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Holloway, Mary (audio interview #2 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This second interview with Holloway, suffers from the same sound problems as the first, but is understandable. Her daughter, Laura Brooks participated in the interview and can be heard quite clearly. Her contributions have been noted. 3/4/1974
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- 2021-02-23
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- SUBJECT BIO - Mary "Mother" Holloway, like many other Black women, focused her social reform activities in the church. She held leadership positions in the Women's Missionary Socety both before and after her move to Los Angeles in 1947. In Los Angeles, she worked with other women of various denominations to institute social programs for young women. Some of her involvement in NAACP, Church Women United and NCWN is elaborated by her daughter. TOPICS - family history; miscegenation; parents; gender expectations; education; teaching; career opportunities for women; Loyal Friends of America; missionary work; and attitudes towards Marcus Garvey;teachings and ideals of Mary McCleod Bethune;
- *** File: refmholloway2.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-4:27)... Brief introduction. Both of Holloway's parents were slaves as children. They were each born in Texas, her mother in 1860 and her father in 1856. Describing her maternal heritage, she notes that while history tries to disprove interracial associations, her family background is a clear example of the mixture between races. She discusses her attitudes towards interracial unions, indicating that white men imposed themselves on "colored" women, which resulted in the varied colors among Blacks. In contrast, if a Black man made advances towards a White woman, he was lynched. (4:27-11:42)... When Holloway's parents married, her father hired a White man to teach them how to write. Her father also paid a teacher $4 a month to teach him arithmetic. She discusses her early education, indicating that the school she attended was segregated. Initially, the trustees of the school were White, but then several Blacks took on these positions, including her father. She digresses regarding her first experience traveling with her father to Fort Worth, Texas. She was intrigued by the street cars that she and her father rode through the city. In 1939, she went to New York for a missionary congregation, a women's church organization. While there, she visited the World's Fair and noted an exhibit illustrating the future of highway transportation and freeway construction. She discusses the Wright brothers' invention of the airplane, citing it as an example of inventions stolen from Blacks. [Holloway's daughter, Laura C. Brooks, chimes in here, mentioning Carter G. Woodson's history of the Black man as a source for this kind of information.] (11:42-17:45)... Though many girls were expected to stay home and help with household chores, her parents did not encourage this. Her father hired field hands to help with the crops. She describes her experiences attempting to plow when she was eight years old. She explains that her brothers were expected to work in the fields when they were not attending school. Her parents made no distinction between the boys and girls when it came to education; she was expected to go to school just as the boys were. When she married, she continued to receive training at summer Normal School and pursue a career in teaching. Brooks describes the school's program, indicating that people did not need a college education to become a teacher. Holloway attended this school during the summers only. (17:45-20:07)... She discusses her entrance into the field of teaching. Though some people did not want a woman to teach their children, she did not experience this form of discrimination. The first school she worked at was in the country and was staffed and attended by "Negroes." She discusses the opportunities available to women, indicating that most were employed as teachers or domestic servants. (20:07-26:13)... She discusses her activities with the Loyal Friends of America and her status as Mistress of the organization. Very few women were chosen for positions within the organization that required moving around. Brooks discusses the status of women within the secret fraternities, indicating that because there were more men than women in leadership positions, women were very fortunate to be offered leadership roles. Holloway notes that her status as a widow played an important factor in the decision to send her to Oklahoma to organize fraternities. In this capacity, she traveled quite extensively and her activities were not hampered by her third marriage to R.H. Holloway. (26:13-27:18)... She discusses her attitudes towards Marcus Garvey. During the period of Garvey's popularity, she was working with the NAACP and they opposed to his views. *** File: refmholloway3.mp3 (0:00-4:36)... Note: the flow of the interview is interrupted as a result of a long pause while Holloway tended to her dog. The tape beings abruptly with a discussion by Brooks on the contributions of black women. Holloway describes her experiences with Mary McLeod Bethune, who went to Holloway's classroom in Chickasha, Oklahoma to speak on uplifting the Black race. (4:36-9:46)... She believes that most women speakers were good orators if they were prepared. She digresses regarding a White man who conducted a social experiment and turned himself Black and also a wore wig. She recalls that he spoke to the National Council of Negro Women about his experiences. Brooks discusses the impact of Bethune whose focus was to educate the "Negroes" because they were a downtrodden race with less opportunities available to them. Bethune challenged women to educate themselves to uplift the Black race. end of tape
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8200056177613794-refmholloway2.mp3 Public
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0811239289874272-refmholloway3.mp3 Public
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