Lizabeth Cannon interview with Ruby Lane, Pearl Eidson, Addie Mae Yancey, Ludie Turner, and Mary Bell

The John Burrison Georgia Folklore Archive recordings contains unedited versions of all interviews. Some material may contain descriptions of violence, offensive language, or negative stereotypes reflecting the culture or language of a particular period or place. There are instances of racist language and description, particularly in regards to African Americans. These items are presented as part of the historical record. This project is a repository for the stories, accounts, and memories of those who chose to share their experiences for educational purposes. The viewpoints expressed in this project do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Atlanta History Center or any of its officers, agents, employees, or volunteers. The Atlanta History Center makes no warranty as to the accuracy or completeness of any information contained in the interviews and expressly disclaims any liability therefore. If you believe you are the copyright holder of any of the content published in this collection and do not want it publicly available, please contact the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center at 404-814-4040 or reference@atlantahistorycenter.com. This recording starts with Ruby Lane explaining her method of making brush brooms and that chores were segregated by sex when she was a child. At 7:20, she recalls gathering white mud to whitewash the fireplace everyday and that brush brooms were sometimes used to discipline children. At 11:19, Pearl Eidson, who lived in Texas, adds that she made brush brooms out either dogwood or alder wood. She used these brooms to sweep up cigarette butts and chicken tracks. At 17:50 she describes how to scrub wood floors with a corn-shuck mop. Next at 23:10, Addie Mae Yancey remembers making brush brooms in Coweta County, Georgia, and her method of sweeping the yard. At 28:42, Ludie Turner recalls her mother teaching her how to construct brush brooms when she was ten and using old brush brooms as kindling. At 35:05, Mary Bell Brown contributes her method of constructing brush brooms, which she says were also good for shelling peas. To conclude the recording, at 41:13 she remembers injuring her finger with a pocketknife while making a brush broom. Ruby Mills Lane (1914-1989) was born in McDonough, Georgia, to Charles Mills (1872-1950) and Mary Willard (1878-1948). In 1920, the family moved to Beersheba, Georgia. In 1932, she married William Thomas Lane (1912-1982), and they had three children: William, (1935- ), Joyce, (1938- ), and Connie (1944- ). In 1950, the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she later died. Pearl Eidson (1904-1980) was born in Titus County, Texas, to William Walter Potts Jr. (1876-1910) and Alice Hanson (1874-1942). A year later the family moved to Coweta County, Georgia. She married Alton Eidson in 1923, and they had six children: Alton Jr., (1926-1960), John, (1929- ), Alice (1931-2001), Margaret (1934- ), Barbara (1940-1940), and Thomas (1960-1960). In 1930, they moved to Campbell, and in 1945 they moved to Union City. She died in Fulton County. Addie Mae Arnold Yancey (1876-1975) was born in Coweta County, to Nebo Arnold (1835-?) and Mariah (1842-?) Arnold. In 1901, she married Thomas Yancey (1876-1922) in Newton, Georgia; they had eight children together. In 1972, she moved to Fairburn, Georgia, to live with her daughter, where she later died. Ludie Williams Turner (1913-1975 ) was born in Coweta County. In 1929, she married Bernice Turner (1907-1950), and they had five children: Albert (1930- 2000), Homer (1932-2013), Betty (1938- ), Dorothy (1943- ), and Mary (1948- ). In 1950, she moved to Fairburn, and she died in Fayette County, Georgia. A Report On: BRUSHBROOM MAKING + ~!,l\)1J} (Jp-"jJotJj')j Lizabeth E. Cannon Folklore 401 Dr. Burrison MWF - 5:15 A I chose brushbroom making as my topic for folklore collection. I thought that this might be one topic not previously researched to any great extent by another student collector, and I also believe that this particular maintenance tool was important to the particular "yardstyle" of its day. The yards and flower beds of 50 to 75 years ago were very different from the present day grasscovered, landscaped yards. Flat, white sand yards with little islands of bright colored flowers here and there were the "vogue" of that era. Brushbrooms were the tools used to clean the sand of bits of debris and trash blown in or dropped by people; however, there were other uses discovered which are recorded in the transcription. I will introduce each person I interviewed in a paragraph preceding their transcription. My questions are typed in all capital letters. Pictures, and picture index page, along with the release, are included at the end of the report. MRS. RUBY LANE Mrs. Ruby Mills Lane was born in Henry County, Georgia on June 4, 1914. Her mother's name was Mrs. Mary Willard. Her father farmed for a living just outside of McDonough, Ga. She had 4 sisters, one of whom was present during my interview with Mrs. Lane. Mrs. Lane attended a two room school house, completing the 4th grade. She married Mr. Thomas Lane, also of Henry County, on November 25, 1932 and they resided in Henry County until 1950. They presently live in Union City, Georgia, approximately 20 miles south of Atlanta. Mrs. Lane was quite willing to talk with me, and her interview was a nice experience. It was interesting to watch her husband while I talked with her; she assumed that the interview was to be totally with her and that no one else should contribute, especially not Mr. Lane. He tried several times to jump into the conversation, but she would cut him off very quickly! Here is Mrs. Lane's description of "breshbroom making". 2 CAN YOU DESCRIBE TO ME HOW YOU MADE THEM OR HOW YOU OBSERVED SOMEONE MAKE THEM? Mrs. Lane: O yea, I can tell you just how we made them. It was always a treat to us on Friday - we always would get up a bunch of the neighbor ladies around to go breshbroom huntingis what we called it. We'd take our butcher knives with us and we'd all go down in the woods and it was a big treat for us kids. And we'd find these dogwood patches and if we couldn't find dogwood brooms, we would go on down to the river bottoms and we'd get canes, you know. Canes, long canes, and we would do this about twice a year, in the fall and in the spring, you know. When we would, we'd get 'em when there wadn't so many leaves cause wheneverthey had a lot of sap in 'em they's easy to break, So we'd get up our breshbrooms in the spring and in the fall and make brooms, and then while we was hunting those breshbrooms we'd try to find us a sweet gum tree. I don't know if you remember the sweet gum or not but that was the best stuff in the world. We'd pick a big wad of sweet gum, you know, and we'd chew that stuff until the next time we went breshbroom hunting. You couldn't pick the sweet gum in the early spring when the sap was acomin' out you know, you had to let it come out in the spring and then in the fall you'd pick it. If you picked it too soon it would stick to your teeth and you couldn't chew it too good. But we would find these br.eshbrooms, and in the spring we would look for 3 honeysuckles and you can't find many of them anymore - they've just about died out. So, we'd have a half a day. We'd get back in time-Friday afternoons in time, to pull the leaves off them brooms and make us all a broom. We'd put about 5 or 6 stems - stalks - together and tie 'em on at the top, and one at the middle and then one down at the hand, you know. And we'd sweep them yards. And we always lived in a place where we had big yards and we had to sweep them yards every Friday. We'd clean 'em out - we'd sweep up under the house just as far as you could see up under the house - edge of the house, you know. We wouldn't leave a speck of nothin' in them yards. It would be on Friday evening, late Friday afternoon, and then early Saturday morning we'd finish up because we didn't want nobody going along the road and see a speck of nothin' in your yard. There wadn't no such thing as grass and weeds. If there was any weeds, we had to get down and pull them up you know. And we'd have the flowers and they was just pretty. Anybody that's got a big pretty yard they can sweep, that's the prettiest thing in the world, a good clean yard. I guess some people nowadays thinks that grass you know is the prettiest, but I always thought that a good clean swept yard was always pretty. HOW LONG (length) DID YOU KNOW TO MAKE THESE BROOMS? You made your broom according to your height. The smaller 4 you was, you know, you didn't have a whole lot stuck back here behind your elbow, cause it would all the time be agougin' onto your arm. You'd just-you'd stand up and ever how tall you was you'd want that broom to be just-like, this is your left hand, to be right at the edge of your broom. The taller the person was, the longer your broom had to be, and we made 'em out of dogwoods and we made 'em out of cane and we have made 'em out of this old dog fennel stuff that gets ripe in the fall - it grows up tall you know. But it didn't last too long - about one sweeping was about all you got out of that. But them dogwood breshbrooms, they'd last you a long time, sometimes if you'd take care of 'em. We alwa:15 took care of ours. When we got through sweeping with 'em we'd put 'em under a shelter or way up under the house where they'd stay dry. If they got too dry, we'd draw some water in a tub and put that broom down in there and get it soft. WHAT DID YOU USE TO TIE THESE BROOMS WITH? We'd go and tear us off some strings off an old bed sheet or just maybe the hem off a big ole wore-out bedsheet, you know. That made a good un cause it was stout. And just anything soft because if you tied it with wire or something like that it would you know, it might skin or scratch your hands. Your hand, right in there, that's where you would hold you know, and if it was rough, we'd take a knife and we'd cut them little 5 bitty limbs all off of that handle, you know, and it'd be just as smooth. Some people would wear gloves, but I never did. I always had my hands bar.e. WHOSE JOB WAS IT USUALLY TO SWEEP THE YARDS? WAS IT THE CHILDREN"S OR DID JUST ANYONE WHO COULD, DO IT? Just the children's. The adults didn't get out much and sweep the yards but usually back then when I grew up there was always a crowd of teenagers, 3 or 4 girls, -now the boys they didn't take no part in it, but the teenage girls and on down to the little children. They all wanted to get in on the going to get the breshbrooms, but after we got 'em to the house, that was it! They didn't want to have no more to do with the bresh~ brooms. WHO TAUGHT YOU HOW TO MAKE THEM? We just watched the older girls, we saw the older girls. I had four sisters and they uh, it just grows on you, you know. You just watch the other ones and see how they done it and then when you get up - when I got up big enough, see, I knowed how to do it then, because I'd done seen them do it so much. And everybody, everybody then, they swept them yards. You didn't pass no houses in the country and see the yards not swept. And it was to do over every Friday, Friday and Saturday morning. Mr. Lane: She was raised back over there on the river where she couldn't see out. Talking about what the girls had to do, there wasn't but one girl in our family and she was younger 6 than I so I had to do everything. I hunted breshbrooms - - Mrs. Lane: After the girls gets up big enough to do the work, well then the boys went on about their stuff. Mr. Lane: I used to get a big ole bucket and go out and dig white mud Mrs. Lane: And there's som'ethi)Jg else - I don't know if you've ever heard of white mud. We had a white mud hole, and the whole community would go to that white mud hole, you know. And tote them buckets of white mud and we had to keep the fireplaces whitewashed just as white! In the winter time, when the i / y' i' ,' 1 first 'was in the fireplace, it would burn off a heap faster than in the summer time. In the winter time you had to whitewash a heap more but in the fall you know, you'd go and get that white mud before it got cold, cause that would be a cold job, you know, going to the branch and dipping up white mud and bringing it to the house. And we'd roll it out in little balls, you know, and let it dry. Mrs. Lane's sister, Maggie: There wouldn't be no sand in it, it'd be just like surp (syrup). Mrs. Lane: Yea, whenever you wanted to make a bucket of white mud, you'd just get up some of them pieces and put 'em in your bucket and pour some water on it and let it set and get soft in that water, then you'd have you a rag in there and you'd white wash and it'd be just like paint, it'd be so white. 7 HOW LONG WOULD THAT LAST? It'd last from one day to the next! You'd whitewash in the morning and the next morning you'd have to do the same. Mr. Lane: It'd last until somebody spit tabacco on it. Mrs. Lane: The old folks would sit one here and one over here (opposite sides of the fireplace) and they'd spit back and forth that way, and there'd be a streak. Then, the next morning, you'd have to do the same thing. (White wash) I don't ever remember whitewashing more than once a day. When you cleaned up every morning, you'd whitewash. But now, washing them lamp chimneys, that was a weekly job. You had to do it. I guess you ain't interested in all that stuff, but that's all o~.d timey things you know, just like we growed up. Scrubbin' water buckets! Yea, and dippers! And scrubbing the floors! We had plain old wood floors. Mr. Lane: Wooden water buckets with brass bands around 'em to hold 'em tight, you know. You'd scrub them things up, and that new brass would just shine. Mrs. Lane: You had to scrub 'em to that brass shined, shone, too, cause if you didn't, it wadn't clean. WHAT DID YOU DO WITH THE BRUSHBROOMS AFTERWARDS? COULD YOU USE THEM FOR ANYTHING ELSE AFTER YOU GOT THROUGH, AFTER THEY WERE WORN DOWN? Well, not nothin' except maybe stick beans. We have used them to stick beans, runnin' beans, you know, in the garden. 8 Mr. Lane: Oh, they'd tear up the youngun's backsides with one every now and then. They may be the prin~ of some on my back. Mrs. Lane: Them's what they called the good old days, I guess. It was hard though, it was hard on a person living. You just had to live by your wits, that's about it. 9 MRS. PEARL EIDSON Mrs. Pearl Potts Eidson was born in Titus County, Texas on July 12, 1904. Her mother's name was Mrs. Alice Hanson Potts. Her father was a farmer. The family moved to Texas shortly before Mrs. Eidson was born because they had heard that life was "better" out there. Two months after she was born, the family moved back to Coweta County. When Mrs. Eidson was 2 years old, her father died. Her mother remarried a Mr. Williams, and had one daughter by him before his death. Mrs. Eidson also had 3 older brothers. Mrs. Eidson attended a one room school house in Coweta County and completed the 3rd grade. She married when she was 19, and she and her husband, Alton Eidson, Sr., resided in Coweta and Heard Counties until moving to Union city, Ga. in 1945 or 46. Being my grandmother, she was very eager to help me out with my project. She recruited or helped to recruit the other persons I interviewed. 10 Mrs. Eidson: 0 yes, we had to sweep yards. We didn't have grass back in our days. We went to the woods and cut dogwood. They make very good breshbrooms. That was our first choice. And if we couldn't find dogwood, we would use alder, which was the second choice. And if the alder couldn't be found, we'd use canes. And we have, when none of that could be found, used a big tall weed that was called fennel, dog fennel. Which didn't last very long. We preferred dogwood and if it was spring and rummer we'd strip the leaves off with our hands or if we was close to a barb wire fence, we'd whip 'em across that wire and that would tear the leaves from them. And we liked them much better. If it was in the fall of the year or the winter months, the leaves were already off and it was much easier. We'd put from three to five branches in on breshbroom and we'd tie 'em in about three places with a stout string, a cord, or some soft string that wouldn't rub your hands. They was tied down neat, what we called the handle, the stems, in one place to hold 'em together, and second one right above that and the third was tied in the branches to bring 'em together where they'd sweep. And we often swept the yards to sweep the cigarette and match stems out and the chicken tracks - our chickens run out in the yard; and when we'd leave to go somewhere to check to see if we had company while we was gone. We'd back down the walkway and sweep, zig-zagging the broom acToss and then when we returned we'd look to see if there were any tracks in that going up to 11 the door. We didn't have grass, we had a lot of flowers. My mother would make us tote sand and rocks and we'd build yards. We lived on a farm, we'd build yards and grow pretty flowers. Maybe stay there a year or two, and we'd move again, and all of that was to do over - have to build up another yard and plant more flowers. WHOSE JOB WAS IT IN YOUR FAMILY TO MAKE THE BROOMS? It was mine. I made the breshbrooms if I could get my brothers to cut 'em. If I couldn't, I take the butcher knife and cut 'em myself. They (brothers) were older and wouldn't help me. I made the brooms and we'd gather broom straw and I also made the house brooms from the broom sage. And I'd have to scrape and clean the lower part of that sage and tie it real tight with a string and we used that for house brooms and after it was worn down and got stubby, we have swept the yards with that when we'd run short on the other kind. HOW OFTER DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE BRESHBROOMS? Well, it depended on how many you made and who helped you to sweep. We never made under two at a time and it depended on the kind of material it was made from. A dogwood would outlast any of 'em. That's why we preferred dogwood. The alders weren't very good, they was brittle and easy broke up. WHO TAUGHT YOU TO MAKE THEM? Well, I really wasn't taught. I just watched my mother. I had to help her from the time I can remember and just 12 experience taught you. But my brothers did not help with the yards. WHAT ELSE COULD YOU USE THE BRUSHBROOMS FOR? Well, if they got too stubby and scratched the yards too bad, wore down to where the branches were too rough, we'd take 'em and keep 'em and carry them to the garden to stick our pole beans with. They was a lot of 'em used for that if they wasn't worn too short, too stubby, you could use 'em in the garden. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WEAR OUT, SAY, A DOGWOOD BRUSHBROOM? Well, if I swept, just myself alone, two or three brooms would last me through the spring season, and then two through the summer season and two through the fall season. When it was bad, rainy weather, you couldn'tsweepyards .. We have to leave 'em off during that time. HOW LONG IN LENGTH WERE THE BROOMS YOU MADE? Well, that depended on my height. As I grew taller, I'd have to cut my branches a little longer. I'd say they was abouta regular standard size would be about 4 feet. And that'd let you have a place to stand and to hold without stooping to sweep. DID YOU HOLD IT LIKE A REGULAR BROOM? O yes, you had to hold it with both hands. DID YOU HOLD IT ABOVE OR UNDER YOUR ARM? No, you reached down with both hands and swept. And if somebody visited you and whittled shavings in your yard, you 13 had to go sweep again, or if they peeled sugar cane in the yard, you'd have to go sweep. And a lot of people would shell peanuts in your yard and you'd have to go sweep again. Children would eat peanuts when you had company and you'd have to sweep when they left. DID YOU HAVE ANY PARTid~UAR DAY OF THE WEEK THAT YOU SWEPT ON? j \ / Well, we mostly swept Saturday afternoons so that it'd be clean for Sunday. When we worked in the field we didn't have any other time. Saturday would be our day to wash, and iron, and sweep yards when we farmed. 0 yes, let me tell you another job we had. We had just plain wood floors. We didn't have rugs or linoleum or we didn't have hardwood floors. We had wide planks and you'd have to scrub the planks and keep them clean. You'd have to scrub that floor with a shuck mop. And a shuck mop is a big ole block of wood with a long handle in it. And the handle is put in there setting angling so it would let the mop down, and we'd have to tear these shucks apart into little pieces and put 'em in a tub of water and soak them. Then we twisted the soft end of 'em and twisted it through that mop from the under side and that left the rough part of the shuck down where it wou]d scrub the floor. And we'd either put sand or washing powders on the floor and scrub it with that shuck mop. And then we'd have to rinse and rinse. My mother used to do most the scrubbing and I had to do the water-drawing. And she'd use several tubs of 14 of water sc~u'\:)bing the house, and rinsing it. It had to be rinsed perfectly clean and your floors were clean enough to eat off of when she got through scrubbing. WAS THERE EVER ANYTHING ELSE YOU COULD USE BROOMS FOR? Well, sometimes in sweeping the floors with a house broom, we had cats, and we had notches in the lower part of the door which was called the cat hole. And when the cat would hear us sweeping, it hunted for that hole in the door cause we'd whip 'em out with that broom! And the cat and the kittens would chase when they'd hear us sweeping and out the door they'd go. And then when the brooms and everything was quietened down, they'd start easing back in, one by one, setting on the hearth around the fireplace. TALKING ABOUT SAND AND ROCK YARDS, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A SAND YARD NOW? O, no ma'am! No. Never! I prefer the grass. I'm too old to sweep yards anymore. WHY DO YOU THINK YOU HAD THOSE KIND OF YARDS THEN? WHY DIDN'T THEY LET THE GRASS GROW? I don.'t know. We was made to cut all grass down and cut all weeds down and work around the flowers. You didn't grow grass and weeds in the yards. You had to keep all that cut real clean and sweep around your flowers. IT THAT THE WAY IT WAS DONE AS FAR BACK AS YOU KNOW? Far back as I can remember, up until, oh, about 25 years ago, they started sowing their yards in the country. Just like they 15 did in town. They sowed grass, fertilized it and cut it with lawnmowers. They used to have push kind, you'd push a lick and pull back, push a lick and pull back. I think that's one of the reasons we kept the sandy yards as long as we did was on account of that push lawnmower! 16 MRS. ADDIE MAE YANCEY Mrs. Addie Mae Arnold Yancey was the third person I interviewed, and she was also the only black woman I was able to interview. Mrs. Yancey was born and raised in Coweta County. It was interesting that she would tell me the day and the month of her birth, March 6th, but she either would not or could not tell me the year. Her daughter reported that her mother was nearing 100, but she was not exactly sure of her age, either. Mrs. Yancey had 5 brothers and 5 sisters, and the family farmed for a living. She didn't remember the year she married her first husband, but she married her second husband, Mr. Yancey, in 1940. She is the mother of 8 children. She resided in Coweta County until approximately l - 2 years ago, at which time she moved to Fairburn, Ga. to live with her daughter. She seemed rather guarded at first, and Imnot really sure that she quite understood why I wanted to record her responses. She was friendly, and toward the end of the interview, she opened up a little more, and spoke more freely. 17 MRS. ADDIE MAE YANCEY We'd get them dogwood sprouts and tie 'em together and sweep the yards with 'em. WHAT KIND OF TREE LIMBS DID YOU USE? WAS .THAT THE BEST KIND? Dogwoods. Sprouts. ABOUT HOW LONG DID YOU MAKE THEM? Oh, we made 'em long from here over to that chair. (About 4 feet). WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR DOING THE SWEEPING? WHO HAD TO SWEEP THE YARDS? My mother. DID YOU EVER HAVE TO DO IT? Yes ma'am. That's all we did! WAS THERE ANY ANY PARTiciaJ,AR TIME THAT YOU DID THE SWEEPING? DID YOU DO IT ONE DAY OF THE WEEK? You had to do it sometimes twice a week. You know the country yards had sand on 'em. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO USE ONE UP? We would sweep with 'em twice before they'd tear up. See, you'd whoop them leaves off. HOW DID YOU TAKE THE LEAVES OFF? Go over to a stump and whoop the leaves off, and then tie 'em together, tie two strings on the end to hold 'em together. AND YOU SAY IT LASTEDMNSE THROUGH TWO SWEEPINGS? 18 Two sweepings, \for<we'd gather more. WAS YOUR YARD SANDY ALL OVER? Yes. Sandy all over. They wadn't no grass on it like it is now. WOULD YOU RATHER YOUR YARDS BE SANDY? Yes, ma'am. WOULD YOU STILL HAVE TO SWEEP THEM? Yes'm. You'd better before two or three days, you know, with the children playing. WHO TAUGHT YOU TO MAKE THE BROOMS? DID YOUR MAMA SHOW YOU? Yes'm. We'd go get 'em sometimes. See, it was close to the woods, where them sprouts growed up. They still growing now, but people don't gather 'em like they used to cause you know they's cut down so much now till they ain't no woods to go in. It wasn't like it was when I was comin' up. DID YOU EVER USE CANES? No'm. I didn't never use no canes. We just used them there dogwood brooms. DID YOU USE THE BROOMS FOR ANYTHING ELSE? We'd sweep the yard with 'em, (brushbrooms) straw brooms in the house then. We go out in the woods and wring straw and make brooms out of 'em and sweep in the house. Sure did, then. AFTER THE BROOMS WERE WORN OUT, WERE THEY ANY GOOD FOR ANYTHING? 19 No, when they was worn out about as long as your arm, we'd throw 'em away. DID YOU HAVE TO GO SOME SPECIAL PLACE TO GET THE SAND FOR YOUR YARD? No'm, you see then, folks had sandy yards. Everybody had to sweep yards then, back then. Everybody had sandy yards, the landlord and all. WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? Coweta. DID YOU ALWAYS LIVE IN COWETA BEFORE YOU MOVED UP HERE? Yes'm. That 1s where I was borned and raised. There in Coweta. We all moved up here. (Fairburn, Ga.). WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD TO SWEEP YARDS? Oh, I swept yards before I moved up here. For I was down here in the country. I swept yards a year before I moved up here with them stick brooms, dogwoods, sure did, cause I was out in the country, you know. Didn't have no grass there, had to sweep yards. WAS IT MOSTLY THE WOMEN'S TO SWEEP YARDS OR DID ANY OF THE BOYS EVER HAVE TO DO IT? The boys done it before the girls growed up big enough. Then we took over. 20 MRS. LUDIE WILLIAMS TURNER Mrs. Turner is the half-sister of Mrs. Eidson. She was born on February 19, 1913, in Coweta County. Her mother's name was Mrs. Alice Potts Williams. She had one half sister, Mrs. Eidson, and three half-brothers. She attended school. through the 4th grade, she thought. She married Bernice Turner; he was killed shortly after the birth of their third duaghter. Unfortunately, at the time of the interview, Mrs. Turner was ill, and got up out of bed to be photographed, although I insisted that she shouldn't. It was disoove!led this past week that she has cancer, and she is not expected to live but a few days longer. 21 MRS. LUDIE TURNER When I was a little.girl, we used dogwood breshbrooms, what you call dogwood, a thing that grows down on the low branch or swamp. And we would cut 'em green, from 6 -8 to a bresh broom, according to how big the stem was. Then we would tie 'em with a good stout string or a little roping if we had it. And we swept yards with that. It was sandy yards, we didn't have any grass then, and so, they would last from two to three months, and then we'd have to go gather some more. And they was called dogwoods, the brooms we made, and they had green leaves on 'em sometimes we'd whittle those off and sometimes we left them on according to how big our broom was. WHO TAUGHT YOU TO MAKE THEM? My mother. AND WHEN DO YOU REMEMBER WAS THE FIRST TIME YOU USED ONE? HOW OLD WERE YOU? Oh, I guess I was, uh, about maybe 10 years old. WHAT KIND OF YARD DID YOU HAVE? We had just a dirt yard-most of }em was sandy-like-white, and we had to keep all of that trash swept off. We didn't know what grass was at that time, nothin' but to feed the cows. ABOUT HOW OFTEN DID YOU HAVE TO SWEEP YOUR YARD? Well, we had to sweep 'em sometimes twice a week. And if we had other work to do we waited till Saturday and swept the yards. We used a dog fennel it was called. It was a high green 22 weed with a kinda fuzz on it for leaves, so, ah, we'd get a lot of those and we'd have to let 'em dry, and when we couldn't get the dogwood, couldn't find it, we'd use those dog fennels and we'd tie 'em from 6-8 of those and when they dried, well, we could take the handle part and knock all the leaves off, and sweep yards with 'em. ABOUT HOW LONG DID YOU MAKE THEM? Well, it was according to how long our brush was. Sometimes it was about 4-5 feet long. ABOUT HOW MANY BRANCHES DID YOU USE IN ONE? We used from 6 - 8. DID THEY LAST LONGER IF YOU MADE THEM BIGGER AROUND? No, it'd just clean better, when they kinda dry out, you can clean better. When they are green, they don't do so good. You have to let them kindly dry. When they's leaves on 'em, it makes 'em heavier. When they dry, they sweep better. DID YOU GO AHEAD AND LEAVE 1THE LEAVES ON SOME OF'.1.'THEM? Uh,huh. DID THAT HELP YOU TO SWEEP BETTER? Well, not althogther, but we'd have to use some with the leaves on them because we wouldn't have time to wait for them to dry and all. WHAT OTHER KINDS OF BROOMS DID YOU USE BESIDES BRUSHBROOMS? Well, we used straw brooms for our house. Made out of broom straw. 23 WHAT DID YOU USE THE BRUSHBROOMS FOR AFTER THEY WEREN'' T GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE YARD? Well, we generally started fires with 'em in the fireplace; hack that time we had nothin' hut fireplaces or stoves. And we'd generally, when they got good and dry, have them to use for kindling. WAS THERE ANY CERTAIN TIME OF YEAR YOU MADE THEM? No, not for the yard. There was certain times we:cmade 'em for the house out of the hroomstraw because we had to gather it along in the October and then we'd gather big bundles of it where they'd he enough to last all the winter till the next spring straw come in. And so, we made something like about a 4 inch handle, I guess, around it cause the stra~were little and then we had to clean that straw with somethiling like a little blade or something before we could sweep with it, and so, naturally when they got too little to use for anything, they wadn't any good for anything, hut throw in the garbage, the house brooms. That was the kind of broom we had to use at that time because we couldn't get any other kind. DID YOU USE ANY SPECIAL TOOLS TO MAKE BRUSHBROOMS? No, we'd generally take a fork and get that little limb, I mean, leaf~looking thing of the broom down around the handlewe'd just brush so far dOwn with that fork to clean it and then we'd get a stout cord and make a loop in it and themMe'd run it through the bottom straws and tie it and that's the way we kept the house broom tied up. (Here she's speaking of SAGE brooms.) 24 WHEN YOU MADE YOUR YARD BROOMS, WAS THERE ANY SPECIAL EQUIPMENT YOU NEEDED? No. No, we could use anything like a string, cause we didn't put but about maybe 2 to 3, sometimes you put three strings or something around the handle of those to hold to 'em you know, to get 'em tight. So, there wasn't nothin' special we had to do tb brooms. 25 MRS. MARY BELL BROWN Mrs. Mary Brown was born in Jefferson, Alabama on April 25, 1907. She had 4 older brothers and 3 younger sisters. Her father was a part-time farmer and coal miner in Birmingham. Her older bvothers also worked in the mines. The family moved to Georgia in 1934 or 35, after Mrs. Brown had married. She says she was married on October 22, in 1921 or 1922. She has three children, 2 girls, and l boy. She attended school in Alabama through the 3rd grade. She said that her father forced her to quit school so that she could take care of the housework, since her mother was ill for a lengthy period of time before she died. 26 MRS . MARY BROWN Well, you just go to the woods and get dogwood sprouts and sprigs of the dogwood, rather, and get about five or six foot you know long and you cut 'em off like you want 'em after you get 'em, of course. And tie a string about 'em with about 6 or 8 to the piece {broom), how big around you wanted your handle to be, you know. I always put six in mine. WHAT DID YOU TIE THEM UP WITH? With cord, you know, have you a good cord like a fishing cord, a big cord, and tie it and then wrap it and bring it down to the end and wrap it around good and loop it through one of the limbs. DID YOU WRAP IT'ALL THE WAY DOWN THE HANDLE? Uh-huh. All the way down where you want your brush, your broom to bunch out. You want it good and bunchy so you can sweep. NOW, WHAT KIND OF BRANCHES DID YOU LIKE BEST TO USE? Well, I liked the small, you know, type, uh, not too awfully large, about like, well, some of 'em about like your middle finger. WHAT KIND OF TREE DID YOU USE? Dogwood. DID YOU EVER USE ANYTHING ELSE? Well, when I couldn't get dogwood, I used that what they called uh, uh,alder, is it alder bushes? When I couldn't get the dogwood. BUT YOU LIKE THE DOGWOOD BEST? 27 I liked dogwoods best. It sweeps good. HOW MANY TIMES A YEAR DID YOU MAKE THEM, OR HOW OFTEN DID YOU MAKE BROOMS? Well, I used mine about one a week. Is when I go get mine cause I wanted a good brush. So that's the way I'd do mine. I had big yards, you know, and they was just as clean, there wasn't a sprig of grass was in it, and all my flowers all the way around you know. It was beautiful when I get my yard clean. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO DO YOUR WHOLE YARD? Oh, about two hours. Cruse I had to go sweep around my flowers you know, and everything. I always set at it as hard as I could go, well, you know that. WHAT DAY OF THE WEEK, WAS THERE A PARTICULAR DAY OF THE WEEK THAT YOU HAD TO DO IT ON? No, not particular. Generally, I did it on ThuJ:T.sday or m Friday one, cause there was always a big crowd at hy house every Sunday. WHAT KIND OF TOOLS DID YOU USE TO COLLECT YOUR BRANCHES? DID YOU USE ANYTHING SPECIAL? No, just a big ole butcher knife. WHO TAUGHT YOU TO MAKE THEM? DID ANYBODY TEACH YOU? No, I just learned it, honey, by myself. I knowed it. WAS THERE ANYBODY PARTICULAR IN YOUR FAMILY WHEN YOU WERE SMALL THAT THAT(sweeping)WAS ALWAYS THEIR JOB? They helped me. My sisters all helped me, you know, sweep yards, DID ANY OF THE MEN OR BoYS EVER DO IT? No. They didn't do that. We always, us girls, got the 28 breshbrooms and tied 'em up you know and we usually swept our floors with broom sage. DID YOU COLLECT THE BROOM SAGE FOR THAT? Uh-huh. We would go tb the fields you know, where there was the biggest and get some about 5-6 feet tall you know. The tallest we could get any we made us up a lot of brooms to do us that year. WHAT TIME OF YEAR DID YOU COLLECT THAT? In the fall, Oh, I guess about this time of year we always went to get our breshbroom, I mean, ouf sage, to make our brooms out of. Sometimes you could find sage in bottoms, you know, and it would be ijuge, good brooms to sweep floors. We did 'em like them (referr~ng to brushbrooms) just tie 'em up like dogwoods. But you can, you have a better chance to pull your cord down through your know, for room to tie it. Cause you got to tie that cord in there and get the limb of your dogwood brooms to one of the brush you know, one of the things you sweep with. WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU COULD USE THEM FOR AFTER YOU GOT THROUGH WITH THE.M., AFTER THEY GOT WORN DOWN? No, not nothin' only thrash peas - I have thrashed peas with my breshbrooms a lot of times after it got wore down. AND HOW WOULD YOU DO THAT? Have a big sheet of peas and just take rut and beat 'em you know. AND THIS WOULD SHELL THE PEAS OUT OF THE HULL? 29 Uh-huh. Then you'd get down and rake up your pieces, hulls, and put 'em in a basket. HOW LONG DID A BROOM USUALLY LAST YOU? As I say, I generally got me one every week. BUT YOU COULD HAVE USED IT AFTER THAT? 0 yes, you can use them several times, but I always wanted a good breshbroom cause I wanted that yard to look ... DID YOU STRIP THE LEAVES OFF OF THEM? o yes. HOW DID YOU DO THAT? W'.ith your hands. DID YOU USE ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT? Just your hands to strip the leaves off. That;s how come me with that crooked finger? STRIPPING LEAVES? I was cutting me a breshbroom when I lived in Alabama and I hit it right there on that knuckle with a pocketknife. Ji"was cutting that breshbroom with a pocketknife, and I mean it was sharp. Hit that finger and cut it and made it crooked. HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN THAT HAPPENED? Oh, I guess I was about 19 or 20. It was when Wilma was a baby, 19 or 20, I guess. WELL, WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE A SAND YARD NOW TO SWEEP OR WOULD YOU RATHER KEEP GRASS? Well, I love a clean yard but since I've got the grass, I 30 guess I druther have it now, here, cause I'm not able to dig, you know. Boy, I love a good clean yard; I just love it just as clean - pretty white sand on it you know. DID YOU ALWAYS HAVE THAT KIND OF YARD WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, AS FAR BACK AS YOU CAN REMEMBER? Not always, but after I got grown and married, my yards were beautiful. Oh, it was just as smooth as it could be. The rest of Mrs. Brown's interview, while interesting, is not essential to the content of my paper. INDEX TO PICTURES 1. Mrs. Pearl Eidson 2. Mrs. Eidson, demonstrating removal of leaves from brushbroom 3. Mrs. Eidson, demonstrating the tying of a sage broom 4. Brushbroom and Sage broom, to compare types of tying and wrappir:g of string 5. Mrs. Addie Mae Yancey 6. Mrs. Ludie Turner 7. Mrs. Mary Brown 8. Mrs. Ruby Lane, and sister Maggie 9. Small dogwood tree that Mrs. Lane said would make a "good breshbroom" . r I I i 3 4 -r--- --:;;,_ -------:/ / I A PDF transcript exists for this recording. Please contact an archivist for access. Professor John Burrison founded the Atlanta Folklore Archive Project in 1967 at Georgia State University. He trained undergraduates and graduate students enrolled in his folklore curriculum to conduct oral history interviews. Students interviewed men, women, and children of various demographics in Georgia and across the southeast on crafts, storytelling, music, religion, rural life, and traditions. As archivists, we acknowledge our role as stewards of information, which places us inaposition to choose how individuals and organizations are represented and described in our archives. We are not neutral, andbias isreflected in our descriptions, whichmay not convey the racist or offensive aspects of collection materialsaccurately.Archivists make mistakes and might use poor judgment.We often re-use language used by the former owners and creators, which provides context but also includes bias and prejudices of the time it was created.Additionally,our work to use reparative languagewhereLibrary of Congress subject termsareinaccurate and obsolete isongoing. Kenan Research Center welcomes feedback and questions regarding our archival descriptions. If you encounter harmful, offensive, or insensitive terminology or description please let us know by emailingreference@atlantahistorycenter.com. Your comments are essential to our work to create inclusive and thoughtful description.