WEBVTT
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Barbara Billups: I think it's been a half hour. Yeah, because we started
five of.
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Anne Nixon: Yes we did.
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Billups: Okay. I think I cut off the front part too, because. Oh, well,
that's okay. Nixon: So anyway, this man, he said to me, I said to him that
I just talked to her on the phone and she told me to come right over, you
know, And he says, Well, I'll go get her, but I know she don't want you.
And she came to the door and she said to me, I'm awfully sorry, but I have
just hired somebody for the job. And I knew good and well that woman was
lying. Billups: Oh that's-- Nixon: What could I do? You know? And, uh,
another time I went to Kaufmann's and I tried to get a job as a seamstress.
I took a coat that I had made for one of my children, and they told me that
they did not--Aizen's also; remember when they used to have a store on Wood
Street? Billups: Aizen's. Nixon: No, you don't remember? Billups: I wasn't
there, but I heard of Aizen's before. Nixon: Yeah, well, there's an Aizen's
right down from Gimbels, but there used to be another one on Wood Street
that was called Maxie's, and I assume that there was a connection between
the two stores. Billups: But I've heard of Aizen's before. Nixon: But I
went to this one on Wood Street and they would not let me work in the
store, but they would give me a great big suit box and I would bring that
home filled with work.
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Nixon: Sometimes I have as much as $500 worth of stuff in there and we
work on it at home. Maybe shorten hems or take it in a bit. You know, their
fitter would have done all the fitting and everything and all I had to do
was follow the instructions. I did that for a short while too, but I was
not. I really did have trouble getting a job. Billups: Oh wow, I don't like
to hear stuff-- Nixon: One time the only thing I could do was work in the
kitchen and I hated every minute of it. Billups: I guess like you said,
kitchen work and housework. Okay. What was the first organization of Black
people that you remember existing while you were growing up? Can you
remember any? Nixon: I heard of the Urban League-- Billups: Urban League?
Nixon: --when I came out of high school and contacted them for them to try
help me get a job. And that reminds me, I forgot about a job. You asked me
about the first job I ever had. It was with a Black woman in the Hill
district here. She lived up on the Schenley Heights Hill, and she had what
she called a remodeling shop. She--her clientele were real rich White
people, and she would remodel their clothes for them.
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Nixon: And occasionally she would have an opportunity to make clothes,
too. And since I had taken dressmaking, I took all they had to offer in
high school. And when I came out of there, then my mother sent me to a
dressmaking school called Keller Dressmaking School. At that time it was
out in East Liberty on Walnut Street, and then later on it went to town or
someplace and maybe out of existence existence now, I don't know. But
anyhow, right out of that, I got somebody somehow or other I made contact
with these people at Urban League and a Miss Grace Lownes, who was a silent
owner in this shop, was connected with Urban League and got me on at that
shop. I used to sew for Mrs. Homer Brown. You've heard of Judge Homer
Brown? He's retired now. Maybe you haven't since you're not a Pittsburgher
and Mrs. Cuthbert. I never knew what her husband did, but they were some of
the wealthier Hill District Black people. And she has been for years on the
the board of the executive board or something or other of the YWCA here in
Pittsburgh. Mrs. Cuthbert had. I used to sew for both of them when I this
was when I first came out of high school.
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Billups: Oh, that's nice. Why don't I get breaks like that? Because I
don't know how to sew, [laughs] okay. So do you think that was the most
important member to you in the Urban League? Because-- Nixon: The most
important, what? Billups: Important member of the Urban League, like who do
you think was the most important member? I can't see how you would know all
of them.
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Nixon: Yeah, she she was really the only one I knew. So [unintelligible]
she was the only one I knew and was my contact. Billups: Right. Nixon: And
she really did me a good turn to get me that job. As a matter of fact, I
worked there until I got married. I must have worked there, I guess, a
couple of years because I got married then couple of years after I--
Billups: Graduated from high school? Nixon: Mmhm.
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Nixon: And not too terribly long after I got married, of course I got
pregnant, you know? [laughter] And so then I quit work right after that. Do
you want a piece of paper?
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Billups: No, I thought I had another tape. No, I'll look for that later.
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Nixon: That's back there right?
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Billups: Oh, thank you. Okay. Um, so what do you think the most important
organization for the Black people was when you were growing up? Was that
the only one that you knew of?
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Nixon: That was the only one that I knew of because I didn't hear about
NAACP until later. Billups: Right. Nixon: And even when I began hearing
about the NAACP, I was not the way in which I heard of it. I wasn't really
impressed. I mean, I don't know. I didn't think that they were really doing
that much for it's only been in, I'd say like the last 20 years that I have
really thought that the NAACP was really, you know, on the map for Black
people. And so the Urban League was the one that I thought was was the one
that was really doing the most.
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Billups: Okay. Um, did they ever help you when you needed help? You said
already the urban organization--
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Nixon: Yeah, they got me that job. And other than that, when my second
child was ready to graduate from high school through the Urban League, we
got a scholarship. It was called the Barr-Brown Scholarship. Barr was was a
congressman in Harrisburg. And I think Brown was also I forget now why this
thing was named after them, but they were giving these scholarships to
Blacks and my son got a scholarship to go to Pitt.
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Billups: Oh, that's nice. Oh, wow. Okay. Do many of your friends belong to
this organization?
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Nixon: To the Urban League? Billups: Yeah. Nixon: To be perfectly
truthful, I don't know anyone. [laughter] I don't belong to it either.
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Nixon: I don't know anyone who belongs to the Urban League. The NAACP
seems to have taken over now, you know.
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Billups: Right. Do you know anybody in that?
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Nixon: I know quite a few people in the NAACP. And my church personally
puts on a campaign every year to get memberships for the NAACP.
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Billups: Oh, that's nice.
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Nixon: We have a couple people who each year, you know, when the campaign
is open, we'll take the applications right through the church. And I always
I was the solicitor one year. I have not. I was just taking somebody else's
place that one year because I don't really like to do that kind of thing.
But I usually keep the kind of membership that gets me also, The Crisis
magazine, I think I usually pay $10.
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Billups: Yeah, I used to have to try to recruit people for sickle cell
anemia membership. And I know what you're talking about. Okay. Why aren't
you a member of an organization?
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Nixon: Well, I am a member of the NAACP.
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Billups: You are a member?
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Nixon: Oh yes. I get The Crisis every month. I subscribe. I don't go to
any meetings or anything, but I subscribe every year to the NAACP.
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Billups: Oh, so you can give them that? A long time ago when I asked you,
did you belong to any kind of organization? Nixon: Oh, sorry about that.
Billups: Oh, no, no, no.
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Nixon: I guess I didn't realize what you meant then. Yes, I should have
given you that, because I've been in that for a real long time.
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Billups: Oh, that's. That's interesting, then
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Nixon: I'm saying a real long time. I would say probably as far back as
ten years.
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Billups: Mhm. That's good. Okay. Were you ever any kind of officer or
anything other?
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Nixon: No. No, I don't participate in any way. All I do is just pay my
money, you know?
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Billups: Right. Did they ever employ you in any way?
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Nixon: No. Okay. I've never even done any volunteer work or anything for
them. I've done some volunteer work for NEED. But don't ask me what NEED
is.
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Billups: It's the Negro.
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Nixon: Well, you know what it is.
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Billups: For college students. Yeah.
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Nixon: Well, I did some volunteer work for them last year and helped out
at the dinner and everything.
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Billups: You have to get in touch with them. Were you ever a member of the
labor union? Nixon: No. Billups: Never. Okay. Uh, was there any kind of
relationship between the union, any kind of union or and the NAACP?
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Nixon: Well, the only time I have ever been affiliated with a union in any
way whatsoever was when I was with the federal government. And, of course,
our union. We just barely had a union because the government wasn't for
that in the first place. And our union didn't have too much teeth to it. We
couldn't strike or anything, you know. And of course, it had no connection
with the NAACP. But I will say this. The Black people who were in federal
government, if they felt that they were being mistreated, they always felt
that they could go to the NAACP and at least get some kind of backing, you
know, for their arguments. But later on, as the union got stronger and
stronger while it began to to back the Black people for grievances,
particularly if you felt that you were being discriminated against or
something like that.
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Billups: Oh, that's good. Okay. How about the depression in the 1930s? How
did this affect your life?
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Nixon: Well, I don't really think that it affected our family. No think in
it. We were not hit as badly as the majority of the Hill. It's probably
because of the fact that my father had been at the railroad for a long time
and had enough seniority or whatever built up that he didn't get laid off.
And my mother, the kind of work that she did, why they were always in
demand. Once you established a reputation with a woman, you know you were a
good laundress. Why then she wasn't going to get rid of you for hell or
high water, because, you know she liked you.
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Billups: And she didn't want to do it herself.
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Nixon: Right. She didn't want to do it herself. So both of my parents
worked. And up until the time that I was married, why, I. I can honestly
say that I never wanted for anything that I didn't get unless it was
something that my mother thought that I would get hurt on. Being an only
child, she was very protective. I was never allowed to have a sled or a
skates or a bicycle because you might get hurt on those things, but
anything else? I always got it. Well, when I got married, um, my husband
worked at night. He was a janitor at one of the buildings downtown, and he
worked at night. And because he worked at night, he didn't want to move us
away into an apartment or, you know, someplace of our own, because I would
be alone at night by myself. Plus, it didn't make sense anyhow. My parents,
we lived at that time up on Hall Street and they owned their own home and I
had my own room. And so it just didn't make sense for us to move out, you
know? And I'd be alone.
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Billups: Especially since you were the only child.
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Nixon: Sure, sure. So we stayed with my parents until my third child came.
We got married in 32, and my third child was born by December of 37 and
April of 38, we moved into this house. My husband and I bought this, but
this was big enough to bring my parents with us, right. Because my husband
was still working at night, you know, and they didn't have nobody else
anyway. There's no point in leaving them up there by themselves. So we just
have always lived together. Well, my husband worked at, like I said, at one
of these buildings downtown, and we didn't have quite enough money, but we
never suffered. We always had food. It may not have been the best of foods
I can remember. My husband never liked for me to tell this when he was
living, but I can remember when I used to buy like lamb chops or something
for his lunch and fix the meat and take the meat out and put it in his
lunch and give the children the bones to suck off, you know? But that
wasn't all the meat they got, you know. But they didn't get lamb chops.
They might have got something that was cheaper, you know, maybe, maybe
bacon or something like that. But even so, we were never hungry. Never. And
my children, all the way through Schenley High School and they let's see,
they were in Schenley. The two older ones anyhow, were in Schenley before I
went to work for the federal government, which means that we only had the
one salary. They were considered to be among the best dressed kids in the
school because I could sew and I would keep them supplied and clothed and
all about the worst thing I think that could have happened to us during the
Depression was that when my husband would bring his pay home, I would pay
all of the bills that had to be paid, and we were buying our groceries on
what we called the book.
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Nixon: You know, the man would write down how much you spent each week,
and I would go around and give him whatever was left over. And practically
every week, I would never have enough, you know, to pay him all that we
owed him. And so then there would be some hanging over and some hanging
over. And finally and I don't remember what year this was, but I'm pretty
sure that he. That my husband was no longer working at that downtown place.
But anyhow, when they tore down some houses that used to be behind the
houses that were across the street, there was like a court back there and
it was must have been about 20 houses, kind of poor families lived back
there when they tore those houses down because they were just really a
disgrace and, you know, quite, quite in very bad condition. All those
people moved to other parts of town and left on that grocery store a big
pile of money. So then that grocery store had to go out of business. So
then my husband and I, we had to scrape up the money. He was about the only
ones that we were about the only people he could catch almost, you know,
because we were still here. So I think we owed the grocery store something
like about $400. Billups: Oh, wow. Nixon: We paid him off. And then after
that, we never got behind in our bills or anything.
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Billups: Oh, I like to hear that. I like to hear that.
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Nixon: Things have been going on pretty nicely. My husband when when the
war came, the Korean War? Or Which war? What war started in 1945. No.
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Billups: World War I? No, no. I mean--I mean World War Two, 1945. Right?
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Nixon: Well, my husband went to work. It must have been 41 that we went
into that thing because I think it was over in 45.
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Billups: Yeah. Wait a minute. It was because I know--
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Nixon: My my youngest was just barely born and I had gone to Kaufmann's to
work and I was at this warehouse and oh, it was so cold when they'd opened
this great big door for these trucks to come in, you know, And I would get
a I was getting a real bad cold and my baby was like four months old. He'd
been born in July and this was like December. I was working and everybody
was feeling so sorry for me, you know, with this young baby. And I'm
standing there writing the names of these packages, you know, that one
night. And I felt so sick, you know, And I thought to myself, my husband
had just gone to Dravo and his salary was like tripled, you know? And I
said, I'm a fool standing here with this young baby at home and getting
sick and everything, and he's out there making all that money. I call the
man and told him, I'm going to quit the man said, okay. He said, If you
just got to quit, you know, you got to quit because he knew I wasn't
feeling good. So he says, When are you going to quit? I said, right now,
lady, pencil down. Walked out. I didn't go back to Kaufmann's for several
years. And when I did go back, I refused to go to the warehouse again. And
then I started working in the store. But my husband, when he was in Dravo
by then he was a compartment tester, which was one of the higher class
jobs, and he made very good money. And then when he left there, he too went
to the railroad and he worked for the railroad for like 25 or 26 years
before he died.
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Billups: Wow. Y'all really--
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Nixon: So we really never had any, any, any--troubles
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Billups: No, that's good.
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Nixon: We, the two of us, my husband and I were going to vote for the
first time when Roosevelt was going in for the first time in 1932. And we
often talked about as we were going up the Hill, we were voting then at the
firehouse up on the corner of Webster and Wanless. And as we were getting
ready to go into the polls to vote, several people were whispering in our
ears, You'd better vote for Roosevelt if you don't want to be eating out
the garbage cans again. And my husband was quite insulted because we've
never eaten out of any garbage cans. But times were really hard. We heard,
you know, an awful lot because over on in the Lawrenceville section, Father
Rice or somebody or other had a soup line over there and there were people
over there living in little, not little, but like crates and boxes that had
come when the vegetables came in, you know, And there were people actually
living in those crates and boxes. They called it Shanty Town. And we saw
pictures of that in the newspaper and everything. It was really bad.
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Billups: I saw that in Tijuana when I was in Tijuana, and I saw those kind
of box houses-- Nixon: Really, really sad. Billups: Oh, it was
disgraceful.
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Nixon: These people would be standing in line with the little pan, and
this man would give them a little bit of soup and a piece of bread every
day.
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Billups: Oh, wee. Nixon: Really sad.
00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.000
Billups: Let's get off the subject. [laughter]
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Billups: Um, do you keep contact with your relatives, like, you know, your
children?
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Nixon: Oh, heavens, yes. I'm expecting my oldest one in day after
tomorrow. Oh, you have not asked me what my children do. You don't want
that in the record?
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Billups: Oh, you can tell me. Nixon: I'm so proud of them. Billups: I
figured that I could tell.
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Nixon: My oldest son is head of the O.E.O. or whatever. Anyhow, it has
something to do with the equal opportunity, whatever. He is head of that
for I.T.T. in New York City. But he's head of the whole United States.
Billups: What? Nixon: Oh, yes. And he travels quite a bit. Billups: And
what's his name? Nixon: James Nixon.
00:17:56.000 --> 00:19:11.000
Billups: Oh, wow.
Nixon: And when he comes through here on Thursday, he will be on his way
back to New York, having been in Denver, Colorado, for 2 or 3 days for
something. And my mother said I just talked to him like about ten days ago.
And he called my mother yesterday. And he has been three places since I
talked to him. And just before I talked to him, he had had to go to Jamaica
or no it was the Virgin Islands. He had had to go down there for something.
Oh, I'm telling you, he just travels quite a bit. He's he's a graduate of
what is now called Carnegie Mellon. Billups: Ooo, stop it. Nixon: It was
Carnegie Tech back in the day that he states that he went there and he
graduated as a mechanical engineer. And he worked for GE for about 18 years
and had really gone up pretty high. He was--when he left GE, he was a
district manager for the whole area around Detroit. I think he had like 30
offices or something or other under him. Billups: That is fabulous. Nixon:
And he was doing quite well. But then I.T.T. came along and and bought him
off. And so then he went back to and this personnel thing was more in his
field than the salesmanship field was and he liked it better. Then my
second son, he's the one that lives out in California.
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Billups: Do you have two daughters and two sons?
00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:55.000
Nixon: No, just one daughter. Three sons. My second son, he I told you he
got this scholarship and went to Pitt. Billups: Right. Nixon: But he
couldn't decide what he wanted to do there. So he only lasted about a year
and a half. And at that time, all the young men had to go into the service
for two years. It was compulsory then. And so he said, Well, since I don't
know what I want to do, I might as well get the service business over and
then maybe I'll find out what I want to do, you know? Well, he went into
the service, he passed a test for officers training and he went into the
Air Force as a second lieutenant, and he came out of there finally. I don't
know how many years, I guess about 13 years later as a captain. And he was
a pilot and he is now a pilot for United Airlines.
00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:56.000
Billups: Oh, wow.
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Nixon: And my daughter, I don't know what she's doing down in South
America. She's there because she's married to a man who lives there. That's
his home. He is an instructor at the University in Caracas. I don't know
what he instructs, though. It might be math, it seems like to me. I heard
them say, but I'm not sure. But he's also an electronics engineer and he
has his own business. He services refrigerators and things and he seems to
be doing pretty good at that. But my daughter, before she went out of the
country at one time in her life, she has been vice president of Lever
Brothers and also of Procter and Gamble in the marketing research
department. And when she--the last job she had before she went out of the
country, she was on the board of directors of the National Black Network.
Billups: Oh, wow. Nixon: Is it National Black Network? Yeah. Yeah. In New
York City. That was what she was doing when she left the States. And my
youngest, he's not doing as well as the others, but he's happy. So, you
know. He works for the the subway in New York City. He's now a conductor.
Yeah. Conductor. But within the last 6 or 8 months, he passed the test and
is waiting to be promoted to motorman.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.000
Billups: Oh, wow. In New York City.
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Nixon: Yes. And all of them have children. I have 11 grandchildren.
00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:29.000
Billups: Oh, that's fabulous.
00:21:29.000 --> 00:22:03.000
Nixon: My oldest grandchild is in his third year at MIT. He is going to be
an architect. My second oldest grandchild just graduated last November here
in Pittsburgh from a computer programming school. Computer tech, I think,
was the name of it in the Fulton Building. Yes. And he is now working
for--but I can't tell you the name of the company in Stamford, Connecticut.
He has a this is a copy of his diploma to my daughter.
00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:06.000
Billups: And this is a this is one of your grandchildren?
00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:25.000
Nixon: That's my second oldest grandchild. My third oldest grandchild is
in college in Davis. I think it is. California. And I think she is
specializing in social work or something like that. And then the rest of
them are from high school age on down to like one and a half years old.
00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:36.000
Billups: Your whole family altogether could just form a whole big business
somewhere. Yeah, that is magnificent. Oh, wow. Um, so I know you keep in
contact with them.
00:22:36.000 --> 00:23:15.000
Nixon: Oh, yes. Well, like I said, my oldest will be in in a couple of
days. My youngest was just here about a month ago. And, of course, my
daughter doesn't get here since she's out of the country too often. But
when when my children come to visit fairly often, I would say like at least
twice a year, they try to make it to see whether or not, particularly since
we both are widows. The first year after my husband died, he just died
three years ago. Why, my children made up a schedule among themselves so
that somebody came to visit my mother and I for the year of 1973. Every
month somebody came and visited us just to check to see how we were doing.
00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:22.000
Billups: Oh, that is really nice. Oh, I know you're proud of them. Nixon:
Yes, I really am. Billups: Wow. So. So, have you had family reunions?
00:23:22.000 --> 00:24:18.000
Nixon: No, not since my husband died. We had one about a couple of months
before my husband took sick and died. And my youngest didn't even get here
for that. We didn't exactly call it a family reunion. I was telling you
about these four young men. They had a club that they belonged to that they
made up among themselves called the Ebony League when they all lived here
in Pittsburgh. And they were the ones that were having a reunion. And my
daughter thought, well, I'll get a chance to see my two brothers. And so
then she came along, you know, while they were here. So we had three of our
children and these other four boys because, let's see. Two of them no
longer live in Pittsburgh. One lives in Chicago and one lives in
Harrisburg, and the other two one lives next door and the other one lives
out in Homewood. Billups: Right? Nixon: So anyhow, my daughter came. So we
had three of our children and then these four, and we consider that sort of
like a, you know, a family reunion. But since then, since my husband died,
we have not had any opportunity for everybody to get together. We've talked
about it. But you know how those.
00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:34.000
Billups: Yeah, we're talking about our family getting together this
Christmas coming up so-- Nixon: Absolutely, that would be great. Billups:
I'm I'm looking forward to it. I have never done it before. Okay. So you
said you belong to the Baptist church you belong to for 54 years. Nixon:
Yes. Billups: And how often do you attend? You go every, every week?
00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:36.000
Nixon: Goodness, I'm there every Sunday
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:38.000
Billups: I bet more than once a week, right?
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:51.000
Nixon: Yes. Well, my mother is the one that goes more than once a week.
She goes to prayer meeting on Tuesday night. She goes to prayer meeting on
Saturday noon. And then she goes, We both go on Sunday. We're both involved
in Sunday school. She has a class.
00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:52.000
Billups: Oh, that's nice.
00:24:52.000 --> 00:25:10.000
Nixon: I no longer have a class. I was secretary. I must have been
secretary of Sunday School for 20 years, I guess. And I finally got tired
of it. And I just told them I'm quitting. So now I am in a class, but I do
not teach. But she teaches a class and she belongs to the nurses unit and
she wears her uniform.
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:11.000
Billups: Oh, that's nice.
00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:17.000
Nixon: Whatever time she's supposed to. And she also belongs to a
missionary group. I also belong to a missionary group.
00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:24.000
Billups: Oh, that's really nice. Okay.
00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:26.000
Nixon: Plus I haven't told you about how I'm a trustee.
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:33.000
Billups: Right. Mhm. So is this a mixed congregation at your church or--
Nixon: No, all Black. Billups: All Black. That's what I thought.
00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:34.000
Nixon: Our minister preached last Sunday about that.
00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.000
Billups: But yeah, that's what I was going to ask you about.
00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:37.000
Nixon: We don't want--
00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:43.000
Billups: That's exactly I was going to ask you about. Did your clergy did
he encourage integration?
00:25:43.000 --> 00:27:11.000
Nixon: No. And we thought he made a very good argument for it last Sunday
because he said that we are the only people in the United States and maybe
on the face of the earth who cannot trace our lineage back more than about
three generations. You go any further back than that. We don't know where
we came from. We don't know who we are or anything. The Jewish people, man,
they can go back to kingdom come, you know, And the Italians, they got
folks over in Italy and they know where exactly where they, you know, we
can't do that. And he says that the church now is the only thing that we
have left where that we Black people can really identify completely. Right.
And he says he don't think that we ought to encourage integration because
if that comes in and it comes in on too large a scale, now I'm adding this.
He didn't say this in the pulpit, but I'm saying that nine chances out of
ten, the White people would take it over. Billups: Right. Nixon: And this
way we feel free. Now our church, our people like to express themselves. If
the minister says something that they agree with, they may holler out,
Amen. Or somebody may get up and shout or scream a few times or something.
And if White people came in, we probably would be very sensitive about
that. Billups: I know. I know. Nixon: It would just really lose the spirit.
So he says that he doesn't think that we should give up our Black church
because that's the only place that we have now that we can identify with.
And it's the only thing through which we as Black people can really have a
nucleus from which we can work for Black people.
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:15.000
Billups: So is there a relationship between your church and the NAACP?
00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:43.000
Nixon: Yes. Yes, we have the campaign every year. I don't think we do
anything specifically other than have this campaign and get as many members
as we can. But we encourage membership. Our minister gets up and announces
it from the pulpit and the two people that are taking the memberships, why
they circulate around among the the members, you know. And I, I don't
remember them doing too much last year, but year before last, they aimed at
100 members and I think they made it.
00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:56.000
Billups: Oh, wow, that's good. So have there been any changes in the
organization, NAACP? During the 1950s, were you--did you belong to it then?
You belong to it?
00:27:56.000 --> 00:28:07.000
Nixon: I belonged, but I didn't. 50s, 50s. No, I didn't belong in the 50s.
I didn't really join it until this is 76. I must I didn't join into it
until about late in the 60s.
00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:09.000
Billups: Oh, yeah.
00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:14.000
Nixon: I know. Tim Stevens, who was the, some kind of secretary.
00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:35.000
Billups: But you did say that NAACP you thought started making progress
during the 1950s. Right? You said 20 years ago you thought they started
making progress. Nixon: Yes. Yes. Billups: Okay. All right. And did the
World War affect your identity as a Black person in any way? Did it affect
you at all?
00:28:35.000 --> 00:30:23.000
Nixon: I wouldn't think so. Actually, maybe I should be ashamed to say
this, but I never thought about being Black too much until the younger
generation came along, you know? And of course, when Martin Luther King
started his march, then I think that started all us Black people to
thinking that we're not really being treated quite like we should. But I
sort of maybe didn't have quite the problem that some other people did.
Now, the school that my children went to--Vann school, right up here in
this neighborhood, there were children who went there who were not getting
the proper kind of education at all. And I always belonged to the PTA. I
pushed that and was a member and, you know, involved in that and any way
whatsoever. And I can remember parents complaining because they felt that
the the school got the poorest teachers. You know, if a teacher failed the
test or something or other and she was not good enough to go to school to
either Squirrel Hill or to Mount Lebanon or something, they sent her to the
Hill District. But when I wanted to say something, the board wasn't too
anxious to listen to me because my children were always the top of the
class, you know? And in Schenley High School, they were the president and
all that kind of stuff. I couldn't really say too much. And so for that
reason, I don't know. I couldn't say that they were being denied a whole
lot. Billups: Right. Nixon: I don't know what my mother did to me. But when
I came up, I came up believing that I was just as good as the next fellow,
even though I was not raised with Whites. And when I got to Schenley, I was
always in among the top five or the fifth, top fifth, 5% of the class or
something. Billups: All right. Nixon: And when my children came along, I
pushed them, oh they said I really gave them a fit, you know, And they were
just really always in the top of their class. And I guess that's how they
got where they are now. Billups: Oh that's good. Nixon: So we didn't have
problems--
00:30:23.000 --> 00:31:23.000
Billups: I'm gonna stop this tape because it's getting ready run off. I
want to get you.
