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Sawyer, Annie B. (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This interview was conducted primarily by Kaye Briegel. The interview was arranged by Don Foltz, a political campaign consultant who worked for, among many others, James Wilson, the first Black member of the Long Beach City Council. Foltz came along to the interview and asked some questions. The interview was conducted in the lobby of the New Hope Baptist home. 1/31/1983
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- 2020-10-05
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- SUBJECT BIO - Annie B. Sawyer came to Long Beach in 1936 when there was only one apartment building where African Americans could live. She found employment opportunities outside of domestic service to be limited, but she became successful representing the Black owned Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company. In this interview she talks about life in Long Beach during and after World War II, where she was an active member of the local NAACP chapter, and her call to the ministry, which received little support among local male pastors. Her experience illustrates how a Black woman was able to support herself as segregation was breaking down in Long Beach. TOPICS - African Americans in Long Beach; housing; family background; churches; and Second Baptist Church;housing; family; gender roles; employment; US Navy; and migration
- *** File: cbabsawyer1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-3:18)... Brief Introduction Sawyer came to Long Beach in 1936 and stayed with Mrs. Carrie Jackson when she was still Carrie Bagley. Jackson's sister was named Robinson and Sawyer knew her from "home." Sawyer was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Robinson lived in Arkansas and Sawyer had a cousin there. Sawyer left Memphis for Cleveland when her son was in the US Navy and stationed there. Then she came to Long Beach when he was stationed here. (3:18-9:52)... She noticed more Blacks coming to Long Beach although there were still few. Rev. Kirkpatrick used to drive his white employers to Long Beach for vacations. He eventually quit his job and moved his family here. In the 1940s, he opened his own church at 10th and California. Sawyer was clerk of Second Baptist Church when Kirkpatrick was "called" to the ministry. Kirkpatrick, along with a physician interested in the neighborhood, worked to create New Hope Baptist Home. It is a place where Black people can live and have activities for groups too large to hold in church. (9:52-12:52)... A few more Blacks came to Long Beach and bought property even before Black businesses were established near 12th and California. One or two families bought in Signal Hill but sold out when oil was discovered there and moved in California Avenue neighborhood. (12:52-14:06)... She was single when she came to Long Beach. She was separated from her son's father. She married again but this second husband died. She married Mr. Sawyer in Long Beach in 1942. Her activities were with the church and his were with gambling and such, "like most other men." (14:06-17:04)... She advised her son to re-enlist in the Navy. She worried when she believed he might get drafted into Army. When he returned from WWII without injuries it was "as a result of prayers." Then her son went to work in a shipyard. After 37 years he retired. At the time of the interview, he was married with three daughters. The oldest one went to college and received an MA. She taught school for a while, but prefers her job on the Bay Bridge in Oakland. (17:04-20:00)... At the time of the interview, her husband was in a rest home in north Long Beach. They were married in 1942. The prosperity and the growth of Long Beach coincided with the growth of the Black population. The number of businesses around 12th and California has grown. A barbershop, cafe and pressing shop used to be the only businesses there. (20:00-24:56)... California Recreation Center building housed many activities. She was clerk of her church. Her duties included keeping track of the church's finances of the church, keeping a list of church members and putting out bulletins. The church has had several of ministers including Rev. Malone, Rev. Thomas, and Rev. Charles who left after a problem. About 1950 Rev. Gore came to Long Beach and led church members to build a new church on New York and California, next to the New Hope Baptist home, and changed its name from Second Baptist to Christ Second Baptist Church. (24:56-28:46)... In 1936, when she came to Long Beach, the Second Baptist Church was already established. There was a restaurant at Anaheim and California were people gathered. It was across the street from the White Rose church. They used to have services outside until the members raised enough money to put up a building. In the same area, Gus Bradley had a pool hall and there was another cafe. There was also another church at 15th and Lemon called Friendship Baptist Church. It moved to California when the park was built there. (28:46-31:12)... There was also another church at 15th and Lemon called Friendship Baptist Church. It moved to California when the park was built there. When She first came to Long Beach the she lived in a 12 unit apartment building owned by Samella Jackson. It was the only one in Long Beach that rented to Blacks. End of tape *** File: cbabsawyer2.mp3 (0:00-1:17)... After she married Mr. Sawyer, Black people began to buy property near the California Avenue neighborhood. She and her husband bought the house she continues to live in. Ernie McBride and his wife bought in that neighborhood, too. (1:17-4:30)... She is a member of the NAACP but was not in on the Long Beach chapter's founding. Long Beach chapter was organized by Ernie McBride. The NAACP has been a positive force in the local community. She, however, isn't as active as she used to be because she is so busy with her church work. (4:30-6:23)... She was called to the ministry about 10 years ago. She accepted the call and calls herself an Evangelist. So many male ministers do not believe women should become ministers. When she was called to her ministry, she went to the minister of the church she attended to ask him to file a "missionary report" about her "call." He told her to go to the store and buy a form to fill out but she knew he has a drawer full of blank reports. So she didn't return to his church. (6:23-8:43)... There were Navy sponsored housing projects in Long Beach. They were not segregated but you had to be in the Navy to live there. Nearby there is also the Gold Star Mothers' homes, but one had to be the mother or wife of a man who was killed in the armed services to live there. (8:43-14:19)... She remembers Darthula Bouggess who helped to organize the group that gives the Bouggess-White Scholarships. She also knows Mrs. White who still, at the time of the interview, lived on Cerritos. They already lived here when she arrived. Carrie Jackson and Earl Miles have lived in Long Beach for a long time. (9:29-16:34)... When she arrived there were no Black owned businesses outside the Black community. She experienced some racial prejudice in Long Beach things got better when whites found out Blacks would fight back. There were places in Long Beach where Blacks couldn't live including on Ocean east of Orange. (16:34-18:36)... The Black population of Long Beach has steadily increased since she arrived. Many Blacks came to Long Beach during the WWII to work in shipyards and at other jobs. Many stayed here because conditions here were better than where they came from. There were not many problems with Blacks shopping downtown and stores accepted Black patronage. (18:36-20:58)... She could never understand all the hate between Blacks and whites. Recently she went to the Long Beach Senior Center at 4th and Orange. She saw people she knew there and although a white man tried to crowd in front of her, both Black and white friends supported her and asked her to sit down and eat with them. (20:58-25:06)... Her husband lived in Long Beach before the 1933 Long Beach earthquake while the street cars were still running down California Avenue. He left home at age 13 and went to Boston, then to Cleveland and then to Long Beach. Sawyer met him while she was still living in Mrs. Jackson's apartment building. Down the street from that apartment was Mr. Sawyer's place of employment. They met when he came to ask her to mark his ballot for him. She told him he had to mark his own. (25:06-26:33)... She married Mr. Sawyer in 1942, but not in Long Beach. Mr. Sawyer was living in a rooming house. After they married, he moved into her apartment. After that, they bought one home, then sold it and bought another on Rhea. Sawyer knew both Mr. and Mrs. Bouggess. They worked as janitors and didn't mind being seen with buckets in their hands. (26:33-27:03)... She has kept her family name, Bowman and uses it as her initial. Before she took the name Sawyer, she used her late husband's name, Martin. (27:03-28:40)... Her mother died when she was 9 and her father when she was 15. She had 2 brothers and a sister. She and her younger sister and went to live with her aunt who knew Mrs. Jackson. She worked in a laundry in the marking room. After her son was in school, when school was out, she took him along to the laundry and let him play outside. Her son joined the US Navy in Memphis when he was 16 year old. His father signed so he could join. He didn't want to go back to school. (28:40-31:15)... In Long Beach, Black women could always find work in the homes of rich white women out on Ocean. When she came to Long Beach she went to City Hall to get an application to work for the City. She passed the civil service test but "didn't know how to use a mop." An agent for Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company suggested that she take their examination and apply for a job there. She passed the exam and she began selling life insurance for them. She only recently retired for selling insurance. She attended school in Memphis, where she got as far as 7th grade. End of tape
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