Interview with Juanitress Morris Cofield, May 31, 2017

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BE-ATRICE CUNNINGHAM:Good afternoon. Today is May 31st, 2017. I'm Be-Atrice Cunningham and I'm joined today by --

JEWEL WALKER-HARPS:Jewel Walker-Harps, Griffin branch, NAACP.

JOHN CRUICKSHANK:John Cruickshank, librarian, University of Georgia, Griffin.

CUNNINGHAM:And today, we'll be speaking with Miss Juanitress Morris Cofield. We are here at the University of Georgia, Griffin campus, in the Center for Urban Agriculture Conference Room. And we're conducting this interview as part of the Griffin African American Oral History Project. Thank you so much, Miss Cofield, Miss Morris Cofield, for being here with us today to share your story as well as your mother's story.

JUANITRESS MORRIS COFIELD:Thanks for including me.

CUNNINGHAM:You're welcome. So, to start off with, if you can please state your name for the record as well as your birth year?

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay, Juanitress Morris Cofield and my birth year is 1966.

CUNNINGHAM:Great, and we want to start off just by getting a sense of your early life. So, if you could tell us a little bit about your childhood as far as where you grew up and what that community was like?

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay, I did grow up in Griffin, in a location on Circle Street, 327 Circle Street, I believe, was the address. And we lived there, my family and I, as well as my grandmother until the age of four. And it was very much a village-like atmosphere. And by that, I mean that all the neighbors knew each other and looked out for each other, as well as corrected the children in the neighborhood as needed. My mother was an educator in a community not far and a location not far from where we lived.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:Which meant that her students dropped by, sometimes on a daily basis. Many of them were our babysitters, if you will, or took us out for outings, such as swimming at the city pool, which was located not far 00:02:00from where we lived, in the Fairmont area, to the community center, the Fairmont Community Center, not far from where we lived, as well. But it was a great childhood. Everybody was happy. We were surrounded by bakers, and by that I mean little ladies that baked cakes (laughter) and allowed you to be part of the tasting team, which was our favorite part, as a child. But we were surrounded by adults' love. Church was very much a part of the childhood, as well as the community and the stores and just the people in general.

CUNNINGHAM:So, what about your siblings? Did you have any siblings?

MORRIS COFIELD:I do.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:I'm actually the youngest of four. My sister, my oldest sister is Yolanda Sue Morris Walker. My second oldest sister is Lisa Quinett Morris Holland. And then, the only son is Otis Morris, Junior, who's named after my dad.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay, very good. So, did your parents tell you anything 00:03:00about what life was like for them growing up?

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I can start a little bit with my dad.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:My mom and my dad were sort of a -- opposites attract. My dad had a -- eighth grade education and my mom had a master's degree.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:But they fell in love and -- through Hollywood -- Holly Grove Baptist Church in Orchard Hill, Georgia, where she played the piano and they eventually got married after four years of courtship and had the four of us. My dad was a farmer by nature, or should I say by birth he was a farmer. He and his family sharecropped the land that we later moved to in 1970, after living on Circle Street for four years. Then we moved to what we considered the rural community or the country on Future Road. And his father and his 00:04:00siblings sharecropped that land, which was about 80 acres. And there were 13 children, 14 with the one nephew that was raised as a sibling. And they sharecropped that land and then eventually split the land up and my father and some of his siblings actually built homes there and we were also a part of that. So, my dad told a lot of stories about growing up. I don't know how much you want me to go into that. (laughs)

CUNNINGHAM:Well, you can share what you would like with us.

MORRIS COFIELD:So, there's been lots of stories. Some of my dad's siblings were of tall stature. Not so much my dad but he had one uncle whose name was Forrest Morris, of large stature, tall. And he actually worked in construction quite a bit. And so, the story has been told that he was strong enough to take a telephone pole, the utility pole, and actually set it into the hole 00:05:00by himself. (laughter) He was strong enough to do that. And there was an uncle that was an uncle on his mother's side of the family that when there was a train accident in Griffin, and part of that train was the mail car. And the mail fell into the river, and this was during the wintertime, or fell into the lake, in some type of feature. It fell into there and they said, "Hey, you need to go get Mr. Morrison," 'cause he was, again, a tall stature and a robust man and they asked him to go into the lake, in the wintertime, to get the mail. He did, he retrieved it, brought it out. But eventually, he caught pneumonia and he passed away following that.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:Other stories, he told us, of course, about how they grew for 'em, grew vegetables and fruit. He also had a cotton crop. We still, 00:06:00actually, have a small sample of his last cotton crop, which was in 1966.

CUNNINGHAM:Wow!

MORRIS COFIELD:And at that time, he would get my first cousins to help him harvest the cotton and -- but he's told us stories about the segregation and the racism during that time, unfortunately, and there was a time that he and his brother -- and my uncle's family still lives in the area, as well. But he and his brother had earned enough, financially, in order to purchase a tractor. And that was kind of unheard of in the '40s and late '40s and '50s, for someone to purchase a tractor as an African American -- farmers. But they had. But shortly after that happened, the barn was burned, along with everything that was harvested in there, as well as the equipment and horses. So, there 00:07:00are lots of stories. I could just probably go on and on, 'cause every now and then, he would sit down and kind of tell us that. But with my mom, there were lots of stories she shared with us, as well. She was an educator and she was an educator in Griffin for 30-plus years. She also worked in Alpharetta, at the Bailey-Johnson High School, which was an all-black high school that was previously called the School for Coloreds --

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- in Alpharetta. And what had happened in the area at the time -- there wasn't a high school. There was not a school beyond, I believe, sixth grade. So, the parents of the students got together and said, "Hey, we -- our students need formal training beyond sixth grade or beyond junior high." And the closest school was actually in downtown Atlanta, which was going to be quite a trip to go there. So, the parents got together, they approached the 00:08:00school board and say, "Hey, we need a high school in this area." And that is how the Bailey-Johnson High School came about. The land was donated and then they built the school. And so, my mom worked in Fulton County, which is kind of ironic. She worked in Fulton County for quite a while. And then, the year that they had the 50th class reunion for the Bailey-Johnson High School was the year that I started working in Fulton County.

CUNNINGHAM:Oh, wow.

MORRIS COFIELD:Kind of ironic. But she kept in touch with them until she passed away. They still have reunions with the Bailey-Johnson High School. So, they should be probably into about their 60th year. And that particular school was actually kindergarten through 12th. When they built the school, it actually went as low as elementary and as high as high school. But she preferred the high school students. So, she got married in 1960 to the love of her 00:09:00life and she moved back to Griffin and -- where she started working at Fairmont High School. The four of us came along somewhere in there. She would always joke about she had a baby every other year. She was pregnant every year, almost, (laughter) so we were pretty much stair steps. But she worked at Fairmont High School and she was one of the first teachers that went over to integrate Griffin High School.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay, that's interesting.

MORRIS COFIELD:And I believe that was in '69 and '70 and that they were given a one-year contract at that time to work.

CUNNINGHAM:Well, did she share with you anything about the differences between Fairmont High School as it was segregated versus going into the integrated school?

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, absolutely. She met some resistance. She met resistance from some of the faculty, of course. Really from some of the school board 00:10:00because it was this is what you have to do, not necessarily what we want to do. So, this is what we have to do in order to integrate the school. So, she did meet some resistance from the faculty, administration, as well as the school board. And one of the stories that she shared often in this integration process -- and, again, this was the late '60s, early '70s, was that she was given the students that were considered low performers that first year. So, they were considered basic classes, sort of like remedial classes. And in that particular class, she taught literature. She was English teacher, she taught literature, she also taught the Bible. There was a New Testament, Old Testament -- classes that she taught, as well, but mostly with English and language arts. But there was one particular incident in a class where a young man that was not open to the integration process -- and he said to her one day, in class, he 00:11:00said, "You know, tomorrow, I think I will bring my gun and I will make all of you dance." Well, my mother did not scare easy if at all. So, as the story's told, she looked him square in the face and she said, "Yeah, okay, you do that. And when we finish dancing, I am going to make you eat it." (laughs) I said, "Well, Mom, did he bring the gun?" "No, he didn't bring the gun. He didn't have to eat it." So, as time went on, he was one of her favorite students and she was one of his favorite teachers. So, it was just breaking through that barrier, you know, being fearful of not being with people that I'm accustomed being around and being with. And they ended up being very close. Many of the students called her Mama Morris. She was like a mother to them. I've had people 00:12:00approach me in public, in stores that say, "Your mom is the reason I graduated high school." "Your mother, Miss Morris, is the reason I didn't quit." "Your mother's the reason I didn't fail freshman English." We all know how hard that can be, so (laughter) she was really tough on her students. She gained their respect but, at the same time, they knew she loved them and wanted the best for them. She was senior class advisor. She retired as English department chairperson. She was the first person of color to become the chairperson of the department and that was probably late '80s, early '90s. It was at the location where Griffin High is now.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:And so, they moved to that building in '87. So, it happened shortly after that, after Dr. Cook retired, yeah. I can go on. 00:13:00There's many stories, so what else would you like to know?

CUNNINGHAM:Well, do you have any sense of what the black community's view was of moving from segregation to desegregation?

MORRIS COFIELD:It was -- I would often times here my mom say that sometimes association brings on assimilation.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:Meaning that there were things or -- that the community seemed to be protected from before integration and that now they were exposed to, you know, different cultures and it wasn't always positive. It was sometimes negative as far as things that they would get into. But the black community, African American community at that time was very close-knit, of course through their churches, that fellowship with each other, a lot. Fairmont was still open for another year or so. So, that was another event that brought us 00:14:00all together as a community. We would still attend the parades, the games, the homecomings, and other events, coronation that they would have at Fairmont, as well. So, it was definitely -- it was a time of progression but it was sometimes a time of struggle. And specific events that I can recall: my mom would speak about going to downtown and shopping in the stores and how she would sometimes have to go after hours in order to go in and try on the clothes because of the rules and restrictions at that time. And when we were growing up, I can recall going in the stores at that time. Of course, you could use the front door and integration was not completely embraced but that was the law at the 00:15:00time. And we would go in and go shopping and the salespersons were, most of the time, not African American. And they would refer to all of us as girls.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:And that was very offensive to my mother. And most times, she would not speak and -- "Mom, why didn't you speak to that lady?" And she had to go in and explain to us that just referring to all of them as girls can be taken as disrespectful for her being of adult age and having three girls of her own, that that was disrespectful, and that was the way it was perceived, so -- but the community as a whole, I think there were still very much pockets of embracing the new changes. But then again, we were met with resistance from others with the new changes.

CUNNINGHAM: Okay, so tell us a little bit about you. Tell us about 00:16:00where you went to school, possibly, when you were growing up here in Griffin.

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay, okay, interesting. I, initially, in preschool, attended Sacred Heart School, which was a private school.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:So, my parents had us in private school. We didn't realize why at the time. And this was probably starting in, say, '64 through about '70, we were in private school. And we later learned the reason for that is because of the segregation and because of the -- being right there on the cusp of the integration. And sometimes, with the segregated schools, you did not have the same resources as the other schools. So, we went -- private school, as a preschool, at Sacred Heart, which was a Catholic school. And very loving but, at the same time, very strict processes there and -- but it was a good 00:17:00experience. We didn't see color, didn't know color.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:I think I was probably -- by the time I went to public school, that's when I knew I was black.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:(laughs) Somebody called me the N-word or something like that when I went to public school. Now, that -- didn't quite understand, didn't really know what that meant. I knew our color was different but it didn't mean anything.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:So, after Sacred Heart closed, we went to public school. And for me, that would've been around 1971, '72.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:And I first attended Crescent Elementary for my kindergarten year and for my first through -- at that time, sixth grade was a part of elementary school. First through sixth grade year, attended East Griffin School. And things were very different in the public school. It was not uncanny (sic) for us to be called the N-word when we were at East Griffin. East Griffin was 00:18:00actually located not far from our home. But it was in what is considered Mill Village.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:Meaning that most of the Caucasian students that attended there did not own their homes. They were renting. They lived in shotgun houses with sometimes not even having running water. But we were still seen as not as good as them. So, here we are, we were homeowners with our own land. And so, you know, looking at the -- from a social perspective. But it was very different. But we made friendships there, lasting friendships. Some of them, I'm still friendly with now -- that I do seem them from time to time, went -- ended up going to high school with some of them. So, that was at East Griffin School. The teachers there, I can say, were exceptional. The principal, Mr. 00:19:00Nicks, was exceptional as far as being fair. It didn't matter about your color as far as getting in trouble. He wanted the best for all of his students in that school and he let you know that. So, he kind of had that village concept and I can say the teachers had that village concept, that we're going to educate all of our students. I've been trained to teach all students and that's what we're going to do. And that's what they did. But, of course, the students would bring different, I guess you would say, racist type things to school -- mindsets to school, a fixed mindset to school that we were not good enough and that we were Ns and that's what we were. So, some of them were friendly and we made friendships with them. With some, it was -- we did not, --

CUNNINGHAM:So -- go ahead.

WALKER-HARPS:So most of the --

MORRIS COFIELD:Go ahead.

WALKER-HARPS:-- most of the children of professional people attended 00:20:00Sacred Heart, right?

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes.

WALKER-HARPS:Most of -- African American children entered Sacred Heart.

MORRIS COFIELD:Right, and I think they closed the doors around '69 or '70, somewhere in there.

WALKER-HARPS:I don't remember.

MORRIS COFIELD:It was the late '60s, early '70s. And then, we went to public school, 'cause I don't think there were any other private schools in Griffin at the time, yeah. So, leaving East Griffin, I went to junior high number one. No, number three. That was the seventh grade. (laughter) Oh, junior high number three, which was the seventh grade, which was at the location of -- where Kelsey is now. Is that --

CUNNINGHAM:Yes.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- considered Kelsey?

CUNNINGHAM:Yes.

MORRIS COFIELD:The alternative school is now, that was the seventh grade.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:The eighth grade is located where Orrs is now. That was junior high number two. Junior high number one is the building that was connected to, that's connected to Orrs. It's a tall, maybe two or three story building.

WALKER-HARPS:Now the College Career Academy.

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay, the College Career Academy. Before it was junior high number one, it was the segregated high school for whites.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:So, that's where that location was. And then, left there, went to Griffin High School at the location on Taylor Street.

WALKER-HARPS:What was the business like for African Americans during your growing up in terms of stores and what did the black business community consist of?

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, wow. There were several stores in what we call the Alley. And that was sort of a hub for businesses, which is located right off of -- that would be considered 8th Street. You had the 8th Street Church and 00:22:00then there's an alley --

WALKER-HARPS:Slayton Alley --

MORRIS COFIELD:Slayton Alley right there and you had the beauty shop, the barbershop. There may have been one or two clothing stores in there or just I guess you would say street vendors that would be there. But kind of everybody gathered there in the beauty shop, which was owned by Mary Stensa -- gathered there. And then, at -- I guess that's 8th Street and Broad, right across from where the welcome center now -- which is interesting because the train station at that time was right across from there. And there was a nightclub, restaurant, nightclub-slash-restaurant there. There were a few clothing stores there. Not sure what else. We didn't get to go down that area a lot because we weren't old enough to partake in some of the activities. But that was also the 00:23:00parade route for the Fairmont, for the segregated high school, Fairmont High School. That was also the parade route. They would come down the alley. As far as other businesses, of course, there was Snow Rib Shack on Solomon Street. We had that area. I've heard my mother speak of a house on Solomon Street where -- they actually used that house for a movie theater. So, they would go there and watch -- the house is still standing. They would go there and watch movies before they could go to the actual movie theater. And then, there was the Imperial Theatre, which has now been removed, and there's a park in the area. But the Imperial Theatre's the first theater I remember attending -- movies there. Think it was Cornbread, Earl and Me. (laughter) I remember seeing that there and Brown Sugar or some of those movies with some of those 00:24:00actors in the '70s. But, yeah, the Imperial Theatre. We had the Imperial Theatre. That's where most of the blacks would go to see the movies there. And that is on -- that was Solomon Street, as well.

CUNNINGHAM:Do you remember who were some of the black business owners? You mentioned Mary Stinson. So you know any of the other names?

MORRIS COFIELD:Mary Stinson. Mr. Snow. I called him Mr. Snow. I'm trying to think of his first name. But Mr. Snow had the rib shack. He also had a --

WALKER-HARPS:Mister Calloway, but I'm not sure about his first name, that -- I cannot remember but I know --

MORRIS COFIELD:That's right.

WALKER-HARPS:-- what his last name was.

MORRIS COFIELD:That's right. Mr. Calloway. You're right.

WALKER-HARPS:Calloway.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, it was Mr. Calloway. He also owned a cab service. So, he kind of did a little bit of both with -- he had the cab company before he had the restaurant there, the rib shack, before he had that. He had some 00:25:00of the best hamburgers ever. (laughter)

WALKER-HARPS:Then you had Triple-H.

MORRIS COFIELD:Had Triple-H.

WALKER-HARPS:Had Triple-H.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yep, yep, sure did. He had Triple-- and then, the dry cleaners, which was right across from where the post office is now. Mister -- he owned a dry cleaners and we would always go there to take our dry cleaning. He was there and they're -- I think there were some clothing stores in that same little strip, there, as well, across from the -- where the post office is located now.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah.

WALKER-HARPS:Medically, what services were available? Do you remember? Did we have doctors or other medical specialists?

MORRIS COFIELD:Now, I don't remember any African American doctors or specialists at that time that were here in Griffin. Of course, Dr. Hood, I believe he was practicing somewhere around that time. But he was not in Griffin. And 00:26:00then, we had a dentist that came -- I want to say maybe in the mid '70s, early '80s, which was Dr. Washington.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:He was a practicing dentist here. Oh, and Dr. Releford.

WALKER-HARPS:Yes --

MORRIS COFIELD:Dr. Releford, Dr. Charles Releford. He was here. He was.

WALKER-HARPS:And there was Dr. Atkinson, a dentist. What kind of doctor was he? Or was he a doctor?

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, I don't remember him.

WALKER-HARPS:No, I just remember that school, Atkins (sic) School --

MORRIS COFIELD:Was named --

WALKER-HARPS:-- (inaudible) --

MORRIS COFIELD:-- oh, okay.

WALKER-HARPS:-- named for the Atkinson family.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah.

WALKER-HARPS:I don't know what -- it was the wife or the --

MORRIS COFIELD:Or the --

WALKER-HARPS:-- husband.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- or the husband.

CUNNINGHAM:Well, still sticking in that timeframe of the '60s, were there other economic opportunities for the black folks?

MORRIS COFIELD:I --

CUNNINGHAM:Other than owning your own business?

MORRIS COFIELD:Other than owning your own business?

WALKER-HARPS:And teaching.

CUNNINGHAM:And teaching.

MORRIS COFIELD:And teaching, that --

CUNNINGHAM:And preaching, right.

WALKER-HARPS:Teaching and preaching.

MORRIS COFIELD:Well, those seemed to be, as far as the teaching, yes, the preaching, and then there were many that were millworkers --

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- that worked in the Dundee cotton mills, yeah.

WALKER-HARPS:And, of course, funeral home directors.

MORRIS COFIELD:And funeral home directors. Mr. McDowell, Mr. Miller.

WALKER-HARPS:Mr. Stokes.

MORRIS COFIELD:Mr. Stokes.

WALKER-HARPS:Mr. Crockett.

MORRIS COFIELD:Don't remember him.

WALKER-HARPS:Okay, that was long before your time, because that was around 1961, so that was --

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay.

WALKER-HARPS:-- before your time.

CUNNINGHAM:Did you know of any folks that worked at the mills?

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, my dad did.

CUNNINGHAM:Your dad did, okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:My dad did.

CUNNINGHAM:Did he ever share with you what the working conditions were like? Were they different for the blacks versus the whites?

MORRIS COFIELD:Working in the mill was --

CUNNINGHAM:Working in the mill --

MORRIS COFIELD:-- bad for everybody.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:(laughs) And that was kind of bad for everybody. You know, working in there, it was, of course, very hot. And they worked long 00:28:00hours. And it was not uncommon for them to have layoffs. It was not uncommon for them to shut down, you know, when the work was not there, for them to shut down. But that was always considered hard work. And then, there was the pepper plant. I don't know if you, in your history, have you guys talked about the pepper plant?

CUNNINGHAM:We've heard people mention it.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, the pepper plant. I understand that that was pretty rigorous work there. It was owned by Pimento -- was a company. It's where they actually took the peppers and processed them into, I guess, the canned peppers and pickled peaches and whatnot. So, that was pretty hard work days. From what my mom told me, she worked there for one day.

CUNNINGHAM:One day.

MORRIS COFIELD:One day during the summer and the conveyor belt, because it was moving so rapidly -- that if you stared at it too long, it would 00:29:00cause you to become dizzy. (laughs) And so, she --

CUNNINGHAM:So, one day was enough.

MORRIS COFIELD:One day was enough. (laughter) That was it. That was it. So, that was under grueling conditions, as well, the pepper plant, which is what is considered the south side of town. Spring Hill area is where it was located. Pimento Avenue, actually. Was named after the --

WALKER-HARPS:Yes.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- named after the plant's -- Pimento Avenue. I think the street still has that same name. Yep, still has that same name.

WALKER-HARPS:Were you enjoying the recreational activities of the community when the pool was closed?

MORRIS COFIELD:The one near Fairmont?

WALKER-HARPS:Yeah.

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely. Oh, we went to the community center almost every day, 'cause it was open and they had -- there were, of course, more children there, we could -- it was in walking distance to where we 00:30:00grew up, Circle Street. Oh, but, yeah, we went there to swim, to play the indoor games, ping-pong, pool, what have you. You name it, it was there.

CUNNINGHAM:But at that time, that was segregated.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes, it was. It was segregated.

WALKER-HARPS:There was a pool on that side of town and a pool on the predominantly white side of town.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes --

CUNNINGHAM:So, what happened after integration as far as recreation is concerned?

MORRIS COFIELD:The pool located near the golf course I guess is still there. It was there but it was kind of known that it wasn't for us.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:It was kind of unspoken that it wasn't for us. I think there was one day a week they would open it and some of the children would go that lived on that side of town. But we never went a whole lot. Miss Kennebrill 00:31:00would give lessons over there, Coach Kennebrill, she was one of the teachers that was at Fairmont and eventually Griffin High. And she was the swim instructor.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, she was one of the swim instructors there and a certified lifeguard, as well. Yeah, Dr. Hood's sister.

WALKER-HARPS:Yes, I know, Xenobia --

MORRIS COFIELD:Xenobia Kennebrill.

WALKER-HARPS:-- she's passed now.

MORRIS COFIELD:She has passed now, yeah.

CUNNINGHAM:So, it was --

MORRIS COFIELD:So, was --

CUNNINGHAM:Go ahead.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, as far as recreation, though. But there were other sports as far as the recreation center was concerned or league is concerned. Parks and recreation, there was baseball and football and all of that. And there didn't seem to be a lot of discrimination that I knew of.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:I wasn't athletic. My brother was. (laughter) He played everything that came along at that time and he was good at it. He was absolutely good at it. Good at it enough that it earned him a scholarship to 00:32:00University of South Carolina.

CUNNINGHAM:Wonderful.

MORRIS COFIELD:So, he played as a Gamecock and he's still very active with them.

CUNNINGHAM: So, during the civil rights movements, did your parents or your family take an active part?

MORRIS COFIELD:You know, I didn't hear my mom talk about it that much.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:And for a lot of that time, she was not in Griffin. So, well, I shouldn't say for a lot of that time but the civil rights part because she was at Spellman from '45 to '49. She went to work down south for one year and then work in Alpharetta for about nine years before coming back to Griffin and finishing out her career. I know that she worked with the students as far as making sure they were educated and that was her push. And she knew without a shadow of a doubt that educating and being educated was one way to 00:33:00overcome any obstacles, whether it was going to be based on the color of your skin or your character, but you needed something in your head. You needed to be well educated and so she would definitely push that with her students to make sure they, first of all, earned the high school diploma --

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- and then pushed them to do something beyond high school. So, she had several girls groups where -- social clubs where she taught them etiquette. I still have young ladies now that have said, you know, "Your mom taught us exactly what to do at the table." So, she did a lot of etiquette classes through there.

CUNNINGHAM:So, was it done outside of school?

MORRIS COFIELD:That was done outside of school, yep. So, she started several girls' clubs -- that she started here in the Griffin area to mentor and train and groom and that kind of thing to get 'em ready for the next level, 00:34:00get 'em ready for outside of Griffin. (laughs)

CUNNINGHAM:Your mother sent --

WALKER-HARPS:Tell us a little bit about Juanita's storytelling career. She was --

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, wow.

WALKER-HARPS:-- a member of any number of local and national --

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes, groups.

WALKER-HARPS:-- associations, yes.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes, she was a member of the National Storytelling Association and she was also a member of the Black Storytellers Association. And she went as often as she could to those conferences. She went as often as she could. Some of them were sometimes in Atlanta and sometimes as far away as Detroit. So, she would go as often as she could and sometimes she would come back and tell us about -- I think her favorite part of the conferences was the liars' competition.

CUNNINGHAM:Liars?

MORRIS COFIELD:The liars' competition.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay. (laughs) Please --

MORRIS COFIELD:So, whoever --

CUNNINGHAM:-- share with us a little bit more of that.

MORRIS COFIELD:The liars' competition is whoever can tell the best lie (laughter) and make it sound believable, so -- and they called it embellishment. (laughter) From a storytellers' perspective, it was embellishment. Who can embellish the best? But mom told stories and a couple years ago, it would be fair to say, she told stories at every school in the Griffin-Spalding County school system, including in private homes. Mrs. Crouch -- Cronic, that owns -- Wanda Cronic that owns Cronic Chevrolet and -- even in her home. So, many, many churches, as far away as South Carolina, Alpharetta. Students that had branched out and are now in these places would say, "Hey, Miss Morris, can you come?" Middle school, elementary school, daycares, black history programs, you name it, she did it. And she loved doing it. And she did that -- she retired 00:36:00-- I believe it was in '92 and she did that. Now, my dad did fall ill in '96 and passed away in '98. So, for that period of time, for about four years, she didn't. But after that, she was right back with it, even to the extent of going with the senior citizens group, with the parks and recreation. They would go to talent showcases where she competed and would often times win. The last time she went for competition, one of her students actually won first place. And I said, "Well, isn't that what you want?" (laughter) It's for the student to be better than the teacher. I mean, that's flattery.

CUNNINGHAM:That is.

MORRIS COFIELD:I mean, that's really something to be proud of and an honor, that one of her students actually won that competition.

WALKER-HARPS:She won the -- wasn't she selected as a recipient of the Bain Proctor --

MORRIS COFIELD:Bain --

WALKER-HARPS:-- Volunteer Award?

MORRIS COFIELD:She did. She received that. Not sure of the year. I want to say it was maybe 10 years ago now, the Bain Proctor Award. She did. She sat on the board for the library. What's the name of our library now?

WALKER-HARPS:Flint River.

MORRIS COFIELD:Flint River. She was on that board, for the Flint River Library Council. She was on one of the boards at Mount Zion for their mentoring group. Oh, gosh, she started so many of the ministries at Rising Star Baptist Church, the women's group there. I should say her grandmother -- she continued that. The Emancipation Proclamation Program that's held every year on January 1st, she was pivotal with that. She -- which is a program where a teen auditions 00:38:00to read the Emancipation Proclamation during that program and they also have a keynote speaker, as well as singing, and it is a community program. And about four or five years ago, she began a litany with the youth and so -- in order to incorporate more teens participating. So, there are seniors -- they have to be a senior in high school, either at Griffin High or Spalding High in order to participate. She just did what she could where she could. If it had anything to do with youth, she was all in. She was all in and she always said that that kept her young and she never really thought about her age. She would just do.

WALKER-HARPS:I don't know that she was -- how active she was publicly with the civil rights movement but I do know she was a good, strong supporter 00:39:00of the NAACP.

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay.

WALKER-HARPS:Whatever she could do to help, whatever I ask of her to do as a participant, she never refused. And she always reminded me, I didn't have to remind her --

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay.

WALKER-HARPS:-- it was time to pay her dues. She frequently called and want to know, "Well, this is the time for me to pay my dues" or "have I -- did I do that?" Or, "Is it time for" (inaudible)

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes.

WALKER-HARPS: Or if I had questions and needed help, she was that kind of support.

MORRIS COFIELD:That's good. Yeah, she really did pour into the youth, as Ms. Walker-Harps mentioned. And a lot of what she did was behind the scene, you know? Whether she helped someone stay in college financially or they would call her to edit a paper or to edit a book, she was doing all of that behind the scenes. So, her students gave her life. You know, they loved on her and they embraced her and I think that helped keep her here as long as it did. 00:40:00And they would call her from time to time. She always had a -- open door policy. They would just drop by, whether they were students from the '60s, the '70s, the '80s, or the '90s, (laughs) they knew they could call Mama Morris. And then, they would do that without hesitation, bring her gifts, crafts, things they made. So, it was -- the love was very much reciprocated between the two. But, yeah, she helped a lot behind the scenes. "Oh, ain't nobody needs to know what I'm doing." (laughter) You know, so there are a lot of personal testimonies out there, yeah. Absolutely.

WALKER-HARPS:And she contributed a lot to her church, financially.

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, absolute--

WALKER-HARPS:Financially --

MORRIS COFIELD:-- absolutely.

WALKER-HARPS:-- and otherwise. And that was the --

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, she started --

WALKER-HARPS:-- the Rising Star --

MORRIS COFIELD:Right.

WALKER-HARPS:-- Baptist Church. Matter of fact, when I came to Griffin, she was active at Rising Star, Reverend Smith.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yep, Reverend J.C. Smith from Atlanta. She actually started a scholarship at Rising Star Baptist Church and -- as well as at Holly Grove, which was my dad's church. So, they both have active scholarships to help young people stay in school or get in school, what have you. So, she started both of those and we plan to keep it going.

CUNNINGHAM:That's wonderful.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, we keep it going, so absolutely, absolutely.

WALKER-HARPS:This is a selfish question but which one of your siblings would you consider most like your mom?

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, wow. (laughter) There is a little piece of us, a little piece of her in all of us, and to say that one is most like her -- I don't know. My brother has a given spirit, we all have the giving spirit. I mean, I'm in education but I work in a different capacity from what she did, so -- 00:42:00and my sister in Augusta, she and her husband have a church there. So, she's working with young people a lot. That's Lisa.

WALKER-HARPS:That's Lisa, okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:They have a church that they started there. So, they work with youth a lot and just work with people a lot, just trying to get people to the next level. It's not about you. It's about your shoulders and how you're going to lift others up, you know, and doing that. And so, she did a lot of that. There are a lot of people that stood on her shoulders and she was okay with that.

WALKER-HARPS:But now that you -- took up the storytelling part of her life. (laughter)

MORRIS COFIELD:Not actually. I actually have -- no, my oldest niece, for whatever reason, can sound just like my mother. I mean, she can read the black dialect. And my mom worked with her and groomed her quite a bit. So, she kind of keeps that hidden but it needs to come out. But she --

WALKER-HARPS:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- that's Tamisha.

WALKER-HARPS:Oh, now we'll use her --

MORRIS COFIELD:Tamisha, yeah, they're --

WALKER-HARPS:-- on our programs. I'll start using her.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes!

WALKER-HARPS:Yeah.

MORRIS COFIELD:Please call her, yes, absolutely. That's Tamisha and she has that side of my mother very much so. Very much so, yeah. The voice and everything. (laughs) She does. She does, yep, yep, yep.

CUNNINGHAM:So, do you recall any of the stories that your mom would tell when you -- I know that she's a --

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah.

CUNNINGHAM:-- national storyteller.

MORRIS COFIELD:I try to tell this one. It makes me a little emotional but I'll try to tell this one. There's one story that she tells that I like a lot and I share it sometimes in my workplace. And it's about the farmer and the farmer is on his farm and, of course, he has milking cows on his farm. So, he goes out one morning, as farmers do, pretty early to milk his cows. And as he's 00:44:00retrieving the buckets of milk and taking them back into the house or where he needs to take them to process them, he forgets one bucket of milk. And so, along came, as nature would have it -- along comes two frogs. And they speak to one another say, "Oh, look! The farmer has forgotten a bucket of milk. Let's jump in the pail and let's drink all the milk." The other frog says, "Sure! Let's do that." So, they both jump in, ka-show! They jump in the bucket and they begin to drink the milk. Well, after a while, one frog says to the other one, "Oh, I'm just so full. I don't know if I can even keep swimming. I think I'll just give up and drown. I'll just give up." The other frog says to him, "No, no, you have to keep going. You have to keep swimming. You have to just keep swimming." So, they were just treading this bucket of milk, 'cause now they're 00:45:00so full they can't drink anymore. So, a little while later, the other frog, who had been encouraging the other one soon says, "I'm tired. I can't swim anymore. My legs are tired. I'm just worn out. I can't do this anymore. I'm going to give up. I'm going to give up and I'm just going to drown in this bucket of milk." And he encourages the other frog, "No, no, remember, we have to just keep swimming." So, all night long, they encouraged each other to just keep swimming in this bucket of milk. So, the farmer comes out the next morning to do what he does every morning: gather the eggs and milk the cows. And he notices there is a pail there. He said, "Oh, my goodness, I forgot a bucket of milk out here from yesterday." And he peeps over into the pail and peeps over into the bucket and to his surprise, it's not a bucket of milk. It's two frogs sitting on a pat of butter. So, the moral of the story to the farmer and his pail of milk 00:46:00that he left out the day prior is that when life gives you a bucket of milk, just keep swimming until you make a pat of butter. (laughter) I often share that in my workplace when things are stressful and hectic and you just seem to be ready to throw in the towel, so --

CRUICKSHANK:Did she make that up or did she get that from someone?

MORRIS COFIELD:I'm sure she coined it from somewhere. And what seems to be the unwritten rule among storytellers is that you take the story and you make it your own. So, as far as how much embellishment was done to that story, (laughter) I'm not sure.

WALKER-HARPS:And having lived on a farm -- because she probably, at one time or another -- somebody on that farm probably, actually, made butter from 00:47:00the milk.

MORRIS COFIELD:Absolutely.

WALKER-HARPS:I know it happened when I was a little girl --

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, yeah.

WALKER-HARPS:-- and we'd shake and shake, shake till --

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, yeah.

WALKER-HARPS:-- you had butter.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes, yes.

WALKER-HARPS:You once had milk and now you have butter! (laughter)

MORRIS COFIELD:They still do that in STEM classes. They actually -- that was a recent project in a STEM class at my school recently.

CUNNINGHAM:Oh, really?

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes, to take the mason jar and then the butter and the other ingredients that --

WALKER-HARPS:That's right.

CUNNINGHAM:Yeah.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- you put in there and you shake it and shake it until it ends up --

WALKER-HARPS:Yeah, it's butter.

MORRIS COFIELD:It actually works. Not the churn, but it actually works. Yeah, I mean, we'd churn butter but my mom had a lot of sayings. She used a lot of idioms and a lot of figurative language growing up in --

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- and we had to kind of piece it together. (laughter) But one of my favorite Miss Morris isms is you don't give up. You may give out but you don't give up.

CUNNINGHAM:I like that.

MORRIS COFIELD:You don't give up. You give out but you don't give up.

CUNNINGHAM:Your mother sounds like a very impressive lady.

MORRIS COFIELD:She was.

WALKER-HARPS:She was.

MORRIS COFIELD:She was.

WALKER-HARPS:Beautiful person. Beautiful personality.

MORRIS COFIELD:Open book.

WALKER-HARPS:Very knowledgeable.

MORRIS COFIELD:Open book, yeah. Open book. She actually kept a journal when she was in college. In one of the -- there were several intriguing entries in there but one was when she was at Spellman College. Again, this is in the 1940s and it was very different. Spellman was very different. You did not wear pants on that campus. You did not. You had to wear dress hose and shoes every day. And you had a dorm mother. And at that time, if you wanted to leave campus, you had to get permission from your parent. Your parent then had to contacts your dorm mother in order to give you permission to leave campus. And so, after going 00:49:00through or trying to put some of her things away for safekeeping after she passed away, we ran across a letter that she sent to her parents. I told you, she didn't throw anything way. She said to her parents and she was actually asking permission to go home with her friend for the day. Well, her friend happened to be the sister of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was Christine King-Farris. Christine King at the time. And she wanted to go to their house on that Sunday and wanted to hear Dr. King speak, which she did. And so, we still have programs where he was on -- actually on program as one of the speakers with Dr. Benjamin E. Mays -- was actually the president of Morehouse College at that time. We've got a scrapbook with his picture in there, as well, she had taken of him on the campus at that time. But she shared lots of stori-- of 00:50:00being at Spellman in that journal. The diary entries, you know, speak of that and some of the things that happened. I think it was Sam Cooke had given her roommate two tickets to his concert. So, I mean, you know, she was a college girl, so they were going to go to the concert because Sam Cooke had personally given them two tickets to his concert. (laughs)

CUNNINGHAM:Wow!

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, was a -- (laughs) but that was really interesting when we read about that, you know? And she just spoke of going to hear Dr. King and his sister was her friend that time.

WALKER-HARPS:That's interesting and --

MORRIS COFIELD:Very interesting.

WALKER-HARPS:-- we would like to have -- that would make an interesting piece of material to scan to, you know, as a part of her interview.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah.

CUNNINGHAM:Sure.

MORRIS COFIELD:I'll try to find that.

WALKER-HARPS:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:I will try to find that.

WALKER-HARPS:Yeah, the part with Dr. King, Christine King, and -- 00:51:00those would be nice.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah.

WALKER-HARPS:Well, do you all have plans for her scrapbooks and other things that she so diligently prepared for you all? What are your plans?

MORRIS COFIELD:We actually found her bucket list after her passing. And one of the things on her bucket list was to write a book.

WALKER-HARPS:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:And we think that we've actually found small excerpts from where she started that. And so, that's going to be on our bucket list, I guess --

WALKER-HARPS:Okay.

MORRIS COFIELD:-- to get that done. But we definitely want to do, excuse me, do something to continue her legacy, which would be promoting education, promoting the youth, promoting young people, the writing craft, speaking craft, in order to maintain her legacy here in -- which we believe she has here in 00:52:00Griffin. And not just Griffin: in so many students worldwide. So, little pieces of her are just all over. All over.

WALKER-HARPS:She was a joy to work with.

MORRIS COFIELD:Well, thank you.

WALKER-HARPS:I think you will have some large shoes to fill. (laughter)

MORRIS COFIELD:Well, you know what? I decided that I'm not going to try to wear her shoes. I'm going to wear mine (laughter) the way that I've been given. So, you know, her assignment will be a little different from mine. It may be a similar assignment but the Creator gives us all our own assignment and our own purpose, and so --

WALKER-HARPS:Have we missed anything that you deem a must for this interview that you would like to share that we may not have asked you but you would like it to become a part of this interview?

MORRIS COFIELD:Maybe just a couple of things. I know that her dad was originally from Augusta and and he came to Griffin to work in construction and 00:53:00that the -- Taylor Street, right in front of Taylor Street School was, at one time, and it may be still that way, large squares of concrete. And he was actually a part of the construction company that laid that street. And I think they have resurfaced it since then but there were, at one time, large squares of concrete so when you -- when the car rolled over them, you know, you -- every few feet, you hear ba-bump, ba-bump. (laughter) But he actually laid that street, Taylor Street. He worked for the company that laid that street. And he was injured on the job. He hurt his foot on the job and he walked with a limp until he became ill and had a stroke and then he subsequently passed away. And she was an only child of her mother, her father. And her father was 16 years older than her mother. Her mother was from -- guess that's considered 00:54:00Lilly, Georgia, which we still -- there's still a farm down there that relatives farm. And that agreement was with her mother, before with her grandmother before it was with her. So, we have some relatives that actually use that for a produce farm in Lilly, Georgia. And that was another story of -- maybe for another time and for another community but her grandfather has a long history of not owning people but having hired hands on his farm. His farm was that large. He have --

WALKER-HARPS:That particular time.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yes.

WALKER-HARPS:(inaudible) time.

MORRIS COFIELD: He had about 200 acres and he only had four girls that were heirs to that acreage. Yeah, four girls that were heirs to that acreage. It was about 200 acres down there in Lilly. And so, we have been down, we go down once or twice a year to visit the farm and just kind of reminisce there. But her mother came to Griffin. Not sure why she came to Griffin, what brought her to Griffin. But I know that she worked as sort of a nanny. She did day work, kind of a housekeeper and a nanny. And then, in 1940 or so, she got her license to be a nurse. 00:55:00Licensed practical nurse as they would call it at that time. She was an LPN and we still have a copy of her nursing certificate. We still have that. She actually had to work because of segregation. She worked on 8th Street. That building is not there anymore. There was a building on 8th Street that was the health department and the blacks had to be tended to in the basement of that building, which is where she worked. And it was on 8th Street -- it's now a -- I want to say a senior citizen home, in that spot. It's right there near Ace Hardware.

CUNNINGHAM:Okay.

WALKER-HARPS:Oh, yes, yes.

MORRIS COFIELD:Kind of diagonal to Ace Hardware.

WALKER-HARPS:The manor.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah. Well, that area, there was a large building there that was the health department at one time back in the '30s and '40s, I guess. And that's where she worked, in the basement of that building as a LPN, and so -- which was something she did. She actually received that certification much later in life, my grandmother did, much later in life. But that's where she worked. And between the two of them, my grandmother and grandfather, they made sure she attended Spellman College, which is what she wanted to do. She actually went there on a music scholarship. In her second year of school, she broke a finger and she had to forfeit her scholarship because she could not continue as a music student. And that's how she ended up majoring in English. Ended up being an English teacher. She had to then go to work at school, sort of a work study -- what we would call it now. And she worked in the kitchen. She worked in the kitchen in order to stay in school. I guess my mother and my grandmother both 00:57:00kind of held onto things a lot and my mother kept a ledger of when she would send her baby girl, is what she called her, her baby girl, baby Sue -- Sue was actually her first name, Sue Juanita Perteet Morris is my mother's full name. And she was known at Spellman College as Sue Perteet. She was known as Sue Perteet and she was her class president. She would often go back for speaking engagements or presentations whenever Spellman would call her. And she received an award for being the most consistent giver over 30 years at Spellman College. And each time you would get a bead, I think, for every 10 years of giving. And so, she had about three or four -- maybe it was every five years -- three or four beads on her necklace, so to signify 30 years of 00:58:00consistent giving to Spellman College, which she loved dearly. But they made sure she went to Spellman and even in that ledger, my grandmother would keep documentation. "I sent my baby girl 50 cents." Or they would go up and visit her. "Gave my baby girl one dollar." (laughter) And so, it's pretty interesting. That journal is -- or the diary is pretty interesting. And I think she, when she did get ill, I think she began to know that, "I'm probably not going to recover from this" and she would leave little pieces of herself for us to find, 'cause it was just odd that, growing up, I had -- never remember seeing that diary.

CUNNINGHAM:That's interesting, yeah.

MORRIS COFIELD:And when she became ill, it just suddenly appeared on the entertainment center. It was wrapped up in newspaper as, you know, some elderly would keep things, in newspaper. And one of my nieces that came down during the summer that she was ill discovered it. And she said, "Oh, I was just reading Grandma's diary." Said, "What? You're reading what?" (laughs) It was, like, "Yeah, it's a diary!" It was, like, "What diary?" (laughter) And so, there's a lot of good information in there, you know, of a college girl. Yeah, a college girl, so --

CRUICKSHANK:When did her storytelling career begin? I mean, was she --

MORRIS COFIELD:In the --

CRUICKSHANK:-- telling stories as a kid or --

MORRIS COFIELD:Now, if she told stories as a kid, I'm not sure. But actually, the storytelling began during her professional career. Her students, you can ask any of her students how she would just captivate them. It's what we now call a hook in education, something to get your interest, to pique your interest into the subject for the day. But she would just start telling stories 01:00:00and that would captivate her students. And then, once she retired, she started doing that full-time. Well, not full-time but whenever she could, whenever she was asked. But from, say, January through March, she would be quite busy, in recognition of Black History Month or Dr. King holiday or any programs that were going on, she would be quite busy.

CRUICKSHANK:So, she must have been building a background to do that at Spellman, was she?

MORRIS COFIELD:You know, I think at Spellman, she did. She was a part of the glee club and the glee club is responsible for the singing, the drama, all of that. And she also, as a teacher, she also did that at Bailey-Johnson. She would help with the drama, the speaking, you know, more so the elocution part of it. So, she would do that. But, yeah, she was, I guess, doing it all along. It was just natural for her.

CRUICKSHANK:So, did that --

MORRIS COFIELD:It was second nature.

CRUICKSHANK:-- you think that influenced in any way your career, that -- becoming a speech therapist?

MORRIS COFIELD:Honestly, it did not. (laughter) It did not. It was my senior year, I had chosen a school, but I hadn't chosen a major. I got some information from the school and at the time, the queen of the school was a speech language pathologist. I said, hmm, exactly what does that career entail? I did a research paper on it and I said this is what I want to be. This is what I'm going to do. I looked it up and said, okay, jobs are plentiful, (laughs) this is what I want to do. (laughs) And so, that's what I did. That's what I did. I always knew I wanted to work with children. Always knew that, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

CUNNINGHAM:Well, is there anything else you'd like to share with us before we 01:02:00close up?

MORRIS COFIELD:I think that's about it. I think that's about it. There's so much --

WALKER-HARPS: I know! I knew that--

MORRIS COFIELD:-- I can tell, anything -- (laughter)

WALKER-HARPS:-- coming back and listen to you --

MORRIS COFIELD:There's so much I could tell.

WALKER-HARPS:Just listening to you, I have been able to visualize Juanita.

MORRIS COFIELD:Yeah, she loved --

WALKER-HARPS:Her energy (inaudible)

MORRIS COFIELD:-- what she did, oh, yeah.

WALKER-HARPS:-- when I came to Griffin.

MORRIS COFIELD:She was almost like the ambassador for Griffin for anybody in the school system. (laughter) She made sure she laid hands on them, made contact with them, just to help them transition and say, "Hey, you need to know this about my community." She was really big on that.

WALKER-HARPS: Mm-hmm, yeah.

MORRIS COFIELD:She wanted you to know the historical perspective of Griffin so 01:03:00that you would build a heart for the people and a heart for the community. So, that's what she would do. She would say, "Hey, you need to know this!" And she's the historian, she was the historian for her church. So, she's got a lot of information on Rising Star and even Mount Zion. A lot of it is written. A lot of that is written down. So, a lot of that information.

CUNNINGHAM:Well, we certainly thank you so much for sharing your story, as well as --

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay.

CUNNINGHAM:-- your mom's story.

MORRIS COFIELD:Well, thank you for inviting me and including me and including her. (laughs)

WALKER-HARPS:And if you have on hand things that you would like to have included, that you would like for us to copy, and --

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay.

WALKER-HARPS:-- include, then let us know that you're going to send them to us or bring them to us and we can handle that.

MORRIS COFIELD:Okay. I can certainly do that.

WALKER-HARPS:And we appreciate your coming. I was so happy when you said yes, 01:04:00you thought you could do that. (laughter)

MORRIS COFIELD:Oh, absolutely.

WALKER-HARPS:'Cause I wondered how I was going to capture her and --

MORRIS COFIELD:Absolutely.

WALKER-HARPS:-- you were able to do that.

MORRIS COFIELD:I'm so glad you contacted us, yes. It's been an honor.

END OF AUDIO FILE