https://ohms.texascitylibrary-oralhistory.org/viewer.php?cachefile=2021OH_AAE002.xml#segment368
https://ohms.texascitylibrary-oralhistory.org/viewer.php?cachefile=2021OH_AAE002.xml#segment4066
Keywords: Amoco; Civil rights; Community activism; Demonstrations; Johnnie Henderson; Marches; NAACP; Non-violent protests; Poll tax; Protests; Union
Subjects: African Americans--Civil rights--Texas; African Americans--Segregation; Labor unions; Labor unions--Political activity; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Voting
MAYFIELD: Today is Wednesday, November tenth, and we are in Texas City, Texas
in the Parks and Rec meeting room in the Nessler Building. This is Theresa Mayfield, the Local History Librarian with Moore Memorial Public Library. I'm working on the African American Oral History Project, initiated by Moore Memorial Public Library to aid the African American community in building the historical narrative and to fill in the gap of the historical record. Today, we have the distinct pleasure of interviewing Daisy Belle Buster of Texas City. Daisy, it's a pleasure to see you today. Um, I'd like to ask if you could introduce yourself, um, starting with "My name is and I was born in--" and then just start telling us a little bit about yourself.BUSTER: My name is Daisy Buster. I was born and raised in Texas City, Texas.
And I've been here all my life. I haven't been anywhere else. I come with 00:01:00 my parents. And they all, um, um, both my parents came from Louisiana. My, my mother's from Franklin, Louisiana and my dad was from Jeanerette. Um, they're Oliver and Elnora Swan.MAYFIELD: What year did your family move to Texas City?
BUSTER: Nineteen twenty-six.
MAYFIELD: Nineteen twenty-six, okay. And when, and what year were you, what
year were you born?BUSTER: September 21, 1938.
MAYFIELD: Thirty-eight. Okay. And you said your family was originally from Louisiana?
BUSTER: Right.
MAYFIELD: Uh, do you have siblings?
BUSTER: Yes, I do.
MAYFIELD: How many siblings do you have?
BUSTER: My bro--, --I have ten brothers and six sisters that lived, um, with
us. Raised with us.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: My mother had eighteen children. My dad had two boys by his first
wife. So, that's twenty of us.MAYFIELD: Twenty of you. That must have been exciting at dinner time.
BUSTER: Very. Very. (laughs)
00:02:00MAYFIELD: (laughs) Um, so, uh, what was your family's economic
circumstances? With, with twenty children, you know, it must have been very interesting.BUSTER: Very interesting. Uh, my dad worked. He worked um, for Texas City,
all around. And uh, he traveled. We, we traveled right around in the area. We lived there. And uh, he worked for quite a few people that you might would know. I remember, uh, Mr. R. M. Orth was one of our men that he worked for. Roy Campbell, which my brother Roy, is named after, after.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Clarence Stoneburner, which my younger brother Clarence, is named
after him. Very interesting. He traveled around, hauling garbage, cutting the yards and different things in the city. He worked the wharf, so, he was pretty busy and the boys worked with him. My brothers worked with him a lot.MAYFIELD: Oh, your brothers worked with him.
00:03:00BUSTER: Right.
MAYFIELD: Uh, but you said, I think one time you mentioned that your father
was a preacher. Is that correct?BUSTER: Yeah, he was a preacher at the rest end of his life. He was a Mason--
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --and a, a preacher, yeah.
MAYFIELD: And what was your, --what did your mom do?
BUSTER: My mother never worked. Um, just at home.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: With the children, you know. She never worked outside of the home, so.
MAYFIELD: Well, that's a lot. And that could be enough, right?
BUSTER: Yes.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yes, ma'am.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. Uh, do you ever remember when was tight in your family?
BUSTER: Oh, yes, yes. But my dad always made a way that my brothers, my
brothers and sisters, everybody worked. We helped each other. So, we made it. We had a really good time.MAYFIELD: Yeah?
BUSTER: Enjoyed life. And, just, there's just so much to do with a large family.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah, you know. So, we, we really had a good time, growing up.
MAYFIELD: Did you have any other relatives living in Texas City also at the time?
BUSTER: One time my, my oldest sister was living uh, next door.
00:04:00MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Uh, the next lot from us. And uh, that was all the grandchildren,
nieces and nephews. They always come together. We always, --family always got together.MAYFIELD: What about um, your grandparents, uh--
BUSTER: My grandparents came here very seldom. We went to Louisiana quite a
bit. Growing up I distinctly remember going to my grandmother's and sleeping overnight there. My grandmother was sitting in a chair like something like this--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --and we had the pallet on the floor because it was only a
two-bedroom house. And uh, she watched over us while we slept (laughs) and wake up.MAYFIELD: Oh wow.
BUSTER: Yes.
MAYFIELD: She sounds like a, a wonderful lady.
BUSTER: Yes, and she was a beautiful lady.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And she was white and uh, my dad was Black, and uh--
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: My grandfather was Black, my grandmother's white.
MAYFIELD: What was your grandmother's name?
BUSTER: Dora Adams.
MAYFIELD: Dora Adams?
BUSTER: Williams. She was a Williams. Dora Williams Adams. Mm-hmm.
00:05:00MAYFIELD: Dora Williams Adams. Mm-hmm. And, um, how long were
your grandparents married?BUSTER: I'm not sure how long, but they were, I was smaller growing up.
My grandmother died in, in '50--, 1954--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: But I don't really remember my grandfather dying.
MAYFIELD: Okay. Okay.
BUSTER: I remember him dying, but not the year and things like that.
MAYFIELD: Um, did you uh, did you ever have, um, other contact with
other relatives, like your aunts and uncles?BUSTER: My Aunts--
BUSTER: Yes. My aunt and my uncles, um. We gathered a lot.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: My dad's brothers, --so, and Aunts and cousins. We always, we were
close, and we still are. (laughs)MAYFIELD: How many--
BUSTER: --Our family still are.
MAYFIELD: How many brothers and sisters did your dad have?
BUSTER: My dad had three brothers and one sister. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: And your mom?
BUSTER: Miss, my, my mom had one sister. There's no brothers. Just one sister.
MAYFIELD: My goodness.
BUSTER: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes.
MAYFIELD: They both come from a bit of a smaller family, right?
00:06:00BUSTER: Oh, yeah. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: (laughs) Um, so, growing up, what was your address?
BUSTER: I was born at 416 Fourth Avenue South. I can barely, barely remember
the house. I know it was a two-story house. But I was raised at 404 Third Avenue South.MAYFIELD: And how long did you live there?
BUSTER: Um, when I left home at twenty-one, I stayed with my parents, until
I was twenty-one years old.MAYFIELD: And how long was it from between when you moved from the 416th
uh, four one six, you said four one six--BUSTER: Four one six, Fourth Avenue.
MAYFIELD: Fourth Avenue, right. How, um, how, how long did you um, live at
the four one six Fourth Avenue? How--BUSTER: I was still a small child so I couldn't, I don't really remember
the date, but I was small and just remember living in a two-story 00:07:00house and then growing up in the four-bedroom house. (laughs)MAYFIELD: In the four-bedroom house, a bigger house, right?
BUSTER: (laughs) Yes.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: My dad had the four-bedroom house and a two-bedroom house on the--
MAYFIELD: --So, I imagine,
BUSTER: --uh, the whole area.
MAYFIELD: --that having eighteen to twenty brothers and sisters that it was
just you guys in the house, right? Your, your, --you the kids and your parents.BUSTER: Yes. Sometimes the grandkids would come and stay, yeah.
MAYFIELD: Sometimes the grandkids would come and stay--
BUSTER: --My mother had raised some of the grandkids.
MAYFIELD: Oh, okay.
BUSTER: Yeah, too, yeah.
MAYFIELD: Um, so, where was your neighborhood located? What, what part of,
of, so, uh, Fourth Avenue, you said? And--BUSTER: Uh, huh, South.
MAYFIELD: South and Third Avenue South. That's more on the east side of
Texas City, right?BUSTER: That would be like the south side. We were one block from the plants.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: One block would be south, and then to the east was two blocks over.
MAYFIELD: Okay. So, you--
BUSTER: Because the plants --Second [Ave] went into the plants and we
00:08:00had stores and places on uh, Second Avenue before. So, we were just, we were right in the Texas City disaster.MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Okay. So, you, because you were so close to the uh--
BUSTER: Yes. Very close. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. Uh, did your neighbors look after one another?
BUSTER: It was just like a big family.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Everybody helped one another. You know, we were kids playing, and if
we did something wrong, the neighbors and everybody, they were our parents (laughs). You know, they say it takes a village to raise (laughs) children and we were that village. (laughs)MAYFIELD: You were that village.
BUSTER: (laughs)
MAYFIELD: I was just actually thinking of that quote, when--
BUSTER: Yeah, yeah, the neighbors were very, very concerned about
children growing up and all and uh, they're very nice.MAYFIELD: Very nice neighbors?
BUSTER: We had a good, --we had a large family, but we had a good time.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: I got raised a good time. My dad was kind of strict with
00:09:00us, my mother, --but we were raised that way, you know.MAYFIELD: Yeah.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: It was good then.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Um. What was the racial make-up of your neighborhood?
BUSTER: We only, --mostly all Black and a few Spanish, and that's all. Very
few. And just in that area because, uh, the Medinas lived down on Second Avenue and um, uh, the Sitzbergers, and them lived down on Second, --they were raised, we were raised up. We were on Third, Fourth, Third Avenue and Fourth Street, and they were on Second and Second up in that area.MAYFIELD: Did they have a lot of kids too, I mean, they have kids too that
you could play with?BUSTER: They didn't have a lot of lot of kids that I knew of.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: That I can remember.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah. But we were raised up together. Uh, Jimmy and Richard
Medina, Robert and, the family. Medina, I said the Medina family was raised up. There were the ones closest to us.MAYFIELD: There were the closest to you guys?
BUSTER: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Um, did your neighborhood have a lot of social events? I
00:10:00know that um, everybody was close, but--BUSTER: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Not a, a lot. We had to um, liked to go, liked to go out
in a park and the recreation. We'd go to, Sanders Center was there for us to go to. And the pool and different, Wisby's ice cream parlor was there for us. We'd leave church and we had the park. Sanders Center was our park that we'd attend. So, it's very interesting, very nice.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Very interesting. Yeah, you know.
MAYFIELD: Seems like a really nice neighborhood to grow up in.
BUSTER: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Everybody was like a big family.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: (laughs) Around there.
MAYFIELD: So, what about holidays? Uh, were there any special holidays that
you guys, --that you liked to celebrate?BUSTER: Well, we did Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's holidays.
The Nineteenth of June. And, uh, mostly the traditional.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. Did you have any traditional foods that you
00:11:00would, uh--BUSTER: Chicken. We didn't have the turkey as much till later, but ham, and
one of the biggest dinner for, --I don't remember too much turkey, but unless we got, till we got older, you know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: As growing up as, before the disaster, was mostly ham and chicken
and, and the main basic, you know.MAYFIELD: So, it must be--
BUSTER: --Cakes and pies and things like that, we all--
MAYFIELD: So, it must be kind of interesting getting all of you around
the table, right?BUSTER: Yes. (laughs) Oh yeah, my dad was very particular about that.
MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: We had to eat at the table, then we had to sit on the side of a
big, long bench to listen to the Bible when he'd read to us and everything. We were brought up with that, you know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. He read the Bible to you guys at dinner time.
BUSTER: Oh, yeah. He would go over the stories with the Bible. We, as
young children, just felt like, oh, not again. (laughs) 00:12:00MAYFIELD: (laughs)
BUSTER: And uh, we, he, --but that was the way we were raised. And hadn't
gotten away from it. Quite a few of us still with it. (laughs)MAYFIELD: Oh, my.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Well, I know that we're--
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: -- actually we're going to talk about religion right now.
BUSTER: Uh, huh.
MAYFIELD: Uh, uh, so, what church did you attend when you were young?
BUSTER: We were raised, all seventeen of us, was raised up in Galilee
Methodist Church. And that was on uh, Eighth, right off of Eighth and Second.MAYFIELD: Eighth and Second?
BUSTER: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: And, um, what influence do you think that your church had on
you growing up?BUSTER: I, I really think that was the training and the meeting that we had
and going to BYPU [Baptist Young People's Union], and the different activities had a lot of meaning for us. Letting us know that God is God and He is still in charge, you know. We were raised up with very little money, but we still would go to church and I'd pretty much go all day if my dad 00:13:00didn't take us. Mr. Henry would pick us up. Mr. Fuller would take us, and it was always like five or six of us going in, in that car, you know. (laughs) And they would, if, --they would pick us up and make sure we were there and bring us back home after church, you know. Very interesting, in, at that time, I guess I was more, because I was the secretary. It looked like everywhere that I went even at school, I was the secretary (laughs). So, it was very interesting and educational too.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: But they want us to know that what the Bible meant, to read
and understand it. And that--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: This is where I got my reading. And I love to read, and I've gone
over the Bible from beginning to end, several times, so. And quite a few, and I got, a few, three preachers in uh, in the family, and deacons in the family, quite a bit. Ten brothers that uh, and six of them went to the service. 00:14:00And real good. Had real interesting life. And they just taught us a little bit of everything that we need to grow up to learn.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And uh, how we would live, you know, ourselves when we get older,
you know. It's just like our teachers; they made a way for us to understand. We had a lot of Black history that we had to learn. Had to learn (laughs) to see where we come from, our forefathers had done for us. Yeah.MAYFIELD: So, you, you, um, what was the age difference between the oldest
child in your family and the youngest, because, you said that you would get driven to church, but I would imagine that um, there must of been a, a bit of an age gap--BUSTER: --Well, the boys always can, when they got up, they would, on like,
like on their own. Because, uh, then the girls and, and the younger boys always rode in the car with, with my neighbor, my dad, my brother-- 00:15:00MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --somebody was always, you know. And if we didn't, we'd walk you know--
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --to church, because it was just not very far away at all, you know.
MAYFIELD: How far was the church from your house?
BUSTER: Like uh, we were, we were on Fourth Avenue, lived on Fourth Avenue
and Third, --Fourth Street and Third Avenue, and the church was on Eighth and uh, uh Second Avenue. So, we just go a few blocks.MAYFIELD: Just a few blocks.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: So, I mean, religion is, uh, uh, obviously so important to you and
to your family--BUSTER: Yes. Yes.
MAYFIELD: --um, was there a pastor who uh, stood out to you as a child?
BUSTER: Yes, as a young girl, Rev. Perryman was the pastor of the
Methodist church. Of course, we all, --sometimes we didn't want to go there. We'd leave there and go to Barbour's Chapel, which was Rev., uh, R. J. Scott. And then Rev. Johnson was at First Baptist. All three of the churches in a row. 00:16:00MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: Barbour's Chapel, First Baptist. Barbour's Chapel, the ice cream
parlor, First Baptist, then the Methodist--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: -across the street. Barbour's was on Eighth Street--
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --you know.
MAYFIELD: So, depending on what you wanted as you got older, you could go to
any of those churches if you wanted--BUSTER: --Yeah, oh, yeah. We could, we could always go, but you know, all, most
of my friends went, when I didn't want to go to church, I would like to uh, go where my friends were.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: They were all at Baptist--
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --most of them. So, when we leave that church we would go to the
Baptist church, you know, well. And right now, I'm Baptist. (laughs)MAYFIELD: Oh, you--
BUSTER: When I got to be twenty-one, I decided I'm going to church when I
get ready, and so I changed to Baptist, you know.MAYFIELD: Mmm, interesting.
BUSTER: Yeah. And I'm still there at the same church. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Did your family have any, uh, issues with you changing religion?
BUSTER: No. Uh-huh. No. It was you know. When we, when we get
eighteen, nineteen, well, you're on your own pretty much. You know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Even though I started work at eleven years old babysitting
00:17:00at my sister's Rose place, and I stayed with them until I was graduated from high school.MAYFIELD: Mmm.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: I worked, I worked for the O. R. Snarr.
MAYFIELD: What was that?
BUSTER: O. R. Snarr was the family that I worked for, the Snarr family.
MAYFIELD: Oh. When you were babysitting at eleven--
BUSTER: --Eleven years old. And I stayed there until I graduated from high
school, you know.MAYFIELD: My goodness.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: That's a very long time.
BUSTER: Yeah. Beautiful family, too.
MAYFIELD: Yeah?
BUSTER: Even the girls now and boys now, still beautiful family. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Did you, --you said that, um, you know, -- so again, the church was
so important to you, what, uh, social groups or events did the church have for, um, the young people?BUSTER: We had the choir, and, uh, I was an usher on the usher board. Uh,
we helped children, the smaller children, and usher board and choir practice and different activities the church put on.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
00:18:00BUSTER: We would go to other, --visit other churches, you know.
MAYFIELD: You mentioned BYPU?
BUSTER: Baptist Youth, uh-huh. It's a, a good way, that students would,
not students. You would meet, the children would meet and, and go over the Bible--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --different section of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. It'd just
depend on what subject we going into.MAYFIELD: So, like Bible school, I guess?
BUSTER: Bible, like Bible studies.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah, and we still do Bible studies. You know.
MAYFIELD: So--
BUSTER: --But it was called BYPU [Baptist Young People's Union]. Mostly youth, uh-huh.
MAYFIELD: What does it stand for?
BUSTER: Baptist Youth. Oh, Baptist Youth, oh, um, Union, I've forgotten now.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. (laughs)
BUSTER: I shouldn't have. Don't let my pastor know that I've
forgotten that.(laughs) BYPU. We'd go to Bible studies and a lot of activities.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Sunday school was on Sundays, you know, evening. So, there
00:19:00was a lot of activities for us. And even more so at my church now because the, the Methodist church was somewhat different from the Baptist, you know. It was much smaller, and we were most of the children there. Our family being larger. And then our friends was over at the Barbour's at the Baptist church, you know.MAYFIELD: So, you had most of your friends were at the Baptist church?
BUSTER: Oh, so, yes. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Okay. I see.
BUSTER: Yeah. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Uh, so, can you share a little about your educational experience?
And you were talking about where you went to school. Where--BUSTER: Uh-huh.
MAYFIELD: What was the name of the school that you went to.
BUSTER: I went to Booker T. Washington.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And graduated from there an honor student. And uh, very active in sports--
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --and all the sports and uh, I was involved in so many. I don't know
how we did it, but we did it. I loved school and didn't want to quit. As a matter of fact, when I graduated, I just cried because I wasn't ready (laughs) 00:20:00to graduate.MAYFIELD: Well--
BUSTER: But um, I was in so much, so much, so many activities. At home it
was different because you go home and do your homework and do your work. But at school, you've got different activities. I sung in the choir. The glee club was something I was very interested in. I, I even boxed at home with my brothers. I had ten brothers, so if they all box so, (laughs) I was the tomboy of the family and I boxed. And I still like boxing. And--MAYFIELD: And you--
BUSTER: I still like to punch a bag.
MAYFIELD: I think you mentioned something about having a boxing ring in your house?
BUSTER: No. At the yard. We had a big house and a big yard, you know, area
come from the street to the alley.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Well, the whole side was a boxing ring. Where everybody would come
to box. And uh, from all, everywhere around. All of my brothers boxed you know.MAYFIELD: Did any of the girls' box with you? I mean--
BUSTER: Just me. I was---
MAYFIELD: Just you.
BUSTER: --the only tomboy (laughs) in the family.
00:21:00MAYFIELD: (laughs)
BUSTER: Yeah, I love it though. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: So, where was Booker T. Washington located?
BUSTER: Uh, seven and 702 Second Avenue, uh, uh, South.
MAYFIELD: Second Avenue South.
BUSTER: Everything South. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: And--
BUSTER: And uh, and it's on Eighth and Tenth Street. Eighth, Ninth, and
Tenth Street. Yeah.MAYFIELD: It was on Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Street?
BUSTER: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. No, Eighth and, uh, Seventh and Eighth Street
was the main, because the gym was on Seventh and --MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --the school was on Eighth and the Sanders Center and all. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Uh, so, how did you get to school?
BUSTER: We walked.
MAYFIELD: You walked? How long did it take you?
BUSTER: We didn't have, we didn't have buses. Oh, not very long. We
weren't very far from school at all. We lived on Third Avenue, the school was Second, the school was on Second Avenue South, and we were on Third Avenue South. Uh, and then we were on Fourth and the school was right on Eighth, 00:22:00the corner of Eighth there. Four blocks. I'd say four blocks, maybe.MAYFIELD: Um, that's not too bad, four blocks.
BUSTER: Yeah. Yeah. It didn't take long to get there. Just go straight up the road--
MAYFIELD: Yeah--
BUSTER: --from my house. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: So, after school you did a lot of, um, school activities?
BUSTER: Right. We had, --I played softball, basketball. I ran track. I
played tennis. I did broad jumping, pole vaulting. (laughs) I threw the baseball. Threw the discus. And we just, --s, much to do. I mean, I was involved in so much, that's--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --why I didn't want to leave school. I felt like all my fun would be gone.
MAYFIELD: Oh, well, were you the only tomboy out of all your sisters?
BUSTER: I, I was the worst one anyway. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: The worst one?
BUSTER: I had another sister that was a little bit more active, but I wasn't
a doll person.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: You know, one, you know. Uh, my dad only got me one doll, that I
know, growing up. And uh, I put a rope around its neck and threw it in 00:23:00the ceiling and put my boxing gloves on.MAYFIELD: (laughs)
BUSTER: He said, "You won't get another doll", (laughs) you know, from what I
did to it.MAYFIELD: I learned my lesson.
BUSTER: It was an ugly ragdoll--
MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: --in the first place. (laughs) I never did dolls much growing up --
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --I did marbles and then whatever the boys played, I played. (laughs) Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. So, you were pretty active in school--
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: --but what was your favorite subject in school?
BUSTER: Oh, I liked history. My, my favorite teacher was uh, Aurilla Beavers
was her name. Very good historian. She wanted us to know, growing up, all of the Black history going up. The pictures: we have walls of pictures and all. And I just loved that she was a good teacher too. And I just loved my history program. Yeah.MAYFIELD: What was her first name?
BUSTER: My name?
MAYFIELD: No. Your, your history teacher's first name?
BUSTER: Aurilla Beavers
MAYFIELD: Aurilla Beavers--
BUSTER: --A-r-i-l-l -a, A-u-r-i-l-l-a I think it is. I need to look
00:24:00that up. I should have looked that up. Very good. --MAYFIELD: --What grade did she teach?
BUSTER: Oh, god, let's see. She was our history teacher, I was, started
there. We used to call prima--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --before we uh, went to the first grade. By me--, my birthday,
being September twenty-first, I had to wait a year because we had to be six by the first of September.MAYFIELD: Hmm.
BUSTER: And mine came the twenty-first, so that kind of, --I thought, put
me behind at the time, because I wanted to go to school. But um, her name was Aurilla, uh, Beavers. Mm-hmm. And, Mrs., we have uh, Calvin Vincent was our principal and after Vin--, Ethel B. Vincent was our, was one of my teachers. Miss McClure was one of my teachers.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Mr. Carter, Thomas F. Carter was our coach and teacher, English,
coach and teacher. And he made sure that every T was crossed and every 00:25:00I was dot. Very particular about that. Mr. Godfrey, Tom, um, Iverson Godfrey was our coach and teacher, math teacher also. Mr. Worsham was chemistry. So, it was very interesting.MAYFIELD: What was his name? Mr.?
BUSTER: Worsham MAYFIELD: Worsham?
BUSTER: W-o-r-s-h-a-m. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah. He was uh, our chemistry teacher.
MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: So, that was it. And my sports teachers. Jesse James McFarland was
my band director, and he was our choir director. We had the, um, his son, --the Glee Cub was, uh, we sung around different places in town. And we were music, and um.MAYFIELD: You guys had an opportunity to go to different venues and, and
sing for the school?BUSTER: We sung at Sam Pickwick's Café was one of our main, that we sung
at, with what we eat. Of course, we had to go through the back door because everything was segregated at that time. 00:26:00MAYFIELD: Oh, okay.
BUSTER: And uh, we sung around and different activities at school, and
wherever they wanted the Glee club was called in. And--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. Now what was the name of that place you just mentioned that you--
BUSTER: Sam Pickwick's right there on Texas Avenue where, right now
where Matthew's is.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: We, we had to go to through the back door, through the alley to go into
the place. But we sung there, --I know there was eating. I don't know where the front part was, but--MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: --but uh, we sung there, oh, quite a bit. Often. Wherever they
wanted the Glee Club to sing, you know.MAYFIELD: Where else did you guys have an opportunity to sing?
BUSTER: To eat?
MAYFIELD: To sing.
BUSTER: Oh, to sing. Well, you know, naturally we had choir practice all
the time and then school activities. And we used to go down Sixth Street and it was like, uh, where we had a school closing program, where we had programs, we always sang there.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: You know. It was just interesting--
00:27:00MAYFIELD: --I'm just tired thinking about everything that you did
when, when you were in school.BUSTER: (laughs) I don't know how I did it.
MAYFIELD: (laughs)
BUSTER: That's why. I don't know where all the pictures are, but I do have
some of them, you know. (laughs)Yeah.MAYFIELD: So, so, who had the most influence on you as a teacher?
BUSTER: Mr. Godfrey. He was a very, he was coach and math teacher. But he
was very, very strict with us, you know. Well, all of us, pretty strict, but. He had us to really understand why he was doing this. Mr. Carter was pretty good at, --I'm doing this now because when you grow up, I can remember him and Miss Beavers always saying, well, when you grow up, you're going to need this. And that's what I liked. Our teachers put things that we would need growing up in life.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And I always remember them as telling me that, you know. With English,
Mr. Carter were very, very good in English. Very, very good in 00:28:00English, you know. Yeah.MAYFIELD: Uh, so, can you tell me a little bit about your, um college aspirations?
BUSTER: I always wanted to, uh, go to college. And, and when I did
graduate, even though I was an honor student, I only graduated with a, a scholarship of seventy-five dollars to go to Hutson-Tillotson. And that was what I had really planned. But when, when we come out to fill out my application, my mother was, you know, my mother and father really couldn't, uh. But my sister Rose was going to try to send me. And then, after that, I met my, my husband and I decided, "I'm going to work", you know. So, when I graduated on May 28, I saw my sister, because the other day, it said "May 29th." But in August, there was August the fourth, I went to John Sealy and worked as an aide. Ninety-seven cents an hour. That's what I-- 00:29:00MAYFIELD: --Ninety-seven cents an hour?
BUSTER: -- an hour, Mm-hmm, at John Sealy. And I worked there. I loved
it. John Sealy trained you a lot at nurse's aide. We had all type of training that I wanted, because growing up I always said I was going to be a nurse.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And so, I worked all my life around the hospitals, so. And uh, so
I worked there until '64 after my youngest child was born, Robert. I decided to go to County because I got tired of driving back to Galveston with the bad weather and the traffic and all. And so I went to County Memorial and, and I worked there from '64 to '71.MAYFIELD: Where's County Memorial?
BUSTER: Galveston County Memorial.
MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: It's still there.
MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: But it changed so many names, you know.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah. And I worked there till '71. I went out during the strike. We
had a strike there and I never did go back to work permanently. I worked weekends--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --or if someone was off or something like that. And I
worked registrar, so I did a lot of private duty, you know. 00:30:00MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: So, I stayed in working in nursing homes all around instead of
just going. And then finally, I said, "Well, I don't know anything but nursing." I don't have no other field, uh, to go, so I decided to go to College of the Mainland. And (laughs) and I did office procedures there. So, went through that and my second semester, I got a call from my sister-in-law saying, "How would you like to work at First American Title doing the same thing that you're doing, learning in college, and we've got on the job training." So, I--MAYFIELD: --What year was that?
BUSTER: That was uh, in, I went there in '78, I think it was. And uh,
no, because they have four years, so it must have been before '78. But I went there and worked there until they closed. And they closed in '80. So, and worked there and did learn a lot of office procedures. So, when 00:31:00they closed in '80, I went to Texas City of Texas City, May eighth of 1980--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --and worked there for twenty years. Yeah. Yeah
MAYFIELD: You've had a long legacy.
BUSTER: (laughs) Yeah, interesting.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: But I loved it, you know. I loved working.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: I love working with people, but, at the hospital it was just
mostly mothers and babies, nursery, some labor and delivery. But that's all I knew, was mothers and babies. I even worked part-time at the uh, telephone, GTE Telephone in Dickinson. And while I'm sitting on the toll board, I could hear babies crying, so it took me like, a long time to get rid of, not hearing them in the din with the babies--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --you know and mothers, you know. It was really interesting.
MAYFIELD: Not, no matter what job you went into there was maybe, mothers
and babies somewhere (laughs).BUSTER: Yeah. Looked like everywhere. Then I end up nursing a lot of
the nurse--, I worked at every nursing home they had around here--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --except the one on Twenty-fifth.
00:32:00MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --where now, that's the only one I didn't work at. Because I had
three children, I was going to, --went to, went to college and money was tight, so my husband worked at, --when he left Todd's Shipyard, he went to the plant.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And there was starting to move, getting better. Things were getting a
little bit better because it was pretty tight with three kids.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And uh, not really making that much money, you know.
MAYFIELD: What plant did he work for?
BUSTER: Amoco.
MAYFIELD: Amoco.
BUSTER: My husband worked for Amoco. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. Um, let's see. So, let's talk about your spare time. (laughs)
BUSTER: Well, I didn't (laughs)
MAYFIELD: When you were younger, you know, what did you do in your spare time?
BUSTER: Well, it, it, before I got married and had the kids, well I, I
liked singing and dancing. Uh, I loved my dancing and loved singing. Loved music to this day. And uh, we'd go to the park and the swimming pool was open. And tennis, I played tennis in school. Even went to state with 00:33:00tennis too.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And uh, went, go to, we had to go to Nessler Center to the tennis,
--out here at the Nessler Center [Points behind her]--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.BUSTER: --to, uh, to play tennis and I enjoyed that. Really did. But one
time, growing up younger, we weren't allowed to, well, I won't say allowed, but we, if you, if you were to cross Texas Ave divided the Black from the white, you know. So, that was when you go across Texas Ave you almost had to fight, (laughs) you know, at sometimes. It was very, very strict, you know.MAYFIELD: By how, uh, what do you mean by you almost had to fight. What
does that mean?BUSTER: Well, somebody always was pick or something, you know, try to fight
or something. When you, --because you're not supposed to be on Texas, on the north side of Texas Avenue. That divided us. Yeah. From the--MAYFIELD: What, what years, like, was that, that you noticed that?
BUSTER: Oh, God, I was eight years old in, when Texas City disaster
00:34:00and I remember that because you could, we could walk from our house to Pick-and-Pay. I don't really remember where Pic-&-Pac was, but you know, we always could walk there. And we could walk to Texas Theater, you know, and places like that, but you know, there was always somebody ready. You're not supposed to over there, you know. So that, that's the way we came up. But we were taught to, you know, just do what we were supposed to and be fair and honest and come on back home, you know.MAYFIELD: So, no one ever worked on the north side of Texas Avenue?
BUSTER: My sister, Rose worked. My, my dad worked all over Texas City.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: I mean, he worked for all the, all the richest people, I say in
Texas City, to us, they were rich.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And uh, and that's where he made money. Driving and doing, hauling,
and working, --he worked in the plant. As a matter of fact, he was supposed to be at the plant when Texas City disaster--MAYFIELD: --Happened.
BUSTER: --he was supposed to be there, but he didn't get picked to work,
00:35:00you know. So, they come back home, him and my brother. Yeah.MAYFIELD: I guess that would be like a, uh, you know, I guess a blessing,
right? Because--BUSTER: Oh, yeah. It was a blessing. In school just before graduation,
um, Weingarten's was where, uh, Food King is now, it used to be a Weingarten's, but we couldn't sit at the counter. So, I've always been in the union, uh, when Johnnie Henderson was our leader, then.MAYFIELD: Oh, before you talk about that, I want to hold off on that--
BUSTER: Okay.
MAYFIELD: --because we will talk about that.
BUSTER: Okay.
MAYFIELD: I really want to get into that a little bit deeper with you.
BUSTER: Okay. Alright.
MAYFIELD: Um, but so, um, you did a lot in your spare time and--
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --uh, who were your best friends growing up?
BUSTER: I had, uh, Barbara Caldwell, was, we grew up together, uh, closely.
She was in La Marque, but we knew each other. And I had Bobbie Hawkins, she was a Hawkins, she's a Stevens now. And Thelma Hawkins, we were all close, 00:36:00we even ran track, baseball. We did all the sports together--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --you know, so. So, it was just like sisters in the family. And--
MAYFIELD: Some, well, what did you guys do together then?
BUSTER: Other than our sports at school?
MAYFIELD: Yeah, other than sports at school.
BUSTER: Yeah. We would go down to Wisby's ice cream parlor, --down sometime to
the dike or something like that, and. Most everything was walking, we walked everywhere--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --we really didn't do driving like that, like the children do
now. (laughs) You know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: But we did a lot, you know. We had a lot of activities. There
was something to do all the time. Be in, never get in trouble, or anything like, you know. We would go to the theater. Yeah.MAYFIELD: Did you have to be home by a certain time?
BUSTER: Oh, yeah. We had to be home before dark. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Oh, before dark.
BUSTER: And we go anywhere at night, you had to be home before twelve [laughs].
MAYFIELD: Oh, okay, right. (laughs)
BUSTER: Yeah. (laughs) Oh, yeah.
MAYFIELD: That's right. Uh, so, uh, you, what did you do on the
00:37:00weekends for fun as you were growing up?BUSTER: It was just like going down to the parlor, or park, Sanders Center,
or the pool.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Practice. If we weren't in school. We were so busy in school;
everything was kind of right there for us to do.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: So, like Bobbie and I, we were cheer leaders, and we ran track,
we played baseball, softball, you know. It was just a lot you could do and then my family, all the guys usually boxed all the time, so--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --there was always people there, you know, so.
MAYFIELD: There was a lot of people at your house?
BUSTER: A lot of people, yes.
MAYFIELD: All the time.
BUSTER: But the men boxed mostly, you know, because there wasn't to many
women. I had to box with the guys because there was no women boxers. (laughs)MAYFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Learn how to duck, right? (laughs)
BUSTER: My brother, Thomas, taught me. (laughs) Yeah, he taught me to box.
How to defend yourself, going to do this, you know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And I liked the punching bag, like that, and all
00:38:00[mimics using small punching bag].MAYFIELD: How old was Thomas?
BUSTER: I really couldn't say, because he was, you know, the oldest one
always looked after the younger ones--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --and helped with anything, buy clothes, shoes, whatever you
needed. Rose, my sister Rose, took care of us, really, you know, like, when my mother never could went out couldn't--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: -- she was at home all the time, but--
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --she made sure that we had everything we needed for school, you know.
MAYFIELD: How much older was Rose than you?
BUSTER: She's about eight years older. I was, um, I think she's eight
years older than I am.MAYFIELD: Eight years older?
BUSTER: I'm the eleventh child.
MAYFIELD: You're the eleventh child. Oh, my goodness. Okay.
BUSTER: And she's, uh, she must be the seventh, sixth or seventh. Because
Thomas was the seventh, we always said "Seven-eleven", so he was the seventh. Rose was older than him--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --so, the next oldest one now. But she took care of us, you know.
She'd fill in where my mother didn't, you know. Well, everybody helped the other one. You know, the young ones.MAYFIELD: So, the older ones just kind of trickled down--
BUSTER: Yeah.
00:39:00MAYFIELD: --you know, and that just--
BUSTER: They worked, and they helped, you know, whatever we needed--
MAYFIELD: --they worked, and they helped with the next group of kids--
BUSTER: Right.
MAYFIELD: --that came around.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Yes.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Yep. I can that would, how that would be, uh, I mean, a
necessary thing, right?BUSTER: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah, because money was tight. When it's tight, the boys worked with my
dad a lot. And, uh, so, we made it.MAYFIELD: Yes.
BUSTER: We didn't go hungry. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Well, you said, you mentioned going to the theater. What was the
name of the theater that you went to?BUSTER: It was called Texas Theater. That's the only one we could go to.
We couldn't go to the Showboat until later in the years we did. But growing, up, the Texas Theater was the one we--MAYFIELD: How much, how much were tickets?
BUSTER: Fifteen cents is what we paid for going in the movies.
MAYFIELD: That sounds like a pretty good deal.
BUSTER: (laughs) It was. Yes, ma'am. It was very good.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah. It was fifteen cents.
MAYFIELD: Do you remember what year you started going to the Showboat, where
you could?BUSTER: I was a little bit older. I was in the disaster at eight
00:40:00years old, so it was after the Texas City disaster, because we went to, um, I'm not very sure of the age. Let me think about that. Yeah. I know I was in the, uh, we were in high school when we went to, uh, to be served at Weingarten's. I, we were, I was in High School then. Yeah.MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: So, it was in between, in that, somewhere in there.
MAYFIELD: In between there?
BUSTER: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Okay. Well, we'll talk about that in a little bit more then.
BUSTER: Okay.
MAYFIELD: Um, what about restaurants? Did you guys ever get chances, with a
big family, right, go to restaurants?BUSTER: My sister worked at, um, I can't think of the name of the, a place
on Sixth Street. They served food. She worked there. But we never, uh, just go and sit, in a, growing up (unintelligible) just go in a sit. We could go and order, you know, food, from--. And Sam Pickwick was one of them. And 00:41:00Agee's was another one that we could go and order food.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Could not sit at the counter or nothing like that. But we could
order food, yeah, you know.MAYFIELD: So, there were no restaurants in Texas City that you could just go--
BUSTER: --Terrace Drive-In. It was, a better one than, because it wasn't so
hard to go, but you could still order your food and eat and leave.MAYFIELD: Oh, I see.
BUSTER: Terrace Drive-In was there too, with us, you know.
MAYFIELD: Okay. So, did your dad own a car growing up?
BUSTER: A car and a truck.
MAYFIELD: A car and a truck?
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: What kind of car and truck did he have?
BUSTER: The car, I, was a Pontiac and the truck was a Studebaker, I think it was.
MAYFIELD: A Studebaker?
BUSTER: (laughs) The Studebaker's all I can remember. One of them he had
to [makes cranking motion with hand]. And I used to love to do it.MAYFIELD: You had to crank the car--
BUSTER: --Wind it, crank it up. That was with the, yeah. It was a,
00:42:00was a, it might have been the Pontiac. I can't really remember. But we had, yes, one of them we had to go and turn. I used to get out there and turn. He taught me how to change a tire and do a lot of things. And, we had a lot, --he had a lot of guns. He showed us how to take them lose and clean them and all. But he didn't let us handle very much, but he would show us how.MAYFIELD: Did he ever take you hunting?
BUSTER: Oh, we used to go hunting a lot, --
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --uh, you know, when older, a little bit older, you know.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Before, you know. They went hunting. The guys always hunting,
and fishing. My brothers fished a lot, --MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --you know. Yeah. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Did you like hunting?
BUSTER: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I like guns. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Well, okay. What kind of things did you, um, uh, go hunting for?
BUSTER: Well, then, and I wouldn't do it now, but there's squirrels and,
and ducks, and birds. Now, now I love the birds (laughs) and the squirrels and things. But that's what I used to go hunting with. 00:43:00MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: The guys would go out there heavier, but I, I stayed with the small items.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. Yeah, small items.
BUSTER: --you know, yeah.
MAYFIELD: You did a lot.
BUSTER: Oh, yeah.
MAYFIELD: A lot of stuff outdoors.
BUSTER: I loved it.
MAYFIELD: Yeah.
BUSTER: And I still like the outdoors, yeah.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. And--
BUSTER: --I'm still on the treadmill and walking and everything. I'm slower
now, but I'm still walking. Thank God.MAYFIELD: Yeah, and you don't have a walker or anything, so that's fantastic.
BUSTER: Well, I don't know, I may be getting there. It seems like now,
sometimes I want those.MAYFIELD: (laughs)
BUSTER: I'm eighty-three now. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Well, you don't look it. I wouldn't--the camera should tell you;
you don't look it. Um, so I have a question. So, when, so, your father drove the car?BUSTER: Uh-huh.
MAYFIELD: And did your brothers get a chance to drive the car?
BUSTER: My, yes, they drove, too. And then--
MAYFIELD: And your sisters?
BUSTER: And then they got their own cars. They each got their own cars
later, when they got up. My brothers, Thomas and Edward, taught us, the girls. I was twelve. We always, we always had this thing, twelve years old we're going to teach you how to drive. And I do that with my, I done that with 00:44:00my kids, now my grandkids, great grandkids. Uh, they taught us how to drive. We used to go up, we used to call the dump. Where Sixth Street ends at, go-around.MAYFIELD: Are you talking about--
BUSTER: Bay Street go around?
MAYFIELD: Yes. Yes.
BUSTER: It was called the Dump at that time. And uh, The Sprys, the Blues,
we called them Blues. They lived out there. That's the next largest family. But we were the largest family in Texas City. And uh, we would go out there and drive, and drive, you know, because they wouldn't turn us loose in town nowhere like this. (laughs)MAYFIELD: You, you needed some space to learn how to drive, right?
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: My brother, Thomas, was really, he taught me to box and to drive.
MAYFIELD: He had a lot of influence on you.
BUSTER: Well, it was, it was the old shift and I, I don't like shift. Have
to learn on. That's what I learned on; you know.MAYFIELD: Oh, how--
BUSTER: Stick shift.
MAYFIELD: --it was stick shift. Yeah.
BUSTER: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Yeah. Stick shift.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: It makes it a little more challenging to drive, right?
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: When you're twelve years old. (laughs)
BUSTER: Oh, it was exciting. (laughs)
00:45:00MAYFIELD: Yeah. I can imagine. I wish I was twelve years old, learning how
to drive (Buster laughs).BUSTER: Oh, yeah.
MAYFIELD: So, if the car broke down, where did you take it?
BUSTER: My brother and my dad always were mechanics. We've got quite a
few mechanics in the family, you know.MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: They always, I never remember them taking them to anyone because
they did their own work. My dad was good, pretty good at it, you know. And my brother Thomas was good. He could fix anything, look like, you know. You know.MAYFIELD: Were all the children born in the house?
BUSTER: I'm sorry.
MAYFIELD: Were all the children born in your house?
BUSTER: No, the oldest, of four, the oldest one was in Louisiana.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And Ell, Elliot, Elias was in San Antonio.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And the rest was in here, in Texas City, in Galveston.
MAYFIELD: So, were you born in a hospital? Were you born in your home? Or?
BUSTER: I was born in the hospital.
MAYFIELD: You were born in a hospital. All of you?
BUSTER: No. Some were born at home. Dr. Twidwell was our doctor.
00:46:00MAYFIELD: Dr. Twidwell?
BUSTER: He grew up with us, uh huh. With all the whole family, you know.
But some of us were born in the hospital. I think my brother, Herbert, in the hospital. I don't know who all was born at home. Have to look back at, I got the birth certificate, and death certificate.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: I've got them at the house, too. (laughs) Yes, sir.
MAYFIELD: What about, uh, local news or national news. Where did you get
your, your news from?BUSTER: Mostly, when it used to be the radio. That's all we could to listen
to the radio, music and everything. Later on, uh, my dad got a TV they bought from Mr. Busbee's. Well, that was exciting, you know.MAYFIELD: How old were you when you had a TV?
BUSTER: Um, I want to say around the sixth or seventh grade, somewhere
years old, something in that area.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Because uh--
MAYFIELD: --Sixth or seventh grade or six or seven years--
BUSTER: Six or seven years, somewhere in there.
MAYFIELD: Oh. Okay.
BUSTER: There seems like it was, uh, in that age group, you know. I
00:47:00was eight when the Texas City disaster--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --and we had a TV then. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Well, we're going to talk about that in a minute. Um.
BUSTER: Okay.
MAYFIELD: The Texas City disaster and, and sort of other events--
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: -- and disasters in, in Texas City. Um, but, so, everybody in
your neighborhood knew everybody. So, --BUSTER: Oh, yes.
MAYFIELD: -- did you keep your doors unlocked in your neighborhood?
BUSTER: We never did lock up very much. Once in a while if we were going out
of town or something like that.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: We never did lock very much, lock up the doors.
MAYFIELD: Well, when you're home right--
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: --everyone's kind of coming and going? Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm. And I started doing that when I got married because I,
you better lock your doors. It took me a while to do that, too. To lock my doors and--MAYFIELD: --Oh because you weren't used to it.
BUSTER: --when I --when I left home, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: So, you mentioned the disaster when you were eight years old.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Um, do you remember where you were at the time that it happened?
00:48:00BUSTER: I was dressed for school. I went to school a half of day.
Twelve o'clock. And already was dressed, you know. I loved school. And when the fire started, me and my mother and my baby brother was out, went out to the door, standing in the door. And uh, and if you can say that the fire was beautiful, it had a golden, pretty fire, but it was at first, you know. Then all of a sudden, it got real dark. And then the boom. And somehow or another, my mother was trying to hold me, my baby brother was knocked behind the refrigerator, --had a ice box on the porch. So, he was, I found him behind there. I got away from my mom and ran out the back door. I jumped across a wooden stove and a cabinet with the dishes there that fell over the stove. So, I jumped across that, went out the backdoor and just started running. Down the street, Third Avenue. And uh, somehow or another it looked like a 00:49:00bale of hay was coming towards me, so I was trying to run and get out of the way of that. I don't know what it was, but it just, in the air it look like a bale of hay --MAYFIELD: --the twine that was, I guess there was twine of some sort.
BUSTER: -- but it just-- in the air it look like a bale of hay. I never did
know what it was, but. And I grabbed my, uh, my neighbor's car door. And when I opened the door, he said, "Get in!" I opened the door, and my niece was in there, Ella, was in that car. And we were going down Sixth Street and my sister Rose worked at one of the cafes on Sixth Street. And passed her and I said, "There's my sister" and he says, he, uh, "come on and get in the car", she said, "No, I'm going to find Mama." And that's the last we saw of her because he drove onto Dickinson School. We went to school to stay there for few days. Exactly, I didn't know how many days, but when they started putting everybody in place, my family was at Camp Wallace.MAYFIELD: Okay. So, you were in the Dickinson school. So, you guys
00:50:00are separated?BUSTER: Yeah. We were all, all separated. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Okay. So, your family went to Camp Wallace.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: And, and then you were in Dickinson School?
BUSTER: No, me and my sister. No, I was, me and my niece went with Mr.
Milton, Dave Milton. We went with, in his, their car, and they drove there. We met up with my sister Gerrie and, uh, one, my brother didn't count(?)(?). So, they took us, when they took us out of there after a few days, they took us to Camp Wallace. So, we were all in line, when they got to us in line, and they asked us our name, and we started telling them Swan. They said, "Oh, we got some Swans in sixteen." Sixteen was one of the buildings. So, they took us to there. And there was my mom and dad. My brother was in the hospital with glass in his eye. Edward, my brother, Edward was there. And uh, those are the ones I can remember that was there. So, that's how they got together. Then find out 00:51:00we all, everybody was safe. My mother got hit in the head with something. And my brother got glass in his eye, but he was in the hospital.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: He stayed in there. So, that was all, oh, thank God, with all of us.
And there was nine of us in school at one time. And so, with all of us, and we were, we were blessed. God was looking after us. And, the house didn't get torn down, blown down, but the windows and everything was out. Something came through the roof, and I don't know exactly what that was. But, and we, my dad was already building a house in Dickinson at the time, so they just went out and finished building, put the windows in, and everything. And that's where we stayed for a couple of years.MAYFIELD: Okay. So right during that, right after the, uh, the disaster,
your dad had the house in Dickinson, so you just moved over there?BUSTER: Yeah. We just moved over there.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And that's where my younger sister was born, in Dickinson.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: In 1947. May 12, 1947.
MAYFIELD: What was Camp Wallace like?
00:52:00BUSTER: It was a lot of soldiers. And of course, they had food, that
big camping, you know. A lot of people there, from everywhere. And uh, a lot of soldiers, I remember, you know, that helped us with everything. I don't remember how long we stayed there. Yeah. Because my dad, um, with the kids, my dad helped the uh, people, that some of them got hurt, they used his truck to, yeah, help take people to the doctor. And, and--MAYFIELD: --Oh. So, your dad acted like an ambulance to take people--
BUSTER: Yeah. He was there. --
MAYFIELD: --to the doctors if they were hurt?
BUSTER: Yep. Yeah. Cleaned up. Whatever needed to be done because that was
what he was doing anyway, before.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: You know. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: I'm sure your mother must have been so overjoyed at the fact that
you walked through that door.BUSTER: Oh, yeah. We, we thought, --we didn't know where they were, I
mean, because everything was leveled around there.MAYFIELD: Did anyone explain to you what happened, I mean, like knowing that
it blew up, of course, but did anyone ever explain to you what, what was 00:53:00really happening, or what had really happened--BUSTER: --They uh, well they talked about it in school and, at, in Camp
Wallace, they talked about it. Uh, tell us what, you know, what was going on and all. The ship and all that. But, our family never would discuss it. It was like a nightmare. You didn't even want to think about it. It was really horrible, really. And, the first time, uh, that I did talk about it when Channel 2 [KPRC] came to City Hall, and, um, they made a tape and everything. And that was the first time that I ever discussed it with anybody. Even the family, nobody, you know, in our family want to even this, really discuss it, though. Because, it was, it was pretty bad.MAYFIELD: Traumatizing situation.
BUSTER: Yeah. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Of course.
BUSTER: Yeah. Pretty bad.
MAYFIELD: There were other events like disasters that happened in Texas City.
In 1961 there was Carla.BUSTER: Carla, Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Uh, how did that impact your neighborhood?
BUSTER: Oh.
MAYFIELD: Your family?
BUSTER: Oh, I, at that time, I was married and living in La Marque.
00:54:00MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And uh, my dad worked at Mainland Company, at the Mainland Company.
He had worked there for years. So he had, --we had the third, I think the third floor of the building, you know. And uh, we, we, all on the floor. The whole family just came over on the floor, with covering up everything. And I was expecting my daughter, Gwen, uh, at that time. So, it's was pretty uncomfortable on the floor, but we couldn't get a cot, (laughs) you know.MAYFIELD: And you all stayed at the Mainland Company?
BUSTER: Uh huh. Yeah, spent the night.
MAYFIELD: That building right?
BUSTER: Yes. The building upstairs.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: The third floor. And uh, well, we couldn't get cots for nobody. And
I was way ready. And they thought when at one time, I started having pain that I would probably deliver but they had another lady that had to go out. But they had what we call amphibian or something, the boats--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: --the trucks that run on water. And they kept telling me, they
got amphibian out there. Well, I didn't know what amphibious was (laughs) you 00:55:00know, what they were talking about. But it looked like a tank to me. And uh, then after my pain went, went away, but I was on the hard floor, you know, with the little blanket, didn't seem like it mattered. But our whole family was there, you know. My dad, uh, come over and picked me up from La Marque because they didn't want me and my husband to stay in the house at that time. And, and I had, uh, Melvin, my youngest, uh, son was born in Texas City. And, because we stood up and watched the water over the, uh, parking meters and it was, uh, terrible, really bad. And uh, but I made it through. And this was, uh, Carla was in September, the eleventh, I think, of '61.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And my daughter was born September twenty-first, on my birthday--
MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: --of '61. (laughs) So--
MAYFIELD: At least she waited a few days.
BUSTER: (laughs) Yes. Well, the water had gone down and everything. And ---------(?)(?)
MAYFIELD: So, how tall, I mean, you're saying the parking, over the
00:56:00parking meters, so that's what--BUSTER: Yes, it was--
MAYFIELD: --five or six feet?
BUSTER: It was, it was deep. We were upstairs looking down. The cars
were covered. Some of the, you could barely see the hood of the, of the cars, you know. That was in the--MAYFIELD: So, Texas City flooded entirely.
BUSTER: It flooded. It flooded. And, you know--
MAYFIELD: --Okay.
BUSTER: And it's not very far from the dike, you know.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah. It was flooded real bad, you know. I don't know how many days
we stayed, but they stayed. Finally, when some started leaving now, we got cots and stayed a little, a few days later.MAYFIELD: So, why did you go to the Mainland Company, uh, to stay?
BUSTER: Well, there was so many of us and my dad didn't want to leave us,
you know. But he come and got me out of La Marque and La Marque didn't hardly have anything. We had a few little, you know, people was partying over there. (laughs)MAYFIELD: They were partying?
BUSTER: Yeah, they were partying and everything, you know. So, they needed
help. My son, uh, was uh, he was born in '60, and uh, my brother said, they were going to go, go over to La Marque. They had to help, to help with 00:57:00 something. People over there was having a good time. (laughs) So, they said. And we were in, in water, couldn't even get out of the building, you know. Yeah. Very interesting, oh.MAYFIELD: And how many days did you have to stay? How, how many days was
Carla. I mean, how long did it take for Carla to, to pass through Texas City?BUSTER: I'm not really sure. When the water started going down, people
started going back home. And we got flooded in our house, was flooded. But I'm really not sure of, how, the length of time. And uh, the government, --they, once the water got down, they could drive. They took me back to, uh, La Marque, you know.MAYFIELD: So, your house in La Marque flooded?
BUSTER: No. No, no. Hardly looked like any rain, hardly. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Oh, at your dad's house.
BUSTER: But my dad's house flooded.
MAYFIELD: In Dickinson, right?
BUSTER: No, we were, at that time, with Carla we were staying over here.
MAYFIELD: Oh, so in Carla your family was back in Texas City again.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: Yeah. Mm-hmm. '61 yeah. It was 1961, that's when my daughter
00:58:00was born.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: September. And I almost named her Carla, but everybody was naming
their baby Carla at that time.MAYFIELD: (laughs)
BUSTER: So, I said, "No." We're going to go with Gwendolyn. (laughs)
MAYFIELD: Yeah, we'll hold off on that.
BUSTER: Gwen, Gwendolyn Joyce. She didn't like it, but uh, uh-uh.
MAYFIELD: Well, it's good that she wasn't born during the hurricane.
BUSTER: Yeah, thank God. Yeah. No, she was born at John Sealy. Um, it may--
MAYFIELD: --Did you have, like, of course you don't have electricity, I imagine.
BUSTER: At that time, we didn't have, uh, with the storm?
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: No. Uh-uh. We didn't have none. But dad had flashlights and he had the
one that you'd light with the car. He had that, at that time, up there with us, you know. Yeah, because he didn't want me to stay over there in La Marque. He thought it would be, really be bad. But it was worse there, than, uh, here than it was over there.MAYFIELD: It was worse in Texas City than in La Marque --
BUSTER: --uh huh. It was horrible over here. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: I see the building as it is right now and it has these, um,
00:59:00window coverings.BUSTER: Well, now, then we could look out the window and, and see
everything coming up and going on outside, you know, when, at the time. So, I don't remember. My dad worked there for God knows, until he couldn't work anymore. For years, Mm-hmm. And, and I want to say that Mr. Orth was the one that had him working there. R. M. Orth. I remember R. M. Orth because he always gave us a box, probably about as tall as, as this here, and with, huge, huge box with fruits, and clothes, and shoes. And that's where I got that ragdoll from. (laughs)MAYFIELD: (laughs) Thank you, Mr. Orth.
BUSTER: I think that he was the one, anyway.
MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: He worked for the Rubinstein's. Uh, Dave, Dave's Pawn Shop. His name
was Dave Rubenstein. Now, he owned that whole block, uh, I think.MAYFIELD: What part? What block did he own?
BUSTER: Of, uh, Texas Avenue.
MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: Um, Fourth. From Fourth all the way down, uh, to Davison's
Home. Davison's was one of the stores, too. Uh, but he owned the 01:00:00public drugstore, that whole section. And there used to be like a Salvation Army in there, too.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Because we used to walk right in there. It looked like, either
Goodwill, it wasn't Goodwill. I think it was a Salvation Army of some sort, you know, to help us with the shoes, jewelry, the drugstore, ice-cream and all, yeah. Yeah, because we owned, we owned --------(?)(?), it was right around Fourth and Texas, just a few blocks, so we walked everywhere anyway, you know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Was that the only other disaster that you can remember in Texas City?
BUSTER: Oh, what the plant always had something going on. Um, because my
dad used to load us up in the big truck. He had a big truck that, and, and we just go and head on out. Got us. When we hear the horn go off. The whistle go off. And then he just, and, and he'd fire, you could hear, sometimes, you could hear him say something about fire or something. Just load up and go. 01:01:00And then wait till it cleared down and come back, you know. I mean, riding that truck many times and many places. Even to Louisiana, and all, you know. Yeah.MAYFIELD: Was that, like an open-bed truck?
BUSTER: Yeah. It was a big, big open bed because they hauled everything,
you know, around. Yeah.MAYFIELD: Sounds like that Studebaker, right? The--
BUSTER: I don't know if that, what, that truck, the Studebaker. I don't. We
had, uh, I, I want to say, another truck in there. Because they, that's what he kept, and one car. I only remember the one car, you know. And I know one was a Pontiac because we changed a tire on it and I was right there with him.MAYFIELD: You were learning how to change a tire?
BUSTER: Oh, yeah, he showed me how to change a tire. And I, --I've done it a
few times too.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: The only thing that I was kind of light and my one brother had to
come stand on it to get it loose. (laughs)MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: But I was light, but I did it, you know. I taught my
01:02:00children at twelve, my son at twelve how to change a tire on a car.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: All he wanted to do was start learning how to drive and I, but I said,
"No, you need to learn more about where the oil and all this." I still do it, to this day. I did it just a few days ago. I checked the oil and fluid in the windshield wiper and stuff like that. It's kind of hard to get away from.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: (laughs)
MAYFIELD: They taught you; they taught you right.
BUSTER: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: So, you were talking about different places that you shopped, um,
what was the place that you shopped, your mom shopped for food for the family?BUSTER: We, the first main one was Pick & Pay.
MAYFIELD: Pick & Pay?
BUSTER: That's right down the street from us. I remember a Pic & Pac. I
can't really remember where it was. And we had a store called Nuckols that, uh, uh, that uh, we shopped, my dad did. He did a lot of it too. My sister, Rose, did a lot. And I would go wherever they sent me. That's where I'd go. And um, 01:03:00 and we called one store, we called Big Natches, and I can't, I can't even spell it now. And another, and, uh, well one was our Rizo's. And that was like a meat market. And that was on Texas Avenue going towards the dike down there. Um, Pick & Pay, oh goodness. C. P. Evans was another one. I remember going there for food, so we, we've been around shopping, you know.MAYFIELD: So, did you have to shop for several, you know, at maybe one place
you shopped for fruit, one place you shopped for meat, you know. Did you have to shop around like that, or was it mostly in, you know you could go to one store and--BUSTER: One.
MAYFIELD: --everything--
BUSTER: You could go mostly to one store and uh, I want to say Rizo's was
more, to me, I know I've gone there to get meat, year(?)(?), whatever they sent us for, we would go, you know. Yeah. I think that's one I can remember, 01:04:00you know. But there was quite a few places, you know. And for clothing, we always went to Weiner's. There was a Weiner's. I used to love Chamber's, but I couldn't afford it, (laughs) at that time. But I, every once in a while, you could get something on sale like that, you know.MAYFIELD: You said, "Weiner's?
BUSTER: Weiner's? Uh huh.
MAYFIELD: Was it a clothing store?
BUSTER: Uh huh, yeah. Weiner's had a little of everything, you know,
for shopping to go to school and things like that.MAYFIELD: Where was that located?
BUSTER: It was on, it was on, right there, on, uh, Second and Sixth. Right
on Sixth Street.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah, yeah. I think it was Second, the next street, yeah, First,
Second. Because it, that, we would get to Weiner's before we got to the theater, you know. Yeah.MAYFIELD: The theater was right down street?
BUSTER: Yeah. It was right down there in that area too, you know.
MAYFIELD: Uh, so, um, how welcome did you feel in, in all of these stores?
BUSTER: You know, I never had a problem, myself, you know. Uh, at
01:05:00one, one time a young, little girl, I'll say little girl, was walking to Weiner's and the child was saying--. I was eating an apple. It's the first time this come up. And actually, everybody else knew it. Uh, I was eating the apple and this little child was hollering the N word. Well, that used to be a fighting word (laughs). It used to be a fighting word. And some of our family didn't like us to fight or nothing like that, you know. Everything was, you know, man, woman, boy, girl. It never was Black or white in our growing up.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: It's man, woman, boy, girl. So, I, and I grew up with that, and me,
and my children, too.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: So, and so, then I, I was eating that apple and I went over to the
car and stuffed it down her mouth. (laughs)MAYFIELD: Oh.
BUSTER: I looked for the police to pick me up, but they never did. (laughs) But
uh, that was a fighting word at that time. Could sometime, you walk, see because that side was segregated, and you'd come across that's what you'd hear 01:06:00a lot of things doing, you know. But I, I never was too bothered about that, you know. Because my dad always said, "Man, woman, boy, or girl, no matter what color", you know. If you see my family now, I'm international.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: We got all races in it. All races. And my, my
grandchildren, great-grandchildren, yeah. Yeah.MAYFIELD: They take your father's word, right?
BUSTER: Yeah. They were, --
MAYFIELD: --Don't see color?
BUSTER: They were well, well, they were, they were raised, you know, like
that, different. I guess they wanted us to be, you know, the same way they were. But it was strict. Now, my mom was very strict. My dad wasn't too bad, but my mom was, oh, (laughs) very strict.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: In what way was she so strict?
BUSTER: Oh, you, we, we better listen, look, and, and don't talk back.
Don't even look like you wanted to talk back. (laughs) That's the way that eye, that hand, that finger, that eye, uh-uh, that's it. My dad wasn't going to 01:07:00say very much. And he not going to repeat it over and over either (laughs) that's just the way, but they, we understood that. Made us know that you know. There's no way, my, um, uh, we could have been living and talk like these kids do to parents today. Uh-uh. (laughs) Oh, no. Oh, no. Mm-hmm.MAYFIELD: It wouldn't have, yeah, they wouldn't have gotten away with it at
your mom's house.BUSTER: Oh, no. And if we had tried, we wouldn't be here to tell you about it (laughs).
MAYFIELD: (laughs) Oh, my goodness.
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Uh, let's see. We kind of talked about that. Okay. So, um, you,
you know you mentioned a little what it was like being, um, African American in Texas City. You know--BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --you had the division--
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --from Texas Avenue.
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Um, you could go some places to get food, but not sit, right--
01:08:00BUSTER: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's right. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Um, and every now and again, you, you might see um, you know,
people saying things that--BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --you know, were not complimentary to you, I imagine. Uh, so, you
have this civil rights movement starting--BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: So, what was that like being Black in Texas City?
BUSTER: It was really scary, but I'm, I'm the type that liked to know
what's going on and then see what's what and make sure it's been done right and fair. And out of, my dad was the honesty one, to be, --he wanted you to do what's right and do as you're told and all things like that.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And um, so, it was interesting. Oh, I, I, when I joined the, --older
and I was eighteen, uh, do you want to go that far?MAYFIELD: You joined; you joined the N--
BUSTER: --Well, I joined the NAACP later, but I was eighteen,
01:09:00because I did all the paperwork at my house for my dad, my mom and dad. And uh, when I turned eighteen, I went and got my, I wanted to vote. I went and got my poll tax, and it was three dollars that I paid for it then. And I turned eighteen, and then, from then on, they started calling me to help out with election things when it was going on. But this was, the civil rights was getting, I didn't, as a child, I missed a lot of it, a small child, but growing up, you know it got, you know, worse and worse. When I was, --joined the union. When I worked, um, and I worked under the leadership of, uh, Johnnie Henderson, and um, oh boy, he was dynamic. I mean, --MAYFIELD: What do you mean by the union?
BUSTER: We, it was a, a local, a labor local union that I joined. I'm still
with the one that's on Texas Avenue now across from Amoco. I'm a retired member from it now, but um, we paid so much money, and even when I worked at 01:10:00the hospital, it was like fourteen dollars coming out of my check for the union dues and things like that. But union to me was a lot of help of finding out instead of us fighting, going, finding out was going on. We got people that worked together at that event, knew all about the problems and worked together and joined and that's when I joined. Uh, because I joined the NAACP, uh, chapter 6201 further back, you know, when I got older. But that's ever, uh, to me was a good thing to have the union because they fought for the, --for everybody, you know. Not just Black, white, everybody, you know. And I've always enjoyed--. And I would march in a lot of protests and everything, myself. And there's--MAYFIELD: Were there protests like marching protests in Texas City?
BUSTER: Oh, yeah. Uh, huh. Oh, yeah. And, and it was, it was interesting
because I'm watching a lot of them. As a matter of fact, uh, I wanted to go to the, uh, Selma, when, when, because Johnnie Henderson and a 01:11:00group, a lot of them was going. And I wanted to go, but I couldn't afford to go. And so, could said, I want to go to that, but I know there is a lot of violence, but you know, and it was something I wanted to know more about. To get involved in. And I've been involved in demonstrations, marching and everything, all my life, yeah. When I feel like something's not right, I post my opinion and you know hit the road. And you go around, and you try to get people to come in and vote and, and see what's going on, you know. So that, so that was interesting to me, yeah.MAYFIELD: You were going around the community, um, uh, you know, discussing the issues--
BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --with the community so that they would be able to understand, so
that when it was time to vote, they would--BUSTER: Right.
MAYFIELD: --be able to make informed decisions?
BUSTER: Oh yeah, yeah. We did a lot of that.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Talking to people, trying to get them to know. Somebody
01:12:00would know, let you know what you're voting for. What it is. That's how when I got my poll tax. That's when they started with me and I was eighteen. (laughs) Yeah. Yeah.MAYFIELD: Um, do you remember hearing talk about integrating schools?
BUSTER: Yeah, but my, uh, when they did integrate, I graduated in '58, and it
was '66. Well, I missed that part of it. But they had been talking about it, you know. And I thought that would be nice because we had used books where maybe five or six people maybe have had this book since we get them. We get them they're so old and torn and worn out, you know. So, I was, I was, I thought that would be nice, you know. You know. So, I had no, no regret about that.MAYFIELD: So, you felt like, um, integrating schools, that you would have more resources--
BUSTER: Right. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --for schools. Right?
BUSTER: And you'd be, we'd be together one, as one, you know. And um, that's--
01:13:00MAYFIELD: --Was there discussion about why not to integrate schools?
BUSTER: There was different opinion at that time, some didn't want to, but--
MAYFIELD: Do you know why they didn't want to?
BUSTER: You know, when, back, at this, um, you know, I never, I never
did discuss much with them. I felt like I'm going to do what I think is best and go.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And go (laughs) so, that's what I usually do anyway, you know.
MAYFIELD: Right.
BUSTER: Yeah. Because we were raised up, no matter what or who you are,
what, because in my house, my son said, "Mom, can my friend come spend the night?" And I'd be looking for, you know, it might be a little Black boy, it might be a Spanish or white. It just, the people just, I was raised with, just, so different, you know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And then, it didn't matter. And my children didn't matter what
color they were. And I was glad of that, you know. So, like my dad always taught us, you know. "Man, woman, boy, girl. And God is still in control as he 01:14:00always baby you don't have to worry about it. And if you have a problem, you talk to God about it"; you know. And I just loved that with him because that's become instilled in me (laughs)MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: You know. I tell my children to just prayer and talk to God. And I
will always be that way. I've always been that way, anyway, you know. And I like being fair and honest, and, you know, helpful. I, I loved working with, --I always liked working with older people all my life.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And I still do. And um, so, it was kind of hard for me to just turn
my back on things that I know that wasn't right, you know.MAYFIELD: Well, you were mentioning something about Weingarten's, um, as
a particular controversy that happened.BUSTER: Oh, yeah.
MAYFIELD: Can you, can you talk a little bit about that?
BUSTER: Yeah, um, Johnnie Henderson came up to the school and got the name
of us, twelve of us. And uh, got our name and we, they called us in the office and told me, he explained to us what we was going to do. We're going 01:15:00to Weingarten's. Just go in and just sit down at the counter and uh and be served. So, we didn't know. We just going on following what they said. And, uh, he got all our names and all. And when we went in, nobody was at the counter. So, I, I know [Points off camera] there was a group of us just lining up to sit there and we waited. Nobody would wait on us. And the one Black lady that was there, she started over to come and, I don't know whether to talk to us or say what. But the lady that's over the place called her back. So, we never got to talk to her. But we sit and sit and sit and waited. So, Johnnie Henderson just stood in the back, you know. He just stayed right back. Because we had to go to the counter and order our food, but he don't want to sit down and eat. And, uh, it was pretty close to lunch time, look like, because we thought we was going to sit there and eat, you know. We were so happy to go and sit down at the counter and eat. (laughs) And all of a sudden, 01:16:00here come the police come in. And he thought we were out of school, playing hooky or something. He was going to take us all to jail. So, oh, what Henderson did was to step up and say, "I got everybody's name here. They're with me."MAYFIELD: Who said this?
BUSTER: Johnnie Henderson.
MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: "They're with me." And that was all he had to say. We thought we
were going to jail. (Buster, Mayfield laughs) You know. That's all he said and so, he just, you know, okay, and then took us on back, on back to school.MAYFIELD: How old, --what grade were you in--
BUSTER: --That was exciting.
MAYFIELD: I mean, what year is that?
BUSTER: It, it had to be eleventh. Around there, the eleventh. Tenth or eleventh.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Because uh, I hadn't graduated on that. And, it had to be the tenth
or the eleventh. I'm, I'm going to talk to some of the others and see if they can remember. But, um, that to me, that was fun (laughs).MAYFIELD: Who were some of the other kids that were with you?
01:17:00BUSTER: I remember, uh, Bobbie Hawkins and, uh, Ella Jean Jones. I wish she
were here because we were close. We were the only two tennis players, women tennis players, female tennis players at the school at that time.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And um, who else? Willie Ray James. And I can't remember who else
just off the top of my head. But Johnnie Henderson had the names of us, you know. We opted to put us, he brought us on down there, here at Weingarten's right where the Food King is now. But when, back later, they took the counter out, so the counter was gone. (laughs) So, that was, that was fine for us, you know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: But we got ready to go to jail and the police come up. Two
policemen came in and "Y'all out of school," you know. And he, he stood back, you know, and we just come to eat, you know. He told us we were going to be served, you know. But he just stood back and all they did was just walk up 01:18:00and say, "They're with me and I got all of them names right here", you know, so.MAYFIELD: So, he was able to get you out of school--
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: You went and sat at the counter. The police show up. They might
potentially take you to jail for not being in school.BUSTER: Yeah, huh. That's what they thought.
MAYFIELD: And he just sort of stood up with you and said, "No".
BUSTER: Yeah. "They're with me." So, we didn't go to jail (laughs). We
all thought we was going to jail. But that was fun. (laughs) At that time.MAYFIELD: Were there other events like that happening in Texas City?
BUSTER: I was just happy to get out of school to do anything. (laughs)
Really. And uh, I can't remember, I want to say Lance and Lester Taylor, but I can't really remember if they were right with us at that time or not. I'm trying to think of some of the others. I know Ella Jean Jones was one of them. Because she was right with me. Hmm. But it was, it was twelve of us. He took twelve of us up there. Yeah. So, I've been working every time he'd go anywhere, 01:19:00I would. You know, he was over the NAACP part, and so, I just stayed in it, you know, you know. I retired in it, you know.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Who were some of the more important Black leaders in your community.
BUSTER: Okay.
MAYFIELD: That you can remember during this time?
BUSTER: Okay. In my community, oh, there was, uh, Mr. Fuller, Mr. Henry, and
uh, Mr. Covenson was our Scout leader. They were very interesting. And the preachers. All the preachers always worked with us with everything. And I had--MAYFIELD: I was going to ask you about that. What did the churches, --what
role did the churches play in, in the civil rights movement?BUSTER: They backed us. They backed us everywhere but some of the people
come to the church and they would let you know. The church was interested in letting you know if these people be qualified, if they're right to go, 01:20:00you know, not have trouble. There were always, --uh, most everybody come to the church to, to be voted, to get votes. So, they, want to, you know, let us know if it's the right person you want to vote for and things like that. And they played a good part with anything that went on with us, with the group, and--MAYFIELD: --So, you're saying that people who were running for a vote, running
for the vote, would come to the churches and they would sort of explain what they were--BUSTER: --Yeah, what's going on.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Yeah, and that's all, every election, we have all the people come to
the churches too. Because, if you, I have noticed that the majority of votes that, that, when they come to the church, the majority of the votes, they, on the good side, and they have a chance of getting in the office, you know. And I think they did that a lot more now than uh, they used to, yeah.MAYFIELD: Oh, I see.
BUSTER: Yeah, uh huh, yeah.
MAYFIELD: And let's see. So, you belonged to the NAACP--
01:21:00BUSTER: Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --in Texas City, correct?
BUSTER: Yeah, Mainland branch, Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm. Who belonged to that branch with you?
BUSTER: Oh, we had, God-- we had so many. We had the Williams, the
Henderson family, the Williams family, and um, God. We had so many people. Ms. Annie Pearl White. And uh, God. We had quite a few, you know. Had to --MAYFIELD: -- Did you play any specific role, like specifically women, did
they play a role during the civil rights movement?BUSTER: Oh, yeah. They worked right along with the men most of the time,
you know, as far as I know of, right with the men. And the women would do phone calls and contact people also, you know, to get, try to get them to come and join.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And uh, because I joined, uh, at my church. I signed my children up
at my, at the church by the youth department because we had a youth, too, department. 01:22:00MAYFIELD: Who was your leader, like when you first joined? Who, --was
Johnnie Henderson in charge?BUSTER: He was, he was in charge.
MAYFIELD: Okay.
BUSTER: He was a strong boss.
MAYFIELD: He was in charge for a while, it seems. A lot.
BUSTER: Yeah, he was in charge for a lot. Anything that went on, even with
the union, and then the--. He even come to City Hall. I was making, well--, at the hospital, I made a dollar sixty-two an hour. He got my check and said, "Would you mind me taking it", --went to. The same thing with Mayor Doyle, he come to the, see how much I was making, went over and talked to him about the, the money that I was making. Well, I've always been the type, I never just worked just for the money. I worked to help people.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And I, that's what I've done all my life. You know, even though I
needed the money, whatever I got, fine with me. Because at ninety-seven cents an hour, if I was just looking for money, I never would have went to John Sealy--MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: (laughs) but I wanted to be in the nursing field, you know. And then
a dollar an hour, I left ninety-seven cents at John Sealy, and come 01:23:00to Mainland for a dollar an hour. But I still worked with the mothers and babies and help around here, you know. So, I, and I worked at City Hall, I wasn't making that much money. I started there with six dollars an hour and then I left at nine fifty-three. I never even got to ten dollars.MAYFIELD: Mmm.
BUSTER: I made, I made more working, uh, home health on a weekend. I worked
for Mantooth Home Health taking care of May, May Bruce in Santa Fe. And uh, working weekends, weekends, and nights, --nine-fifty an hour when I was only making seven at the city. So, my boss took those ten thousand dollars that I made, W-2 form, and the city was seven thousand something. I gave it to Tom Peterson, was my, uh, city secretary. I showed him, I said, And this is just like weekends, and you know, overtime weekend." 01:24:00MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: And he took it across to Mayor Doyle and that's when I got a
hundred dollars across the board raise. (laughs) (sound disturbance)MAYFIELD: Wow.
BUSTER: That's when I a got a hundred dollars across the board, now, raise.
But I never got to, uh, in twenty years, I never got to ten dollars. But like I said, I just didn't work to make the money. Just because my husband worked at the plant at that time. And because it was, it wasn't all that. He definitely needed it, but you know, I worked to help people; you know. And I liked working with, you know. I'm not the type to just sit around and do nothing, you know. So, it's kind of hard to get away from it even though I'm older now. (laughs) Yeah.MAYFIELD: Well, so the NAACP is, has a big influence in Texas City.
BUSTER: Oh, yes. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: The churches have a big influence.
BUSTER: Yes, yes. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: Were there any other groups or agencies that also had influence?
01:25:00BUSTER: Working with, --growing up and working with them, those were like
our main, uh, interests was, uh, helping, --that was looking for help and needing help. That was our main, uh, source of people, you know, working with them. I don't know, uh.MAYFIELD: Do you remember where you were when Martin Luther King was killed?
BUSTER: Mainland Center Hospital.
MAYFIELD: You were working?
BUSTER: I was working there, Mm-hmm. Second floor of Mainland Center. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: What was the reaction around you?
BUSTER: Oh, it was horrible, you know. People were mad and some were
scared. But, you know, what could we do about it? We were working. And oh God, it was a lot of threatening going on with the opposite race, you know.MAYFIELD: What do you mean a lot of threatening.
BUSTER: Yeah, matter, --even though he was killed because he was Black, you
had the Blacks that's threatening the white. We had a lot of that going on at one time, you know. Uh, we didn't have to, --I didn't, I never did 01:26:00worry about stuff like that, that I can't do nothing about. And I was raised that way, you know. So, --MAYFIELD: There were Black people in Texas City threatening white people, too--
BUSTER: Oh, yeah.
MAYFIELD: --or no, just in other places?
BUSTER: Oh, just, really it was other places too and Texas City.
MAYFIELD: Oh, okay.
BUSTER: Yeah. It was, oh, God, all over the news, you know, how some
people would react. But, I mean, that's, what can you do about something in a situation like that? You was way off. That was way off, you know. I hated it, you know. And I loved that man. Because he was really a lot of influence with us, really. Yeah. I have a niece that worked for his daughter. Uh, she just stepped out a few years ago. She worked for her for a long time, you know. Took pictures with, and all.MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: It really was nice. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: Well, we're kind of at toward the end of our, our program right
now, uh, our questions. Um, so are there any final thoughts? Is there anything 01:27:00else you would like to share that we haven't really touched upon?BUSTER: Seems like we have covered, is there anything else? We've covered
most everything that I could think of. Uh. I think we've; I think we've done, uh, covered everything. I've enjoyed that, you know. (laughs) Thank you all so very much for that. Really, I appreciate it. It's, it's the first time I really got to talk about the disaster and things like that and to let you know. So, that, it's interesting me and I was excited about that, you know.MAYFIELD: Well, I'm glad that it was not a bad experience, that way.
BUSTER: Yeah. I, I just learn to pray and keep going. And uh, my pastor
preached that. Um, Rev. Benford has really been a blessing in our life, you know, with all this that's been going on, you know. And um, that has helped me 01:28:00come a long way, you know, a lot further since my family, my mother and dad, my dad helped me. So, it's a blessing to have him. And I have other ministers, too, that's been in the family, around, yeah.MAYFIELD: He's really ministering to you.
BUSTER: Oh he's, he's a Bible scholar.
MAYFIELD: Mm-hmm.
BUSTER: Celebrating seventy-one years in one church--
MAYFIELD: I know.
BUSTER: --on Sunday. Yeah.
MAYFIELD: I just had an interview. I, I interviewed him--
BUSTER: Yeah.
MAYFIELD: --before. And so, um, uh, he had a lot, a lot--
BUSTER: Oh, yes.
MAYFIELD: --that he could contribute, you know--
BUSTER: Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.
MAYFIELD: --to the conversation. Yes. Well, this concludes our interview
with Daisy Belle Buster. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for sharing your stories with us and, um, taking time, and, and, um, and allowing us to ask you so many questions.BUSTER: Why thank you, thank you so much for it. It's exciting. Yes.
MAYFIELD: You're welcome.
BUSTER: Yeah. Thank you.
