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Proyecto de Historia Oral Mawtini
<p>A native of Arkansas, Crosby Brittenum (b. 1899) was working as a waiter in Saint Louis when a step-uncle paid for his ticket to Philadelphia in 1920 so that he could read for him. There he did hotel work and then worked as a barber for more than 50 years. In his 1984 interview, Brittenum talked about his early life in Arkansas, his first impressions of Philadelphia and misconceptions of race and ethnicity, and how he would return to Broad Street Station to watch the arrival of hundreds of southern migrants. Saved AGAIN</p>
<p>A native of Arkansas, Crosby Brittenum (b. 1899) was working as a waiter in Saint Louis when a step-uncle paid for his ticket to Philadelphia in 1920 so that he could read for him. There he did hotel work and then worked as a barber for more than 50 years. In his 1984 interview, Brittenum talked about his early life in Arkansas, his first impressions of Philadelphia and misconceptions of race and ethnicity, and how he would return to Broad Street Station to watch the arrival of hundreds of southern migrants. Saved AGAIN</p>
Brittenum discusses his journey from his home state of Arkansas to Memphis, Tennessee, where he began working in hotels. From there he traveled to Saint Louis, Missouri on his way to Chicago but instead went to Philadelphia to read for his illiterate step uncle.
Brittenum shares how his education, only 2 or 3 months a year, ended after seventh grade.
Brittenum briefly summarizes his introduction to hotel work in Memphis, Tennessee, where he moved from the stockroom to employment as a waiter.
Brittenum talks about returning to Arkansas for induction into the military and how the armistice was signed before he and his brother were called up. He had planned on making money by loaning it before being deployed and was unaware of the racial tensions within the military.
When asked about a revolt by Black soldiers against white soldiers in Texas, Brittenum discusses his lack of access or motivation to access the news and then discusses the limited availability of Black newspapers.
Asked about white attempts to prevent Blacks from migrating north, Brittenum discusses what was taking place in the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and in his home state of Arkansas where the town patriarch would not allow violence against Black residents.
Brittenum talks of his desire to get a job and says that the step-uncle who brought him to Philadelphia left after his house was vandalized and robbed. Brittenum "ducked" them in order to stay in the city.
Brittenum describes his work history in Philadelphia as a dishwasher, hotel waiter, banquet manager at a YMCA, and his career as a barber from which he retired in 1980.
Brittenum says that he left the hotel business before Black workers were driven out of it by white immigrants (Italians, Portuguese). He shares that he worked at Green's Hotel where the Black employees performed mostly service jobs (waiter, busboy, maid).
Brittenum relates the difficulty young Black men and women had meeting rent and other expenses with their meager wages. He states that waiters may have been able to support a family but busboys could not. He then tells how he learned from his father how to cut hair and how this served him well in Philadelphia.
Brittenum explains the unspoken rule at the time that whites did not enter Black neighborhoods and vice versa for fear of violent reprisal. He then relates some experiences he had walking through the white section of Grey's Ferry unmolested and the awed and cautious reaction to this by one of his friends.
Brittenum discusses the tension between the Irish and Blacks in the Grey's Ferry area. He describes Black men’s belief that a white man could not fight a Black man barehanded and that the fights between Black men and Irish men were based in this fighting spirit and pride.
Brittenum discusses how he moved from Wharton Street in the Grey's Ferry neighborhood to Catharine Street. He then elaborates on the characteristics of Philadelphia’s neighborhoods: that West Philly was the "nice neighborhood," North Philadelphia was considered the roughest part of town, and South Philadelphia was something of a mix.
Brittenum says most young Black men and women either rented an apartment or a room in a private home. He shares the surprise he felt when he learned that women would rent rooms as well as men. He also reveals that these individuals lived very independent lives compared to what they had in the South.
While describing the droves of southern Blacks coming north by train, Brittenum shares that when he arrived he thought that dark skinned whites (Italians, Portuguese, Jews) were light skinned Blacks. He then describes the differences in complexion between these "dagos" and the paler, southern white "crackers" he was used to seeing. He also relates an instance from Little Rock, in which whites beat a "dago," apparently because he did not have a southern accent and was clearly not local.
Brittenum describes going to watch the trains bringing southern migrants into Philadelphia year round, many of whom had nothing but a small bundle of clothes and food; the sheer number of migrants made it impossible to tell who had a job or home and who did not.
Brittenum describes the difficulties southern migrants experienced adapting from the rural South to the urban North; he specifically notes the care and upkeep of houses in a neighborhood, wearing proper clothes on Sunday even outside of church, and his own experience of going out and buying pajamas after he learned that it was improper to wear underwear to bed.
Brittenum talks about the feelings of Blacks, then and now, who resent being their race or being labeled "Black." He then shares his surprise and appreciation for the history and accomplishments of African Americans about which he has read.
Brittenum says that eventually many southern Blacks adapted to life in Philadelphia but that instead of mixing with other communities and races they mostly kept to themselves and the Black community.