Q: Mrs. Chapman, could you tell me your date of birth.
A: August 6, 1922.
Q: And where were you raised, where did you grow up?
A: I was born and raised in the Berin area of Southampton County; that’s about midway between Ivor and Courtland.
Q: And what schools did you attend?
A: All of my primary, elementary school was at Ebenezer School.
Q: After Ebenezer where did you attend?
A: I went to Hayden High School.
Q: And what year did you finish Hayden?
A: I finished Hayden in 1939.
Q: And from high school, where did you go next?
A: I went to Virginia State College. It was Ettrick,Virginia; it was Virginia State College at that time.
Q: And could you tell us what year your first teaching job was, and where.
A: My first teaching job was at Nansemond County Training School, and that was Holland, which is now Holland, Suffolk.
Q: And how long were you there?
A: I was at Holland for three years.
Q: And what grades did you teach there?
A: I taught high school home economics and English.
Q: And when you left that school, where did you go next?
A: I came to Central Hill Elementary School; that’s a Windsor address.
Q: And what year would that have been?
A: That was in 1943.
Q: How many classrooms were there –
A: I’m sorry, that was in 1946 – from 1946.
Q: And what grades were taught there?
A: The grades were – we called it primer then, on up to seventh grade.
Q: Could you tell us what primer and first grades was involved.
A: Well, at that time we did not have kindergarten and that was really to get the children ready for first grade. And they did very well at that, even along then, with Dick and Jane books.
Q: How long were they in the primer section before they went into first grade?
A: Most of that work was done in one year. And we knew nothing about retardation then, because it was so many children in one room, they learned from each other. And we had music, too, and they had to read to learn the words of the songs, so that was reading too.
Q: The – it was normal to have pre-primer for a year and then they would move into the first grade for a year, and then continue?
A: Most of that work was done in one year –
Q: Primer and first grade – Have you heard of a book called Baby Jane –
A: Baby Ray.
Q: Baby Ray, that –
A: Baby Ray was my primer at first grade.
Q: Okay, and when you – by the time you began teaching, the books were changed to Dick and Jane?
A: Yes –
Q: You wouldn’t happen to have any of those books still, would you?
A: Regret – no. I wish I did.
Q: I’ve heard of some people that wanted to see a Baby Jane book again.
A: Baby Ray.
Q: Baby Ray. Yes. How many classrooms were at Central Hill?
A: Two.
Q: Two. And who were the other teachers that were there with you?
A: When I went there, it was a Ms. Lilly Mae Chapman that taught with me there.
Q: All right. And what grades did you teach?
A: At that time I taught from fourth grade on through seventh.
Q: And how long did you stay at that school?
A: I stayed there through 1946, 1947. Than Jimmy came along, our son came along, and I stayed out until January of 1948, I think I’m counting right. And at that time when I went back, I got the first grade or primer, or whatever, on through third grade.
Q: And while you were – you went back to Central Hill?
A: Uh-huh.
Q: What can you tell us about the history of Central Hill; do you know anything about how – when it was opened or how long it was open?
A: I don’t know the history of Central Hill. All I know it was our – what I can remember about it, it was a nice community of people. And in the school, they had Sunday school on Sundays, in the school. They had a small church there. But the Baptist people had their Sunday school there in the school.
Q: When you were there, since you mentioned using the building for church, were you paid by the county or at anytime were you paid by the church?
A: No, I was paid by the county.
Q: Paid by the county. Do you recall what your salary was when you first started teaching?
A: When I first started teaching, my salary was $95 a month, but that was when I was over in Nansemond County training. And I might have gotten a little more when I came to Isle of Wight County, but I don’t remember now how much, but it wasn’t much over a hundred dollars.
Q: And how did you get to and from school at that time?
A: Oh, I was reared on a farm, so I could drive anything. I drove. And I went down sometimes where I’d leave my baby and then I’d ride the bicycle home and get my husband and rode the bicycle back to pick up the car.
Q: And where were you living at the time, were you in the area?
A: Oh, yes, uh-huh. We was right at the present place we are now; at first we lived with my mother-in-law, but then we built our own house and then we’ve been living there every since.
Q: Okay. So you would ride from Zuni to Central Hill. What do you recall about teaching those years at Central Hill.
A: Well, we had good children. One thing, at that time, you had time to work with your children and you would accept those children as if they were your own. Parents were very nice to us and we worked with the parents, too. We had our regular League Meeting, we called them. And in the classrooms we had – on Fridays we had what is know as – what was known at that time as junior league. That’s when we got the children to know something about parliamentary procedure and how to take care of a meeting. And sometimes that’s all the training, education really that the kids got at that time, because of large families or economic conditions they always didn’t go to high school then. And it was just a fashion to teach.
Q: All right. Good. Did you have any activities that you had to do before the children got to school; what did you have to do to prepare for the day?
A: The - - when we had our PTA Meetings now they call them, the parents made arrangements for somebody to come and make the fire before we got there, but my biggest job was getting off and getting there because I did pick up children who had a long ways to walk if I hadn’t picked them up. So I had special permission from Mr. Hall, our superintendent, to just get there when school was supposed to open, not too much ahead of time, because I picked up these kids. And I picked them up and I did not charge them from bringing them. But they were nice to me. Sometimes my breakfast would be already packed, because lots of time I didn’t have time to eat by getting my baby ready for the babysitter. But they were just nice people.
Q: How did you start the day after the children arrived?
A: We had devotions.
Q: And what would that include?
A: That would include a prayer, maybe a Bible verse first, then the prayer, and a song. When they come in, we’d open with, “Good morning to you, good morning to you.” And I can’t get all the words right now, but anyway, we would have a song, Bible verse, prayer, another song, and then pledge of allegiance.
Q: All right. And what were the subjects that you taught, and tell us anything you remember the books or your actual classes.
A: Reading, writing, arithmetic, social studies, health, and have course we put a little art in, and phys. Ed. I can’t remember now anything else … anything else I could have left out.
Q: History?
A: Yes, history. That came in most – I think that was in with the social studies, I don’t know, it could have been.
Q: Do you recall anything special about the textbooks or the readers?
A: I can’t remember now anything special, but it wasn’t done – it wasn’t a lot of rote – stuff that you could just read over and over until you memorized. It wasn’t that type of thing. You had a chance to put your prefix in and – that you used for --. I might mention, too; my children took the Weekly Reader, and if they were not able to subscribe to it, to their own Weekly Reader, I’d get several copies on my own and let them use that. And sometimes I’d rotate, let them take them home, you know ________, like that. We used that for current events.
Q: Since you had three or four grades in one room when you were teaching the lower grades, and one through three and the next time – well, you had four through seven first and then you had first through third –
A: Uh-huh.
Q: How would you go about teaching three grades in one room?
A: I had a route, routine. While I might be teaching reading, the others might be going over their homework with – or arithmetic, something like that until I’d get around to everybody. But, see, everybody could listen to what was going on. Sometimes those kids would be reading on a much higher level than would have ordinarily been.
Q: How long was the school year and what were the hours for, during the day?
A: Well, as I can remember now, our school year was different than the other school year, because the children had to stay out, they had harvest crops, so our school year might not have started at that time, in September; it might have started in October. And we’d go on up to May, up through May, middle of May or something.
Q: Did you teach at any other school with less than three rooms, other than Central Hill?
A: No.
Q: Do you recall anything special about the lunch period; did the students all bring their lunch or were they in that cooking area at Central Hill?
A: There was a stove that we could heat something on; that was the stove that we kept warm by. And it was – it used wood and coal. Most of the children brought their lunch. And those who could, they would go to a little store called Mr. Sydney Morrow’s Store; it was just across from the school. And they’d get such things as crackers or cheese or whatever there. But they brought their lunch for the most part. And I even carried my lunch.
Q: How often did the children have recess?
A: The main recess was, I think, after lunch. I’m trying to think now. We might have had a few minutes in the morning, just a break period in the morning. But the other recess, I think, was after lunch. I can’t remember right now. Or it might have been before lunch. But we did have recess. Sometimes twice a day. I think we had a break in the morning, but that wasn’t recess, that was to use the toilet facilities, which were out on the grounds. And then we had a main recess, which might have been after lunch. I can’t remember right now.
Q: Okay. What was you classroom like, you know, what was in the room; what did you put in there and what did the county put there?
A: What do you mean; the physical part of it, like the seats –
Q: What did –
A: Okay. Well, we had the children’s work on the bulletin board; we are busy bees without the buzz. Then we had their attendance record maybe; somebody would get a star by their name for having perfect attendance, let’s see. Whatever work we were working on at that time, we might have something having to do with that; current events, just the regular things like that, I guess.
Q: Did the county provide you with any supplies or was it mostly what you provided?
A:
Q: Did the county provide you with anything at that time, other than paying for your salaries?
A: No, not that I can remember. They had one, what did we call it now, in every go around where you could use to show pictures, films on it. They provided the films for us, audiovisual. They did provide some of that
Q: Okay. And where was your water supply?
A: We had a pump on the grounds.
Q: When you were at Central Hill, did you have electricity or did you use daylight for your – to get lighting in the room.
A: It was daylight
Q: What did your desk and – what was that made of?
A: The desk was just an old desk. It was a chair up there.
Q: Wooden desk?
A: Wooden desk, with a chair. We might have had electricity – I think we had electricity _________
Q: Did you have enough for chalkboards?
A: Yes, we had chalk, and the board was there, so I ordered something and coated that over and we enjoyed using our blackboard there…. and it was a blackboard. But I don’t know what it was or where I got it. I ordered it from one of the magazines, I guess, that I used to get, the teacher’s magazines, the order companies.
Q: You had to get your own blackboard?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay. Did the building have a cloakroom or a separate room for coats and hats or where did the students have to put those?
A: That was out in the entrance as you come in.
Q: And how did you deal with discipline and punishment?
A: When I got the children, I told them the parents times I would treat them as my own children and when they needed discipline, it was a spank, they got it; it was just a matter of taking them out to the side or out in the entrance and talking to them, I’d do that or whatever the situation, whatever it called for. And I never had any trouble.
Q: Do you recall any positive memories of the days that you were teaching in Central Hill, what were some of the positive things you would teach students and parents, and so forth?
A: I enjoyed it, the children were eager to learn. And the parents were very cooperative. Now when I cam to Central Hill, Central Hill had a name that the kids would fight, and they did fight. It was a rivalry between Central Hill and Holly Grove. But the fighting would be among the boys. So I told Mr. Hall, I said I have a problem. He said, well; as long as they’re the same size, let them fight. And they did and when I’d get tired of it, I’d go and break it up and have them to sit – have one to sit on one side of the room and one sit on the other side of the room. And I said, now, don’t you know this is your school brother, you’ve got to love your school brother; now shake hands. And we’d get along all right.
Q: Very good. What are your negative memories of your days at Central Hill?
A: Having to put down a board to come into the school when it rained. It would be so muddy we would have to put down boards so we could just get in the building and get in the building.
Q: Anything else? Any other information on teaching, and the county and just your school days in
A: I have very – I had very good days of – teaching days. One thing about it, I’ve always been quite outspoken. And whatever didn’t go on or whatever I’d get into, I’d always speak up and everybody knew just how I felt. And I got along very well with that. I even – whatever I needed to tell Mr. Hall, I’d tell him. And my teachers that I worked with, we got along just like sisters from the very first. I made chairman my first year. I worked with Lillie Mae Chapman, Thelma Howell and I worked with Fannie Arch at Central Hill.
Q: Are there any additional school experiences that you would like to tell us about from your days at Central Hill or any other schools that you taught at?
A: Well, when I got to Georgie Tyler that was it. Oh, we were somebody. You know the smaller schools consolidated and Mr. Elgin Lowe was my principal. And I enjoyed the friendship with all my coworkers there. We had hot lunch. I didn’t at first just have the one grade, didn’t – I have to get adjusted to that. And that’s all I can think of right now.
Q: Could you give us an idea of some of the highlights of your life after teaching at Central Hill, go on from there and tell us some of the things that went on with you after Georgia Tyler and, you know, the things that stand out with you, and family, could be family-related?
A: I’m trying to think. One thing that I enjoyed having to go to Georgia Tyler, we had less responsibility as far as running the school, because we had a school principal. We had more materials to work with as much as we had a library. As I said before, we had hot lunch. I’m trying to think. It doesn’t come right now, maybe later on I can think of more.
Q: When you were at Central Hill, you mentioned having a lot of responsibility, was there a head teacher or did the two teachers just work together to handle whatever came up?
A: When I first went there, I was the head teacher. But after going back I – it was with smaller children and I stayed right where I was until I went to Georgia Tyler, first and third or primer and third or whatever.
Q: Okay. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about your teaching days or any subject after teaching or anything at all?
A: I enjoyed my teaching days. I didn’t think that I could just walk out, but my health problems, I qualified for all kind of disabilities, so I came out in 1975. But when I look back, it was – it was a very pleasant experience, having to work with teaching. I enjoy people and I loved my children. In fact, when my principal retired before, he didn’t retire but he transferred to another school system, my children made a scrapbook with all their pictures and put all their little sayings to Mr. Lowe at that time. And they were children that you had time to work with and you just – teaching was just enjoyable at the time. But when all this came in that you had to do this and you had to do the other; you had no time to work with the children for bookwork or – not bookwork, but paperwork, it just took the joy out of teaching. Because you didn’t –and I feel like we had so many discipline problems at that time. Because if you had time to work with the children (tape stopped).
Q: I have come to the end of the questions, except that I did want to find out what highlights you have relating to your family.
A: As everybody knows now, I am married to Aaron Chapman, who was working with the shipyard, navy yard in Portsmouth. So our day started very, very early. My day started at 4:45 in the morning, because at that time everybody had to have breakfast and we had to get up. I had to cook, we had to get, we had to eat and send him on his way. And he got home so he could make me his ride at six o’clock in the morning. Then I would do what I could at home before I left, go to school and have my day’s work there. But I stayed at school and did all my work at school that I had to do before I came home. So oftimes my husband would get home before I did, which would be about – he came home at five o’clock, but I tried to leave school at least by four-thirty. But then when I got home, it was a relaxing time when it was time for my family because I had already done my schoolwork at school. We have one son and we have a very nice daughter-in-law. They’ve been married now for quite a number of years, over thirty, but I can’t remember how many. And we have two grandsons. Both of them graduated from University of Virginia and they are working in very productive jobs. My oldest grandson will be getting married in July of this year. And we have been very happy with them and just so glad that our only son and only child could have such a nice family. He married a nice girl that he met in Elizabeth City State while they were in school there. He went – he chose Elizabeth City State because he said he was going to North Carolina so he could meet a pretty girl. And he met this little girl from Richmond, and they married. She was interest in him because at that time he could play sax. I mean he does play sax, but at that time he was playing sax and he made the school band while he was there. I don’t want to get started talking about my family because my husband have been married fifty-seven years and we are very happy and trying to look out for each other in our old age.
Q: All right. Mrs. Chapman, thank you so much. We appreciate your coming out today and letting me ask you a bunch of questions and it really brings back memories…. and I just want you to know that we still have your book that your children made up when my father retired or left Isle of Wight County. I looked at it not long ago and it brings back memories; it sure does.
A: Thank you. I hope I didn’t sound too elementary; after all now I did work with second graders.