Maria Hicks interview with Sidney Walker, March 16, 1974
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Oral history of Sidney Walker on March 16, 1974 by Maria Hicks. Mr. Walker’s parents were sharecroppers and he lived in Scott, Arkansas, during the Great Depression.
Transcript
MR. WALKER: My parents came from around Tunica, Mississippi. They were sharecroppers, later they owned their own farm. They did not really like sharecropping, because at the end of the year…at the end of the year you never ended up with nothing. My parents were two of the happiest people, although they had many problems…
During my time school only went to the sixth grade. If you finished the sixth grade it was a proud thing to do. Well, I finished the sixth grade. I had planned to go to Shorter College in Little Rock, Arkansas. I really wanted to become a teacher but my parents were not able to send me to college. We did not have opportunities like children of today, grants and other aides from the government. The government was in poor condition at this time and they did not have any money…
There were almost no job offerings during the depression so a man had to work on a job in order to feed his family, so I worked chopping and picking cotton, for .75 cents a pound. Prices were low for food so .75 cents was a nice sum of money.
MARIA HICKS: What kind of foods did your wife prepare for you?
MR. WALKER: My wife prepared just what we had in our garden –greens, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob or fried corn and okra. When you talk about the thirties you are talking about some hard times. People were glad to get anything to eat, especially the ones who had large families and the ones who did not have families…
I would like to say one last time that the 30’s were hard times and people these days cannot appreciate what they have now.
Questions:
Summarize Mr. Walker’s memories of living in Arkansas in the 1930s.
How did the Great Depression affect Mr. Walker and his family?
What questions do you have after reading this oral history?