WEBVTT 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:39.000 Peter Gottlieb: This is an interview with Mr. Lee T. of 612 Hawkins Avenue, North Braddock, Pennsylvania. Recorded at Mr. Lee T.'s home on-- May 26th, 1976. [audio cuts] 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:51.000 Gottlieb: The way I usually begin is to just ask people could they tell me something about the family that they grew up in. About their mother and father and where they were born and came from. What kind of work they did and things like this. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:58.000 Lee T.: I lived in South Carolina with both of them. They worked on a farm. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:04.000 Gottlieb: Do you know what part of South Carolina? 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:09.000 Lee T.: Union and [??] South Carolina. 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:12.000 Gottlieb: Did you know your grandparents at all? 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:16.000 Lee T.: No. Didn't know them. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Gottlieb: So both your parents were working on farms. Lee T.: Mhm. Gottlieb: Did your father rent that farm or did he own it himself? Lee T.: He did own. Gottlieb: Can you tell me what kind of farm it was? Something about the farm. What kind of things you raised on it? 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:42.000 Lee T.: There were cotton, corn, and hogs and cows. Corn, cotton, hogs and cows. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.000 Gottlieb: Did he make a pretty good living or? 00:01:45.000 --> 00:02:08.000 Lee T.: Very well. We had plenty to eat. Plenty to eat. Kill your own meat. Got your own chicken and eggs. Your own dogs go to hunting when you want. Your own fishing tackle to go to fishing if you felt like. Nothing but a pole, you know? 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:11.000 Gottlieb: Were they renting from White people? 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:12.000 Lee T.: Yeah. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:22.000 Gottlieb: Do you, do you remember what kind of arrangement it was? Was he on halves or what-- did he pay him a money? 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:54.000 Lee T.: No, it was sharecrop. Just where you do it like. Speaker3: Yeah, sharecrop. Lee T.: Right. Yeah, that's like if you got two bales of cotton. He got one. You got one. That's the way it goes with us and so on. Yeah, you just divide it down the line. Now, mind you, didn't have to divide the chickens and hogs. Right-- everything was raised on the farm. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:57.000 Gottlieb: Did he own his own work stock and tools and things like that? 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:13.000 Lee T.: Yeah. Now if you rent in half, you have-- you own your whole [??] If you rent then you own your wholes. If you rent you own your stuff. 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:16.000 Speaker3: I think we have the most [??] 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:39.000 Lee T.: You reckon on half? Yeah, if you-- but if you rent it he gone [??]. Speaker3: I remember when papa had something, you know? Yeah papa had like, about four or five I think. 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:46.000 Gottlieb: All the while that you were growing up in South Carolina, did your father stay on that one farm or did he move from-- 00:03:46.000 --> 00:04:57.000 Lee T.: [unintelligible]. We moved three times, and he went over he went over with Chester and rented or whatever. Right? I'm talking my daddy. Speaker3: I don't know, maybe papa did. Papa went to Houston and Wilkins and Waynesburg. Was it? Yeah. Houston and Waynesburg. He left Waynesburg. I think he bought a home. He got a farm over near Chester, on the other side of Chester, right up the York road on top of that lake. Lee T.: He would? Speaker3: Yeah. And like as soon as she bought one over there beside him because they had all that land in there together. They bought that land, and all that land and all together. Lee T.: They bought that. Lee T.: Yeah they bought that. I don't know whatever become of that land. [unintelligible] other land, there's things that start going down, you know? He had plenty of land. 00:04:57.000 --> 00:04:58.000 Gottlieb: Is this person you're talking about related to Lee T.? 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:02.000 Speaker3: This was his sister. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:06.000 Gottlieb: Ah. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:34.000 Speaker3: And, Lee. Lee was his brother in law? Was he your brother in law? Yeah he was your brother in law. I used to go down there and stay with him during the summer, you know? I'm from South Carolina, too. Gottlieb: Uh huh. Speaker3: I used to go down and stay with both of them, especially my great aunt, during the summer. My mother would do this to keep me out of trouble and what not. Keep me off the streets. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:47.000 Gottlieb: Did your father ever have any kind of, uh, work that wasn't involved with farming? Like on the railroads or [Lee: No] in a sawmill or anything like that? 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:51.000 Gottlieb: Did, did the children in the family have to help him out on the farm? 00:05:51.000 --> 00:07:00.000 Lee T.: Oh yeah, you better work. How the childrens gone eat if you ain't going to work. Man what are you talking to. Yeah, you kids, you-- I better not catch no kids lying dead in bed. He better get out of there before somebody up in the morning and don't no man wants to know why. You'll steam [??] your level out the bed. He'll steam you up. Speaker3: You know, it's a funny thing back then, you know. Lee: He'll steel [??] you boys is how I like a big [??]. Gotta get out of there. Speaker3: Most of the time people's like. I remember every morning we used to get up. I don't know why this coming back to me. We used to get up every morning, man. Like my boy let us do nothing, man. Before we start praying, you just have a word of prayer every morning. This is every morning, especially on Sunday mornings. Lee: Oh my God. You better not go to that table unless you get on these [??]. Speaker3: That's right. You thank the Lord for everything he did. Lee: You ain't you. But you know what, though? And hope and pray to God was dealt away now. And that way the boys wouldn't get into no trouble, man. They wouldn't. They wouldn't be on dope. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:08:25.000 Lee T.: They wouldn't be stealing, robbing and killing. I'm telling you. You got-- you got to get on these boys before you-- and hope was dealt away nice. And on Sunday morning, my God. You better get ready for that Sunday school. And before you eat, you going to get on here and get ready for church-- Sunday school. Speaker3: in the morning before you eat, papa used to tell, he blessed that whole house before you go to bed when you get at the table. he'd bless the table too. Lee: Nothing gonna change. Speaker3: You see so many kids today, man. Like-- they don't have no respect for their parents. Lee T.: Tell an old man to kiss his tail. Speaker3: Jump on him. That's something I never have done. I never have decepted you. I never have cursed you. I never have hit you. I never have done nothing. Lee T.: You got better sense. You got better sense. Speaker3: This is the way I was brought up. Lee T.: You got better sense. Speaker2: This is the way I was brought up. Like I never have cussed my mother. I never have hit her or nothing. That's something my mother don't like. I guess too much respect. Lee T.: If you talk back to her right now. Speaker3: Oh, yes. She's not gonna have it. Lee T.: She would hit you with any odd thing she could get her hands on. Oh, if you talk back to me. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:09:41.000 Speaker3: Most of the kids around-- I see so many kids around here that brag, man, all over, they don't have no respect. Lee T.: Tell those folks. Speaker3: Oh, man. Lee T.: I heard a boy say one time, he's a White boy now, in the mill. What did he call his papa? [laughs]He said, the old man was talking to me this morning and it hadn't been for mama, I would beat the-- so and so shit out. He cussed. Said, I would have killed him. What do you call that? He said, if Mama don't stop I would have beat the shit out of him. I would have killed my dad. Oh, son of a-- you know what I said? I went back and said-- we would call him Cowboy. He would have done it too, boy. I'll tell you. Speaker3: Too much wicked in the world. Evil. People ain't got no love in their hearts and stuff no more. I don't know. It was amazing thing would come over me. Lee T.: You better not. You better. You better leave and get out of here. What time? So you know-- Speaker3: That's true. Lee T.: And you know how to be driving too fast and going away. Yes sir. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:47.000 Gottlieb: What kind of work did-- what kind of chores did you have to do around the farm when you were growing up? 00:09:47.000 --> 00:10:49.000 Lee T.: Work on the field, man. Cotton, corn, plier, hoe, cut and grind. Anything. Cut hay. Stack it up for the women. Yeah, that's a good living now. Now I'm telling you. And in the wintertime, don't kill your own meat. Sometime in the summertime, the old fellow-- what's your name? Gottlieb: Peter. Lee T.: Peter. Sometime in the summertime, when you eat. Beginning to get a little bit of low. You got a little yelling about that, holler [??]. A little bull or something like that. On there and go out there. We'll kill that. Kill that beast tomorrow. Come on and see what I mean. Heating and kids running and playing and eating and outings. But you got wet now, old man. And when he tell you he's going to give it to you before you lay down the night, that's what was coming. Now he ain't gonna forget. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:11:07.000 Gottlieb: How many brothers and sisters did you have? 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:18.000 Lee T.: Five of them. Five sisters. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:39.000 Lee T.: Aunt Ella. Speaker3: Ella wasn't your sister was she? Lee T.: Yeah. Speaker3: Ella was your sister in law wasn't she? Lee T.: No, I ain't talking about. Speaker3: You're talking about Aunt Ella, the one-- Lee T.: No, no, no, no, no. Five. 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:43.000 Gottlieb: Just five sisters. And you were the only boy? 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:53.000 Lee T.: No, I'm the boy. That's right. 00:11:53.000 --> 00:12:20.000 Lee T.: I ain't got no brothers and sisters no more. You know I ain't. Speaker3: Yeah Henry-- Lee T.: Yeah. Died. Speaker3: Henry. Farrell. Arthur. And whats the one that was in Philadelphia? Lee T.: Uh. Speaker3: What was his name? 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:46.000 Speaker3: The one who died in Philadelphia not too long ago. Lee T.: Oh, Brook. Henry. Speaker3: What was his name? Henry? Lee T.: He had about four of them. About four I think. Four brothers. Lee T.: How many sisters? Gottlieb: Five. Lee T.: I think that's right, now I ain't going to guarantee you that. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:58.000 Gottlieb: Okay. Did you have anybody else living with you besides your parents and your brothers and sisters? Were you able to go to school very much down there? 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:22.000 Lee T.: Just as much as that telephone did. You know what that means? Gottlieb: Uh huh. Lee T.: Is that telephone been to school? Gottlieb: Uh huh. Lee T.: I ain't been to school three weeks in my life. I didn't have a chance to go to school. I'm glad I didn't go. Had I-- tunneled through like the rest of their kids and folks. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:28.000 Gottlieb: Was there a school near the place where you lived? Lee T.: It wasn't too far. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:39.000 Lee T.: Yeah and I'd tunnel through, Black-- quick I ain't got good sense now. Didn't want to do the things up there, but I used to got sense enough to stay out of trouble. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:46.000 Gottlieb: Uh, do you remember wanting to go to school? growing up? Do you remember wanting to go to school when you were-- you were growing up? 00:13:46.000 --> 00:14:13.000 Lee T.: Anyone went? Gottlieb: No. Speaker3: Did you want to go to school? Lee T.: I don't know, like you ask me a question I can't answer. I didn't know that much about school because we working all the time.Working the rest of us. But I would go to Sunday school. I guess that's why I know a little something about that now. We'd go to Sunday school, but this-- no, how am I the time to go there? 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:16.000 Gottlieb: Did, did any of your brothers and sisters have a chance to go? 00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:25.000 Lee T.: Two of them. I think. 00:14:25.000 --> 00:15:15.000 Lee T.: Yes. Well, we went to Sunday school now, but he's going to school. Speaker3: Worked all the time. Lee T.: Huh? Speaker3: Worked all the time. Lee T.: Yeah. But now, listen, you ain't got to lose me too much in questions and there-- Spearker3: Uh-- no. Lee T.: And I ain't know that these two out there with kids go to, they just go to school and you give them enough education to wind up in the electric chair, prison. All about killing. Stealing. Speaker3: I wouldn't say that. Lee T.: Well, the most of them do. Speaker3: I wouldn't say that. Lee T.: Well, how many times-- look how old I am. Speaker3: Yeah. Talking about an old school though. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:17:01.000 Lee T.: What old school? Speaker3: Old generation. Lee T.: Oh, yeah. Speaker3: So what I was doing was I got an education and don't know what to do with it. Lee T.: That's what I'm talking about. Speaker3: Yeah. They wind up in drugs and shit. They ain't doing anything-- Lee T.: They steal and they get on dope and do everything. You can hear them cussing in the street out there any time of night. Speaker3: They're the ones that [??]. The others work mines and things. Lee T.: Well, if they had any good sense they wouldn't be the other way. Speaker3: The ones that the parents don't care nothing about them. You know, you'd think-- you'd be surprised if the parents don't care nothing about the children and stuff? Just turn them out there. Go-- Lee T.: I never said they turn them out. Speaker3: Yeah, they said go. They don't care. You look at so many women now, a days. These kids out here in the street, playing all the time at night, you know where their parents and things is at? In the beer gardens. In the clubs. That's-- Lee T.: Some of them. Some of them sleep. I agree with you though. Speaker3: That's true. Lee T.: I agree with you there. Well, now listen. That book gone tell you kids that they have no knowledge of or understanding of doing good. Huh? Speaker3: True. Lee T.: You don't have no knowledge of doing good. Speaker3: Right. Lee T.: See? But they have the knowledge, the wisdom and the understanding of doing evil, but not to do good. They got all the knowledge of doing these evil things, but to do good, you know? Speaker3: Amen. Lee T.: If it's. If it's wrong, get out. That man right there. What trends now I have no idea. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:30.000 Lee T.: In other words, they go to school-- which I don't believe in no school books or some things like that. You better get off me and go to work, boy. So you don't have to drive too fast. Speaker3: I don't have to drive parents and drive no where. Lee T.: Okay, then go ahead. Okay. Right. Now. 00:17:30.000 --> 00:18:11.000 Lee T.: If he had the understanding, he would do good. If they had the wisdom and knowledge of doing good, you know what they would do? Huh? They would pause from death if they had good sense, wisdom and knowledge. Quick to see and pay attention. Okay. I can talk to you on this. I can talk on this telephone and talk to you the same time. Now, which I ain't got the sense, but now listen. If you had wisdom and knowledge. [audio cuts]. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:13.000 Speaker3: I don't care how bad it is. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.000 Gottlieb: How old were you when you came up here? 00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:19.000 Lee T.: Oh, I was a full grown man. 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.000 Gottlieb: Do you remember how-- what your age was? 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:26.000 Lee T.: Oh, I was old enough to get out by myself. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:32.000 Speaker3: About 21. 22 or 23. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:19:02.000 Lee T.: Are you trying to-- you're trying to put words in my mouth. Speaker3: No, no, I'm not trying to put nothing in your mouth. I'm just saying I think you were about 20. I know my mother was about 60-- My mother was 61. 62. She might not be 60, but my mother, when the three days-- she was about 2 or 3 weeks old when he come up there. Lee T.: How old, how old was she? She was about 66. 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:13.000 Lee T.: Oh, you trying to check up on me? Speaker3: And she's the baby. Yeah. Yeah, Lee T.: I'm older after that. Huh? 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:23.000 Gottlieb: So what year was that? Around 1916. 1917. 00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:28.000 Lee T.: 19? 00:19:28.000 --> 00:19:32.000 Gottlieb: I was just asking what year it was that you that you did come up here? 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:53.000 Lee T.: But yeah, I was running from the law when I come up here. Gottlieb: Is that right? Lee T.: No, I'm just kidding [laughter]. No, man-- Speaker3: Tell the truth. Your sister lied about that. Lee T.: He ain't got nothing to do but sit around here and talk. Is you? You got to turn this in? 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:55.000 Gottlieb: No, it's for me. 00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:09.000 Lee T.: That's for you. Oh, sit down, boy. Speaker3: Have to go to work. Lee T.: You know, I'm 87 years old, sonny boy. 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:10.000 Gottlieb: You're 87. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:35.000 Lee T.: I'll be 87 the 16 day of June, 1889. Ain't that funny, man? Sometimes I feel like. Sometimes I feel it all in my bones. Feel so good. I feel like I-- I feel like a bird out there. He ain't got nothing to do but [??] his wings and clean out. Somebody would make me feel good. So I can't on so bad. 00:20:35.000 --> 00:21:40.000 Speaker3: Yeah, you walk. He does a whole lot of walking and stuff too. You don't sit around and let your bones get stiff. Lee T.: I walked home as quick as I walk from here out to there and got a pass. I can ride em too. And it don't cost me nothing. So get out in Brighton. He always wanted to catch me right there. Soon, man. But catch me to stoke. But as I got a whole lot of stuff riding on me. All right. Like what I can put in my shopping bag and bring home in my hand. But I won't ride in the car. Speaker3: Oh, rain might get you-- Lee T.: If it's rain. Yeah, I'll take you out there. I'll give you an out for rain so much. Speaker3: Yeah, you're right. Lee T.: No, you know I ain't supposed to get wet, but I got wet a lot of times because me and the doctor said not to get wet, but how many times I haven't gotten wet, so I ain't got no teeth in my head. You know who pulled him? Gottlieb: Who? 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:45.000 Lee T.: Who do you think? Gottlieb: I don't know. 00:21:45.000 --> 00:22:26.000 Lee T.: I got a piece in there. I broke it off, but I got them pulled. I'm gonna find pliers and do my own thing with your [??]. My wife is right there pulling teeth. And I pulled this all out in March. It wouldn't come out on there but when I pulled, need up there. I could get a pair of pliers. You wouldn't have to do it. Yeah. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:30.000 Gottlieb: What kind of work have you been doing in the South just before you came up here? 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.000 Lee T.: I told you, on the farm. 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:37.000 Gottlieb: You were farming yourself? You had your own place? 00:22:37.000 --> 00:22:43.000 Lee T.: No, I was renting. I was-- I was renting half and half. 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:46.000 Gottlieb: Is that in the same part of South Carolina where you had grown up? 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:48.000 Lee T.: Yeah. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.000 Gottlieb: Why did you decide to come up here? 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:55.000 Lee T.: Cause I got tired of it. [laughs] 00:22:55.000 --> 00:22:58.000 Gottlieb: Had somebody told you about Braddock? 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:59.000 Lee T.: No. Well, I went down and got on and left and come to Petersburg, Virginia. From Petersburg, Virginia, now and got ready to come up here. Fellas wanted to come up here cause they hear about it and blab. You know what, the boys was working on that, on a little old streetcar line that Run from Petersburg and Richmond. Got ready to come up here. You know, they'd go to Petersburg or Richmond every payday. I want the same. A little change. Got ready to come up here and none of them had money to come. And I paved the way because I could stay at home, get me a box of sound [??]. And I was on the rise. And I have enough to do in a week to cook for myself. Staying in the, in the second house, you know, and paved the way up. 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:05.000 Lee T.: Now that's why I be here. 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:13.000 Gottlieb: Did you work for a while in Columbia, South Carolina, before you moved to Petersburg? 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:27.000 Lee T.: No, I didn't work. No, I was [??] There wasn;t getting nothing. But there's enough throughout the house for the heat that's [??]. 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:31.000 Gottlieb: So you were married when you, uh, left South Carolina? 00:24:31.000 --> 00:24:55.000 Lee T.: My wife died. His, his mom. Speaker3: Grandmother. Lee T.: Who? Speaker3: My grandmother. Lee T.: Who? Speaker3: Your wife. Lee T.: I wasn't talking about [??]. I know. Oh you're talking about my wife. Yeah. That was his grandmother. 00:24:55.000 --> 00:25:03.000 Gottlieb: She. She died just before you left. Lee T.: Mhm, about-- 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:07.000 Lee T.: About two years of like this. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:10.000 Gottlieb: Did you try to keep on farming after she passed? 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:16.000 Lee T.: Yeah, one year. Then I give it up 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.000 Gottlieb: Had you been married to her very long at that time when she died? 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:28.000 Lee T.: Oh, pretty good. 00:25:28.000 --> 00:25:45.000 Lee T.: Your keys. You like me. I tell you when you put your keys down. [audio cuts]. Everything's all right. Yeah. You sure? Uh huh. Satisfied? Speaker3: See you later. Lee T.: Okay. 00:25:45.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Gottlieb: Did you-- did you know anybody up here when you first came up? Any friends?Lee T.: No. Gottlieb: Had. Had anybody told you about Pittsburgh? Well, why did you decide to come here instead of some other place? Lee T.: I don't know. I don't know. Gottlieb: You mentioned a group of other men that you helped to pay their way. 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:34.000 Lee T.: What was all this talking about-- about around Homestead belonging folks where you live. Long as he knows of me on Homestead. And I said, well, we'll find out how much he and I have gotten out from Richmond here. And so we come home and been around here. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:47.000 Gottlieb: Uh, did you know at that time when you first came up that they were transporting men from Homestead up here? I mean, from from Richmond up to Homestead. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:56.000 Lee T.: But now the next year, they transport. 00:26:56.000 --> 00:26:59.000 Gottlieb: Were these other men also from South Carolina? Were the friends-- 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:10.000 Lee T.: They were from different places. Some of them was out of Virginia. Atlanta. You know, whenever some of them was down and moves out. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:15.000 Gottlieb: They'd all gotten up there to Petersburg. 00:27:15.000 --> 00:27:21.000 Lee T.: Yeah. It's like, you know, it's like when you're all relying on the wrong fellow. 00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:28.000 Gottlieb: Were you working on a streetcar there in Petersburg? Is that what you were working on? Lee T.: Mhm working on the car line. Gottlieb: What kind of work were you? Were you driving the car? 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:36.000 Lee T.: No, just working, man. Working on the track. 00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:43.000 Gottlieb: When you came up here, where did you find a place to stay and how did you find a job? 00:27:43.000 --> 00:28:44.000 Lee T.: Well now and then, uh, I stayed in Homestead in Beachwood, and oh there was a woman called Miss Brown, and I met up with a fella called [??] Rusty. He's dead now. He knew about pretty good stuff. He said, why don't I go to the mills to get a good job. He said, I'll take you down there. I went down to the mills, old man give me a job and put me on the railroads. And I was working right over here to cast on this. I stayed here almost, almost a year I think and I was cold working mornings it was frosty in the morning and I quit. And I quit. Man I went on to get retirement. Police said he wouldn't give me no payments 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:50.000 Lee T.: And I went on out and-- he said he wanted me out. And I went on out. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:29:07.000 Lee T.: I was gave nothing. And-- all I got was time. I was out. I was out the Mill about a year and a half. 00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:48.000 Lee T.: I'm guessing I can be wrong. I'll tell you right now for your troubles. I was out the Mill I reckkon about a year and a half but I don't know. It could have been longer. It could've not been that long. And I went to Westland [??] with a contractor at Homestead, Charlie Brown. And when this job was finished, I went to drive in to a big grey house for a fella named-- were man was-- he had Homewood, ain't you? Gottlieb: Yeah. Lee T.: I was driving for a fella in Homewood. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:30:00.000 Lee T.: Yeah. And when I quit that I'd come back to the middle. Went to the open house and stayed there till I got fed up. And so, here I am now it. 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:10.000 Gottlieb: Was an open hearth in Edgar Thompson or over there in Homestead? Lee T.: Homestead. Gottlieb: Were you-- how long did you stay in that rooming house there with, uh, Mrs. Brown? 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:14.000 Lee T.: Now, I don't know. You know, I didn't put him down. I can't tell you that. 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:16.000 Gottlieb: Well, was it a half a year? A year or two years? 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:24.000 Lee T.: It was. This is nice as it could be to me at that time, which could have been worse or it could have been better. 00:30:24.000 --> 00:30:27.000 Gottlieb: Were there a lot of other men there who were also up from the South? 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:31.000 Lee T.: Oh, wasn't but two of there. 00:30:31.000 --> 00:30:34.000 Gottlieb: Uh huh. Did somebody recommend her to you? Is that how you found out? 00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:40.000 Lee T.: Rusty [??] As I told you. Rusty. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:48.000 Gottlieb: Um, you had children at the time you came up, didn't you? How long was it before you brought them up, or did they stay down? 00:30:48.000 --> 00:30:51.000 Lee T.: I let them stay. They stayed down. 00:30:51.000 --> 00:30:53.000 Gottlieb: Somebody taking care of them. Was-- 00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:10.000 Lee T.: The boy who was here right now. His mama was my daughter. She's dead. And they was well taken care of I would send money. They was well taken care of now. 00:31:10.000 --> 00:31:19.000 Gottlieb: Was one of your sisters or brothers taking care of them. Lee T.: Who? Gottlieb: Who was one of your sisters or brothers taking care of him? 00:31:19.000 --> 00:31:53.000 Lee T.: I had three. Now his mama was left there. Took care-- now my sister took care of his mom. What was up there. That's right. Took care of her. And the other two sisters took care. Marrying there, now. That was a long time ago. 00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:02.000 Gottlieb: You had three children when you left. Did you ever get remarried when you were up here? 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:16.000 Lee T.: Yeah. My wife died at 72, 7:30 in the morning. Right here in this house. She didn't die in here. That's why we-- she lived right here in this house. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:47.000 Lee T.: She died in the 94 Hospital. [unintelligible] My brother died in the 94 hospital. That hospital on-- on Forbes Street. 00:32:47.000 --> 00:32:50.000 Gottlieb: McGee? 00:32:50.000 --> 00:33:00.000 Lee T.: That isn't Mcgee. Gottlieb: I can't think of one on Forbes right now. Mercy? Lee T.: Mercy hospital. 00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:03.000 Gottlieb: Did you uses to go back down to South Carolina? 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:06.000 Lee T.: No. Wasn't nothing down there I wanted. 00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:08.000 Gottlieb: You never went back once you came up here? 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.000 Lee T.: No. What am I going back? What do I want down there? 00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:16.000 Gottlieb: See your folks. Lee T.: They got no people down there. They come here. Gottlieb: Did they come up here? 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:18.000 Lee T.: Come up here. Yeah. 00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:23.000 Gottlieb: Did any of them ever move up here? Stay? Lee T.: No. No. 00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:39.000 Lee T.: The reason I got by this house, but I haven't since I been-- since I've been in Pennsylvania. A house on [??]. Up on [??] 00:33:39.000 --> 00:33:50.000 Lee T.: I bought a house up here on the Hill. And the boy we raised, me and my wife raised the boy up. That raised the boy. 00:33:50.000 --> 00:34:37.000 Lee T.: And give him their house up there. Let's give it to him. And he and his wife bust up. She living and now he died. And sold our place to raise the children. And she went to getting sort of sickly too, where she couldn't get in and out back in the old times of the Hill and snow on the ground and can't get up the Hill with a car. And so she just-- well, we'll get this house up to ruin and give it to them and they separate it. And the house got burnt down. So we bought the seven years before, you know, before we move this in here. I don't want no part of ten on different things. 00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:45.000 Gottlieb: So you've owned three different houses. Lee T.: Mhm. Gottlieb: When did you move from Homestead? When they tore out the-- 00:34:45.000 --> 00:35:01.000 Lee T.: No, man. Let me see what I mean. I don't know. They moved. I don't know whether I moved-- been a long time. I don't remember, but I used to live up there. 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:06.000 Gottlieb: How did you like working up here in Pennsylvania compared to working on a farm? 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:20.000 Lee T.: Oh, all right. Anyway. Well, I can make a good living. That's why I like it. The living is pretty good. The living is pretty good. 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:32.000 Gottlieb: Did you think working in the steel mill suited you better than working outside, and you know, the fresh air? How people talk about the the country and how how it's better to work out there in the country than it is to work in a factory. 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:55.000 Lee T.: Well I said, in the mill ain't a bad place to work. Not for me it wasn't. Hard enough sometimes-- in the wintertime. If you're working inside you're all right. But in the summertime. You know, it's gonna be hot. Now. 00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:00.000 Gottlieb: Uh, were you on the labor gang when you started there on the open Hearth? 00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:02.000 Lee T.: Mhm. Yes. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:09.000 Gottlieb: Did, did you move up from there? Lee T.: Yes. Gottlieb: What other, what other kind of jobs did they put you at. 00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:17.000 Lee T.: Coal in the fire, third helper. Third helper. 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:20.000 Gottlieb: Did you get up to be a second helper ever? 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:33.000 Lee T.: Oh, yeah. Second helper. 00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:43.000 Gottlieb: Did you join a church in Homestead? Lee T.: No. Gottlieb: Did you used to go to church in Homestead? 00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:48.000 Lee T.: Yeah. Church every Sunday. 00:36:48.000 --> 00:37:13.000 Gottlieb: Which church did you used to go to? Lee T.: Southern Baptist church. Gottlieb: Why did you join that one and not, let's say, Clark Memorial? Why did you join Second Baptist, Uh, instead of maybe Clark Memorial? If that is true. You know, there's two Baptist churches in, uh, in Homestead. 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:16.000 Lee T.: You know, they told me you preach one and the other more than the other. 00:37:16.000 --> 00:37:21.000 Gottlieb: Right. Lee T.: You know, I know when I lived over there. 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:47.000 Lee T.: And now, some time I'll go up here to the church. Sometimes I'll go down to Braddock. I don't go to no particular church. Now this first one I think about. It's the one I go, whenever I go. Sometimes I don't go for none of them for about three or four. This a good one to go to in Braddock. 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:50.000 Gottlieb: What's the name of that one? 00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:59.000 Lee T.: Reverend Heath. Heath or heath. Quiet old man. He's so nice, my God. 00:37:59.000 --> 00:38:13.000 Gottlieb: Did you used to enjoy going to hear Reverend Milton speak? Lee T.: Yeah. You know him. Gottlieb: He died way before I was here. 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:30.000 Lee T.: Yeah, I went to him. Tall man. Good fella too. 00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:40.000 Gottlieb: Were you up here during the 1919 strike? Steel strike. 00:38:40.000 --> 00:39:01.000 Lee T.: 1919. I must be-- 00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:04.000 Lee T.: Oh, their strap was about old weed. 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:15.000 Gottlieb: When you came up? 00:39:15.000 --> 00:39:20.000 Lee T.: Yeah. When you get old, you forget about things. Gottlieb: Yeah. 00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:23.000 Gottlieb: You're doing pretty well. 00:39:23.000 --> 00:40:39.000 Lee T.: Man, I get lost so quick when I play [unintelligible]. Ralph said his dad, oh, they got a cottage on the lake. Something like that. Ralph said they'd be going on up there. And the old man said, Ralph I think you run by the place? So we do the towing right up there and you run, Ralph. And I said he don't never see his brother. I towed it right up here. Ralph said you'd be going right the whole time he'd be the old man didn't think so. You know what I mean. I said, well when you get up there boys and you-- you'll get lost all through your house and get down at that filling station. Can you see that filling station right there? That's a long time. About two months ago. That's a man that was born. I come down there this morning and got lost right down there for about 20 minutes. I had to think about where I live. That's what happened to old people. You live long enough, you see. Gottlieb: I hope so. 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:42.000 Gottlieb: I hope I do live long enough to see. 00:40:42.000 --> 00:41:10.000 Lee T.: Yeah. And don't know, man. That's where I got lost. Right there. That city, that day, you knew you would see us. I stopped to think about 15 minutes ago. I don't know why it'd come to me. Come on. 00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:17.000 Gottlieb: Did you get laid off from the mill in the 30s during the Depression? 00:41:17.000 --> 00:41:27.000 Lee T.: No. I went sometimes. One day a week-- two. You worked the day and go and get your money today. 00:41:27.000 --> 00:41:31.000 Gottlieb: They used to pay you after every day then. 00:41:31.000 --> 00:42:33.000 Lee T.: Mhm. Yeah. I've just raised someone standing there one time. So well then, and um, ask Mr. Brown. He'll know about some money. He went downtown to the man Downtown. And then this man called up then-- the head stuff, and, and then theEast then those fellas went to work this morning and come with get money that that eaten. Say you give it to them. If they work the work last night and want the money this morning you give it to them. And then on then we had a good time. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:37.000 Gottlieb: Did you were you able to, uh, pick up any other kind of work? 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:47.000 Lee T.: No, I was out of work. Well, they would pick up nothing. When they would pick up nothing. 00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:53.000 Gottlieb: So you just did. Did you used to go down to the mill every day to check and see if there was any work. 00:42:53.000 --> 00:43:00.000 Lee T.: Well, no. They tell you when to come back. Gottlieb: Uh huh. 00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:04.000 Gottlieb: How did you spend your time then, when you weren't working? 00:43:04.000 --> 00:43:32.000 Lee T.: I was street lighting and towing, playing cards for food. Sometimes I was getting a peanut a game. Oh, about seven, eight of them. And none of us didn't have no bike or sometime. Sometimes couldn't give it to you back or nothing. Isn't that-- I tell you. Oh, thank God we all [??]. 00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:38.000 Gottlieb: Did you ever meet anybody in Homestead or in Braddock who was from the same part of South Carolina you came from? 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:40.000 Lee T.: Oh, a whole lot of people. A whole lot of em. 00:43:40.000 --> 00:44:04.000 Gottlieb: Did you ever meet anybody that you had known down in South Carolina? Were you ever a member of any kind of fraternal organization or anything like that? Lee T.: What do you mean? Gottlieb: Like the Masons, the Oddfellows, The Elks? Lee T.: No. 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:11.000 Lee T.: [unintelligible] 00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:13.000 Gottlieb: You were, you were a member of Knights of Pythias? 00:44:13.000 --> 00:44:20.000 Lee T.: Yeah. All that's really [??] 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:22.000 Gottlieb: Why do you suppose that happened? 00:44:22.000 --> 00:45:22.000 Lee T.: I don't know now. It just went down.