August 2006 Interview with Juanita Jones By Betty Brown, Lucy Hughes, and Harry Holtz Holtz: Okay. We’re going, we’re going to start over again. Jones: Oh. Okay. Brown: Now where did you live in Brownsburg? Jones: We lived – what they called “around the bend.” [Laugh] You know country people, they don’t have any names. But ah, I can’t tell you because I don’t know. Hughes: Off of the Brownsburg Turnpike? Brown: [Unintelligible] Jones: But you know – Hughes: Oh, in the Walter – Oh yeah. Okay. Holtz: So that’s where you lived, huh? Jones: You know -- Brown: That’s where she was born. Jones: You know where – you know where Miss Carrie Peters lived? Brown: Around the road, yeah. Jones: Yeah. Jones: Well, we lived right on that corner. Like the corner you turn up to go to Miss Carrie Peters. Brown: Yeah. Jones: We lived right there at that house. Brown: Oh not – not -- you weren’t on the road going towards Lexington then? Jones: No. Brown: Okay. Jones: No. Brown: Okay. Okay. Jones: No. No. We – you turned like you come into Brownsburg – Brown: Okay. Jones: from Staunton. Brown: Oh, right where you turn there on Hays Creek. Between the stores. Jones: You crossed the creek. Brown: Yeah. Jones: And then the first turn you take, you go around the bend, I’m going to say. Brown: Okay. Jones: And then, that’s where we lived until we came to Staunton. Brown: Okay. Now. You -- But you didn’t live in Miss Carrie’s house, you lived in a house on the corner from them – across from them? Jones: Right, but I don’t know what you call it. Brown: It’s across from where – right now it would be across from where the Swisher house is. Jones: I never did know. Brown: What it was called? Jones: Who lived in it. Brown: Somebody might know. Somebody might know. But that’s where it is. Jones: But see, the people I knew were Miss Ag and Miss Bert. Brown: Uh hm. Jones: And they were sisters, I think. Brown: Yeah. Uh hmm. Uh hmm. Right. Jones: And Cleo. Brown: Cleo. Jones: You don’t know Cleo. Brown: No I didn’t -- I never knew her. Jones: Well, see, I’m too old for her. Brown: [Laugh] Holtz: You’re not too old. Jones: Yes I am. [Laugh] Sometimes I don’t even know what my name is. Brown: [Laugh] Hughes: Juanita. Jones: Thank you. Hughes: [Laugh] Jones: Thank you. Brown: Okay, who were your parents? What were your parents’ names? Jones: Ollie Miles. Ollie Borden she was. Brown: Ollie Borden. And your dad’s name? Jones: Charles Gibbons Miles. I was a M – I – L – E – S. Miles. I’m in some of these – Hughes: “Echoes.” [Transcriber’s note: “Echoes” were school yearbooks.] Jones: “Echoes.” Thank you. Hughes: See, I’m getting to know all about you. [Laugh] Jones: Yeah. Hallelujah! Well, a lady in Richmond – it’s my husband’s cousin. She wanted a picture of her brother. Hughes: Um hm. Jones: And he was in one of the “Echoes.” And so I sent it to her, and she was so happy she didn’t know what to do with herself. Hughes: Well, we have to get one of those “Echoes” and put it in the museum, too. Jones: Well – Hughes: that’s the Black folks back in that time and year because you’ve got a lot -- Jones: I know. Well, see, I promised all my black dolls unless you – I wonder what that was? See, I can’t see, and I wonder what everything is. Holtz: Oh, okay, I’m holding something up to record what you’re saying. Jones: Oh, you are? Holtz: Okay, I’ll cut this off. [To Brown] Do you have a question about – about the Black school house there? Jones: We had a one room school house. Holtz: Wait a minute, let me record that first. Do you have a question on that? Brown: Yeah. Question number 2. Okay. Holtz: [Cuts tape off and on again.] Let me know when you’re ready to start again. Jones: We had a one room school house. Holtz: Hold on. Brown: What brought your family to Brownsburg in the first place? Do you think she needs to answer that one? Hughes: What brought your parents to Brownsburg? Jones: What’s that? Hughes: What brought your parents to Brownsburg? Was it work? Farm? Relatives? Jones: I don’t -- I have no idea where my parents came from. Hughes: Oh, okay. Brown: Alright. Jones: Or anything. The only thing I know about my mother is when she was born. I don’t know what my grandparents’ names were or nothing. Hughes: Uh hm. Okay. Jones: But when she was born – when my mother was born, ah, her sister raised her. Hughes: Um hmm. Jones: And there was this many people that I know of in the family: my mother, my -- my mother’s older sister – Hughes: Um hmm. Jones: -- and Jim Borden [??], that was a brother. And Earl Strother, that was a brother. So he must not have had the same – what? Father? Hughes: Father. Yeah. Jones: Uh hm. Brown: Did you attend school there? Jones: Yes, up to fourth grade. Because when I came to Staunton, I entered the fourth grade, and a lady named Mrs. Lethridge was my teacher. Holtz: Where was the school located? Jones: Right across from Sunnyside. Holtz: No, the school in Brownsburg. Jones: Oh. Down in that field when you first enter Brownsburg, down near the river. Brown: Yeah. Uh hm. Where the old cannery was? Jones: I don’t know what else was there. And I’m so sorry I didn’t take a picture. Brown: Yeah. Jones: When I was – Brown: It’s got to be some pictures somewhere of the old school house. Jones: And Miss Carrie Peters was the teacher. Brown: Right. Uh hmm. Jones: And she taught all the grades. And she had order. I don’t remember her ever whipping anybody, you know, to make them behave. Hughes: Okay. Jones: But I guess she taught to what – to the seventh grade? Brown: Yeah. It went through the seventh grade there. Jones: Uh hmm. Brown. It did. That’s as far as it went. Jones: I can remember that. And you know, that same year, Reverend Peters was pastor of Augusta Street Church. Cause he was pastor when we first came here. You don’t remember that? Brown: No. [Laugh] That was a little bit before my time. Hughes: I believe you’re going to have to go a little faster because my tape’s going to run out. Brown: Okay. You came to Staunton in 1922? Jones: I don’t know. Brown: That’s what you told us. You came to Staunton in 1922. You were 9 years old. Jones: Right. Brown: Alright. You got married or – well, you finished school, and went into your adult life. Jones: Yeah. Brown: What did you do? What kind of work did you do? Jones: The only kind of work to do was look after children. Brown: Okay. That’s what you did to earn a living? Jones: But see, I didn’t have to earn a living. My mother, some how or another – I don’t know how she did it, but she didn’t make you work in – Whatever kind of work we did was looking after little white children. Lucy: Uh hmm. Jones: Because that was all. That was all there was to do. And then, of course, after I grew older, my first job was at the old Kings Daughter’s hospital down on 3rd Street. Brown: Alright. Jones: And we had to come in the side door, even to work. Hughes: What did you do there – worked in the kitchen, or -- ? Jones: I helped with – I worked with the patients. Hughes: Okay. Jones: You know. Whatever they told you to do. Hughes: Okay. Holtz: How long did you work there? Jones: Hmmm. Let me see. I don’t know. What was my next job? My next job, I guess was with the Hunters. Hughes: The Huggins? Brown: Hunters. Jones: The Hunters. Brown: Um hmm. Jones: Because I stayed with them for 50 years. Hughes: At the Hunters. What type of people were they? Whites? Jones: Yeah. Hughes: Okay Jones: Of course. Brown: And what was his job? Jones: He was – was associated with the Coca Cola place. Uh hmm. Brown: That’s what I thought. Alright. Now, when you were in Brownsburg, did you go to church there? Jones: Sure. Brown: Okay. Jones: The only church. Brown: The only church. Uh huh. Holtz: What was the name of that church? Jones: Asbury. Brown: Asbury. Jones: I think that’s always been its name. I believe. Brown: Do you remember any of the ministers? At your time? Jones: Hmm. Let’s see. I don’t – I don’t believe so – Hughes: Unless you remember the one – Peters. Brown: Yeah. Hughes: But he was at Augusta Street she said though. Jones: Yeah. Hughes: He wasn’t at Asbury. Jones: No, I don’t think so. Hughes: Okay. Jones: I don’t think they had, you know, those preachers like they have now. Hughes: Okay. Brown: Did you all own an automobile? Jones: No! Brown: No. Okay. Jones: We used to walk to town. From around the corner, around the bend. Brown: Around the bend. Okay. Jones: And get roses along the fence. [??] [Unintelligible] Or we would cut through that field, you know that field – Brown: Yeah. Jones: -- that’s right there between where we lived in at Brownsburg. Brown: Yeah, you’d cut through there at the Drivers. Okay. Did you know that they had a train that ran through Raphine and Fairfield? Jones: I knew they had one that ran from Staunton to Lexington. Brown: But it says here Raphine and Fairfield to Lexington. Jones: It ran from Staunton -- Do you know where the underpass is? In Staunton? Brown: Yeah. Um hmm. Jones: The train station was right there. Brown: It was right at the underpass. Yeah. Jones: And it was the B&O. Brown: Okay. Jones: The Baltimore and Ohio. Hughes: Uh hmm. Brown: What individuals stand out in your memory from growing up in Brownsburg, or living in Brownsburg? Do you have anybody in particular that -- Jones: No, just my mother’s good friends, I guess. Brown: Okay. Jones: See I knew Miss, Miss ah – Miss Aggie. And I knew Miss Bert. Hughes: Is that – is that our relatives? Aunt Bert and Aunt Aggie? Miss Craney? Brown: Aggie Craney. Jones: Is that what her name was? I’ve forgotten all those people. And I knew Mrs. – what’s the girl’s name that just died? Brown: Porterfield. Frances. Jones: Yeah, Porterfield. Her name was Craney. [End of Tape 1] Juanita Jones Oral History – Index B Black school house · 4 Borden, Jim · 5 Borden, Ollie · 3 Brownsburg Asbury Church · 7 black school · 5 businesses · 10 C Craney, Aggie · 9 Craney, Frances · 9 E Echoes · 3 H Harris, Rupert · 10 J Jones, Juanita acquaintances · 2–3, 9 parents · 3, 4 residence · 1–2 work · 6–7 M Miles, Charles Gibbons · 3 Miles, Ollie Borden · 3 P Peters, Carrie · 1, 5 Peters, Reverend · 6 Porterfield, Frances · 9 R railroad · 9 S Strother, Earl · 5