butt torn up.
DW: Oh, yes, ma%u2019am. So, when you first had livermush, did you like it, or you had to like it?
DR: It was passed down gradually.
DW: So you passed it on to your children?
DR: Yeah.
DW: And they pass it on to their children?
DR: Now passed on.
DW: I know your son was just talking about a family reunion and that y%u2019all would have the family reunions pretty often. What kinds of things do y%u2019all do at the family reunion? What kind of things do y%u2019all eat at the family reunion?
DR: I was a meal, picnic-like.
DW: What kind of fixins would y%u2019all have?
DR: Mama%u2019s.
DW: What would she fix up that was good?
DR: Pies and cakes and food like that. You had a picnic.
DW: When did y%u2019all start having the family reunions?
DR: You mean time of day?
DW: Around what year did y%u2019all start coming together as a family?
DR: Ever since I can remember.
DW: So, since you were real young, y%u2019all would have family reunions every summer?
DR: Yes.
DW: Okay, and did most of your brothers and sisters stay in Cleveland County?
DR: Yeah.
DW: Did any of them move off, out of the county?
DR: If they did, they came back.
DW: What do you think about Cleveland County? Why did you stay?
DR: It%u2019s good.
DW: It%u2019s good? What makes it so good?
DR: You have to have a nice mother and father and church and aunts and sisters and uncles.
DW: Going back a little bit to your church, why is church important?
DR: You go to church every week.
DW: But why would you go to church every week?
DR: Because one of the pastors was my father and it was passed down.
DW: Your brothers were pastors too?
DR: When they got old enough and went to school.
DW: So all of your brothers became a pastor?
DR: Not at the same church.
DW: And all stayed in Cleveland County?
DR: No.
DW: Did they stay in North Carolina?
DR: Some of them.
DW: Where did the others go off to?
DR: Like, New York. They went upstate New Jersey, and they came back every year and visited the family.
DW: So, eventually they all came back to live here later on, even the ones that moved away?
DR: Some of them.
DW: And some of them stayed where they were?
DR: Yeah, New Jersey and New York. It depended on how they learned in the school.
DW: When you finished with high school, you said you stayed at home?
DR: If you got married, you stayed with your husband.
DW: So you didn%u2019t get married right out of high school?
DR: No.
DW: What about you? How did you meet your husband?
DR: The community affairs, different things in the community, church and school.
DW: So that%u2019s how you met your husband, through community affairs?
DR: Yeah.
DW: Okay. How long were y%u2019all married?
DR: Twenty-five or thirty.
DW: Okay. That%u2019s a good long while. And how many children did y%u2019all have?
DR: Six.
DW: Six? Well, six is a magic number with y%u2019all%u2019s family, with six kids and six--yeah. How many girls did you have?
DR: (25:03 through 25:19) and then the children started getting married in the teens.
DW: Did they get married before they finished high school?
DR: No.
DW: Right out of high school, they would get married and then move? So, you were saying your family had a farm. How long did you end up living on the farm?
DR: Now.
DW: Now?
DR: You stayed until you got a job, and that%u2019s usually out of high school.
DW: Do you remember any of the kind of work you used to do on the farm?
DR: Anything you name on the farm, we had it.
DW: Was there any difference between the jobs you had to do and the jobs your brother had to do? Were you all supposed to do the same kind of work?
DR: Growing up?
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am.
DR: When you%u2019re on the farm, you do whatever is on the farm to do.
DW: And it didn%u2019t matter how old or whether you were a girl or a boy, just as long as it needed to be done it had to be done?
DR: You do it.
DW: When you met your husband, was he a farmer too?
DR: They would go from one farm to another.
DW: You%u2019d go from one farm to another farm?
DR: My father had his farm, and his father had a farm. You know how.
DW: Yes, ma%u2019am, passing it along?
DR: And if you met someone going from one place to another--teachers going and coming--North and South Carolina, and different parts. Do you understand?
DW: I think so. What about your husband? Did your husband do farm work too for a living?
DR: Everyone farmed.
DW: Okay.
DR: If they stayed in their community, and if anything new came around, then you learned to do what was to be done. You understand?
DW: I think so. Are you saying on the farm if anything new came that needed to be done, then it was done?
DR: If girls house-keep, they do like their mothers. Girls do like their mothers.
DW: Make sure I have this right. So, boys would do what their fathers did for a career, and girls would do what their mothers did for a career? So, did a lot of black women work as domestic workers?
DR: If they could find a job.
DW: Was it really hard to find a job doing that kind of work?
DR: I don%u2019t know.
DW: So you never did that kind of work?
DR: You go to school and then you finished high school, and then if you were able, you%u2019d go to college. That%u2019s the way it was around here.
DW: Now, was that what happened with you? Did you end up going to college?
DR: I didn%u2019t go to college?
DW: Did your brothers and sisters go?
DR: Yes.
DW: Why didn%u2019t you end up going?
DR: I was the youngest.
DW: So what did that mean to be the youngest? Why weren%u2019t you able to go as the youngest?
DR: No reason. If your brothers and sisters were older than you, and if they were not, then you all went to high school or whatever it is, whatever comes along.
DW: So, by the time you came along to go to college, your brothers and sisters had already gone. Was it really expensive to send you off to college too, by the time you came along?
DR: Yes.
DW: When you were in high school, do you remember much about World War I? Do you remember much about World War I, the first World War?
DR: We had a newspaper every day. It came to the house, so you know. I guess I understand what you%u2019re saying.
DW: I was just asking if you remember World War I. I guess you would have been still in high school at the time, about finishing up high school, with the first World War? No? Okay. Do you remember anything about a flu epidemic, people getting sick from the flu?
DR: There were a lot of people around with the flu.
DW: Back years and years ago?
DR: When they first started having--see, we didn%u2019t have a large family. We had seven or eight, you know.
DW: Seven or eight?
DR: High school.
DW: So you didn%u2019t have a lot of high schools, just seven or eight high schools?
DR: If a school was large enough to have a high school.
DW: Okay. So, as long as you had enough people to form a high school, then a high school could be formed?
DR: Yes.
DW: Okay. What do you remember about downtown Shelby? Did you used to go down there?
DR: It%u2019s larger now.
DW: What used to be there that you remember?
DR: What used to be there that%u2019s not there now?
DW: Yes.
DR: It had a high school and college.
DW: There used to be a college in downtown Shelby?
DR: Boiling Springs.
DW: This is one thing I heard some people talking about. I don%u2019t know if you might know anything about it, but do you remember anything about people being lynched from a tree?
DR: They didn%u2019t have that when I came along.
DW: The church, Roberts Tabernacle, isn%u2019t where it was when your father was a pastor. That changed places.
DR: That depended on how much money you had. (36:15) Boiling Springs is near, and they have the college.
DW: Gardner-Webb?
DR: That%u2019s further out.
DW: So there%u2019s another college in Boiling Springs?
DR: Gardner-Webb.
DW: When you were younger, did you used to go downtown at all to go shopping? Do you remember the kinds of stores, or the stores you went to?
DR: Same as now, only it%u2019s smaller.
DW: Do you remember any of the names of the stores?
DR: Same as now.
DW: What about the banks? Did you used to go to the bank a lot?
DR: First National.
DW: And that was the only bank around for a while?
DR: Before I came, I don%u2019t know what was there before I came, but they had the First National.
DW: You%u2019ve lived in Shelby all of your life?
DR: Yes.
DW: Do you remember much when the war came to Shelby, when people were drafted, men were drafted?
DR: I remember them talking about it.
DW: Were you nervous or scared?
DR: It was a daily occurrence.
DW: Being afraid was daily?
DR: Not especially.
DW: It was just another run-of-the-mill kind of thing?
DR: Um-hmm.
DW: Okay. What would you say is the best part of living in Cleveland County?
DR: The best? County seat?
DW: What%u2019s the thing you like the most about living in Cleveland County?
DR: Stores and grocery stores and dry-goods stores, and (39:43).
DW: Now, are you saying that%u2019s what kind of stores that used to be in Shelby?
DR: Yeah.
DW: What do you like the most about living in Shelby?
DR: It was the only place there was to live.
DW: Why was that?
DR: You weren%u2019t too close to anyone else, so you lived in Shelby, and the communities grew up around Cleveland County.
DW: Would you have considered living anywhere else?
DR: No, you buy a house and then live in that house, and if you got enough money, you buy two houses. Is that what you%u2019re talking about? [Recorder stopped at 41:00] END OF INTERVIEW
Mike Hamrick, February 6th, 2011