Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105i/Section 50/Mrs. Brown
Mrs. Brown[edit | edit source]
Mrs. Brown was a white woman, a farmer born in Durham county, North Carolina state, seven miles west of Durham city. She rasei up up a family with 9 children and was busied at her farm and house work.
Both Mr.Brown and Mrs. Brown barely went to school. She only had 2 terms when she was school but she was able to spell some easy words. She married to Ms. Brown when she was young, she, her husband and her father lived in together. Mrs. Brown had 9 children, three of her children were working in the city. The year gap between the oldest child and youngest child was 21 years, but they are all close connected. Because of too much children, Mrs. Brown and her husband spend most her money to raise them. Her house was, according to the interviewer, a “shattered” building, but Mrs. Brown kept clean the house, feed the children and cattle, wash and sew her children’s clothes. She and the family rented three hundred acres farm but still worried if the land could make enough profits. She was still nervous about the rent payment each month. She owned 2 cows, around 67 chickens and 4 dogs. The planted food mostly from their farm and aimed to plant 4 acres tobacco in the future. Mrs. Brown eager to let their children receive education, she acknowledged the importance gaining knowledge for them. Mrs. Brown was proud of her children, couples of her children sang in the church, and they were picked to sing in the all-state contest held in Chapel Hill.
Personal life[edit | edit source]
Mrs. Brown and her family lived in poverty. The house they lived in was built by Mr. Brown, but according to Mrs. Brown, the house still lacked with bathroom when interviewer came in, because the landlord didn’t allow. Nevertheless, Mrs. Brown was a diligent and optimistic person. She loved all her children and took care her children in all aspects. Mrs. Brown gave radio to her sons who like to sing, but they wouldn’t afford many batteries after all. She’s skilled at farm work, house work and also an expert of tobacco.
Social Context[edit | edit source]
Poverty during the Great Depression[edit | edit source]
The Great Depression caused huge unemployment rate, government was unable to help people from poverty and charity could only offered limited assistance to the poor. The Great Depression not only harmed the industrial business but also the farmer, since price dropped very low, many farmers became bankrupt and were in debt. Some farmers even burned their corn because corn was much cheaper than the expected. Because of the hardship in farm, some farmers even threatened the judge to make promise protect their business, unfortunately government couldn’t help them either. Nevertheless, farmers lived better than people in urban, because they could produce their own food.
women in the Great Depression[edit | edit source]
Unlike men, number of women worked in industry rose 24 percent from 1930 to 1940. It was because “women’s work” were less impacted by stock market, they were employed by more stable industries like domestic, teaching and clerical work, though the paid were far less than men’s work. White women had more options to choose where to work, such as nurse, clerical, teaching service, but black and Hispanic women were constrained to domestic works.
References[edit | edit source]
Margo, Robert. “Employment and Unemployment in the 1930s,” 1992. https://doi.org/10.3386/w4174. Cunningham, Charles. “‘To Watch the Faces of the Poor’: Life Magazine and the Mythology of Rural Poverty in the Great Depression.” Journal of Narrative Theory 29, no. 3 (1999): 278–302. https://doi.org/10.1353/jnt.2011.0072.