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Ethel Murdock: Mrs. Ethel Murdock.
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Odessa Murdock Diggs: And how old are you?
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Murdock: 82.
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Diggs: When were you born?
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Murdock: September 25th, 1893.
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Diggs: Where were you born, Mrs. Murdock?
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Murdock: Tarentum, Alabama.
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Diggs: Where is Tarentum near?
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Murdock: Troy, Alabama.
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Diggs: What is. What was the maiden name of your mother?
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Murdock: White. Della White.
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Diggs: What is your--were you aware of any other language spoken in your
family by your ancestors at all? Murdock: No. Diggs: What was your
occupation before you retired?
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Murdock: Practical nurse.
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Diggs: What is your religion?
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Murdock: One of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Diggs: Um. What--what congregation?
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Murdock: At present, New Brighton, Pennsylvania.
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Diggs: What about politics? Does voting matter to you?
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Murdock: No, I have no part with it. Politics.
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Diggs: How long have you lived in New Brighton?
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Murdock: Since 1947.
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Diggs: Are you a member of any ethnic fraternal organization? Murdock: No.
Diggs: Do you remember your grandparents?
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Murdock: Yes, my great grandmother and my grandmother.
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Diggs: Do--can you think of anything about them that you remember?
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Murdock: Well, my great grandmother, I--visited her when I was about 11
years old. I just spent one night with her, and it's the only time I ever
remember.
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Diggs: Where did she live at that time?
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Murdock: She lived in Brundidge, Alabama.
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Diggs: What was your great grandmother's name?
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Murdock: Bethena. I don't know the last name, I don't remember--
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Diggs: Where were your parents born?
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Murdock: Alabama. And Alabama.
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Diggs: Did you move to New Brighton from down South or anywhere?
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Murdock: I moved from Decatur, Alabama to Homestead, Pennsylvania, in
1920.
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Diggs: So how did you get to New Brighton?
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Murdock: We came--moved from New Bri--, from Homestead to New Brighton, to
Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. We moved to New
Brighton later.
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Diggs: When you first moved to New Brighton, what kind of neighbourhood
was it? You know, were most of the people here from? Where were most of the
people around here from when you moved to New Brighton?
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Murdock: Most of them were old settlers here. There were a few that had,
like us, that had moved in from different parts of the South. But the
average person here, old timers here.
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Diggs: Like--like what? Or like whom?
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Murdock: Different nationalities. They worked in the mills and some from
a--from a different nationalities.
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Diggs: What occupation did your father have?
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Murdock: My father was a mail carrier in Alabama.
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Diggs: Did your mother ever do any kind of work outside the home?
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Murdock: No.
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Diggs: How many brothers and sisters do you have?
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Murdock: I had two sisters and one brother.
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Diggs: How many children do you have?
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Murdock: Three children.
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Diggs: Uh, about your education. Um, did you have any special education or
training?
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Murdock: A one year teacher's training beyond high school.
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Diggs: Where did you get that from?
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Murdock: Spelman Seminary.
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Diggs: Where is Spelman?
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Murdock: Atlanta, Georgia. Spelman College now.
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Diggs: What was your first job that you ever had and how old were you?
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Murdock: I was 20 years old, and I taught school in a small place out from
Montgomery, Alabama. Snowden, Alabama.
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Diggs: What was the first job you had around New Brighton or Pittsburgh
area?
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Murdock: I did practical nursing in the homes in Brighton. And small towns
nearby. First job was with a--a Mrs. Cook. An elderly woman whose daughters
were teachers in schools here in Beaver Falls. That was my first job.
Practical nursing.
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Diggs: What about some of the other jobs you remember?
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Murdock: Oh, before I gave up practical nursing, I took on care of the
newborn. That's the last work I did. Caring for the newborn.
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Diggs: What was the reason that you came to this area anyway? This--to New
Brighton area.
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Murdock: Um. We bought a home out here. We moved here from Aliquippa and
my husband got a job that was more suited for him at his age. That was the
main reason.
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Diggs: What was the nationality of most of the people in the neighborhood
when you moved out here? Can you describe-- Murdock: Mixed. Diggd: --this
area? New Brigton.
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Murdock: There were people of all nationalities. Mixed.
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Diggs: Did you face any problems moving into this area? Murdock: No.
Diggs: How were you treated as a, you know--how were you treated? Were
there any bad feelings or anything shown? Murdock: No. Diggs: And you
didn't have any problem finding houses or work?
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Murdock: No. We moved here because we bought a house here.
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Diggs: Uh, what was the. What about the Great Depression in the 30s? It
had an effect on almost everyone living in America at the time. How was
your life affected?
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Murdock: We felt the brunt of it. Because that--we left our home in
Alabama and came to Homestead to work--so my husband could work in the mill
and make some of the quick big money they were making at the time.
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Diggs: What year was that?
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Murdock: It was 1920, and we only work--he only worked a little while and
then the whole works began to slow down. So by the by--before the 30s when
the depression really got bad, it was real bad. We felt the full brunt of
the Depression. In the meantime, we had three children then.
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Diggs: So how did you manage?
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Murdock: My husband and I had a garden. One of the neighbors--one of the
people that had lived out kind of on the edge of the town in Homestead,
Pennsylvania, let us have enough ground to have a garden. And in that way
we were able to raise and the government gave seeds to those who wanted who
weren't able to buy them. So we had a beautiful garden and we were able to
can the foodstuff. And that way--we didn't say it too badly.
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Diggs: Did you ever keep contact with your family and your home--original
home areas? Write or have visitors or whatnot for your family? How close
were they?
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Murdock: Oh, yes. My husband's family was a big family and they always
kept in contact with each other. They have family reunions and they still
do. Every two years.
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Diggs: Did they send money or gifts or anything? As well as visit?
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Murdock: Well, not too much of that because we--every opportunity we saw
each other and visited with each other. Diggs: About how often? Murdock: At
least once a year, my mother-in-law came to visit with those that were in
this part of the country.
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Diggs: Where does she come from?
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Murdock: She was in Alabama for years after we all left. Except one
daughter. She lived there with her oldest daughter.
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Diggs: So you still have with the family, still has contact--contacts.
Murdock: Oh, yes. Diggs: What were the family reunions like at that time?
You--
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Murdock: Very beautiful, happy gatherings, renewing old friendships, old
and meeting the older ones and the younger ones. And it was beautiful. It
still is. I still have.
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Diggs: What is your--how often do you attend your religious organization?
You said you're one of Jehovah's Witnesses. How often do you attend?
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Murdock: We have--we have meetings four times a week. Oh, two of them are
two-hour meetings and the others just for one hour.
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Diggs: What do you do? What does your participation, what level of
participation do you have in them?
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Murdock: We are all witnesses to what we do. We publish our work from
house to house. We are definitely Witnesses of Jehovah.
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Diggs: Uh, what kind of congregation is it? Is it mixed or what?
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Murdock: Every nationality. Under the sun.
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Diggs: Do Jehovah's Witnesses belong to fraternal organizations? Murdock:
No. Diggs: What is the role of the Witnesses toward? What is the role of
the ministers in the Witnesses? What do they do? You know, what are they--
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Murdock: Well, we have those who are elders in the congregations and
ministerial servants who assist the elders.
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Diggs: What is the minister's reaction to the war wars--to the World
Wars.
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Murdock: We have no part of the wars. World Wars.
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Diggs: Do they encourage integration?
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Murdock: We are--the organization is made up of people of all
nationalities. From all parts of the world. Each congregation is made up of
people of all nationalities.
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Diggs: During the 1950s, did the World Wars affect you as a person? For
you as a--what are you, a Negro or a Black person? Or a Colored person?
Murdock: Negro. Diggs: How did the World War affect you as a Negro?
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Murdock: Well, we--we don't take part in the wars.
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Diggs: You say we. Now are you speaking of-- Murdock: Jehovah's Witnesses?
Diggs: Okay. So you identify yourself first as what? Murdock: Negro. Diggs:
Because you said before you were Negro, but now you're saying that we
Jehovah's Witnesses don't take part. So you're first Jehovah's Witnesses.
Murdock: That's right. Diggs: Do you ever belong to a burial society or--
Murdock: No. Diggs: No. NAACP or anything?
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Murdock: No.
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Diggs: What is the most crucial aspect for you being a Negro when you were
growing up and now? What do you feel was. And now, if there's any.
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Murdock: When I was growing up, I didn't come in contact with much
racially because there were schools in my home that were operated by the
Rosenwald Foundation. So the school that I attended until I finished
grammar school, all of our teachers were New England--New Englanders, most
of them maids, never married. The principal and the only officials there
were six. And they didn't allow the--I mean, they were all Colored
students. And these were white teachers. So we just didn't. So, no, a lot
of the things that happened in the public schools there that I never came
in contact with.
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Diggs: In other words, you were in private school?
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Murdock: Yeah. You had to pay. And then we went to public school.
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Diggs: Your father paid that, when you went to-- Murdock: Oh yeah. Diggs:
What is the? Do you have any problem being Colored now?
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Murdock: No. [laughs] No, I don't.
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Diggs: What aspects of life then, here in Brighton or in the Homestead
area came in conflict with your upbringing?
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Diggs: Since you were brought up in a private school area and you were
protected more or less.
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Diggs: Then when you came around New Brighton or Homestead.
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Murdock: No. It wasn't easy, but, I had hoped that my kids would be raised
in a different atmosphere. But they managed.
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Diggs: What was the you know, what kind of people lived in Homestead when
you moved there?
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Murdock: Well, there were all kinds there too. All nationalities. A lot
of. Diggs: Like who? Like-- Murdock: Foreign countries, those that came
over from foreign countries. Many there bought their homes. And it's a nice
place. And then those who are already there. A lot of old timers that have
been there for years.
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Diggs: What is the role of women? In the--your organization of Jehovah's
Witnesses, for instance.
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Murdock: Witnesses. That's what we all are, to the holy--we are witnesses
for the truth for Jehovah. They do the same work that--we all do the same
work. Go house to house preaching the good news of the kingdom.
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Diggs: All right, then there's a question here that says what ethnic group
felt closest to your own ethnic group and why? Can--can you answer a
question like that?
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Diggs: Or which group felt more different from your--
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Murdock: All organized religion were very different from ours.
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Diggs: Well we were speaking of ethnic groups, groups of people-- Colored
and maybe other nationalities, which felt more close to Negroes.
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Murdock: Um, we don't see each other in that light.
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Diggs: In other words, you're saying Jehovah's Witnesses are all mixed.
Murdock: Yes. Diggs: And so therefore--
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Murdock: Every nationality.
Diggs: That's why I asked the question like that. Um, how does your
membership as one of Jehovah's Witnesses affect your position in the
community?
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Murdock: I have always. I guess, they accept me as what I am.
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Diggs: How do the other Colored people accept you?
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Murdock: Well.
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Murdock: They just accept me as I am.
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Diggs: Has it helped your family, your education or your marriage at all?
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Murdock: Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
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Diggs: In what way?
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Murdock: We were. Togetherness. Diggs: What-- Murdock: That's about the
best way I can express it.
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Diggs: So it--has it hurt at all? Or how, if it has hurt.
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Murdock: No hurt. Hasn't always been pleasant because not everyone sees it
as we do. But with us it has been beautiful.
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Diggs: What class do you identify with and do you perceive any class
distinction in the community?
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Murdock: [??] class distinction.
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Diggs: Know the class. They're some people, you know, classes are broken
into for higher, you know, middle class, lower class or upper class. That
question relates to that. And do you--so do you perceive any class
distinction in the community at all?
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Murdock: I wouldn't know how to answer that.
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Diggs: Okay. Why?
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Murdock: Well, I've heard of the different. I know of different kinds of
people that I wouldn't want to be classed as that kind. Because I don't--I
don't approve of a lot of their ways. So I wouldn't say that I was--I
wouldn't want to feel that I was so much better than him. But then I think
everybody has certain standards that they want to live up to.
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Diggs: Does being one of Jehovah's Witnesses organization affect your
chances of moving to a different class, a higher class or anything like
that.
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Murdock: We don't aim for that. Our aims are different.
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Diggs: So--or any of the members of the organization in the upper class.
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Murdock: Financially do you mean?
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Diggs: Could be financially.
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Murdock: There are people in the organization that. Some are well to do
and vicea versa. But for as class distinction, I couldn't because we all
one when it comes to our service to Jehovah.
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Diggs: Now about your--your you know, parents--[?????] that family--or did
they belong to any organizations for Negroes in the South?
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Murdock: Yes, my father was very religious. He was a Baptist deacon. And
we all were raised in the Baptist church. Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.
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Diggs: Where is that? Murdock: Montgomery, Alabama.
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Diggs: Did your father belong to any fraternal organizations?
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Murdock: He was a Mason.
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Diggs: Which Masons? Prince Hall or do you--
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Murdock: Oh, I don't know. I didn't know the difference.
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Diggs: You don't remember what he was--
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Murdock: He was something in there.
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Diggs: What about your mother?
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Murdock: My mother was a homebody.
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Diggs: She didn't belong to any fraternal organization? Murdock: Never.
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Murdock: She belonged to church.
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Diggs: And so your father, did he belong to any organizations for Black
people--for Negroes, rather.
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Murdock: I don't--I don't think. I didn't know about that. I knew him only
as a deacon and as a--well, the mail carriers had an association, he
belonged to that.
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Diggs: He was a mail carrier in what city?
00:29:52.000 --> 00:30:52.000
Murdock: Montgomery, Ala--
