Interview with Bennie Roberson, June 24, 2021

Partial Transcript: Today is June the 25th, um, ten minutes after four, and we’re at the home of Bennie Roberson.

Segment Synopsis: The time and place of the interview is established. Roberson consents to the interview.

Keywords: Black history

Partial Transcript: – I want you to introduce yourself, give me some details - important details...

Segment Synopsis: Roberson introduces himself and recounts where he was born. He talks about the doctors who performed house calls and his perception of his parents as a kid. He stresses the importance of a “child’s life.”

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; Athens, Ga.; Bennie Shelton Roberson, Jr.; Bennie Shelton Roberson, Sr.; Green & Green Law Firm; Marjorie Corneil Finley; Michael Jackson; Susie May building; childhood development

Partial Transcript: I went to start going to school at, uh, Union Institute. It was up Baxter.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson describes his elementary and middle school experiences. He elaborates on the construction of Lyons School in particular and the environmental hazards of its location. Roberson also recounts the story of the only time he got in trouble at school.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; Burney-Harris-Lyons Middle School; Latin; Lyons Middle School; Michael Thurmond; Montag's Blue Horse; Union Baptist Institute; church; corporal punishment; environmental racism; generational changes; generational respect; parent-teacher association (PTA); segregation

Partial Transcript: The whole atmosphere was - was different here in Athens

Segment Synopsis: Roberson describes businesses on Hot Corner that he remembers from his childhood and how Black business has disappeared over the decades. He mentions how attitudes towards Black people in Athens depended on UGA football games.

Keywords: 1930s; 1940s; 1950s; Black business and commerce; Broadacres Homes; Charlayne Hunter-Gault; Hamilton Holmes; Morton Theater; Pink Morton; Rockspring Homes; University of Georgia; barber shops; drug stores and pharmacies; integration; racism; segregation; terrorism

Partial Transcript: We used to go to town, and on Saturdays we'd go to town to the grocery store...

Segment Synopsis: Roberson talks about the self-sufficient nature of those who lived in the country and how significant it was to be able to feed yourself.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; Sears and Roebuck; Vietnam War; agriculture; chitlins; construction; dressmaking; economic stratification; housekeeping; independence; lye soap; rural living; segregation; sewing

Partial Transcript: Now how about teaching and doctors, um… and people that had their own business?

Segment Synopsis: Roberson names some of the more well-off Black residents, including Louis Barnett and Peanut Man, and how they kept a low profile. Roberson emphasizes the significance of owning land and elaborates on the difference between having money and wealth.

Keywords: 1950s; 1960s; Atlanta, Ga.; Bill Gates; Brown's Barber Shop; Cadillac; John Q. West; Mercedes-Benz; Monroe, Ga.; Vietnam War; cafes; capitalism; dentistry; drug stores and pharmacies; economic regression; economic stratification; film industry; integration; liquor stores; military service; racism; real estate; segregation

Partial Transcript: Now, uh, let’s talk about the different neighborhoods that were prominent then.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson describes the solidarity communities and affordable housing units experienced in Athens and how the Black community having to rely on itself strengthened the community. He elaborates on the work ethic present, the necessity to often work more than one job, and how affordable housing units today have changed. He mentions the significance of ownership and recalls the Klan being scared off from The Bottom.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; Bethel Midtown Village; Black Wall Street massacre; Broadacres Homes; East Athens; Hot Corner; Judaism; Ku Klux Klan; New Town; Rockspring Homes; Tulsa race massacre; Tulsa race riot; air-conditioning; beauticians; cultural conditioning; economic mobility; generational poverty; gentrification; indoor plumbing; integration; news; racial bias; telephones; urban renewal

Partial Transcript: And how did the, um, different communities interact within the schools then?

Segment Synopsis: Roberson talks about the lack of genuine conflict between communities then, as intercommunity relations were strong and the biggest rivalries had to do with sports. He describes the influence certain jobs had, particularly within the church.

Subjects: 1920s; 1930s; 1940s; 1950s; Boy Scouts of America; East Athens; John Henry Dillard; The Oprah Winfrey Show; childhood development; churches; discipline; generational changes; integrity; morals; parenting; psychiatry; racial tension; trust

Partial Transcript: Another thing about East Athens and the other Black communities - everyone was proud of their community.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson discusses responsibilities within the family. He recounts how his mother allowed him to learn from his own mistakes and how quickly news traveled without telephones.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; Athens-Clarke County; Harry Sims; Jeannette Sims; agriculture; childhood development; chores; coal burning stoves; dirt roads; electricity; farmwork; fireplaces; football; generational changes; house work; morals; pride; rabbit boxes

Partial Transcript: My family and another family down the street on, on Spring Valley Road that had a TV - we was the only ones that had a TV.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson recalls how his family had a color TV, which involved placing a colored sheet over their black and white TV, and how happy he was when his family moved the bathroom inside.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; castor oil; electricity; farming; ghost stories; indoor plumbing; laxatives; outhouses; rural living; television

Partial Transcript: Now I know we had said we’re getting close to that, uh, time, uh, that we had mentioned before we got started.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson discusses the lack of solidarity the Black community experiences today, specifically the lack of communication between the younger and older generations. He emphasizes that, “it’s not what you do, it’s how you do.”

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; childhood development; contact theory; deacons; integration; interpersonal relationships; janitors; morals; parenting; respect; segregation

Partial Transcript: So why do you think - and I, I, I heard you talk about, uh, the different communities...

Segment Synopsis: Roberson describes the effects of cultural conditioning and uses examples from his childhood. He discusses how the retelling of conflict can be changed by the victors.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; American Indians; Colt pistols; Native Americans; Superman; The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin; Winchester rifles; courage; cowboys; justice; paradigm changes; segregation; truth

Partial Transcript: - I would be scared of Black people myself. Think about what we do.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson speaks on how Black people made the best of what they were given. He explains that Black people were oppressed partly out of the fear that they would do better than white people.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; B. B. King; Civil War; Madison, Ga.; Morgan County, Ga.; Sherman's March to the Sea; Thanksgiving; William T. Sherman; art; carpentry; competition; cooking; economic mobility; economic stratification; interior decorating; murals; music; prejudice; segregation; slavery; unskilled labor; whistling

Partial Transcript: Now, uh, you just, um, I’m going to switch gears and, and we’re going over the time said that you needed, but I wanted to ask you something that I had forgot.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson elaborates upon the risks people took by holding more than one job, the presence of overbearing employers then and now, and how Black people are still fighting for their rights in 2021. He discusses changes in morals in the community.

Keywords: 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; 2020s; Dodge trucks; University of Georgia; bootlegging; economic stratification; employer oversight; exploitation; slavery; suffrage; voting rights

Partial Transcript: Now, I’m gone show you, uh, a comparison now: every time in the United States that something becomes legal, we’re kicked out of it.

Segment Synopsis: Roberson describes how the law was designed to trap people and how the justice system seeks to exploit the vulnerabilities in the Black community for profit.

Keywords: 1860s; 1870s; 1880s; 1890s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s; Central State Hospital; Civil War; Milledgeville, Ga.; Richard B. Nixon; Ronald Reagan; Vietnam War; capitalism; chain gangs; exploitation; institutionalized racism; liquor; marijuana; mental illness; militarization; plantations; prison labor; private prisons; privatization; psychiatry; slavery; social work; veterans

Partial Transcript: Now one last question. If the community was like it was from the time you described when you were growing up, do you think that even with those traps out there we could have avoided a lot of them?

Segment Synopsis: Roberson highlights the emergence of a common enemy in politics today and wishes that the Black community would take the lead in their narrative. He admires the determination of the Black community to succeed despite poor conditions. The interview concludes.

Keywords: Donald Trump; Judaism; human nature; inequality; perserverance; racism; slurs; verbal assault; warfare