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Harnett, Kathleen (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Harnett was interviewed in her apartment in a Senior Citizen's complex in downtown Long Beach. 10/27/1981
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- 2020-10-27
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- *** File: cbkharnett1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:18)... Brief Introduction Harnett grew up her family's 5 acre ranch. They had pigs, chickens, ducks, pigeons and fruit trees. The harvested and canned fruit. (1:18-4:25)... Harnett family came to Long Beach in 1889. Harnett, her sister Ivy and brother Frank were all born in Long Beach. Harnett was the 13th child. The lived on a 5 acre ranch and those around them also lived on similar parcels. The family raised pigeons and Harnett earned pocket money by picking the feathers off pigeons so that the pigeons, known as squab, could be sold to local hotels and restaurants. Harnett attended Burnett school to the 8th grade, then she went to 8th school at 5th and Atlantic where she rode to school on a bicycle. One day the bicycle had a flat tire and she ran to school so she wouldn't be late. She was afraid she'd be kept after school, and she couldn't do that since she had to work after school. The principal, however, understood and didn't penalize her. She then went to Long Beach High School at 8th and American until 12th grade, when she went to Poly. At the time, some people said a new high school shouldn't be built so far out on Atlantic at 16th Street (4:25-6:07)... After high school, Harnett went to UC Berkeley where she worked for her room and board while she was in school. In her Junior year, she got a scholarship to support her while she finished college. After she graduated, she found a teaching job in Morenci, Arizona. Beginning in 1917, she taught there 2 years before she became principal of the school. Then in 1924 she returned to Poly to teach Spanish. Later she started to teach history and eventually became hear of the history department at Poly. (6:07-8:44)... Harnett never considered any career other than teaching. Her 3 older sisters were teachers. She admired her older sister, Jane who also taught history at Poly. She had no other particular interests. She wasn't musical or artistic. Another sister, Norah, taught in a mission school in Alaska. When Norah married and retired, Kathleen was offered her job. She wrote to Jane seeking advice and Jane sent her money to supplement her scholarship and advised her to stay in Berkeley and finish her education. (8:44-11:05)... Harnett found teaching in Arizona very interesting. The first year she was there, she taught world history, American history, Latin, and Spanish. She had studied Latin in school, but had to study at night to keep ahead of the students. There were 4 boys in her class. She also learned to knit for the Red Cross during WWI. There were many Welsh miners in Morenci and they sang all night when the armistice ending WWI was announced (11:05-12:53)... Harnett was a reluctant public speaker. When she was presented to the Morenci school, which had 85 students, as the new principal, al she said was, "go to 2nd period class." But while she was teaching at Poly, she was in charge of student government and she learned to speak in front of larger groups. She learned that she could change if she made up her mind to do it. (12:53-16:30)... Students at Poly changed over time. When she was a student there, students respected teachers. When she was a teacher there, it seemed like more students were reluctant to work hard and study. She believed that attitudes of students were influenced by their teachers. So she didn't treat "Negro" students any different than others. When the Girl Scouts held them national convention in Long Beach, she was asked to moderate a panel and chose a "Negro" student to be on it. The meeting was held at the Breakers Hotel and she didn't know if they'd serve a "Negro" in their dinning room. So she and the students had lunch in the Girl Scout official's rooms. The students had their picture taken with the national president of the Girl Scouts, who was a southerner, and it was published in Seventeen magazine. (16:30-18:14)... Many Long Beach restaurants in Long Beach were segregated. Harnett discovered this when she tried to arrange dinners for the Poly chapter of the Future Teachers of America. Bowers, for example, wouldn't serve groups that included Blacks, but Japanese Americans were served. The next year, the dinner was held at Welch's and there were no problems. (18:14-22:49)... There were more "Negro" students at Poly than at Wilson or Jorann high schools. Harnett retired before the Watts riots. After that, many people were nervous about race. During the riots, she gave a ride home from a church meeting to a Black woman and both of them were nervous about young people in the streets. When they got to the Black woman's home, she thanked Harnett loudly to make clear that she was a friend and not an employer. (22:49-27:02)... Long Beach used to be very different than it was at the time of the interview. When she was a child, they would pack a lunch and spend the day at the beach. They especially enjoyed Fourth of July at the beach. Her father liked to attend several services in Sundays. He'd start out at St. Luke's early service, then walk down to the pier, and then to Taubman's Men's Bible class and then back to St. Luke's for another service. The whole family went to that service and in the early days, they threw a blanket over some hay in the back of a wagon for them to sit on. Her father also attended services at the Baptist church on Hill and Lime or Olive in the evening. Her brother Tom was Senior Warden at St. Luke's and her mother played the organ. Her sister and brother-in-law, Ethel and Jack, came from England and became a strong force in the choir. They spent a lot of time at church. One time, when their horses ran away, they found them at the church. End of tape *** File: cbkharnett2.mp3 (0:00-2:45)... Harnett's father was a "gentleman" farmer in England where he raised hops and cherries. After 2 poor crop seasons, he followed a friend's advice and moved his family to California. They settled in Long Beach and her father purchased a 5 acre ranch on 10th and Atlantic. The farm had fruit trees and her father raised pigeons. (2:45-6:09)... Harnett's brother, Tom, purchased the Long Beach Milling Company on Appleton and Long Beach Boulevard. She remembers her father as an "old man." He didn't work with her brother at the milling company but stayed at the ranch tending his vegetable garden, especially his chives. A farm hand did the heavy work on the ranch. Her brother, Frank, went to college and became a chiropractor. Then he left that profession to become hear of the Long Beach Recreation Department. Another brother, Edward, was a city engineer and founded the Signal Hill Tennis Club. Her family laid out the dirt tennis court on their ranch. (6:09-6:58)... Harnett went to Long Beach High School at 8th and American. To get to school, she cut across lots and remembers that there were few other houses in the area. The city has developed substantially since then. At the time of the interview, she felt it was no longer safe to walk the streets of Long Beach. (6:58-8:08)... Harnett's family wasn't affected by the discovery of oil on Signal Hill. Two of her sisters purchased lots in Huntington Beach for $100 each. They later sold their lots for $400 and in the next year, the land sold again for $18,000. Her family didn't own any property with oil under it. She once lived with a friend on Elm Avenue. Her friend signed a contract with an oil company, but no oil was discovered. (8:08-10:24)... A hit-and-run driver killed Harnett's father the same week that her sister Jane died from the influenza epidemic in 1918. Harnett was living in Arizona at the time and came home for her sister's funeral. After her father's death, the family sold the ranch and built a 2 story home on Sunrise Boulevard. (10:24-15:26)... Harnett thinks that many things have changed. She feels safe in her apartment but sometimes feels like a prisioner because she is afraid to go outside. Still she feels safe enough to walk to church 2 nights a week. It is an odd feeling for her to live along in a one room apartment after living for so many years with her large family. At the time of the interview, only one of her sibling, a sister, is still alive. When her brother, Frank, died, there was an article about her family in the Long Beach Review. (15:26-20:58)... Harnett became active in St Luke's Episcopal church after she retired from teaching. She organized the Midweek Fellowship for senior citizens modeled after the senior citizen's club at the First Congregational and Presbyterian churches. The fellowship meetings featured lunch, a chapel service and a program. The fellowship was so popular that they had to limit attendance to church members. (20:58-22:59)... Harnett was instrumental in organizing the Calling Ministry at St. Luke's Episcopal church. Initially, the ministry purchased gifts for people who couldn't get out. The W of St. Luke's provided the money. At Easter, Harnett suggested taking Easter lilies to people who didn't get out. People were thrilled to get them. So then they started taking poinsettias to people for Christmas. The priest told her she'd started something she couldn't stop. Her job, at the time of the interview, was to raise money for flowers and organize their distribution. (22:59-25:18)... Harnett was friends with Episcopal Bishop Gooden when he as a priest at St. Luke's After he became a bishop and moved to Los Angeles, she and her sisters took him out to dinner every month until he died at age 102. End of tape *** File: cbkharnett3.mp3 (0:16-2:45)... In 1906, Harnett's brother Tom was Senior Warden at St. Luke's Episcopal church when he wrote to the future Bishop Gooden and asked him to become rector at St.. Luke's. At the time, she was too young to appreciate Mr. Gooden, but her family thought hightly of him. She remembers the rector before Gooden, Mr. Jacobs; she remembers going to his home for Sunday School picnics and he palyed with the children. She also remembers other Sunday School picnics at San Pedro. They traveled there in a boat and she was sick all of the way. The only thing she remembers about the Pike was a "double whirl" ride that made her nauseous. (2:45-6:53)... Harnett was on the campus of Poly HIgh School on the day the earthquake hit. After the earthquake, she didn't really want to, but she left Long Beach and didn't return until the schools reopened. At that time, women were not allowed th enter the school to retrieve their belongings. When a man went into the school to gather her things, he come across her personal calendar which forecast a "great calamity" on March 10. School was held out in the open and then in tents until the buildings were reconstructed (6:53-9:58)... Harnett says she tried to reach student where they were. There were many interesting people on the Poly faculty. Her friend, Miss Hess, taught history and later went to teach at Long Beach City College. She sponsored a legal sorority. One student told her that her class was almost as good as Sunday School. (9:58-13:36)... Harnett retired when she was 60 years old at the same time as her friend, Violette Hess, who was 65. They were raising a girl at the time and Harnett was involved in church activities. In 1970 she joined trhe Stanford Alumni Association abd started traveling in Europe. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Kathleen Harnett was a teacher at Long Beach Polytechnic High School for many years and observed the changes that occurred there. She grew up in Long Beach where her family lived on a farm and sold pigeons to local hotels. She went to school in Long Beach before going away to UC Berkeley where she earned her teaching credential. Her first teaching position was in Morenci, Arizona and after teaching there several years, she returned to teach in Long Beach. At Poly, she observed racial discrimination in restaurants and other places when she tried to take inter-racial student groups into the community. In this interview, she also talks about her thirteen brothers and sisters, including her brother who owned Long Beach Milling Company and her active membership in St. Luke's Episcopal Church where she has organized program for Senior Citizens since her retirement. TOPICS - Topics on this side of tape include: family background; St; Luke's Episcopal church; farming; education; teaching career and siblingsTopics on this side of tape include: Long Beach Milling Company; Long Beach Tennis Club; siblings; education; oil wells and St; Luke's Episcopal churchTopics on this side of tape include: St; Luke's Episcopal church; siblings; 1933 earthquake and Poly High School
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