Interview with Mrs. Raleigh Edwards
March 1, 2003
Interviewed by Jean Uzzle
Mr. Edwards attended Isle of Wight Training School (there was a separate building housing the lower grades) for one year, then grades 2-7 at Sandy Mount School.
Q. Mr. Edwards, where did you grow up in Isle of Wight?
A. On Courthouse Road.
Q. Courthouse Road?
A. Yes.
Q. How many sisters and brothers did you have?
A. Three sisters and two brothers.
Q. Where did they go to school?
A. All of them went to Sandy Mount.
Q. All of you went to Sandy Mount?
A. The first school the older ones went to was Riverview.
Q. Riverview?
A. Yes, Riverview in Smithfield.
Q. Did you attend Riverview at all?
A. No, I wasn’t old enough.
Q. Just the older ones? So you went to Sandy Mount?
A. My first year I went to school I went to Isle of Wight Training School. That was the first time I had ever been to school and then I come back to Sandy Mount and finished there.
Q. You started to school at Isle of Wight Training School? And then you attended Sandy Mount.
A. The first year.
Q. What grades were taught at the time you went to school? What grades did Sandy Mount have?
A. First through seventh.
Q. How many classrooms were in that school?
A. One.
Q. One classroom, so everybody was in one room.
A. Right, they taught from First to Seventh Grade.
Q. And one teacher?
A. One teacher.
Q. One teacher taught One through Seven.
A. Right.
Q. What grades did you attend when you were in that school; how far did you go?
A. From Second to Seventh.
Q. From the Second to the Seventh, and after that where did you go?
A. The Training School.
Q. Back to the Training School. Can you remember what year that was?
A. Not right off hand. I think it was, let me see, maybe 1932 when I left the Training School.
Q. Okay, you started the Training School in 1932.
A. No, no. Let me see. I was born in 1925. ’31.
Q. ’31. Can you remember the teachers who taught there while you were there?
A. The only teacher I can remember was Northy Long. She was Mrs. Benson. You know Mrs. Benson that used to be out here?
Q. Yes.
A. Her sister.
Q. It was Mrs. Benson’s sister. Okay. Can you remember how the teachers got to school and from school at that time?
A. They were living close to school. I think they did like everybody else did—walked. (Laughs)
Q. How did you get to school and back?
A. Walked.
Q. Did have any idea how far you walked, had to walk how many miles?
A. About five miles, I reckon.
Q. Five miles going and five coming back?
A. Yes. It didn’t never snow on the school and didn’t rain on it. (Laughs) ‘Cause you had to be there anyhow. (Laughs)
Q. Before going to school in the morning did you have any job, have a chore or something you had to do before you went to school?
A. Yeah. Didn’t act like the children act today. You had to get some wood in, if you didn’t get it during the evening when you were supposed to get it, you get up the next morning and make fire and all of that.
Q. Once you got to school, did you have anything to do before your day started; lessons started and the teachers started teaching in the morning?
A. Not the smaller children. After they got near ‘bout to high school they would go out and cut wood and stuff like that. The parents were told to bring a load of wood. You know how they are. Sometime they bring a load and sometime they won’t.
Q. Sometime there was not wood there and they had to go cut it. And sometime it was?
A. Umm huh. They older children, the older ones always cut it.
Q. Now how did your day begin? What were some of the first things that you did in school?
A. We always had prayer. It wasn’t like it is today. We had assembly.
Q. Devotion like in the morning?
A. Devotion, yeah. But they took all that out of school. Put dope in and alcohol.
Q. Took out prayer and put in dope? (Laughs) Can you remember what subjects that were taught in school?
A. Mathematics, English, history, science locker writing.
Q. So you actually had to practice locker writing?
A. Yes, when we were going to school. You had a locker writing book. It was a little ole small book like that. And you supposed to write just like it. Making o’s.
Q. I noticed your writing on the application. You still got it.
A. No, I lost it. (Laughs)
Q. Was there any special subject that you had in school that you liked that was your favorite?
A. To tell you the truth, I don’t know. I used to like Geography all right. I used to like mathematics all right. I ain’t never cared too much for spelling. I used to love anything in arithmetic. I used to love that. And history, but I ain’t never cared much about the spelling part.
Q. ________________?
A. Yeah, sometimes the whole class would stand ‘til the last one be able to sit down. I reckon I’d be the first or second. (Laughs)
Q. How long was your school day?
A. 8 or 8:30 ‘til 3:00 o’clock, won’t it, Lucille?
Q. What time of year did school start for the year?
A. Just like it do now, same thing. Same thing—September to May or June.
Q. When you went to school how long did you have for lunch and what did you eat for lunch? Did you have to carry your own?
A. You carry your own; you take anything. Some of the children carried a big pear, a sweet potato, apple and maybe something else. Some of them had something else. Children, I reckon were just as funny. They won’t as funny as children is now ‘bout carrying fried chicken and stuff. If we carried fried chicken, we eat it, but the children now are different from that. We eat whatever we had.
Q. Your recess, did you have recess period? What did you do during the recess time?
A. We played baseball, volleyball, dodge ball, that’s ‘bout all; hide and that’s ‘bout all I know.
Q. If you can you can remember back, can you tell me something about your classroom? What did it look like on the inside?
A. One square building with one or two heaters in it. But the children learned a lot more than they learn now. If the teacher said it, ______ first to the seventh grade and they learned a lot more than they learn now. I don’t know what these children learn now.
Q. Was there something on the walls?
A. They little ole pictures on the wall.
Q. Blackboard?
A. Yeah, we had blackboard.
Q. Crayon? How were the teachers then?
A. We had nice teachers.
Q. How were the desks? Did she have a desk or a table?
A. She had a desk with drawers. She would put her stuff in there. But the children’s desk was like a chair with a top on it.
Q. Did you have somewhere to put your books?
A. Yeah, on top of your desk.
Q. How did they heat the school?
A. With them stoves and wood.
Q. Wood stoves?
A. Um hum.
Q. What about rest rooms; did they have restrooms at that time?
A. No, outdoors. Outdoor toilets.
Q. Outside--rain, shine, snow or blow you went outside?
A. Outside.
Q. What about water, how was your water supplied for the children to drink?
A. We had a spring , but I thought we had a pump, too. We had a pump on the outside, but the spring was the main. Yeah.
Q. When you go get water at the spring did you go dip it in something and bring it back or because I know everybody couldn’t go to the spring when they wanted a drink of water.
A. Seem like we had a bucket and uh __________.
Q. Did the students have to clean up the building or floors or something at that time when you all went to school? Because I imagine that there were no janitors then.
A. The children cleaned up, didn’t they Lucille. We didn’t have no janitor. We didn’t need no janitor.
Q. The school supplies that you had; did the school furnish anything or did you have to carry your own?
A. We had to carry our own.
Q. Can you remember about your books that you had at that time?
A. We had carry……….
Q. Did you have to buy your books or were they new books or used books or what?
A. They brought us books. A lot of times they would (End of tape—rest of sentence not captured.)
Q. Can you remember about the lighting? Did they have electricity or was the light from the windows or what?
A. (Problem with tape—answer not captured.)
Q. Do you remember if you had a cloakroom or somewhere to put your coats?
A. We had a closet there.
Q. And the best of all, how was the discipline? When the children misbehaved in school what happened?
A. Children behaved better than they behave now. They were, I don’t know, different children, I guess you would say. Children now will sass you out. Children didn’t do that when I was coming along. In other words if you didn’t ‘have yourself you get a whipping at school and when you get home you get a whipping.
Q. What did they paddle you all with?
A. All teachers had that rule (Laughs)
Q. There was a form of discipline, huh?
A. That’s right.
Q. Is there any experience that happened during your time in school that you can remember that kind of stands out in your mind that you can think of?
A. Not too much. I member the girl throwed her hand up on the door some kind of way and that thing went right on through her hand. Do you remember that? Who was it, Rosa, I believe. That thing went through her hand and they rushed right on to the doctor, that wood and all.
Q. Mr. Edwards, do you think that your early education has led you to grow up and accomplish a job in today’s world or what changes have you seen since then?
A. Yes, when I went to school they taught you fractions. These children now when they finish college they don’t know nothing ‘bout fractions, unless they going to some special engineer school or some special trade. But all the children learned fractions in school when I was coming up.
Q. So compared to when you were in school and the way it is now there is a lot of difference?
A. Now the children don’t have do nothing but get up, walk out the door and catch the bus. When I was coming along we had to walk all the way. Sometimes you get cold, little children get cold, cry and all that, but they don’t have that problem now. Sometime you go by somebody house, had to put your hand in some water, something like that. It made a ___________________.
Q. At the time you went to school, can you remember did you have visiting teachers and stuff like that come to visit the school, at that time did you all have that?
A. Miss Georgie Tyler.
Q. Miss Georgie Tyler was the visiting teacher. Can you remember who your superintendent was at that time?
A. Miss Jackson. Miss Georgie Tyler, too.
Q. Is there anything else you can remember you want to tell us?
A. Not that I can think of. (A female: I want to tell you that I hope that prayer will get back in school. That would make me so glad then. Done throwed God out the picture.)
Q. That’s right.
A. And I hope the government will get out of the schools. Let the schools be run by the people. Just like the government don’t allow you to hit children and they ain’t doing nothing but making these children mean. When they get eight and ten years old you can’t do nothing with them. And that’s all on account of the government. If the government would take care of their jobs, and let the parents take care of their jobs, it would be much better.
Q. If you want to tell me nothing else today, I’ve enjoyed it.
A. I reckon I told you enough today. If I keep on telling, you’ll know more than we know. (Laughs)
Q. Bring your grandchildren, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren and come back and hear your interview.
A. When will that be?
Q. We are going to put it in the museum.
A. Museum in Smithfield?