Schoolhouse Interviews: Mr. William Black

Interview with Mr. William Black

April 2, 2003
Interviewed by Sandra Lowe

Mr. William Black attended the Muddy Cross(Fork) School for three years and then in 1940 when the Bridger School opened, he was there for the remaining grades. He told us of some differences in the older school and Bridger. 


Q: Today is April the 2nd Wednesday and we are at Emmanuel Baptist Church and we’re interviewing Mr. William Black today. Mr. Black would you tell us where you grew up in Isle of Wight?

A: I grew up on Bowling Green Road in the area that used to be called Garner’s corner.

Q:  Any other landmarks that would help us to know the area?

A: Know anything about Mr. George Becker? Mr. George Becker had a farm long in that area. Mr. Julius Tynes which is my grandfather had a farm in that area.

Q: And did you have sisters and brothers?

A: I have, well I had 4 brothers, 1 sister. One brother passed in 1957.

Q: And did they attend the same schools that you attended?

A: My brother younger than me and my sister attended the same school I attended.

Q: When were you born, what year? And what school did you begin your education?

A: I was born 75 on July 5, of 1931.  What was the other question?

Q: What school did you start school in and what year do you remember?

A: I started school at Muddy Cross(Fork) School 1937, September 1937.

Q: And what grades did you attend at that school?

A: It was primer to the third grade.

Q: And after third grade where did you go?

A: I went to Bridger School.  Muddy Cross School was closed and we were placed at Bridger school.  I went to Bridger school from third grade to seventh grade.

Q: When you attended Muddy, Cross what grades were taught there?

A:  Primer through seventh.

Q: And how many classrooms were there?

A: There were two classrooms.

Q: Do you recall your teachers at Muddy Cross?

A: Ms. Mattie Jordan.

Q: She taught the first three grades or did she teach all of them?

A: She just taught the first three as I remember.

Q: And when you left, when they closed Muddy Cross what teachers did you have at Bridger?

A: If I remember correctly, I was still under Ms. Mattie and after I went to the fourth grade I had Mrs. Valentine and Mrs. Ellis in that order or reverse and Ms. Parker or Mrs. Parker was my last teacher.

Q: Since you went to both schools and they closed Muddy Cross was there any structural difference in the two schools or was Bridger built better since it would have been newer?

A: Bridger was a completely new school and it was built better. It had better seats and classrooms too I think.

Q: Was the inside of the building, the rooms basically the same or do you recall any difference?

A: The workmanship was better because it was a new school. I think we had a coat closet and all, I know we had a coat closet at Bridger but I don’t remember a coat closet at Muddy Cross.

Q: When you went to Bridger do you recall the year since that would have been the beginning of the history of that building?

A: 1939.

Q: And how many rooms were at Bridger?

A: Two rooms.

Q: Did you live far from Muddy Cross? Did you have to walk very far to get to school or did you have other transportation?

A:  I walked to Muddy Cross, 2.7 miles.  I walked to Bridger 3.8 miles. I just checked it.

Q: Was that one way or round trip?

A: One way.

Q: Do you remember any experiences or what you did on those, some of those days anything that comes to mind that would make for a nice story or experience?

A: Not really.

Q: Didn’t have to travel past any angry animals or…?

A: Yes, on one occasion for some reason I wasn’t going to school till the middle of the day and approximately half a mile from Muddy Cross, I was walking to school and one of the people that lived on that road had dogs…and for some reason I frightened the dogs that day and the dogs attacked me. That was mid-day, I don’t know why I was going to school during the middle of the day, but I was sent school middle of the day.  And uh, Mrs. Mary Briggs took me in and kind of wiped me up and sent me on to school.

Q: So other than the experience, you weren’t physically damaged?

A: No. And another thing I remember a man named Mr. George Joyner, as mild as mild could be, if it rained or weather bad, he took us in. If we had gotten wet he pulled our coats off and made sure we were dry. If a storm was coming up in the evening he made sure we stayed there until that storm pass. And there was a Mr. George Byrd that was similar to him but Mr. George Joyner stood out.

Q: Good neighbors.  Did you have any jobs you had to do before you had to go to school in the morning?

A: Not before going to school.

Q: After school?

A: Oh yes.

Q: What was a typical evening?

A: Pick up chips, get in wood, get the eggs in. That was younger, at that school that’s all it was at that school.

Q: And by the time you got to Bridger you were older, what other jobs…

A: No at Bridger it was basically the same thing.

Q: Did you have any chores that you had to do at school?

A: Not really.

Q: How did the school day start?

A: It was, uh, can’t think of the word.

Q: Did you have a program or a little devotion?

A: Devotion, it was devotion…and I believe it was Pledge of Allegiance too. We had devotion every morning.

Q: At both schools?

A: Yeah.

Q: And what can you tell us about your subjects that you recall?

A:  I could not write, I would not write. I hate spelling. I can’t spell to the day. I love math, I have been considered above average in math up through the 12th grade. But writing, spelling, if it was not for Harriet Pinner and Bernice Grandison I don’t think I would have ever got out of elementary school. I did the math and they did the writing.

Q: So they would write down your work for you?

A: They would basically write and maybe I would comment, but when it comes to the math I think I did the math, they got the math from me and they did the English or language I think we called it at that time.

Q: So you were in partnership.

A:  Yeah.

Q: Okay, do you recall any specific textbooks?

A: Not really other than when I first got started it was Peter and Peggy…and uh…I don’t remember any other.

Q: Were your textbooks kept in a central place in the classroom or you kept all your books in your desk or was there a storage area?

A: We carried our books home, at that time.  We bought our books and paid for ‘em, my father bought the books and paid for them and we took ‘em home.

Q: What can you tell us about the lunch hour or lunch period? Did it last an hour or…?

A: No, no. The lunch hour lasted maybe 30 minutes, something like that.

Q: Was there a recess combined with it?

A: Yeah, recess and lunch.

Q: Did you ever cook anything on the pot-bellied stove at your school?

A: No.

Q: Everybody brought their own lunch?

A: Yeah.

Q: When was recess?

A: I don’t remember. I think we had two recesses. One mid-morning or near and one in the afternoon.

Q: Can you recall games that you enjoyed during that time or what you did at recess?

A: No, nothing but just run like, run wild in a sense.

Q: You recall some of your classmates or any particular activities that stands out besides the working together on your subjects?

A: My buddy buddy was Joe Lee Grandison. That was Bernice Grandison that I referred to a while ago brother. He was a buddy buddy of mine up until I left seventh grade. There was a Marvin Robinson that was pretty good friend of mine. But other than that I don’t have anything else on that.

Q: How would you describe the classroom at Muddy Cross?

A: I can’t really remember it that much.  I remember going there well enough.  Remember I was just uh…I was just 8 years old at that time.

Q: What about Bridger?

A: I can remember classroom there pretty well cause I remember actually getting in coal and all going to the coal pile and getting coal and all and I remember the coat closets and all at Bridger.

Q: Were the coat closets part of the classroom or was it a room you got to before you, was it a separate little room?

A: It was a separate little closet like thing. It was near bout as large as the room itself but it was completely concealed from the room.

Q: What was in your classroom?

A: Nothing but the teachers’ desk and our desks and the blackboard.

Q: Anything on the walls?

A: Not that I remember other than… than uh, nothing on the wall per se.

Q: So she didn’t have much in the line of aids? Probably wasn’t supplied with it?

A:  A globe, map, that’s a globe.

Q: The teachers’ desk and the students’ desk. Can you describe one or both of them?

A: The teacher desk appeared to be just about like a teacher desk ten years ago or so, I don’t …

Q: Same wooden desk?

A: Yeah.

Q: Where did you get all your light, was it from the windows?

A: At Bridger we had electric light although we didn’t use electric. One side of the room was complete windows. One side of the room was just all windows. And I don’t remember any electric lights at all at Muddy Cross.

Q: If there was a need for discipline, how was that handled?

A: With a plain whip…and stand in the corner. I mean a plain whip…wood whip. 

Q: Are you talking about a branch?

A: A branch, yeah.

Q: Do you feel as that was used often or not?

A: Not often at all. It wasn’t excessive by no means. What we got was what we deserved.

Q: And can you recall any school experiences that come to mind. Doesn’t have to be discipline, in any area, recess or lunch experiences.  Any classes you enjoyed particularly or anything at all.

A: Not really. I know one thing that used to happen at Bridger, although I admit I’ve done it some myself too. During recess some of the kids would walk up to a store which was at least half a mile up the road to get candy or whatever.

Q: This was after school?

A: During… during recess.

Q: During recess.

A:  Right, Gilliam’s Store.

Q: Are there any other childhood memories that you would like to tell us about that would not have had to happen at school?

A: Not really. Although I was born and raised in the woods and I played in the woods and I didn’t have that many friends come by cause I was, until I was… let’s see 1945, 45 I was 14 years old and I was a mile in the woods. At least a mile in the woods. And very seldom anybody came by, anything like that.

Q: So what was some things that you did to… when you were not….didn’t have chores to do to keep you busy?

A: Well, I don’t know. I was right much a loner. Believe it or not I thought I was going to be a hermit. I really did.  I felt like being a hermit.     I just   ------ one now.

Q: But, but you didn’t?

A: No.

Q: So something kept you out here amongst us and really better for it right? Do you know of any improvements in Isle of Wight and the county itself or any experiences or job changes that you would like to tell us about?

A: Not really. I know that’s selfish but I can’t think of a thing.

Q: Would you give us an idea of some of your highlights of your life from school up to this point? Things you have done, places you’ve gone, jobs you’ve had? Anything that you want to tell us?

A: I don’t know of anything.  I’m a licensed electrician I don’t know of anything worth mentioning about me.

Q: I’m sure there is. You just don’t want to tell us.

A: I don’t see myself, I see myself as little…

Q: What types of jobs did you have?

A: Jobs now?

Q: Um hum or before. What did you retire from?

 A: Basically I retired from nothing in a sense because I used to work Longshoremen but I got so much broken time down there that I didn’t really retire from there.

Q: Were you in the military?

A: Yeah, I was military. Not retired from it though. Honorable discharge. And I’m an electrician by trade. I worked, Bishop Johnson, I can’t think of the name of that road- Bishop Johnson Continual Light Church. I did that. I did the new addition to Sandy Mt. Church…and I’ve done quite a few houses and all but that’s the only two things of any size.

Q: Do you still do some electrical work?

A: I do some electrical work now but I don’t want a whole lot of old work. Just don’t have what it takes to do it with.  I would love to have some new work.

Q: Family? Anything you want to tell us about your family?

A: Not really. I married and divorced.

Q: Children?

A: I’ve got three children.

Q: Any of them live in Isle of Wight?

A: My oldest daughter live next door to me which is next door to Sandy Mt. Church.  My baby live in Newport News…my son live in Newport News.

Q:  Any words of wisdom for the youth of today?

A: Reach for the sky. You might reach the rooftop.

Q: Anything else?

A: That’ll be it. No I mean my thing is don’t reach, I mean reach high and don’t be disappointed if you don’t get there. But if you don’t reach up-you’ll never get up.

Q: The trip is half the experience, half the joy. Finding out what it takes. Well, I thank you.

A: Thank you.

Q: Mr. Black, I appreciate your speaking with us today and if you have anything else to add just say hold it before I hit the button.

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