WEBVTT
00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:17.000
Beamer: At the mills. So I went on to Kaufmann's Department Store, still
in my uniform. [????] Oh, not the, you know, wasn't much of anything, so I
came and left.
00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:50.000
Beamer: So they were building new apartments in Shadyside in Pittsburgh.
And so I went to work at a jewelry store. Herbert's Jewelry Store on
Diamond Street. 410 Diamond Street. I worked there a while and I told her,
I said, listen, you know, they--they building new apartments there on Fifth
Avenue. I said, you know, I'd like to get in there as superintendent of
[???].
00:00:50.000 --> 00:01:22.000
Beamer: And so he said, well I've got friends that are building there. He
said, sure, if that's what you want. Well I said, that's what I want. I
want something that I can relax and do what I want to and do my job. Nobody
over me. And he say, I'll get you in. So they were building new apartments
at 5221 and 52-- no, 5227 and 5231 Fifth Avenue.
00:01:22.000 --> 00:02:13.000
Beamer: And so he introduced me to the builders. That was Charles J.
Goldberg and George Levin. And so he said, well this is a good guy. Said
he's a really good, reliable guy. He said, he wants to get in. So they
said, well, you consider yourself building superintendent of the building
when it's ready to be occupied. And so I taken over there. Even moved in
there. My wife and I moved in there and stayed with 15 years. Then I
decided to change and I changed.
00:02:13.000 --> 00:04:04.000
Beamer: Then--let's see. From there I went to another jewelry store.
Johnson: What function were you performing within the jewelry store?Were
you repairing things? Or? What was your job in the jewelry store? Beamer:
Just a checker, that's all. It paid good. Munger's jewelry store, which is
still there on the corner of Smithfield and Oliver Avenue. I was a
messenger too, see. I stayed with them, let's see, three years, four years.
One or the other, 3 or 4 years, I forget which. Man, I think,
shortly--let's see-- shortly after the President was assassinated, I left
there. And then I went to Highland House. That's 5700 Bunker Hill. That's
the 20-some-story apartment building out in East End. I was working in the
parking garage there, you know. On alternate shifts. I stayed with that
about five years or so.
00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:11.000
Johnson: Okay. Do you remember your reasons for coming to the Pittsburgh
area? Was it like a thing by which you wanted to get away from Cedar?
00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:23.000
Beamer: Yeah! I wanted to get away. I wanted to get away. Johnson: Did you
feel as though you would find opportunity here in Pittsburgh to to do what
you wanted to do? Or was it a matter of just freedom for you?
00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:36.000
Beamer: It was freedom. I'll tell you, back in '29. Back in '29, 1929, I
mean, things were rough. I mean, really rough all over the country.
00:04:36.000 --> 00:05:04.000
Beamer: And I'd saved up some money, so I bought for $1,800. Excuse me. I
bought a Tom Thumb miniature golf course. I paid $1,800 for it. Rented
the--I guess, about an acre and a half lot there. Johnson: Alright--
Beamer: I'd say acre.
00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:24.000
Beamer: I would run it one day and night for Blacks. One day and night for
Whites. So--after I say, after two and a half years, when the shine wore
off of it, Tom Thumb miniature golf course.
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:49.000
Beamer: I knew I could only break even, so I sold it. I sold it for what I
paid for it. But I--I guess I really grossed over $30,000 out of it.
Johnson: Okay. Where was the Tom Thumb miniature golf course located?
Beamer: Charleston, West Virginia. Johnson: Why did you have, you
know,separate nights for Blacks and Whites?
00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:59.000
Beamer: Because they didn't intermix. Johnson: They were segregated?
Beamer: Yeah. To that point.
00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:04.000
Johnson: Well, upon moving to Pittsburgh, did you have any problems? You
know, were you faced with any problems here in the Pittsburgh area?
00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:11.000
Beamer: No. No problems at all. None.
00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:18.000
Johnson: Did you have any problems in relationship to the White community
here in Pittsburgh? Beamer: No, none whatsoever.
00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:26.000
Johnson: Did you notice that any other Blacks in your neighborhood--you
lived up on the Hill District--did they have any trouble relating to the
White community? What that were--
00:06:26.000 --> 00:07:50.000
Beamer: Not too much of it. About--about the worst thing you had in the
Hill District was some of those, as they often referred--referred to them
as pigs, you know. A lot of those White cops, you know, they--they would go
up against your head, which not ever went up against my head because they
never had any occasion to do so or anything. But I--I've seen some of it,
you know that. But, uh, and then I had--now I love to shoot pool. And I had
a lot of Italian friends that, you know, they thought a lot of me. And
there's been times, I mean, I'd get in a game of pool, by Jove, and put up
my money and guys, you know, uh, hold up and everything like that. There's
been more than one time I've had those Italians come up in my corner, you
know, and assist me when I needed help. Because, I mean, if I put my money
up, you--you and--and I win, now you got to pay me or else there's a fight.
And I mean that. I'm going to fight! That's no joke. And, uh. Yeah, sh--all
your fighters that came out of out of, uh, Pittsburgh here, I know all of
them. Yeah. Civic and all of them. They all know me and everything.
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Johnson: Okay. When you were living up in the Hill District or when you
were in Pittsburgh as a whole, did you belong to any type of community or
fraternal group? Beamer: No. Johnson: Or organization? Beamer: No.
00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:44.000
Beamer: I'll tell you what I did used to do, but that's when I was at CB
County Trade School. You know, you had your boys club there. I did all the
wiring and everything for them. And I--and I never got a penny out or
nothing, you know? Uh, I, uh, you know, for their music and everything, I
did all that wiring. And I was wild, I'm telling you, I was wild and I
loved my little teenage girls, you know. And shoot, I was always in trouble
about them but people that I knew, you know, they, you know, I'm not [???],
you know. [laughs]
00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:55.000
Johnson: Okay. But if you never belonged to a group, you know, to an
organization or community group, why not, you know? Did you--or did they
have any up on the Hill then, you know? Beamer: Yeah. Johnson: Do you
remember what some of them were?
00:08:55.000 --> 00:09:12.000
Beamer: Oh, all I know is your--oh, I belong to the [unintelligible]. But
I never frequent there. I never frequent there.
00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.000
Johnson: Were you ever a member of a labor union?
00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:19.000
Beamer: No. Johnson: Never? Beamer: Oh, no, not here. When I--only when I
was in the mill.
00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:31.000
Johnson: Did you have any trouble while you were a member of labor union?
Beamer: No. Johnson: You feel as though you got a share? I mean, a fair
share.
00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:36.000
Beamer: Well, I think they're entitled. They're entitled to their share,
they're entitled.
00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:40.000
Johnson: I mean, do you think you as a member of the labor union, you
think you got a fair share?
00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:46.000
Beamer: I certainly do. I certainly do.
00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.000
Johnson: You remember the Great Depression in the 1930s, don't you?
00:09:49.000 --> 00:10:03.000
Beamer: Well, that was what I was telling you about with this town felt.
It wasn't no depression for me. My wife and I, man, we went to Virgin
Islands, we went everywhere, we went all over the country, shoot.
00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:17.000
Johnson: While you were going all over the world or you were going all
over the country to the Virgin Islands. Did you--did you maintain a contact
with your family in Cedar--Cedar Point--Cedar Grove. Beamer: Cedar Grove.
Yes. Yeah.
00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:24.000
Beamer: Yeah. I kept in touch. I kept in touch.
00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:29.000
Johnson: They come to visit you here in Pittsburgh?
00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:38.000
Beamer: No, they only come here when. Let's see, they were here when my
wife passed, '69.
00:10:38.000 --> 00:11:41.000
Beamer: I go home occasionally. I'll be going home uh, maybe next month. I
don't know. I got--I got a brother there. He's pretty bad off. And so I
just imagine it's just a matter of time. And my sister, she's not doing too
well. See, the reason there's such a difference in us, see all my brothers
and sisters--all nine of them now, were married before and had kids before
I was born. That's why they call me a change of life baby. But I got a
bunch of nieces and nephews older than I am. Yeah. [laughs]
00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:44.000
Johnson: Do you have any family reunions with your nieces and nephews?
00:11:44.000 --> 00:12:44.000
Beamer: We used to have family reunions. Johnson: What were they like?
Beamer: Oh, I mean, there would be hundreds and hundreds of them that would
assemble at Cedar Grove, and this would go on for weekends, two and three
days, you know? I mean. Sometimes I'll show you the pictures of the family
reunions I have them there and everything. And I mean, they come from all
over the states. All over the states. And they come there for a family
reunion. Just like, uh, if it's more interesting, then you do have your,
you know, your college reunion, you know, everything like that. And, uh.
Well, then they began to die off and die off. But, I don't know, Jon, I
told them from the day I was born, I knew the secret of longevity and I'm
going to be here. [laughs] I'm going to be here.
00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:48.000
Johnson: What is the secret of longevity just for the record? [laughs]
00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.000
Beamer: [laughs]
00:12:51.000 --> 00:12:54.000
Johnson: Okay, I know now. [laughs]
00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:59.000
Beamer: Every day, I don't miss a day.
00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:14.000
Johnson: Did you notice any change in reference to your family and
attitudes towards Blacks prior to World War Two and after World War Two?
Did you notice any change?
00:13:14.000 --> 00:14:34.000
Beamer: Not necessarily so. Not necessarily so. Because, as I said, Cedar
Grove was a small community. As you might compare it with maybe someplace
like, uh, uh, maybe say, uh, Duquesne or someplace like that, you know? And
everybody, everybody loved everybody else. Well, sure, the Blacks and the
Whites, they fought, but it wasn't nothing serious or anything, you know?
And--and Charleston, it was pretty much the same way. They didn't integrate
the schools there at that time, which they are now, you know. But, I mean,
there was never no disturbances or anything, you know, when they first
started integrating. There was never any disturbances in West Virginia, as
you know, or as you didn't. And you're still, I think, have in Kentucky by
Jove and Boston and places like that.
00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:43.000
Johnson: What about after--after--after World War Two? How did--how were
the attitudes in relationship to Blacks?
00:14:43.000 --> 00:15:48.000
Beamer: I don't know, they--West Virginia is a state that never--has
pretty much been independent all its life, you know that. And you never
read of racial disturbances in West Virginia. I don't think you have. I
never read any. It's a good state. More than one time I wished that I was
back there to tell the truth about. But, uh, I'm going to stick on in here.
I'll stick on in here. My wife was put here in Allegheny and we got a twin
plot, you know. I'm already paid for my home after I leave here. So that's
about the size of things.
00:15:48.000 --> 00:16:00.000
Johnson: Were there any aspects of life here in Pittsburgh which came into
direct conflict with--with your upbringing?
00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:28.000
Beamer: No. No. [unintelligible; distorted sound] I've enjoyed it.
00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:47.000
Johnson: Did your parents ever, as you can recollect, did they ever teach
you anything about color consciousness? Well, son, you're Black, so do this
and do that. Beamer: No, no. Johnson: They just-- Beamer: No. What did they
tell you, if anything?
00:16:47.000 --> 00:16:58.000
Beamer: Everybody was the same. Everybody was the same.
00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:10.000
Johnson: What about the racial disturbances in the 1940s? Do you recollect
anything along those lines? Or any racial disturbances at all while growing
up.
00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:13.000
Beamer: We didn't have any of [?????].
00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:18.000
Johnson: What about here in Pittsburgh after you arrived here?
00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:46.000
Beamer: Well. Oh, I don't know of any racial disturbances or anything. I
know I used to go on North Side because I'd love to see girls, guys running
back across the bridge. That's all I know. That was no racial because we
were all Black anyway, I know they sure gave me a hard way to go. [laughs]
00:17:46.000 --> 00:18:13.000
Johnson: Okay, let's get into, like, the Black movement area. In 1954,
Rosa Parks in Birmingham, Alabama, she refused to relinquish her seat to a
White man. How did Blacks then feel about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King
when he was first becoming a prominent national figure? What are your views
and attitudes on that?
00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:54.000
Beamer: Well, I'll tell you the truth, I--I'll admit I was wrong, I'll
admit that, because I--I just couldn't see it. I mean, uh, the reason I say
I'm wrong because, uh, in Charleston, now, we had our own we had our own
theaters, our own everything, drugstores and everything. We did not have to
frequent the White neighborhood or the White drugstores and theaters.
We--whatever the White had, we had. You understand?
00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:57.000
Johnson: I see what you're saying, it was separate but equal.
00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:40.000
Beamer: Right on! That's what I mean. It was equal. The White didn't have
anything that I wanted. Everything that the White had, we had. But, I mean,
we could go to those places if we wanted to and we would be waited on,
understand. But it wasn't necessary for us to go to those places or
anything. So. All right. I wasn't too much for this. Just like, to tell you
the truth today, which maybe I'm wrong, I don't go for busing. Maybe I'm
wrong.
00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.000
Johnson: Why--why--why--what are your views on busing?
00:19:44.000 --> 00:20:46.000
Beamer: Listen. Here's the school right here. I figure if these people in
the area got kids, elementary and everything, even junior high,if they so
see fit to send those kids right here, why should the kid have to be bused
across town or something? Just for the reason that they want to, what they
call it, integration, or if that's what you call it. Johnson:
Desegregation. Beamer: All right. All right. Now, from what Francis tells
me, that they put all, bussed all the young kids out of this school to put
in junior high or, you know, seventh, eighth and ninth grades. But I don't
think that's right. But that's only my opinion, see, I can only speak for
Del.
00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:58.000
Johnson: Okay. When you first moved to Pittsburgh in 1937, I wrote you
said. Do you remember who the prominent Black individual most outstanding
Black individuals in Pittsburgh area were then? Does any of those come to
mind?
00:20:58.000 --> 00:22:29.000
Beamer: Well, sure. There's quite a quite a bunch of them. There was, uh,
Joe Gibbons and, uh, uh, what's [??]? He died here lately. Went to wars.
Nobel Prize winner. You know who I'm talking about. See, I forget a lot of
names after all this time. And quite there was quite a number of them there
and let's see. Oh, I used to know just about everything at the Courier. I
used to. And I used to get around, you know, the Y and meet them and
associate with them and everything. But still, it really wasn't my cup of
tea. I just like to be free and open, you know? I don't know. I can never
just what you might say, put myself in a responsible position. Never
could.
00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:49.000
Johnson: Okay. How do you feel about the--the Amos and Andy? You know,
what changes have you noticed about Blacks on TV and shows, in commercials?
And what are your reflections? Back then, like you said, dealing with Amos
n Andy, that stereotype Black. How did you feel about that?
00:22:49.000 --> 00:23:02.000
Beamer: To tell the truth at the time that they were in they heyday, I
enjoyed them, but I wouldn't today. No, I wouldn't today.
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:03.000
Johnson: Why wouldn't you enjoy them today?
00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:45.000
Beamer: Just like that program that comes on, it's aired once a week.
We're up on the east side. We've got up on the east side. Let's stay up on
the east side once we've gotten up. I think that's I forget the name of the
program, but something [??]. Johnson: Does it come on television? Beamer:
Yes. Frankie! Unidentified voice: What? Beamer: What's the name of that
program that comes on. We're up on the east side. What's the name of it?
Unidentified voice: Oh, Jeffersons. Beamer: Oh, yeah, The Jeffersons.
Johnson: Oh, The Jeffersons, okay. [laughs] Beamer: Yeah, yeah, yeah,
that's it. Uh huh. So let's stay up here, then. Yeah, keep going up.
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:59.000
Johnson: Okay. In the 1920s, uh, the membership in the Ku Klux Klan was
over 6 million in the United States. Uh. Do you ever remember any
activities--Ku Klux Klan activities in West Virginia area?
00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:17.000
Beamer: Listen, I--I--I remember hearing of a half a dozen incidents, but
it wasn't near me, and I couldn't tell you much about it. They burnt
crosses and held their meetings. That's all I know about it. But there was
none in Cedar Grove.
00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:22.000
Johnson: How do you feel about the Ku Klux Klan? You know, I mean, did it
affect you any way after hearing about it?
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:36.000
Beamer: No, it didn't affect me. It didn't affect me because. Well, we
didn't have any lynchings in Cedar Grove there.
00:24:36.000 --> 00:25:08.000
Beamer: Wait a minute. We did have a lynching, I think since I was born
there. At the--where the state prison is. Moundsville. Johnson:
Moundsville. Beamer: Yeah. But I can't remember much about it. The big
tree. If you ever go with me down there sometime, I can show you the big
tree in front of the courthouse where they say they hanged this--lynched
this guy on.
00:25:08.000 --> 00:25:09.000
Johnson: Was he a Black man?
00:25:09.000 --> 00:26:07.000
Beamer: Huh? Black? Yeah. And there used to be a sign. There used to be a
sign. Uh, I forget the name of the town now. You know it take me time to--
Johnson: I understand. Beamer: --you know, just really come back to all
this, you know? And, uh, there was a sign. But before you get to the
Pennsylvania line, a little town. And they said, and this sign read, now
I'm not joking you. This sign read, Nigger read and run. Don't stop in
there. Flat tire, nothing. Don't you stop there. Nigger read and run.
[laughs] I'm not kidding you, Johnson. That sign was there.
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Johnson: After the 1950s, when Martin Luther King had his movement and
after Martin Luther King was assassinated and the the Black movement more
or less dealing with the young people, started, you know, how did you feel
about their movement, their ideas and the way they went about doing what
they were doing. How do you feel about that?
00:26:28.000 --> 00:28:24.000
Beamer: Well, in the beginning, as I said, maybe I was wrong. I figured
that nothing could nothing could become of it. But later I was [??] to the
point, this is there. And then I'll admit that my cousin, Adam, he tried.
He tried to do his bit in there, which Adam didn't do much. Uh, yeah, but,
uh. Martin Luther King and Mr. Abernathy,I think that they really--they
really did something. They really did something. But listen. By the same
token, a lot of Negroes are taking advantage of that and doing a lot of
harm. You get me? I mean, a lot of them say, well, I'm free, I can walk the
streets, I can do what I want to, rob or do what? But I mean, they--they
have a different perspective about what this is all about. I mean,but I
think we're all equal. I figure we've always been equal. I've always
figured that all my life I've never seen no distinction in color or
anything like that. Well, I had--I had White girlfriends [?????????????]
when I was a teenager right there at home and everything. And there was no
distinction, anything. I go to they house, they come to my house and
everything, which is the same way today. But I mean, I came up in a what
you might say, a different. A different state, but.
00:28:24.000 --> 00:30:05.000
Beamer: There was one time I remember one time. I'm going back now to, uh.
Let's see. This was just before I got my, uh, uh, Tom Thumb golf course.
And I went to, uh, I was going on a hunting trip with a couple of friends.
A couple of friends--they weren't my friends--they were friends, too, but
they were employes, and, uh, they owned a gas station. And I worked for
them at the gas station. And we were going, oh, way back in our Ozark
country, you know. And, uh, so, uh, we were going there for two weeks, see.
And so they, they briefed me up front and said, they've never seen a Black
before, which they didn't use the word Black. They said they've never seen
Colored people before, see and said, now hopefully adjust yourself to them
or something. I said I'll put up with it. And dag gom we went in there. We
all slept together and everything, little girls,little boys. Hey, Nigger,
come here. Come here, Nigger. [laughs] I said, that Black don't rub off on
you. I mean, it was hard in the beginning for me to adjust myself to them,
but I'd been briefed before. See, before we went there. And then every time
they opened their mouth to me, it wasn't Del or anything, Nigger. See? No
Nigger there saying.
00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:07.000
Johnson: Well, how did you feel about being called Nigger all the time?
00:30:07.000 --> 00:31:07.000
Beamer: That's what I'm trying to tell you, man. I was vibrating with
emotion, you know? But I'd been briefed before and I didn't have to go, but
I wanted to go, see. We were going on a fishing and hunting trip, see? So
I'd been briefed. I stuck it out and everything, and they set the table. I
sit there with him and eat. And a little girl--little girl come up. I
remember one day a little girl come up with a fork, eating off my plate.
Said, that's the part I always eat and, you know, got it off my plate. And,
you know, they treated me just. But they had to use that word Nigger, see?
And I don't know. [laughs] That's a funny thing. But I put up with it and
they liked me. And the little boys grabbed me by this hand and little girl
grabbed me by the--come on, Nigger, I'm gonna show you something. They take
me, springs and they show me, you know, different things around there.
[laughter] Johnson: Wow. Beamer: When we got ready to go. Now, Nigger, you
be sure to come back here and see us now. I knew I'd never go back. I knew.
[laughing]
