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Barbara Billups: Last name?
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Nixon: And I guess work must have been-- Mama, why did you--we all leave?
Why was everybody leaving from down there at that time? Was it because of
work or what? Nixon's mother: Yeah. Nixon: Back in 1916 or 17. Nixon's
mother: We came in 1916. Nixon: Yeah, there was a lot of Blacks left at
that, you know, during that period of time. Do you need a light? Billups:
Oh, no, no, that's fine. Um, what's your mother's maiden name? I guess I
can ask you. Nizon: Her maiden name is Hunt. Billups: Hunt? Nixon: Yes.
Billups: Okay. What do you identify yourself as? Your ethnic origin? Black?
Colored? Negro? Well, I fell in very easily with the younger generation and
began saying Black, because they really proved to me that Black is
beautiful. I mean, you know, I had never thought of it actually before, I
think. But once the the younger generation began sprouting this idea of
Black being beautiful and referring to themselves as Black, I guess maybe I
had a few twinges at first because when I was younger, Black was a fighting
word. Billups: I know, I know. Nixon: But now I say Black very beautifully.
Billups: Oh, that's good. Oh, wow. [telephone rings] Okay. What about your
occupation? You said you retired. What was your occupation before you--
Nixon: I worked for the federal government For 20 years. 12 years I was
with Internal Revenue as a tax examiner and eight years I was with Social
Security as a service representative. Billups: Oh, good damn. Nixon: I
retired in 73 and then this year, January the middle of January, I started
working for this vintage senior citizen center.
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Nixon: I am--I have two jobs. I'm a job counselor and I'm a consumer
services coordinator. And they both are very interesting and very
fascinating and keep me quite busy. Billups: I can tell--you like it. Yes,
you like it. Nixon: It's the kind of thing that I like. Billups: I want to
do that. Nixon: Older people and helping them, you know, And so it's just
really great. I like it doesn't pay all that much, but it's-- Billups:
Still. You're always busy. Nixon: Yeah, right, right. Billups: I like that.
Nixon: Plus, I also knit. I told you, I teach knitting. I have three women
who come here to the house on Saturdays, and I also teach at the downtown Y
on Thursday night. Billups: Oh, wow. Okay. How about your religion? Do you
belong to a certain religion and a congregation-- Nixon: Oh, yes. We're
Baptist. Billups: Baptist? Nixon: Been in the same church. Mother and I
have over 50 years. Billups: Oh, that's beautiful. Nixon: I am one of the
first women that this church ever elected to the trustee board. I have been
a member now this is going into my third year. Billups: Oh, wow. That
really sounds good. They're going to love this. [laughs] How about
politics? Nixon: We're Republican. I am not political enough to really
do--do-- Billups: Yeah, I know what you mean. Nixon: Although I do feel and
I have been saying this in my particular Sunday school class, that the day
has come when we Blacks should be saying more about it. And I think it
should start in church because we get a larger grouping of Black people in
church than we do anywhere else. Billups: Right. I know.
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Nixon: Unless it would be the lodge and the people in the lodge, why
they're there more or less for fun. And so I really think that the church
should be taking this over. You know, this is where I mean, the progress
that has been made now started with the church man, Martin Luther King, you
know. Billups: Right. Right. Nixon: And if the church doesn't pick up on
this, well, I don't know how we're ever going to really get anywhere. And I
used to work in politics before I went to work [chimes sound] for the
federal government. And I found out and I know that it is still true that
the average person does not put their minds down to all that information
that's given them as to who to vote for. Billups: Right. Nixon: All they do
is wait for somebody to tell them. Billups: Right? I knew that. [laughs]
Nixon: This is what we need in our church is for some some intelligent
people to study out the candidates and see who is the best candidate that's
going to do us Black some good and then tell the audience that, I mean, it
sounds terrible, but if you leave it up to them, they're not going to do
it. Billups: Right. Nixon: So then we need to say to them, okay, we suggest
that you vote for so-and-so for president and for so-and-so for governor
and so-and-so for mayor, you know, and they'll go down and do it just as
beautifully as anything. Billups: I think so. And have you heard about the
the campaign to get a Black president up? Have you heard about the new
party? I don't know that much about it.
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Nixon: I haven't. Is it affiliated with some group that had a convention
last week somewhere? Billups: I think so. But I heard the one that they
wanted to run backed out. He-- Nixon: I see. Billups: But I think they said
they're going to try to get somebody else. But to me, that's like if they
didn't have the person they had in mind to try to find somebody else, just
like they're going to rush it or squeeze it in. Nixon: Right. Right. Right.
That's like I'm in a second is because they must have put their best
thought on it. Billups: Right. Nixon: To pick that person, I would let it
go. I don't know too much about this political organization, one of my
Sunday school fellow students and also on the same trustee board with me
is, I guess, sort of high up in that or something, because he goes to all
the conventions and things and he was mentioning it Sunday that they didn't
have nearly the number of people there that they should have. I think he
said there was something like a thousand and he felt that it should have
been 10,000. Well, of course he's interested, you know, but I, I really
have not made myself too interested in the whole situation. I've gone to a
couple of meetings that the church has backed and said, We'd like to have
somebody go and we'll give you a free ticket and I'll go. [laughs] Billups:
Yeah, that always makes a difference.
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Billups: Okay. How long did you say you lived in the Pittsburgh area? You
said you moved here when you were nine. Nixon: I was nine years old. And
let's see, that was in 1922, 32, 42, 52, 62, 72. That would be 54 years.
Billups: Yeah, wee. You must love Pittsburgh. [laughter] I first came here
when I came from Philly. And like, it's a big difference between this and
Philly. Nixon: Oh, yes, I think so. Even though, I don't know Philly that
well. Billups: Yeah. And the more I stayed here, I found out, the more I
liked it. And I found that the people here are much nicer. Much nicer.
Nixon: Oh, it's nice to hear you say that. That's good. Billups: And
everybody that goes to Philly understands what I'm talking about. And it
seems like I'm more involved in Pittsburgh than I was in Philly. And I've
been living in Philly for all my life. Nixon: Um,do you have you have
membership in ethnic or organizations? You were mentioning a lodge? Nixon:
No, no, I don't belong to a lodge, though. What is an ethnic organization?
A Black-- Billups: Yeah. Like a fraternal? Yeah. Black organizations such
as a fraternity. Nixon: I believe that I belong to anything ethnic outside
of the church. I belong to Toastmistress. But that is not. That's
interracial. Billups: Okay. Well, the church is considered a organization.
Nixon: Yeah. Well I belong to the Baptist church. Billups: And you belong
to that for 50 years, you said? Nixon: Well, yeah, we've been there in that
church ever since we came to Pittsburgh, so I guess it would be 54--
Billups: That's fantastic. Okay, we're going to move on to some family
history.
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Billups: Do you remember your grandparents? Nixon: No. Um, yes. My
grandfather. My mother's father lived until I was. Oh, he saw my first
child. Didn't he mother? He lived long enough to see--he saw Norma? Oh.
Well, he must have lived up until she was born in 37. So then he must have
lived at least until about 39 or 40, I guess. And I remember him quite
well. They lived--he lived in Philadelphia. But my mother and I, my father
was a railroad man and we could travel for free, you know, with passes. So
my mother and I used to go to Philadelphia any time we felt like. And then
we used to go South every couple of years because we could get the free
transportation. So I remember my grandfather, but my grandmother died when
my mother was like 13 years old, so I do not remember my grandmother. This
is both on my mother's side and on my father's side. I don't remember any
grandparents at all. I don't know. I think they both were dead before my
father got grown. Billups: Right. Okay. And where did you--your grandfather
lived in Philly. Nixon: He did. Billups: What part of Philly? Nixon: In
North Philadelphia. Billups: Oh, wow. Well, I lived in West Philly, but,
uh, I don't know. My mother might know them all. I don't know. Nixon: This
goes back quite a ways. I have an uncle there who did teach in the public
school system named Charles Hunt. Billups: Oh, yeah? Nixon: He is retired
now.
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Nixon: And the last time I talked with him, he worked for the last 2 or 3
years he had been working part time with the Head Start program and also on
occasions he works with Internal Revenue at the service center that's right
out of town. He does a little bit of work there, but he's he's been
retired. I guess maybe-- Billups: It seems like everybody's getting into
more work after they retire. Nixon: Well, that's because everything keeps
going up. So you just seem like you just can't live on the money, you know?
Billups: Right. Nixon: Um, it's a bad situation. For this reason, my income
is probably twice what most of the people that I know that are retired is.
But I'm used to living that way. Billups: Dig that! Nixon: I lived that way
before I retired. And, you know, this is my level of living. And so I can't
just bring myself down if I guess if I had to. Billups: I see what you're
saying. It's just, like, hard to adjust. Just like if you're used to having
money and you don't have it all of a sudden, you know? I understand. How
about the birthplace of your parents? Nixon: They were born both born in
Georgia. Um. Nixon's Mother: 1892. Billups: 1892. Nixon: Where were you
born? Louvale? Nixon's Mother: Georgia. I was born here on the line of. I
was born between Alabama and Georgia. I was born in the stretch between the
two states. Billups: Now, that's wild. Nixon: And where was Papa born?
Nixon's Mother: Well, let me see. I do. I know where. Nixon: Stewart
County. I think you all always said. Yeah, that's about it. Nixon's Mother:
Papa must have been born around Lumpkin. Yeah. Nine miles from where I was
born.
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Billups: Yeah. Was there a reason that you moved up here? Or it was
because of work, right? Nixon: Yeah. Billups: And that's the only reason?
Nixon: My father, before then, he had worked as a box cutter or something
or other, which I don't understand too well. But the way he explained it,
he would cut into pine trees and get some kind of rosin out that was used
to make something or other. I don't remember what. And I assumed that that
wasn't paying too much. And I'm also assuming that evidently the news must
have spread over the South, that there was work up North. And so then he
came up here, he came to Philadelphia first, and he wasn't able to find
work there. And I think--didn't he go to Chicago for a little bit, Mother?
Nixon's Mother: He went to, uh--Birmingham. Nixon: When he came. When he
left. When he first came to Philadelphia, he went somewhere before he
landed? Nixon's Mother: [??] Virginia the first place he stopped. Nixon:
Okay. But then when he went to Philadelphia, didn't he go somewhere else
before he finally ended up in Pittsburgh? Or did he come straight to
Pittsburgh from Philadelphia? Nixon's Mother: He went to he he went to
Detroit. Nixon: Oh, I think that was it. He went to Detroit and he found
nothing there either. And I don't know what made him settle on Pittsburgh
because we did not have relatives here. We were the first relatives who
came to Pittsburgh and then other relatives came from the South. Well, when
we were in Philadelphia, some relatives came from the South and came to
us.
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Nixon: I mean, you know, it seemed like people like to have a sort of, you
know, somebody else is already there. Billups: Right, Right. Nixon: But my
father didn't seem to need that. So other relatives came. And then when my
father left, when we left Philadelphia, came to Pittsburgh, then other
relatives were still leaving the South and came to us here. Billups: Right.
Nixon: And then we now have--not a large number, but a few relatives here.
Billups: That's right. Nixon: We still have relatives in Philadelphia.
Billups: Right. I understand. You haven't spread all out. So you still have
some in the South, right? Nixon: Uh, yes. My father has one sister still
living in the South, and she has a daughter. And then I have some cousins
in Florida who are my father's relatives on my father's side. Billups: And
how about your neighbors? Do you know, like, are they from the South?
From-- Nixon: Gee, now this I don't really know. The lady next door. We
have been neighbors for, uh. Let's see, my youngest is 35. I would say at
least 25 years we've been neighbors, but-- Billups: That never really came
up, huh? Nixon: No, because we don't do the same things and we don't go the
same places, you know, So we don't really get together unless something
happens. They're the kind of neighbors that if I need them, they're right
here and they'll do anything that they can possibly do to help out.
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Nixon: Like when my father died and also when my husband died, they both
came over and did everything that they could. And if anything happens at
their house, I'm right over, you know, But to just we don't associate--
Billups: Right that seems like how next door neighbors usually are. You
know, they're not close, close. But when someone needs each other, they,
you know, they-- Nixon: Now we do have one neighbor who used to live right
across the street where the houses have been torn down. I would like to say
that he was born in Pittsburgh and he is as old as my mother, wasn't he,
Mother? Mr. Bell? Nixon's Mother: Oh, no, not quite. Well, he must have
been awfully small. Yeah, he must have been awfully small because he
remembers. Nixon's Mother: Oh, you mean where he was born? Yeah, I think. I
think he was born there. Cause I think he was probably raised right--
Nixon: He lived in that house right straight across the street from us for
I believe he told me well over 60 years. And when they the city was going
to buy that out and made you know, he had to move, he didn't want to get
out of this neighborhood. He just moved right down the street about a half
a block. So he's been in this particular neighborhood for like something
like 65 or 70 years. Billups: He's definitely from Pittsburgh. Okay. What
is your father's occupation or what was his?
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Nixon: He worked for the railroad. The most--the largest portion of his
life. He was an oiler or something like that. Billups: Okay, How about your
mother? Nixon: Mother was a house worker. Billups: House worker? Okay.
That's what it says. Mostly they stayed in the home. Well, I mean, she went
out and did housework. Billups: Oh, I see. Nixon: Ironing. Billups: Oh, I
see. Oh, outside the house, too. Nixon: A great many years. That put me
through school. I didn't get to go to college, but all through high school
and everything. Billups: Oh, that's nice. Nixon: I was an only child and
mother worked and, you know, that helped her with the expenses. And my
parents were, um, buying houses back at the time when, uh, a number of
Blacks were not too much in favor of that. And so my mother helped out with
that. Billups: Oh, that's good. Nixon: And how many brothers and sisters do
you have? Your're only child. [laughter] I guess you have none. Okay. Did
anyone else share your home with your immediate family now? Billups: No. No
one shares this immediate house now-- Billups: Except you and your mother?
Nixon: Just me and my mother. But if you noticed, when I was backing into
the garage. Why, there's a three part three room apartment up over the
garage, and I rent that out. Billups: Do you? Nixon: Yes. Uh huh. Billups:
You need any boarders--I'm looking for-- [laughter] Nixon: Well, the one I
have there now. I think he will be there for a while.
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Nixon: When my children. I have four children.They're all grown and spread
all over. You're talking about somebody being spread. They are over.
Billups: Oh, wow. That's what my brothers and sisters are-- Nixon: This
young man. He came up with my two older sons. And there's three there's
four young men that were raised with my two and my husband and I, you can
see the library we have over there. We always had encyclopedias and things
for the children to do their night work, you know, So these other four boys
would come and do their night work right here. So over the years, my
husband and I got so we just felt like they belonged to us, too, you know?
And this young man, he just moved in about 4 or 5 months ago and it's like
having one of my children next door. So I wouldn't plan on him moving.
[laughter] Billups: You may say I wouldn't even ask him because-- Nixon:
Anytime my mother and I holler, you know, anything we need, he just comes
right over and just takes over. And whatever it is that, you know, that
that he really acts like a son. Billups: That's nice. Nixon: And so I'm
just so happy to have him there that I told him the next move he makes will
probably be in the big house and I'll be me and mother be going to the
cemetery. [laughs] Billups: Well, he lives in the White House. Is that what
it's called? Nixon: Yeah. Billups: Oh, that's cute. Nixon: He's a
character. Billups: That's really cute. Okay, so you said you have four
children?
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Nixon: Yes. Billups: And how old are they now? Nixon: Well, the youngest
is I think I counted up the other day. He must be 35 or 6. My daughter must
be 39. My second child is about 41 and my oldest must be 43, something like
that. That's fairly close. Billups: And you said they're spread out? Nixon:
Yes. My oldest works in New York City, but lives in Stamford, Connecticut.
He commutes. Billups: Wow. That's wild. Nixon: My second son lives in the
Bay Area outside of San Francisco in a town called San Anselmo. My
daughter--and this is going to really slay you lives in Caracas, Venezuela.
Billups: Stop! Nixon: So. Oh. And my youngest lives in New York City.
Billups: Oh, that is really nice. Nixon: Mhm. That little girl that you
thought you recognized. That's my daughter's daughter. Billups: Oh, the one
that's in Venezuela? Nixon: Yes. Uh huh. She's the one that wishes she was
back in the States. Billups: Oh, how could she? Nixon: Well, I don't know.
I guess maybe just not hearing people talk English enough because where
they are, you know, it's really everybody talks Spanish. Although my
daughter said my granddaughter didn't have too much trouble catching on
because in New York City, she had gone to a school that was 90% Haitian and
she had caught on to their language, their Creole or whatever it was, and
they spoke very easily. Billups: And it's easy to catch you when you're
around-- Nixon: Around. Young, too, you know? Billups: Yeah.
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Nixon: And, uh, so my daughter said she didn't have too much problems, you
know, with getting onto the Spanish. So I don't know what's her story
unless she just stopped. People's minds. Billups: Yeah. And your education?
You said you didn't go to college? Nixon: No, I just graduated from high
school. And then I went back to Schenley at night and took some business
courses. That's where I learned to type. And I took bookkeeping. Billups:
Oh, that's good. I wish I had done that. And what was your first job?
Nixon: Um. Oh, dear. I guess my first meaningful job was when I used to go
to Kaufmann's. I was hired as what they called a temporary employee, and I
would come in at Christmas time practically every year. And then in the
summer when they'd have their June sale, sometimes they'd call me. And then
in July, when they'd have the leftover days or whatever, whenever they were
having anything special, and they felt [chimes sound] that they were going
to need extra help, I would be called and my job was package collector and
I'd roll a little cart around and as the salespeople would sell the stuff
and would either wrap it up fully, but it was to be delivered or would just
put it in a bag and throw it over there and it was to be finished later. It
was my job to go around and collect all that stuff and take it out in the
back somewhere and put it in a great big box that was big enough to hold
one of the old time pianos, you know? And then at night this would be
carried over to the warehouse.
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Nixon: And at one point I worked at the warehouse for a short while and
every one of those packages would have to be listed on a sheet before they
were loaded onto the trucks for delivery. I guess that's how they keep up
with those things though. That stuff doesn't get lost. Billups: Yeah, I
guess so. And other people don't take them or anything. People that are
working there. Nixon: Well, I was still working at Kaufmann's when I got
the opportunity to start with the government and I started with the
government as a temporary employee, I think it was 1952 and they would call
us like in January and we would work until like May or June. And I went 52,
53, 54. And in 55 I went in as a temp in January. But then in March the
freeze was lifted and they were allowed to hire. So then I was among the
ones that were hired and they gave me credit for the temporary time that I
had already worked, which moved my computation date back to December of 53.
And so then that made me my 20 years were up in December of 73. Billups:
Oh, I see. And how about how old were you when you had that first job you
were telling me about at Kaufmann's? But how long ago was that? Nixon: Um,
now you got me. If I worked 23.
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Nixon: If I worked 20 years for the government and I retired when I was 61
or something or other, I must have been 40 or more when I went to work for
the government. And I worked for Kaufmann's for ten years before that. So I
must have been like in my 30s, I guess, when I went to Kaufmann's. Billups:
Okay. And, uh, so that was the first one you had in Pittsburgh? Did you
work when you were down South or no, you weren't old enough. Nixon: I was
only five years old. Billups: Right. So you came here when. Yeah, that's
right. Nixon: I was only nine when I came here. Billups: Right. So did this
income support just you or did it support, you know? Nixon: No. Well, my
income really was just a sort of like an addition to the family. I would
actually when I before I went to work for the federal government, when I
was working at Kaufmann's, mostly my my income would just go to maybe buy
extra clothes for the kids or toys or something or other like that, because
my husband, he always supported the family. Billups: Right. Nixon: But when
I went to work for the federal government, when I then my income helped to
buy things for the House to make it more comfortable, you know, if I saw
something I wanted. Billups: All right! Nixon: If I couldn't persuade my
husband, I would just buy it myself. And then I bought my clothes and
helped the kids.
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Billups: All right. Okay. What about the jobs that you remember best?
Either good or bad, They were the ones you already mentioned, like the
federal-- Nixon: The two that I had with the federal government. I liked
both of those. Billups: I thought so. Sounds like it. Nixon: When I was a
tax examiner at one point, you know what an income tax return looks like?
Billups: The 1040 form?Nixon: Yeah, well, when I worked for the federal
government back before the computer took everything to Philadelphia, we had
to do all that by hand. You know, we'd have to sit down and go over those
returns and make sure that they were filed correctly and all that sort of
thing. Well, also along with that, there is what's called an amended
return. If a person realizes that I didn't do something on my return last
year that I had intended to, and the government owes me a little bit more
money, you can file an amended return and send that in within three years
and the correction will be made. But there is another amended return which
is called before due date. I think we called it prior to due date amended
return. And it came about because a lot of people would work their regular
job was, say at the railroad or at the mill or whatever. And last summer
they had an opportunity to work two weeks at the park or something or
other, and they forgot all about that. When they were ready to file their
return, they got their W-2 from the mill and they filed their income tax
return.
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Nixon: Two weeks later, they get this W-2 from the park where they worked.
Oh, I forgot all about that. So then they would file a second return
immediately before April the 15th, and we would get like 8000 of those.
Well, that was my special project. I would be in charge of sometimes as
high as 15 people working on it didn't have a title, but I, you know, had
the job because I seem to always have the ability to, I don't know, explain
things to people better than other people can. And the boss was busy
anyhow, somewhere else, you know. So as soon as she found out that the the
workers liked coming to me for the question, well then she trained me
immediately. And then each year I would have charge of those amended
returns and they would be sitting around in great big trucks. Oh man,
they'd be really sky high. Billups: Good grief. Nixon: But it was very,
very interesting. I liked it and I did that clear up until the automation
came in. And then when that came, the department that I was in was almost
the first one to be wiped out. So then the Internal Revenue kept saying to
us, If you find another job, grab it, because we don't know what's going to
happen here, you know? And the other agencies that had jobs would send them
to Internal Revenue and say, we're going to have this many or that many.
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Nixon: And so that's why I went to Social Security and I was interviewed
and then I went started out with them and I finally ended up as a service
interviewer. Billups: Oh, wow, that's nice. Nixon: And the service
interviewer job was interesting because, um, when a person goes in to file
for their Social Security, the claims interviewer takes the original claim
and sends it off to wherever the headquarters or something and it's
approved and all that. And then the person's checks start, okay? Once their
checks get started, then basically they never go back to the claims
interviewer again, if they have any problems, they didn't get their check
last month or it was cut or, you know, something was wrong, or they are
entitled to more money because they had a new baby or whatever the case may
be. Then they go to the service representative. The service representative
is like a troubleshooter. And that's what I was. And I did that for six
years. Two years. I think mine has quit hopping up, but, um, let's see
what's going on here. Keep asking. Billups: Okay. Nixon: Oh, cut that out.
No, I cut him out too. Billups: Uh, okay. So, um, you already gave me the
reasons. Uh, how about the nationality of the people who grew up where you
grew up? Well, I guess that would be right around here. Nixon: Yeah. Yeah,
I've been--
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Billups: You've been in his house since you were nine? Nixon: No, no, no.
I haven't been in this house. I've been in this house for 37 years.
Billups: Right. Nixon: And then we lived up on Hollow Street, which is like
two blocks from here, from the time I was 11 years old. And we moved there
from a street over by the railroad tracks called Jones Avenue. And we only
lived there a couple of years. But the Jones Avenue place where we lived
for a couple of years, there was a few Whites on that street. I remember
that there was an Italian girl-- no, Polish girl right next door to us. But
we only lived there a couple of years. When we moved to Holland Street, it
was practically all Black. And I've always been in an all Black
neighborhood. Billups: Oh, I see. So did you mostly circulate only around
the Hill? Hill District? Nixon: Yes. Billups: Oh, I see. Nixon: I went to
Vann school. It was like 98% Black. But when I went to Schenley, it was
only 10%. Billups: Was it? Nixon: In my day. Yes. Uh huh. Billups: Oh,
that's wild. Different from now. Um, did you have any problems moving into
the Pittsburgh area when you came up from the South? Nixon: Uh, no, we
didn't come immediately from the South to Pittsburgh anyway. Billups:
Right, you came from Philadelphia. Nixon: We came from Philadelphia.
Billups: Right. Nixon: But, uh, we had no problem. Billups: No problems at
all? Nixon: No. We didn't have any problems moving into Philadelphia, did
we, Mother? Nixon's Mother: No. You see-- Nixon: We moved into a Black
neighborhood anyway.
00:28:08.000 --> 00:29:27.000
Billups: Maybe that was it. I know a lot of people told me that the
neighborhoods that are now all Black in Philadelphia, they used to be,
like, predominantly White, like you said, Schenley was. Nixon: Well, when
we moved to Philadelphia, I must have been four, and probably that next
year I must have started the kindergarten. And I can remember very vividly,
I don't remember what the school was like before I went to kindergarten
because I had no reason to go to the school. But the day I entered school,
it turned to a Black school. They made it, you know, they took all the
White kids out and it had all Black teachers, Black principal. The only
White person in that school was an old lady that was the janitor. And just
out of pity for her because I guess she been there all her life or
something or other, they let her stay until she was finally ready for
retirement, I suppose. But the very day that I entered, that's when the
school became a Black school rather than integrated. Billups: Wow. Okay.
Um, so you didn't really have any problems at all growing up or as being
Black or anything? Nixon: No. Billups: Um, how about no with housing? Not
even with work either? How about with work? Nixon: Uh, when I got to
working age, I had problems trying to get a job because I was not trained
for housework and plus didn't like it. [laughter]
00:29:27.000 --> 00:30:27.000
Nixon: And then being an only child, my parents didn't want me to do it
anyhow. Billups: Right. Nixon: But I had been trained as a seamstress and I
remember going to a place out in Homewood that did slipcovers that had
advertised for a seamstress in the paper, and I went out and applied for a
job. And the man, I mean, he was nice about it, but he said to me that you
and I both might as well face up to the truth. He said, The people that I
would be sending you to, to make the slipcovers, they wouldn't want you to
come in the back door, in the front door, and you wouldn't want to come in
the back door. Billups: I dig it. Nixon: Right. Absolutely. So I missed out
on that job. And then another job I went to over in before Pitt took over
Schenley Apartments. This lady, she too was making slipcovers and she had
advertised in the paper. And I called her up and talked to her on the phone
and told her that I was colored. And she said, Well, I don't care what
color you are, you know, as long as you can do the work. When I got over
there, I guess her father had more influence over her than she realized. He
opened the door and he said to me, What do you want? And I said, I just
talked to Miss and whatever her name was, you know. And I said--
