Mississippi Moments Podcast

Ellen McCarley grew up in Port Gibson, but sent summers with her family in rural Claiborne County. In this episode, she recalls helping her mother load the car with food and supplies for the weekly trip to the old homestead. Much of their time was spent at a favorite swimming hole on Bayou Pierre creek. McCarley remembers catching rides there on her uncle’s Model T and eating tomato sandwiches. Al...

  In the 1930s, Nathan Jones of Russum provided for his family by raising cotton part of the year and cutting timber the rest of the time. During hunting season, Jones and his brothers would also supplement their incomes by selling animal pelts.   For them, it wasn’t hunting for sport, it was hunting for survival.   In this episode Jones explains how they would ship the pelts to St. Louis for expo...

  Libby Hollingsworth grew up in Leland, Mississippi, but spent summers with her grandparents in Port Gibson. In this episode, s he remembers the quiet routine of reading, crafting, afternoon visits and long evening walks they kept during those summers. According to Hollingsworth, the lifestyle of Port Gibson residents in those days was peaceful and orderly.   Years later, Hollingsworth moved to P...

Gulfport native John C. Robinson moved to Chicago and became a pilot after graduating from the Tuskegee Institute in the early 1920s when blacks were considered incapable of grasping the principles of aviation.  He did this by taking a job as janitor of the Curtis Wright Flight School and earning the respect of one of the instructors. After graduating, he stayed on as an instructor and helped othe...

Wendell Taylor of Gulfport became a Methodist minister in 1937. In this week's episode, he discusses Gulfside Assembly, a retreat for black Methodists located in Waveland. Gulfside was founded in 1923 to provide spiritual, educational and recreational facilities to African-Americans who were denied access elsewhere because of segregation. Taylor remembers the outstanding church leaders who were ed...

Reverend Harry Tartt grew up in North Gulfport in the 1920s. In this week's episode, h e explains that at that time, the black community accepted segregation as a fact of life. Tartt recalls being made aware of lynching at a young age and how it was used to control the black community. It was only after Tartt moved to Chicago to attend college that he began to see that there was a world beyond the...

Martin Huggins grew up on the family farm in the Biggersfield community near Rienzi. In this episode, he shares his memories of Grandpa Huggins including his remarkable way with the livestock. This episode has it all: car-surfing goats, the dreaded cane of justice and 12 year old chauffeurs--you know, typical farm life.

   Alfred Brown, Junior, grew up in the historic Soria City neighborhood of Gulfport during WWII. In this episode, he describes how his father sold fish in their back yard for extra money.    Brown remembers how Soria City residents took pride their neighborhood and looked out for each other. He recounts how his father would often give away fish to those in need. (photo is of the Soria City Lodge,...

The Center for Oral History has proudly preserved the stories of hundreds of US veterans. In this episode, B-24 bomber pilot C.R. Cadenhead of Greenville recalls his crew of 'misfits' and a much welcomed escort by those Southern gentlemen, the Tuskegee Airmen.  

When Willie Cox of Pas Christian was discharged from the Army in February of ’67, he planned to live in the Washington DC area. In this episode, Cox explains how an unexpected job opportunity changed those plans.   The Civil Rights movement brought increased job opportunities for African-Americans.   Cox recalls how two of his co-workers became the first black train engineers. After three years as...

After leaving the Army, Charles Dubra became a longshoreman in Gulfport.   He recalls how an injury on the job led him to go into business for himself. He also explains how he made the transition from entrepreneur to teacher.    

David Hall began attending the Thirty-third Ave Elementary School in Gulfport in 1935. There were no buses for black school children then. He recalls how the teacher would help the children warm their hands on cold mornings.  He also remembers one teacher who would buy lunch for students who were hungry.      

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works program for single, unemployed men, between the ages 18 and 25, during the Great Depression. In 1936, Taylor Howard of Gulfport, dropped out of school to help support his family. He recalls his decision to join the CCC and describes the work he performed in the Desoto National Forrest and elsewhere as a member of the CCC.            

As the Seventh of fourteen children, Jimmie Jenkins of Gulfport was always looking for ways to make money. He and his brother caught and sold crabs door to door as kids.  Later, Jenkins worked in the kitchen of the Edgewater Hotel. After returning from the Army, he returned to kitchen work shucking oysters at Fairchild's Restaurant and finally working at Carl's Beef Bar- home of the "famous Wheel...

In 1964, a group of young professionals in Jackson began thinking about forming their own theatre company.   James Child discusses the decision to open the New Stage Theatre. Child also recalls the challenge of finding a place to stage their productions with practically no money to spend and shares his memories of the opening night of  New Stage Theatre’s first production: Who’s Afraid of Virginia...

L.T. Martin of Smithdale, grew up on his family’s farm in Franklin County.   In this episode, h e shares the history of the “old home place”. Martin recalls how his father would grow cotton each year with the help of tenant families and  how his role in the family business evolved over time.

In addition to being a farmer, Jeremiah Barnett was also a traveling minister. Laurel native, Lounett Gore describes her father’s ministry and his style of preaching. After WWI, Barnett helped establish churches across Mississippi.   Gore recalls her father’s skills as an orator and organizer and how as she got older , she would travel with her father and help out by teaching hymns to the new cong...

Thomas Gonzales, Sr. was born and raised on Delacroix Island. He recounts how his family came to the area. Gonzales also explains how his father and grandfather taught him to fish the Gulf using traditional methods brought over from Spain and why fishing  was more than a way of life—it was freedom.  

Ruthie Mae Shelton grew up on her family’s farm in Marshall County.   At the age of nine, she began helping tend their cotton crop. Shelton recalls how her uncle would plant the cotton seeds. Picking cotton by hand is physically demanding.   Shelton remembers how the cotton bolls would sometimes prick her fingers and how “stinging worms” would cause welts. Through trial and error, Shelton learned...

Born in 1885, Charlie Ainsworth of Hattiesburg began cutting trees as a teenager in the Piney Woods. Despite the long hours of difficult labor, he recalls that the logging crew would sing while they worked. Logging was dangerous work and many men lost their lives. Ainsworth remembers how his last saw partner was killed by a falling tree. Cut logs were hauled to the sawmills by train.   Ainsworth d...

Tom Brumfield and M.R. Reeves of McComb began working for the railroad in 1941. They explain how their family and friends influenced thir decision to become firemen shoveling coal into the massive steam locomotives. Railroading has always been a dangerous business.   Reeves recalls the time a locomotive he was on hit a car and went off an embankment.  

With no work and no prospects at home, many men decided to travel for free by freight train looking for work during the Great Depression. Jim Kelly was a railroad telegraph operator in the 1930s. He recalls the large number of migratory workers or hobos that passed through English Lookout. Hobos were always looking for their next meal. Kelly remembers how one made off with a prized watermelon. Lif...

Easter Weekend of 1979, the Pearl River flooded, displacing some 17,000 families in the Jackson area alone. Ray Pope was the Jackson Police Chief at that time.   He recalls the tireless efforts of his officers to warn those in the path of the flood. With so many driven from their homes, there were concerns that widespread looting would take place. Pope expresses his opinion of why looting wasn’t a...

Elbert Seal was born in 1892 in Harrison County. He recounts how his mother began homesteading land in Carnes, Mississippi after the death of his father. After serving in World War I, Seal felt restless back on the family farm. He recalls how he and his cousin went to Kansas for a while to help harvest wheat. In the early 1900s, several Southern states made it illegal to transport cattle across st...

Charles Grant began his career teaching in a one room school house in Basin, Mississippi during the Great Depression.    He recalls what it was like to be a “faculty-of-one” at White’s Creek African-American school. Grant remembers the effort that went into improving and expanding the tiny school. The school’s success was not without growing pains.   Grant details the reluctance of some school sup...