Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section068/Bertha Medlin

Overview

Bertha Medlin was a white schoolteacher born in Siler City, North Carolina in the late 1800s. She was interviewed by Katherine Palmer for the Federal Writer’s Project in March of 1939.

Biography

Early Life

Bertha Medlin grew up in East Siler City, NC. She lived with her two parents and older siblings Ted, John, and Lucy. Her family lived on a farm and was poor, but they had enough money to get by. Bertha helped her mother with farm chores by the time she was 6 years old. She loved school and attended Siler City grade school where she discovered an early love for teaching. In grade school, she was described as a favorite among her teachers. She said that she was liked by other girls but remembers a time where she was the last girl to be chosen by the boys in her grade to be a partner for a picnic. Eventually, conditions at her home grew better when her older sister married a “prosperous farmer.” and her brother John worked a job at a mill. In high school, Bertha discovered a talent for mathematics and English. During this time her mother, Helen, began to get pains in her side and fell ill.

Early Career

Similar to this group photo of Annajah College, Bertha taught children aged 6-21 in the same classroom at Hickory Mountain.

Before attending college, Bertha decided to find an early career in teaching. She easily passed teaching examinations and looked for an open teaching position. Bertha eventually found a job in the fall of 1909 at Hickory Mountain in Chatham County with a pay of thirty dollars a month. Bertha taught thirty students ranging in ages from six to twenty-one in a one-room schoolhouse. It is said of the students, “The ones who attended regularly did so because they had grown fond of Bertha and wanted to please her, rather than from any deep-rooted desire to learn.” After working 1 year at Hickory Mountain, Bertha was forced to return home from 1910 to 1917 to care for her sick mother.

College and Love Life

In the spring of 1917 Bertha’s mother passed away and Bertha begged her father to allow her to attend college in order to find a better teaching position. She decided to attend the Greensboro Woman’s college but visited Hickory Mountain once more before she left for Greensboro. While at Hickory Mountain, she met and engaged a man named Fred Andrew. Bertha was loved by many at the Women’s college and took a job in the library to help pay for tuition along with other side jobs and a small amount sent from her father. During her time in college, she continued to communicate with Fred Andrews, who eventually sent her a diamond ring. Bertha graduated in June and married Fred soon after in July.

Mid-Life and Teaching Career

Fred Andrews bought a house on Homer Street in Siler City where they both moved in together. Fred worked as a “lumberman” and received a decent income. Bertha got a job at Silk Hope teaching the third grade while receiving seventy dollars a month and held the position for 7 years. She then transferred to a school at Staley, where she was offered a higher salary of seventy-five dollars a month. She stayed at Staley for 10 years and in her tenth year, Fred died from pneumonia and Bertha was widowed without any children. She rented out extra rooms in her house to other couples, including her older sister and her husband. Bertha began teaching the third grade at Ramseur in Randolph County for ninety dollars a month. Despite growing problems throughout the school, Bertha dreamed of better working conditions and resources. During this time, Bertha developed asthma and received asthma serums from Duke Hospital. The interview ends with Bertha realizing that and instructor was about to be fired at Ramseur and wondering if she was the one who would be let go.

Social Context

The Progressive Era

Throughout the Progressive Era, women advocated for their right to vote. This right was granted and protected when Congress passed the 19th amendment to the constitution on August 18, 1920.

The Progressive Era was a period of economic, political, social, and moral reform between 1897 and 1920 in the United States. Movements and laws relating to the progressive era include Prohibition, child labor and sweatshops, immigration reform, anti-trust laws, and women’s rights and suffrage. Muckraking, a type of journalism, reveled the horrors of child labor, government corruption and racism which inspired public figures to fight for more direct control of the government by the public. At the state level, laws were enacted that created a minimum wage for female workers, restricted and regulated child labor, and improved factory regulations. At the national level, the 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th amendments were added to the Constitution of the United States. Regarding women’s rights, the right to vote would now be protected against discrimination based on sex.

Trends of Female Fertility and Women’s Rights

In the early 19th century, fertility rates were high with each woman having an average of 7 children in the United States. By the next century that number halved to an average of 3.5 children per white American wife. Throughout the mid 19ths century to early 20th century, fertility rates dropped as women gained access to higher education and began to enter the workforce. By 1880, there were about 40,000 women enrolled in higher education institutions. However, “educated women were still expected to uphold the image of Southern gentility and domesticity.”

Women Teacher’s Rebellion

At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of female teachers increased drastically due to the Women Teacher’s Rebellion from the 1890s to 1910s. At that time, nearly 75% of teachers were female, although women were not as present in administrative roles. Eventually, “They [women] gained better (and eventually equal) pay, pensions, and tenure.”

References

Barnes, Susan D. Rise and Resilience of Women's Colleges. Journal of Intercultural Disciplines 14 (2014): 71–84.

Interview, Palmer, Katherine. On Bertha Medlin, Life of a School Teacher. March 1939, Folder 688, Federal Writing Project Papers, Southern Historical Collection, UNC Chapel Hill

Newman, Louise Michele. White Women's Rights: The Racial Origins of Feminism in the United States. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999.

Only A Teacher: Teaching Timeline. PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. https://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/timeline.html.

Overview of the Progressive Era. Digital History. https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraid=11&smtid=1

Rowland, Debran. The Boundaries of Her Body: The Troubling History of Women's Rights in America. First ed., Sphinx, 2004.