Schoolhouse Interviews: Mrs. Roxie B. Crawley

Interview with Mrs. Roxie B. Crawley

June 11,2003
Interviewed by Delores Cuffey

Mrs. Crawley attended the Carrollton School in 1940 through the elementary grades. 


Q: My name is Delores Cuffey and I will be doing an interview on Roxie Bailey Crawley. What area of Isle of Wight did you grow up in?

A: I grew up in this area of Isle of Wight.

Q: In the Carrollton area?

A: Yeah I been in Carrollton all most all my life.

Q: Most all your life? How many brothers and sisters did you have?

A: Let’s see I got three brothers I think six sisters, one of them dead 10 of us all together.

Q: Ten. What school did you attend and was it a one or two-room school?

A: It was a two-room school.

Q: What was the name of the school?

A: I think Carrollton Elementary.

Q: Carrollton Elementary?

A:  Yeah.

Q: Do you remember what grades were taught at that school?

A: Uh, it was on one side the first to the third and on the other side was the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Q: Can you remember any of the teacher’s names?

A: Uh…Mrs. Uh. Ms. Cara…I think her last name was Jordan, Mrs. Cara Jordan (Carrie) and the other teacher name was all I think of her last name was Ms. Day.

Q: Okay, do you remember how did you get to school?

A: Walked.

Q: Was it you and some other, a group of you?

A: Oh yeah me and my sister and brother.

Q: And what did you do if the weather was bad if it was raining or real cold?

A: Um when it was real cold when we get to school and they had that little wood stove and we put our hands to it that was uh, our hand started aching but we still walked.

Q: You walked?

A: Um hum.

Q: Who made the fire at the school?

A: Ms. Bailey. Ida Bailey yeah, um huh.

Q: So when you got to school did you have any chores to do after you got there?

A: Yeah started getting our lessons.

Q: What did the day start like? Did you have any kind of devotions or anything?

A: Yeah we had a song and a prayer. Mmm hum.

Q: Do you remember if the school bought the books or did your parents buy them? Your books and your paper and your pencils and stuff like that.

A: During that time, I think, I think our parents bought them at the time or the school bought them. I don’t, I can’t think now, it’s been so long. But I think the parents bought the books or something cause we didn’t have but a few books.

Q: Can you remember about what year it was when you attended the school in Carrollton?

A: I was six years old, I think the year 1940.

Q: About 1940, okay. How long did a school day last, do you remember? Was it as long as it is now or was it shorter?

A: I think it was nine to three.

Q: Nine to three. Do you remember having recess and the things you did?

A: Yeah, we’d go outside and have recess yeah. Then we’d uh we’d eat out lunches and everything and then we’d go outside and then come back in then we’d do our lesson again.

Q: So you ate lunch in the classroom?

A: Yeah. We, during that time we had to carry a sandwich.

Q: You carried your lunch from home?

A: Uh huh.  Then they had a little, little room back there where they used to fix food but that was free I think, we didn’t have to pay for that.

Q: Okay. So what did you do on your recess? Was that play time or what?

A: Yeah that was play time.

Q: Okay.  How would you describe, what do you remember about the classroom? What did it look like? Did you have things one the walls, did you have a chalkboard?

A: Oh we had a chalkboard and then we used to write things on the walls like uh, like during arithmetic and stuff like that we would write that on the wall and we would have to ya know sometime we do it on the paper and sometime we do it on the wall.

Q: On the board.

A: Uh huh.

Q: So what, do you remember what classes you had at that time?

A: Third, fourth and fifth.

Q: I mean what subjects, I’m sorry. What were some of your subjects?

A: Oh. We had English and Algebra

Q: Did you have spelling?

A: We called it arithmetic. Yeah spelling too. 

Q: Okay. Do you remember, well I guess you already elaborated on that. You had a wood stove that’s how you heated the room. What about the lighting in the rooms? Did you have electricity?

A: Yeah.

Q: You did?

A: Mmm hum.

Q: Okay, what about water?  How did you…

A: We had a, it was a little pump outside then we usually had to go pour some water in there for the, pump it, you know to get some water, that’s how we had water. 

Q: Do you remember did you have a desk; did you sit in a chair at a table? Do you remember?

A: We had a desk.

Q: You did? Where did you put your book?

A: Most time I put the books in, on the top of the desk you know. Then I think we had a little side, you know put your books on the side.

Q: Okay and what about the teacher’s desk? Do you remember what the teacher’s desk look like?

A: She just had a little plain long desk.

Q: In the wintertime did you have somewhere to hang your coats or did you just put on the…

A: Put them on the back of the chair.

Q: Back of your chair. If someone in class acted up and did something that they shouldn’t have done what kind of punishment did they get?

A: Sometime the teacher hit would you on your hand with a ruler.

Q: Is that the only thing you can think of?

A: Yeah…and sometime maybe you stand up, stand up in the corner.

Q: Stand up in class. I guess it depends on what you did.

A: Yeah depend on what you did. I ain’t never had to go through nothing like that. I behaved myself.

Q: Do you have any good memories, like during your school days, like walking to school or something that happened at school? Is there anything that sticks out in your mind now that happened then?

A: You talking bout like playing or…

Q: Whatever. Either going to school or at school. Or anything sticks out in your mind about your teacher?

A: Yeah, nice teacher.

 

Q: She was nice?

A: Mmm hum.

Q: Do you think that teachers then took more time with the students than they do today? What do you think?

A: During that time when you got third, fourth, and sixth you gotta teach three classes. And right now you got one, just one class with the, in high school. During that time the teacher, ya know.

Q: You think they had more responsibility?

A: Mmm hum. They got three classes on each side. Third, fourth, and first, second.

Q: For one teacher.

A: Mmm hum.  One teacher had to teach everybody in that class.

Q: Do you have any experiences of anything that happened when you were going to school, anything that sticks out in your mind? Any kind of experience you’d like to tell us about?

A: No, not right now.

Q: What about any childhood memories? It doesn’t have to have anything to do with school.  Do you have anything that you’d like to add to this?

A: Uh, no.

Q: Okay, you wanna give us like an autobiography of yourself just tell us a little about yourself from childhood up to now?

A: Oh. Oh. You talking bout like I got married, um I got married uh June 27 year 1955 and uh…

Q: How many children?

A: I have six.

Q: Grandchildren?

A: No, don’t have any grandchildren. Wait, yeah I got 13 grandchildren. I got to thinking great grandchildren. Yeah, I got 13 grandchildren.

Q: Okay and you’re a member of Sweet Haven Holy Church of God?

A: Yeah that’s right, been a member here for a little while, over thirty some years. We used to walk, before I got any transportation, we used to walk to the church.

Q: You used to walk?

A: Mmm hum.

Q: How far would you say you had to walk?

A: Probably about a half a mile.

Q: Half a mile okay. Anything else you would like to share with us?

A: No, that’s all

Q: In the future when all of this is gotten together you’ll be able to go to the museum and just pull it up and look at it and read about different people and what happened back in the years when they were going to a one and two-room school.

A: Yeah.

Q: We do thank you for coming in for this interview. We appreciate it very much. So is there anything else you want to add?

A: No that’s all I can think of right now.

Q: Thanks a lot.

A: Okay.

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