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Gibson, Nellie (audio interview #1 of 2)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This first interview with Nellie Gibson was conducted in her small, crowded house in Compton. The interviewer was accompanied to the interview by her grandmother, who after introducing her to Gibson spent the time in the kitchen talking with Mr. Gibson. As a result, the audio quality is marred by people talking in the background. Although the narrator had trouble hearing the questions at times, she tried to ignore all the noise and activity in the background. 3/6/1974
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- 2021-03-18
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- SUBJECT BIO - Nellie Gibson moved to Los Angeles from Louisiana in 1944 and worked as a custodian at Harbor General Hospital for the next fourteen years. She became a founding member and pillar of her church and centered her activities there. Although her social reform work is not greatly detailed, her interview does serve as an example of the critical role that the church played in the life of a poor Black woman. TOPICS - family background; parents; childhood; education; work; childbirth; midwifery; marriage; slavery; and lynching;
- *** File: refngibson1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-4:33)... Note: it is sometimes is difficult to hear due to people talking in the background. Born on January 29, 1897 in Farmersville, Louisiana, Gibson was raised by her grandmother while her mother and father worked in the fields picking cotton. At the age of eight, Gibson began working in the fields and earned .35/ day. Though her family was poor, they had plenty of food and the bare essentials. She attended school for three months during the summer and only received an eighth-grade education. She married when she was twenty years old, at which time she left the family home. (4:33-7:35)... In 1914, at the age of seventeen, she gave birth to her first child. She was unaware of any birth control methods, stating that after sex "you got up and cleaned yourself up." She married her first husband at the age of twenty and began a life of homemaking. Initially, her husband was a farmer and then worked as a lumberjack. She and her husband operated a boarding camp near the sawmill and she did all of the cooking for the workers. (7:35-9:09)... She describes childbirth and midwifery. When she gave birth to her first child, she was cared for by a male doctor. Her mother-in-law (first husband) was a midwife. Since her mother-in-law could not write, Gibson went with her in 1910 to record the dates and times of each birth. (9:09-12:13)... Her maternal grandparents were slaves and often told her stories about experiences. She describes lynching of Blacks for resisting White rule. (12:13-14:53)... In 1944, Gibson moved to California to be with her second husband. Though she was pregnant five times, she miscarried four times and gave birth only once. Doctors told her that her reproductive organs were not stout enough to carry babies. In general, she believes that she lived a smooth and happy life. She discusses her childhood and experiences living on her grandfather's farm. When freed, her grandfather was given eighty acres of land on which to farm. She was born and raised on this eighty acres of land, which was eventually sold for timber. end of tape
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