WEBVTT
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Peter Gottlieb: This is an interview with Mr. Lee T. of 612 Hawkins
Avenue, North Braddock, Pennsylvania. Recorded at Mr. Lee T.'s home on--
May 26th, 1976. [audio cuts]
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Gottlieb: The way I usually begin is to just ask people could they tell me
something about the family that they grew up in. About their mother and
father and where they were born and came from. What kind of work they did
and things like this.
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Lee T.: I lived in South Carolina with both of them. They worked on a
farm.
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Gottlieb: Do you know what part of South Carolina?
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Lee T.: Union and [??] South Carolina.
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Gottlieb: Did you know your grandparents at all?
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Lee T.: No. Didn't know them.
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Gottlieb: So both your parents were working on farms. Lee T.: Mhm.
Gottlieb: Did your father rent that farm or did he own it himself? Lee T.:
He did own. Gottlieb: Can you tell me what kind of farm it was? Something
about the farm. What kind of things you raised on it?
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Lee T.: There were cotton, corn, and hogs and cows. Corn, cotton, hogs and
cows.
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Gottlieb: Did he make a pretty good living or?
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Lee T.: Very well. We had plenty to eat. Plenty to eat. Kill your own
meat. Got your own chicken and eggs. Your own dogs go to hunting when you
want. Your own fishing tackle to go to fishing if you felt like. Nothing
but a pole, you know?
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Gottlieb: Were they renting from White people?
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Lee T.: Yeah.
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Gottlieb: Do you, do you remember what kind of arrangement it was? Was he
on halves or what-- did he pay him a money?
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Lee T.: No, it was sharecrop. Just where you do it like. Speaker3: Yeah,
sharecrop. Lee T.: Right. Yeah, that's like if you got two bales of cotton.
He got one. You got one. That's the way it goes with us and so on. Yeah,
you just divide it down the line. Now, mind you, didn't have to divide the
chickens and hogs. Right-- everything was raised on the farm.
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Gottlieb: Did he own his own work stock and tools and things like that?
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Lee T.: Yeah. Now if you rent in half, you have-- you own your whole [??]
If you rent then you own your wholes. If you rent you own your stuff.
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Speaker3: I think we have the most [??]
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Lee T.: You reckon on half? Yeah, if you-- but if you rent it he gone
[??]. Speaker3: I remember when papa had something, you know? Yeah papa had
like, about four or five I think.
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Gottlieb: All the while that you were growing up in South Carolina, did
your father stay on that one farm or did he move from--
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Lee T.: [unintelligible]. We moved three times, and he went over he went
over with Chester and rented or whatever. Right? I'm talking my daddy.
Speaker3: I don't know, maybe papa did. Papa went to Houston and Wilkins
and Waynesburg. Was it? Yeah. Houston and Waynesburg. He left Waynesburg. I
think he bought a home. He got a farm over near Chester, on the other side
of Chester, right up the York road on top of that lake. Lee T.: He would?
Speaker3: Yeah. And like as soon as she bought one over there beside him
because they had all that land in there together. They bought that land,
and all that land and all together. Lee T.: They bought that. Lee T.: Yeah
they bought that. I don't know whatever become of that land.
[unintelligible] other land, there's things that start going down, you
know? He had plenty of land.
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Gottlieb: Is this person you're talking about related to Lee T.?
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Speaker3: This was his sister.
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Gottlieb: Ah.
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Speaker3: And, Lee. Lee was his brother in law? Was he your brother in
law? Yeah he was your brother in law. I used to go down there and stay with
him during the summer, you know? I'm from South Carolina, too. Gottlieb: Uh
huh. Speaker3: I used to go down and stay with both of them, especially my
great aunt, during the summer. My mother would do this to keep me out of
trouble and what not. Keep me off the streets.
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Gottlieb: Did your father ever have any kind of, uh, work that wasn't
involved with farming? Like on the railroads or [Lee: No] in a sawmill or
anything like that?
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Gottlieb: Did, did the children in the family have to help him out on the
farm?
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Lee T.: Oh yeah, you better work. How the childrens gone eat if you ain't
going to work. Man what are you talking to. Yeah, you kids, you-- I better
not catch no kids lying dead in bed. He better get out of there before
somebody up in the morning and don't no man wants to know why. You'll steam
[??] your level out the bed. He'll steam you up. Speaker3: You know, it's a
funny thing back then, you know. Lee: He'll steel [??] you boys is how I
like a big [??]. Gotta get out of there. Speaker3: Most of the time
people's like. I remember every morning we used to get up. I don't know why
this coming back to me. We used to get up every morning, man. Like my boy
let us do nothing, man. Before we start praying, you just have a word of
prayer every morning. This is every morning, especially on Sunday mornings.
Lee: Oh my God. You better not go to that table unless you get on these
[??]. Speaker3: That's right. You thank the Lord for everything he did.
Lee: You ain't you. But you know what, though? And hope and pray to God was
dealt away now. And that way the boys wouldn't get into no trouble, man.
They wouldn't. They wouldn't be on dope.
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Lee T.: They wouldn't be stealing, robbing and killing. I'm telling you.
You got-- you got to get on these boys before you-- and hope was dealt away
nice. And on Sunday morning, my God. You better get ready for that Sunday
school. And before you eat, you going to get on here and get ready for
church-- Sunday school. Speaker3: in the morning before you eat, papa used
to tell, he blessed that whole house before you go to bed when you get at
the table. he'd bless the table too. Lee: Nothing gonna change. Speaker3:
You see so many kids today, man. Like-- they don't have no respect for
their parents. Lee T.: Tell an old man to kiss his tail. Speaker3: Jump on
him. That's something I never have done. I never have decepted you. I never
have cursed you. I never have hit you. I never have done nothing. Lee T.:
You got better sense. You got better sense. Speaker3: This is the way I was
brought up. Lee T.: You got better sense. Speaker2: This is the way I was
brought up. Like I never have cussed my mother. I never have hit her or
nothing. That's something my mother don't like. I guess too much respect.
Lee T.: If you talk back to her right now. Speaker3: Oh, yes. She's not
gonna have it. Lee T.: She would hit you with any odd thing she could get
her hands on. Oh, if you talk back to me.
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Speaker3: Most of the kids around-- I see so many kids around here that
brag, man, all over, they don't have no respect. Lee T.: Tell those folks.
Speaker3: Oh, man. Lee T.: I heard a boy say one time, he's a White boy
now, in the mill. What did he call his papa? [laughs]He said, the old man
was talking to me this morning and it hadn't been for mama, I would beat
the-- so and so shit out. He cussed. Said, I would have killed him. What do
you call that? He said, if Mama don't stop I would have beat the shit out
of him. I would have killed my dad. Oh, son of a-- you know what I said? I
went back and said-- we would call him Cowboy. He would have done it too,
boy. I'll tell you. Speaker3: Too much wicked in the world. Evil. People
ain't got no love in their hearts and stuff no more. I don't know. It was
amazing thing would come over me. Lee T.: You better not. You better. You
better leave and get out of here. What time? So you know-- Speaker3: That's
true. Lee T.: And you know how to be driving too fast and going away. Yes
sir.
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Gottlieb: What kind of work did-- what kind of chores did you have to do
around the farm when you were growing up?
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Lee T.: Work on the field, man. Cotton, corn, plier, hoe, cut and grind.
Anything. Cut hay. Stack it up for the women. Yeah, that's a good living
now. Now I'm telling you. And in the wintertime, don't kill your own meat.
Sometime in the summertime, the old fellow-- what's your name? Gottlieb:
Peter. Lee T.: Peter. Sometime in the summertime, when you eat. Beginning
to get a little bit of low. You got a little yelling about that, holler
[??]. A little bull or something like that. On there and go out there.
We'll kill that. Kill that beast tomorrow. Come on and see what I mean.
Heating and kids running and playing and eating and outings. But you got
wet now, old man. And when he tell you he's going to give it to you before
you lay down the night, that's what was coming. Now he ain't gonna forget.
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Gottlieb: How many brothers and sisters did you have?
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Lee T.: Five of them. Five sisters.
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Lee T.: Aunt Ella. Speaker3: Ella wasn't your sister was she? Lee T.:
Yeah. Speaker3: Ella was your sister in law wasn't she? Lee T.: No, I ain't
talking about. Speaker3: You're talking about Aunt Ella, the one-- Lee T.:
No, no, no, no, no. Five.
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Gottlieb: Just five sisters. And you were the only boy?
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Lee T.: No, I'm the boy. That's right.
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Lee T.: I ain't got no brothers and sisters no more. You know I ain't.
Speaker3: Yeah Henry-- Lee T.: Yeah. Died. Speaker3: Henry. Farrell.
Arthur. And whats the one that was in Philadelphia? Lee T.: Uh. Speaker3:
What was his name?
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Speaker3: The one who died in Philadelphia not too long ago. Lee T.: Oh,
Brook. Henry. Speaker3: What was his name? Henry? Lee T.: He had about four
of them. About four I think. Four brothers. Lee T.: How many sisters?
Gottlieb: Five. Lee T.: I think that's right, now I ain't going to
guarantee you that.
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Gottlieb: Okay. Did you have anybody else living with you besides your
parents and your brothers and sisters? Were you able to go to school very
much down there?
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Lee T.: Just as much as that telephone did. You know what that means?
Gottlieb: Uh huh. Lee T.: Is that telephone been to school? Gottlieb: Uh
huh. Lee T.: I ain't been to school three weeks in my life. I didn't have a
chance to go to school. I'm glad I didn't go. Had I-- tunneled through like
the rest of their kids and folks.
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Gottlieb: Was there a school near the place where you lived? Lee T.: It
wasn't too far.
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Lee T.: Yeah and I'd tunnel through, Black-- quick I ain't got good sense
now. Didn't want to do the things up there, but I used to got sense enough
to stay out of trouble.
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Gottlieb: Uh, do you remember wanting to go to school? growing up? Do you
remember wanting to go to school when you were-- you were growing up?
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Lee T.: Anyone went? Gottlieb: No. Speaker3: Did you want to go to school?
Lee T.: I don't know, like you ask me a question I can't answer. I didn't
know that much about school because we working all the time.Working the
rest of us. But I would go to Sunday school. I guess that's why I know a
little something about that now. We'd go to Sunday school, but this-- no,
how am I the time to go there?
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Gottlieb: Did, did any of your brothers and sisters have a chance to go?
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Lee T.: Two of them. I think.
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Lee T.: Yes. Well, we went to Sunday school now, but he's going to school.
Speaker3: Worked all the time. Lee T.: Huh? Speaker3: Worked all the time.
Lee T.: Yeah. But now, listen, you ain't got to lose me too much in
questions and there-- Spearker3: Uh-- no. Lee T.: And I ain't know that
these two out there with kids go to, they just go to school and you give
them enough education to wind up in the electric chair, prison. All about
killing. Stealing. Speaker3: I wouldn't say that. Lee T.: Well, the most of
them do. Speaker3: I wouldn't say that. Lee T.: Well, how many times-- look
how old I am. Speaker3: Yeah. Talking about an old school though.
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Lee T.: What old school? Speaker3: Old generation. Lee T.: Oh, yeah.
Speaker3: So what I was doing was I got an education and don't know what to
do with it. Lee T.: That's what I'm talking about. Speaker3: Yeah. They
wind up in drugs and shit. They ain't doing anything-- Lee T.: They steal
and they get on dope and do everything. You can hear them cussing in the
street out there any time of night. Speaker3: They're the ones that [??].
The others work mines and things. Lee T.: Well, if they had any good sense
they wouldn't be the other way. Speaker3: The ones that the parents don't
care nothing about them. You know, you'd think-- you'd be surprised if the
parents don't care nothing about the children and stuff? Just turn them out
there. Go-- Lee T.: I never said they turn them out. Speaker3: Yeah, they
said go. They don't care. You look at so many women now, a days. These kids
out here in the street, playing all the time at night, you know where their
parents and things is at? In the beer gardens. In the clubs. That's-- Lee
T.: Some of them. Some of them sleep. I agree with you though. Speaker3:
That's true. Lee T.: I agree with you there. Well, now listen. That book
gone tell you kids that they have no knowledge of or understanding of doing
good. Huh? Speaker3: True. Lee T.: You don't have no knowledge of doing
good. Speaker3: Right. Lee T.: See? But they have the knowledge, the wisdom
and the understanding of doing evil, but not to do good. They got all the
knowledge of doing these evil things, but to do good, you know? Speaker3:
Amen. Lee T.: If it's. If it's wrong, get out. That man right there. What
trends now I have no idea.
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Lee T.: In other words, they go to school-- which I don't believe in no
school books or some things like that. You better get off me and go to
work, boy. So you don't have to drive too fast. Speaker3: I don't have to
drive parents and drive no where. Lee T.: Okay, then go ahead. Okay. Right.
Now.
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Lee T.: If he had the understanding, he would do good. If they had the
wisdom and knowledge of doing good, you know what they would do? Huh? They
would pause from death if they had good sense, wisdom and knowledge. Quick
to see and pay attention. Okay. I can talk to you on this. I can talk on
this telephone and talk to you the same time. Now, which I ain't got the
sense, but now listen. If you had wisdom and knowledge. [audio cuts].
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Speaker3: I don't care how bad it is.
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Gottlieb: How old were you when you came up here?
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Lee T.: Oh, I was a full grown man.
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Gottlieb: Do you remember how-- what your age was?
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Lee T.: Oh, I was old enough to get out by myself.
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Speaker3: About 21. 22 or 23.
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Lee T.: Are you trying to-- you're trying to put words in my mouth.
Speaker3: No, no, I'm not trying to put nothing in your mouth. I'm just
saying I think you were about 20. I know my mother was about 60-- My mother
was 61. 62. She might not be 60, but my mother, when the three days-- she
was about 2 or 3 weeks old when he come up there. Lee T.: How old, how old
was she? She was about 66.
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Lee T.: Oh, you trying to check up on me? Speaker3: And she's the baby.
Yeah. Yeah, Lee T.: I'm older after that. Huh?
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Gottlieb: So what year was that? Around 1916. 1917.
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Lee T.: 19?
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Gottlieb: I was just asking what year it was that you that you did come up
here?
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Lee T.: But yeah, I was running from the law when I come up here.
Gottlieb: Is that right? Lee T.: No, I'm just kidding [laughter]. No, man--
Speaker3: Tell the truth. Your sister lied about that. Lee T.: He ain't got
nothing to do but sit around here and talk. Is you? You got to turn this
in?
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Gottlieb: No, it's for me.
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Lee T.: That's for you. Oh, sit down, boy. Speaker3: Have to go to work.
Lee T.: You know, I'm 87 years old, sonny boy.
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Gottlieb: You're 87.
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Lee T.: I'll be 87 the 16 day of June, 1889. Ain't that funny, man?
Sometimes I feel like. Sometimes I feel it all in my bones. Feel so good. I
feel like I-- I feel like a bird out there. He ain't got nothing to do but
[??] his wings and clean out. Somebody would make me feel good. So I can't
on so bad.
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Speaker3: Yeah, you walk. He does a whole lot of walking and stuff too.
You don't sit around and let your bones get stiff. Lee T.: I walked home as
quick as I walk from here out to there and got a pass. I can ride em too.
And it don't cost me nothing. So get out in Brighton. He always wanted to
catch me right there. Soon, man. But catch me to stoke. But as I got a
whole lot of stuff riding on me. All right. Like what I can put in my
shopping bag and bring home in my hand. But I won't ride in the car.
Speaker3: Oh, rain might get you-- Lee T.: If it's rain. Yeah, I'll take
you out there. I'll give you an out for rain so much. Speaker3: Yeah,
you're right. Lee T.: No, you know I ain't supposed to get wet, but I got
wet a lot of times because me and the doctor said not to get wet, but how
many times I haven't gotten wet, so I ain't got no teeth in my head. You
know who pulled him? Gottlieb: Who?
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Lee T.: Who do you think? Gottlieb: I don't know.
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Lee T.: I got a piece in there. I broke it off, but I got them pulled. I'm
gonna find pliers and do my own thing with your [??]. My wife is right
there pulling teeth. And I pulled this all out in March. It wouldn't come
out on there but when I pulled, need up there. I could get a pair of
pliers. You wouldn't have to do it. Yeah.
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Gottlieb: What kind of work have you been doing in the South just before
you came up here?
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Lee T.: I told you, on the farm.
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Gottlieb: You were farming yourself? You had your own place?
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Lee T.: No, I was renting. I was-- I was renting half and half.
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Gottlieb: Is that in the same part of South Carolina where you had grown
up?
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Lee T.: Yeah.
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Gottlieb: Why did you decide to come up here?
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Lee T.: Cause I got tired of it. [laughs]
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Gottlieb: Had somebody told you about Braddock?
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Lee T.: No. Well, I went down and got on and left and come to Petersburg,
Virginia. From Petersburg, Virginia, now and got ready to come up here.
Fellas wanted to come up here cause they hear about it and blab. You know
what, the boys was working on that, on a little old streetcar line that Run
from Petersburg and Richmond. Got ready to come up here. You know, they'd
go to Petersburg or Richmond every payday. I want the same. A little
change. Got ready to come up here and none of them had money to come. And I
paved the way because I could stay at home, get me a box of sound [??]. And
I was on the rise. And I have enough to do in a week to cook for myself.
Staying in the, in the second house, you know, and paved the way up.
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Lee T.: Now that's why I be here.
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Gottlieb: Did you work for a while in Columbia, South Carolina, before you
moved to Petersburg?
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Lee T.: No, I didn't work. No, I was [??] There wasn;t getting nothing.
But there's enough throughout the house for the heat that's [??].
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Gottlieb: So you were married when you, uh, left South Carolina?
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Lee T.: My wife died. His, his mom. Speaker3: Grandmother. Lee T.: Who?
Speaker3: My grandmother. Lee T.: Who? Speaker3: Your wife. Lee T.: I
wasn't talking about [??]. I know. Oh you're talking about my wife. Yeah.
That was his grandmother.
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Gottlieb: She. She died just before you left. Lee T.: Mhm, about--
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Lee T.: About two years of like this.
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Gottlieb: Did you try to keep on farming after she passed?
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Lee T.: Yeah, one year. Then I give it up
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Gottlieb: Had you been married to her very long at that time when she
died?
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Lee T.: Oh, pretty good.
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Lee T.: Your keys. You like me. I tell you when you put your keys down.
[audio cuts]. Everything's all right. Yeah. You sure? Uh huh. Satisfied?
Speaker3: See you later. Lee T.: Okay.
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Gottlieb: Did you-- did you know anybody up here when you first came up?
Any friends?Lee T.: No. Gottlieb: Had. Had anybody told you about
Pittsburgh? Well, why did you decide to come here instead of some other
place? Lee T.: I don't know. I don't know. Gottlieb: You mentioned a group
of other men that you helped to pay their way.
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Lee T.: What was all this talking about-- about around Homestead belonging
folks where you live. Long as he knows of me on Homestead. And I said,
well, we'll find out how much he and I have gotten out from Richmond here.
And so we come home and been around here.
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Gottlieb: Uh, did you know at that time when you first came up that they
were transporting men from Homestead up here? I mean, from from Richmond up
to Homestead.
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Lee T.: But now the next year, they transport.
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Gottlieb: Were these other men also from South Carolina? Were the
friends--
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Lee T.: They were from different places. Some of them was out of Virginia.
Atlanta. You know, whenever some of them was down and moves out.
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Gottlieb: They'd all gotten up there to Petersburg.
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Lee T.: Yeah. It's like, you know, it's like when you're all relying on
the wrong fellow.
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Gottlieb: Were you working on a streetcar there in Petersburg? Is that
what you were working on? Lee T.: Mhm working on the car line. Gottlieb:
What kind of work were you? Were you driving the car?
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Lee T.: No, just working, man. Working on the track.
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Gottlieb: When you came up here, where did you find a place to stay and
how did you find a job?
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Lee T.: Well now and then, uh, I stayed in Homestead in Beachwood, and oh
there was a woman called Miss Brown, and I met up with a fella called [??]
Rusty. He's dead now. He knew about pretty good stuff. He said, why don't I
go to the mills to get a good job. He said, I'll take you down there. I
went down to the mills, old man give me a job and put me on the railroads.
And I was working right over here to cast on this. I stayed here almost,
almost a year I think and I was cold working mornings it was frosty in the
morning and I quit. And I quit. Man I went on to get retirement. Police
said he wouldn't give me no payments
00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:50.000
Lee T.: And I went on out and-- he said he wanted me out. And I went on
out.
00:28:50.000 --> 00:29:07.000
Lee T.: I was gave nothing. And-- all I got was time. I was out. I was out
the Mill about a year and a half.
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:48.000
Lee T.: I'm guessing I can be wrong. I'll tell you right now for your
troubles. I was out the Mill I reckkon about a year and a half but I don't
know. It could have been longer. It could've not been that long. And I went
to Westland [??] with a contractor at Homestead, Charlie Brown. And when
this job was finished, I went to drive in to a big grey house for a fella
named-- were man was-- he had Homewood, ain't you? Gottlieb: Yeah. Lee T.:
I was driving for a fella in Homewood.
00:29:48.000 --> 00:30:00.000
Lee T.: Yeah. And when I quit that I'd come back to the middle. Went to
the open house and stayed there till I got fed up. And so, here I am now
it.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:10.000
Gottlieb: Was an open hearth in Edgar Thompson or over there in Homestead?
Lee T.: Homestead. Gottlieb: Were you-- how long did you stay in that
rooming house there with, uh, Mrs. Brown?
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.000
Lee T.: Now, I don't know. You know, I didn't put him down. I can't tell
you that.
00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:16.000
Gottlieb: Well, was it a half a year? A year or two years?
00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:24.000
Lee T.: It was. This is nice as it could be to me at that time, which
could have been worse or it could have been better.
00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:27.000
Gottlieb: Were there a lot of other men there who were also up from the
South?
00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:31.000
Lee T.: Oh, wasn't but two of there.
00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:34.000
Gottlieb: Uh huh. Did somebody recommend her to you? Is that how you found
out?
00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:40.000
Lee T.: Rusty [??] As I told you. Rusty.
00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:48.000
Gottlieb: Um, you had children at the time you came up, didn't you? How
long was it before you brought them up, or did they stay down?
00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.000
Lee T.: I let them stay. They stayed down.
00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:53.000
Gottlieb: Somebody taking care of them. Was--
00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:10.000
Lee T.: The boy who was here right now. His mama was my daughter. She's
dead. And they was well taken care of I would send money. They was well
taken care of now.
00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:19.000
Gottlieb: Was one of your sisters or brothers taking care of them. Lee T.:
Who? Gottlieb: Who was one of your sisters or brothers taking care of him?
00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:53.000
Lee T.: I had three. Now his mama was left there. Took care-- now my
sister took care of his mom. What was up there. That's right. Took care of
her. And the other two sisters took care. Marrying there, now. That was a
long time ago.
00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:02.000
Gottlieb: You had three children when you left. Did you ever get remarried
when you were up here?
00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:16.000
Lee T.: Yeah. My wife died at 72, 7:30 in the morning. Right here in this
house. She didn't die in here. That's why we-- she lived right here in this
house.
00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:47.000
Lee T.: She died in the 94 Hospital. [unintelligible] My brother died in
the 94 hospital. That hospital on-- on Forbes Street.
00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:50.000
Gottlieb: McGee?
00:32:50.000 --> 00:33:00.000
Lee T.: That isn't Mcgee. Gottlieb: I can't think of one on Forbes right
now. Mercy? Lee T.: Mercy hospital.
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:03.000
Gottlieb: Did you uses to go back down to South Carolina?
00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:06.000
Lee T.: No. Wasn't nothing down there I wanted.
00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:08.000
Gottlieb: You never went back once you came up here?
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.000
Lee T.: No. What am I going back? What do I want down there?
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:16.000
Gottlieb: See your folks. Lee T.: They got no people down there. They come
here. Gottlieb: Did they come up here?
00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:18.000
Lee T.: Come up here. Yeah.
00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:23.000
Gottlieb: Did any of them ever move up here? Stay? Lee T.: No. No.
00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:39.000
Lee T.: The reason I got by this house, but I haven't since I been-- since
I've been in Pennsylvania. A house on [??]. Up on [??]
00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:50.000
Lee T.: I bought a house up here on the Hill. And the boy we raised, me
and my wife raised the boy up. That raised the boy.
00:33:50.000 --> 00:34:37.000
Lee T.: And give him their house up there. Let's give it to him. And he
and his wife bust up. She living and now he died. And sold our place to
raise the children. And she went to getting sort of sickly too, where she
couldn't get in and out back in the old times of the Hill and snow on the
ground and can't get up the Hill with a car. And so she just-- well, we'll
get this house up to ruin and give it to them and they separate it. And the
house got burnt down. So we bought the seven years before, you know, before
we move this in here. I don't want no part of ten on different things.
00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:45.000
Gottlieb: So you've owned three different houses. Lee T.: Mhm. Gottlieb:
When did you move from Homestead? When they tore out the--
00:34:45.000 --> 00:35:01.000
Lee T.: No, man. Let me see what I mean. I don't know. They moved. I don't
know whether I moved-- been a long time. I don't remember, but I used to
live up there.
00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:06.000
Gottlieb: How did you like working up here in Pennsylvania compared to
working on a farm?
00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:20.000
Lee T.: Oh, all right. Anyway. Well, I can make a good living. That's why
I like it. The living is pretty good. The living is pretty good.
00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:32.000
Gottlieb: Did you think working in the steel mill suited you better than
working outside, and you know, the fresh air? How people talk about the the
country and how how it's better to work out there in the country than it is
to work in a factory.
00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:55.000
Lee T.: Well I said, in the mill ain't a bad place to work. Not for me it
wasn't. Hard enough sometimes-- in the wintertime. If you're working inside
you're all right. But in the summertime. You know, it's gonna be hot. Now.
00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:00.000
Gottlieb: Uh, were you on the labor gang when you started there on the
open Hearth?
00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:02.000
Lee T.: Mhm. Yes.
00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:09.000
Gottlieb: Did, did you move up from there? Lee T.: Yes. Gottlieb: What
other, what other kind of jobs did they put you at.
00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:17.000
Lee T.: Coal in the fire, third helper. Third helper.
00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:20.000
Gottlieb: Did you get up to be a second helper ever?
00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:33.000
Lee T.: Oh, yeah. Second helper.
00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:43.000
Gottlieb: Did you join a church in Homestead? Lee T.: No. Gottlieb: Did
you used to go to church in Homestead?
00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:48.000
Lee T.: Yeah. Church every Sunday.
00:36:48.000 --> 00:37:13.000
Gottlieb: Which church did you used to go to? Lee T.: Southern Baptist
church. Gottlieb: Why did you join that one and not, let's say, Clark
Memorial? Why did you join Second Baptist, Uh, instead of maybe Clark
Memorial? If that is true. You know, there's two Baptist churches in, uh,
in Homestead.
00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:16.000
Lee T.: You know, they told me you preach one and the other more than the
other.
00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:21.000
Gottlieb: Right. Lee T.: You know, I know when I lived over there.
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:47.000
Lee T.: And now, some time I'll go up here to the church. Sometimes I'll
go down to Braddock. I don't go to no particular church. Now this first one
I think about. It's the one I go, whenever I go. Sometimes I don't go for
none of them for about three or four. This a good one to go to in
Braddock.
00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:50.000
Gottlieb: What's the name of that one?
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:59.000
Lee T.: Reverend Heath. Heath or heath. Quiet old man. He's so nice, my
God.
00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:13.000
Gottlieb: Did you used to enjoy going to hear Reverend Milton speak? Lee
T.: Yeah. You know him. Gottlieb: He died way before I was here.
00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:30.000
Lee T.: Yeah, I went to him. Tall man. Good fella too.
00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:40.000
Gottlieb: Were you up here during the 1919 strike? Steel strike.
00:38:40.000 --> 00:39:01.000
Lee T.: 1919. I must be--
00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:04.000
Lee T.: Oh, their strap was about old weed.
00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:15.000
Gottlieb: When you came up?
00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:20.000
Lee T.: Yeah. When you get old, you forget about things. Gottlieb: Yeah.
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:23.000
Gottlieb: You're doing pretty well.
00:39:23.000 --> 00:40:39.000
Lee T.: Man, I get lost so quick when I play [unintelligible]. Ralph said
his dad, oh, they got a cottage on the lake. Something like that. Ralph
said they'd be going on up there. And the old man said, Ralph I think you
run by the place? So we do the towing right up there and you run, Ralph.
And I said he don't never see his brother. I towed it right up here. Ralph
said you'd be going right the whole time he'd be the old man didn't think
so. You know what I mean. I said, well when you get up there boys and you--
you'll get lost all through your house and get down at that filling
station. Can you see that filling station right there? That's a long time.
About two months ago. That's a man that was born. I come down there this
morning and got lost right down there for about 20 minutes. I had to think
about where I live. That's what happened to old people. You live long
enough, you see. Gottlieb: I hope so.
00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:42.000
Gottlieb: I hope I do live long enough to see.
00:40:42.000 --> 00:41:10.000
Lee T.: Yeah. And don't know, man. That's where I got lost. Right there.
That city, that day, you knew you would see us. I stopped to think about 15
minutes ago. I don't know why it'd come to me. Come on.
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:17.000
Gottlieb: Did you get laid off from the mill in the 30s during the
Depression?
00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:27.000
Lee T.: No. I went sometimes. One day a week-- two. You worked the day and
go and get your money today.
00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:31.000
Gottlieb: They used to pay you after every day then.
00:41:31.000 --> 00:42:33.000
Lee T.: Mhm. Yeah. I've just raised someone standing there one time. So
well then, and um, ask Mr. Brown. He'll know about some money. He went
downtown to the man Downtown. And then this man called up then-- the head
stuff, and, and then theEast then those fellas went to work this morning
and come with get money that that eaten. Say you give it to them. If they
work the work last night and want the money this morning you give it to
them. And then on then we had a good time.
00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:37.000
Gottlieb: Did you were you able to, uh, pick up any other kind of work?
00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:47.000
Lee T.: No, I was out of work. Well, they would pick up nothing. When they
would pick up nothing.
00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:53.000
Gottlieb: So you just did. Did you used to go down to the mill every day
to check and see if there was any work.
00:42:53.000 --> 00:43:00.000
Lee T.: Well, no. They tell you when to come back. Gottlieb: Uh huh.
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.000
Gottlieb: How did you spend your time then, when you weren't working?
00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:32.000
Lee T.: I was street lighting and towing, playing cards for food.
Sometimes I was getting a peanut a game. Oh, about seven, eight of them.
And none of us didn't have no bike or sometime. Sometimes couldn't give it
to you back or nothing. Isn't that-- I tell you. Oh, thank God we all
[??].
00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:38.000
Gottlieb: Did you ever meet anybody in Homestead or in Braddock who was
from the same part of South Carolina you came from?
00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:40.000
Lee T.: Oh, a whole lot of people. A whole lot of em.
00:43:40.000 --> 00:44:04.000
Gottlieb: Did you ever meet anybody that you had known down in South
Carolina? Were you ever a member of any kind of fraternal organization or
anything like that? Lee T.: What do you mean? Gottlieb: Like the Masons,
the Oddfellows, The Elks? Lee T.: No.
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:11.000
Lee T.: [unintelligible]
00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:13.000
Gottlieb: You were, you were a member of Knights of Pythias?
00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:20.000
Lee T.: Yeah. All that's really [??]
00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:22.000
Gottlieb: Why do you suppose that happened?
00:44:22.000 --> 00:45:22.000
Lee T.: I don't know now. It just went down.
