<html>

<head>

<title><center>Racism and the Great Depression</center></title>

</head>

<body>

Grace McCune walked into the old beat up house of Bill Heard, an ex slave, in order to interview him about his days as a slave. Once Bill saw a white woman in his home, he quickly got up from his chair, took off his hat and said with a big smile on his face, “Hello Missy.” Once Bill started to get the interview started, Bill immediately talked about how he missed being a slave. “I still calls dem de good old days cause folks was better off den.” What would make a free slave in 1938 say he would rather be a slave again?<a name="#1"><a href="#1n">1</a>

After the Great War ended in 1918, the United States stood as one of, if not the greatest, superpower in the world. While every other major country took a step back because of the War, the United States took a giant step forward as far as world wide status was concerned. The country and President Herbert Hoover rode the wave of momentum into the 1920s in what became one of the richest and most prosperous decades the United States has ever seen. However, people soon found out that the “Roaring Twenties” was nothing more than a blanket concealing the bigger problems with the economy. By 1929, people felt the full force of the skin deep economy as the blanket went down and the country fell into a deep economic depression. Jobs and homes were lost all over the country. Once 1930 arrived, everybody new the prosperous times of the 1920s was over. The unemployment rate went from around three percent in 1929 to twenty five percent by 1933. The people started to become frustrated and angry at the sight of farm surpluses’ going to waste, while their families were starving to death. The site of empty factories laying still while a massive amount of unemployed looked and failed to find jobs didn’t help subside the fire growing within the population either. While the South was dealing with the depression just like the rest of the country, the region had the old problem of racism to deal with on top of it, and the Southern elite’s best way to enforce racism was with segregation.<a name="#2"><a href="#2n">2</a>

Segregation was not just culture norms for the Deep South, but a way of life. The southern states looked at it as the best option since slavery was illegal. The Depression of the 1930s was a catalyst to keep segregation going. If segregation was a fire, The Depression was lighter fluid. However, this paper is not about segregation or racism in the South as a whole. There have been plenty of other good articles and books that have covered that subject. This is about a specific place and a specific person and how she dealt with the two headed monster of segregation and the depression in her hometown.

Grace McCune was a white, lower to middle class white women who lived in Athens, Georgia. By looking at her background and her works with the Federal Writer’s Project Slave Narratives, one will see that Grace McCune strengthened the idea of segregation by being a pawn for the southern way of life.<a name="#3"><a href="#3n">3</a>

To understand how Grace McCune acted as a pawn for the segregated South through her slave narratives, one must look into her life before and after she wrote the Slave Narratives. Grace McCune was a survivalist. She would do whatever it takes to make sure she does not hit rock bottom during the depression. Grace does this by always making sure she is financially supported, always having some place to live, and having family and friends help her if she needs it. During Grace’s lifetime in Athens, a time period which lasted from 1899 to 1952, Grace had at least seven different jobs, at least eight different homes, and at least nine different people that she lived with. These numbers might not see too extreme, but looking into it further, one would see that Grace McCune lived a very unstable life while she was in Athens, Georgia.<a name="#4"><a href="#4n">4</a>

Grace McCune was first documented in the Athens City Directory in 1909. At that time she was twelve years old and lived with her dad, Daniel McCune who was 43 years old. Daniel was not a skilled laborer. He spent a large portion of his life as a painter along with his other relatives. However, in 1909, Daniel had gotten a job as a hackman, or more commonly known as a cab driver. Grace also lived with her mother, Gertrude. She married Daniel in Athens, October 9, 1887 and became Gertrude McCune. The three of them lived together with Daniel’s relative, John McCune, a plumber, at 145 Mulberry Street. John McCune was probably too poor to buy or rent a house on his own. More than likely he had nobody else to turn to but his family. There was also the possibility that Daniel McCune needed John and his money just as much as John needed him. Whatever the reason was, this showed Grace a very young age that family is extremely important, it is okay to lean on them for support if you had to.<a name="#5"><a href="#5n">5</a>

Three years later, Grace McCune had taken the first of the nine moves to a new home. In 1912 Daniel McCune had packed up and moved his family, including John to 128 Pine Street. Along with the move came a new job. Daniel traded in a life of remedial jobs for a more “white collar” job of a clerk. Changing his job from a cab driver to a clerk probably explains why the family would move such a short distance. More than likely, Daniel made more money as a clerk than a cab driver. 128 Pine Street was probably a nicer home than 145 Mulberry Street. However, the stay at 128 Pine was a very short one.<a name="#6"><a href="#6n">6</a>

In 1914, Daniel McCune took a new job and a new home. The McCune family, with John still hanging around, moved to 174 Hickory Street. Daniel’s new job was even more of an upgrade than the one before. He was now a policeman for the Athens City Police Department. One could also assume that the new home was nicer than the one at 128 Pine Street as well. While the overall house hold was making more money from Daniel now that he was a cop, and John still had his paycheck as a plumber, The family was now earning money from sixteen year old Grace McCune, who decided to get a job as a mill worker. Grace more than likely got the job through the help of her other relatives. Daniel, Gertrude, John, and Grace were not the only McCune’s living in Athens. Andrew, Jason, and Minnie McCune all worked at the mill. Whether they got the job first and helped Grace out, or the same person or persons who got the other McCune’s the job also gave one to Grace, she used family resources to help land the job. The reason for Grace getting a job is not completely clear. Perhaps her new home cost a lot more rent than her last one and Daniel needed more money even though he was making more money too. Maybe she just simply wanted a job and at sixteen years old, and Daniel thought she was old enough to get a job. No matter the reason, Grace had entered the working force for the first time. In 1914 Grace had jumped into the working pool. Six years later, she’d be out of it.<a name="#7"><a href="#7n">7</a>

By 1920, there had been some major changes in the McCune family. Most notably, Gertrude was no longer in it, leaving fifty four year old Daniel without a wife, and twenty three year old Grace without a mother. The family moved out of 174 Hickory Street and into 890 College Avenue. Grace no longer had a job, but John had gotten himself out of the blue collar work like Daniel years before and gotten a job in sales for a grocery store. The reason for the move to College Avenue and Grace’s unemployment isn’t completely clear. Perhaps they moved to start fresh after Gertrude’s departure, or maybe they moved simply because the family had more money now that they had two white collar workers now. Maybe the reason Grace was without a job is that someone needed to stay home and take care of the house now that Gertrude was gone. There is a chance that simply Grace was just in between jobs at that time, or perhaps with the added household income, Grace did not have to work. Whatever the reasons for the changes, it would not be the last for Grace and the McCune family.<a name="#8"><a href="#8n">8</a>

In 1926, Daniel McCune and Grace moved yet again to 881(1/2) College Avenue. Daniel still had his job with the Athens police department, and Grace was still not working. With this move came new housemates for Grace and Daniel. John McCune was no longer with them, but other family had moved in to replace John as a housemate. Minnie McCune, a relative of Grace McCune who worked with her at the mill, married a man named Linton Cornelison, a veteran of the Great War. Linton was also a policeman for the city of Athens, but he was much younger than Daniel. By this time, Daniel was sixty years old while Linton was more around Grace’s age at thirty one. From 1926 to 1935, this household remained constant for Grace. Her dad and Linton went of to work for the Police Department, while Grace and Minnie probably stayed home and took care of the house. Those nine years would prove to be the most stable in Grace’s lifetime. There was no moving, no switching jobs for anyone and nobody moving in or out of Grace’s house. The first five years of the depression weren’t too bad for Grace. I’m sure Linton and Daniel took salary cuts but at least they kept steady jobs and never lost their home. However, after the nine years of stability, Grace’s life became an uphill struggle for many years to come.<a name="#9"><a href="#9n">9</a>

1935 would be the beginning of Grace’s downfall from her stable world. The same four people still lived at 881(1/2) College Avenue, but Daniel was now entering the last years of his life. By this time, he was seventy one years old and no longer working for the Athens Police Department. Linton Cornelison was now the sole source of income for the family, and it was now his name, not Daniel’s, on the papers for the house. Daniel could no longer take care of his daughter Grace, but he certainly was the greatest influence on her life. Daniel had showed Grace what it was to be a survivor. He taught her to move to better her situation. He taught her how to fight for a job, whether blue collar or white collar, in order to have constant financial support, and taught her that family is the most important aspect of a person’s life, especially during a time period like the depression, and Grace would use her father beliefs and influences for the rest of her life.<a name="#10"><a href="#10n">10</a>

By 1937, Grace was the last person in her immediate family now that Daniel was gone. She still lived with Linton and Minnie Cornelison in 881(1/2) College Avenue. Linton still had his job as a cop, but now that Daniel was gone, it was time for Grace to get another job, and she got one as a clerk at the South Department Store. Grace was now forty years old and having her first real job since she was sixteen years old working in a mill, and without the main source of support in her past life. That had to be very nerve racking and scary for Grace.<a name="#11"><a href="#11n">11</a>

In 1938, Grace moved out of her home of eleven years. Linton and Minnie Cornelison moved with Grace to 675 Cobb Street. Linton was still in the police department but had been promoted to lieutenant. More than likely, Linton felt it was time to move and decided to take Grace along with him and his wife because she simply had no other place to go. Linton probably used his influence in the police department to get Grace a job writing for the WPA as well.<a name="#12"><a href="#12n">12</a>

The WPA was a government funded organization started by President Roosevelt and Congress to create jobs to help reduce the unemployment rate. The part of the WPA that would give Grace a job was the Federal Writer’s Project, and in 1938, she was hired as part of a major project to record testimony from the ex slaves, to see what life was like as a slave. It is Grace’s work with the Federal Writer’s Project that will be discussed later on.<a name="#13"><a href="#13n">13</a>

After 1938, Grace’s life was a blur. By 1940, Grace moved away from Linton and Minnie, and moved in with a widow named Divonia Seymour at 356 Hill Street. Divonia lived just down the street from Grace on College Avenue, and that is probably where Grace met her. At this time Grace had gotten another government job working for the National Youth Administration, another job Linton probably used his influence to get her. By 1947 Grace was a bookkeeper for Georgian Laundry and lived at the Gilbert Hotel. By 1949, Grace had quit the bookkeeping business and decided to try a career in alterations at the Davis Tailor Shop. The 1940s were very unstable for Grace. She went from working for the government, to bookkeeping, to tailoring, and that is assuming she had no other jobs that didn’t make it on record. She went from living with a widow to living in a hotel. The unstableness of the 1940s for Grace would be the exact opposite of the stability she had during those eleven years at 881(1/2) College Avenue. During this stretch of her life, Grace used what her father taught her the most. Get a job whenever you can and change it if it will better your situation. Constantly move if it will better your situation. Your family is the most important aspect of your life. Use them if you have to, or help them if you can. During the late 1930s and 1940s, Grace McCune was a survivor.<a name="#14"><a href="#14n">14</a>

By 1952, Grace McCune was back living with Linton Cornelison, now Captain of the police department, and a widow named Kathy Bowling. Grace was now a saleswoman at the age of fifty five. This was the last year Grace McCune would live in Athens, Georgia. Thirty three years later she would die in Henry County, Georgia at the age of eighty eight.<a name="#15"><a href="#15n">15</a>

This was the life of Grace McCune. She was a lower to middle class girl who spent the first part of her life learning how to survive through her father and spent the last part having to use the survival techniques her dad taught her. Using Grace’s back round as evidence that she will do anything to survive during the late 1930s and 1940s, let’s examine how the culture in Athens in 1938 used Grace as a pawn to keep segregation strong.

The Depression was one of the main forces driving society in Athens in 1938. However, segregation was even a bigger influence on society at that time. For African Americans, it was a system for which there was no escape. Segregation impeded black people’s right to vote, the right to attend decent schools, equal protection under the law, equal employment, the right to eat at certain restaurants and stay at certain hotels, and the right to ride certain trains and buses. However, blacks in the segregated South were permitted to pay taxes and go to war and die for their country.<a name="#16"><a href="#16n">16</a>

For a white person, the system of segregation was fair unless he were to try and fight the system at all. If a white person were to try and segregate southern society, he would be physically hurt, run out of town, or maybe both. This was the case for white parents who attempted to desegregate schools in New Orleans. They tried to fight the system of segregation and where run out of town.<a name="#17"><a href="#17n">17</a>

If a person, white or black, wanted to try and use government officials to help change the rules of segregation, he’d just be wasting his time. An elected official in the south would not dare try to get rid of segregation. To do so would risk his career as a politician and maybe his health. The basis behind Jim Crow Laws was separate but equal. Athens, Georgia in 1938 was anything but equal.<a name="#18"><a href="#18n">18</a>

Life for a black person in the South during segregation was never easy, but it would have been especially difficult during the depression. White people had always treated black people as low class in the South, but The Depression would cause white society to make life even worse for black people. According to modern psychology, stress can be a major cause for increased racism. The depression might have been the most stressful times in United States history. People were losing jobs and homes left and right, and some people didn’t know where their next paycheck or meal was coming from. Imagine the stress this would put on a person. Another theory could be that white southerners used what psychologists refer to as displacement. Displacement is a defense mechanism that some people use when their life has hit hard times. Basically, it states that when people are going through hard times, they like to lash out and blame their problems on something that is not at fault. In this case, white southerners could have been blaming their problems given to them by the depression on black people living around them. Of course, some people just like to feel that they are better off than someone, when they are going through a hard time. When white southerners were falling down in social status through the lost of jobs and money, they wanted to make sure the black southerners would still be well below them in social status, and whites could accomplish this by leaning on the ideas of segregation even harder than before.<a name="#19"><a href="#19n">19</a>

With the depression feeding the monster of segregation in 1938, Grace McCune set out to compile slave narratives for the WPA. The part of Grace’s interviews that is most shocking is the message that they end up sending. The WPA probably wanted to use the slave narratives to send a message to the country that slavery was one of the worst institutions in the country’s history, and a slave’s life was as hard as life could be. This message failed to be expressed through Grace McCune’s interviews. Using the interviews of ex slaves Bill Heard, Mirriam McCommons, and Robert Shepherd, one will see that the message given in Grace McCune’s interview is that living as a slave was not that bad, and in some cases, preferred to the life they had as freed people.

In Bill Heard’s interview, he talks about how time has changed since the good old days. (The good old days refers to the slave south). Bill talked about how there was lots of hard work to do back in the good old days, but then goes on to say that the work was what made those times better than his current life situation. Bill continues his narrative by saying that black people loved one another back then, and they were always willing to lend a helping hand. This implies that Bill thinks that black people do not love one another in 1938 as much as they did in the slave south, nor where they willing to lend each other a hand in times of trouble.<a name="#20"><a href="#20n">20</a>

In Mirriam McCommons’ interview, she too embraces the notion that slavery was not such a bad institution. She talked about how nice her master, Mrs. Callaway was good to her, and how she would always take care of her. Mirriam also talked about how she always ate well when she was a girl. Mirriam then goes on to say after this how things had changed since she was a little girl. Saying this after talking about to good parts of her life as a slave leads one to assume that she’d rather be a slave or at least misses parts of being a slave under the care of Mrs. Callaway.<a name="#21"><a href="#21n">21</a>

Robert Shepherd’s interview had the same effect as the previous two in sending the message that freed blacks where better off as slaves. Robert opens up his interview by saying that freed blacks were better off as slaves than as free people. Robert then talks about how kind his slave owners where to him and his family. Robert says that his owners were kind enough to sell his parents to the same person so they could stay together. One would think that selling Robert’s parents away would anger him, and use it as evidence that his owners were cruel for breaking up his family. One would not think he’d give the exact opposite message.<a name="#22"><a href="#22n">22</a>

This information shows how Grace McCune’s slave narratives turned slavery from the worst institutions this country has ever seen, to a system that wasn’t that bad, if not beneficial to the slaves. The interviews might have been viewed as slavery propaganda, talking about how better off the black people were as slaves, where the slave owners could take care of them like their own children. Simply reading how ex slaves spoke in these narratives could send the message that they were extremely stupid, in need of supervision of white masters. Everyone knows now, and everyone knew back in 1938, slavery was not beneficial to black people in the United States. So why did the message that slavery was beneficial come out of Grace’s interviews?

The main reason could have been that the ex slaves were simply scared what would happen to them if they spoke badly about white people. Saying something derogatory to a white person could get a black person beat up or even killed in the 1930s. Bill Heard might have told himself that there was no reason to risk anything when he found out what Grace McCune was doing in his home and told her exactly what the white people wanted to hear at that time. Perhaps Bill thought he’d be better off simply appeasing the ego of white supremacist, whose egos had been battered so badly by the depression, and not risk his life. Maybe these ex slaves knew that trying to fight segregation by giving anti white stories would only get them killed. That explains why the ex slaves said what they said during their slave interviews, but Grace McCune also played a key role in manipulating the slave narratives’ message.

In the interviews, Grace McCune would help guide the reader to believe that black people were better off as slaves. In her interview with Bill Heard, she started out by saying that Bill was singing Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, an old slave song, with a big smile on his face. This could send a subtle message to the reader that Bill was longing for the “good old days” of being a slave. In all of her interviews, Grace talked about the poor living conditions of the ex slaves’ homes and the poor condition of their clothing. Grace probably didn’t do this because she is a racist, but because Grace knew what the white supremacists wanted to hear, and Grace was willing to tell them what they wanted because she was a survivor who knew what could have happened to her if she wrote the narratives with an anti-white sediment. All Grace had to do was read the newspaper in 1938 to see what white people wanted to hear about black people.<a name="#23"><a href="#23n">23</a>

The Athens Banner Herald in 1938 had many wonderful stories about white accomplishments, but if she wanted to find a story about a black person, she would only get to read headlines such as “Banner Herald’s story Let to Arrest of Negro" and "Negro Boy Injured when Struck by Auto on Saturday". There would be other negative black headlines such as "Four Negros Hurt in Accident" and "Two Negros Slightly Hurt in Wagon Crash". These are stories that do nothing but make black people look stupid. This was the message being sent to Grace McCune about what white supremacists wanted to hear about black people.<a name="#24"><a href="#24n">24</a>

Grace McCune knew that white supremacists only wanted to hear negative stories about black people, so she gave those stories to them because she is a survivor. By 1938 Grace had lost her greatest form of support and protection in her father Daniel. She had no stable job before given a job at the WPA. Grace McCune was not about to risk her job or her health by writing pro black stories because Grace would do anything to simply survive, and going against the southern way of life was not a good way to accomplish that goal.

Looking back into the life of Grace McCune in Athens, Grace’s slave narratives, and the way society functioned in Athens during 1938, one can see how Grace was used as a pawn to strengthen segregation and its ideas. It is important when reading about the big picture in history, that one also sometimes takes a look at the smaller pieces of the puzzle. Most of the time, people will study the segregated South, see how awful blacks were treated, and label every white person in the south as a racist. However, if one were to look at individuals, he could see that maybe some people weren’t racists or and advocate of segregation, but people who are simply too weak or afraid to fight the system, people like Grace McCune.

John Embry

March 2004

<center>RELATED LINKS:</center>

<center><ahref="memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart8.html"Target="blank">The African American Odyessy</a></center>

<center><ahref="www.jimcrowhistory.org/home.htm"Target="blank">The History of Jim Crow</a></center>

<a name="#1n"><a href="#1">1. </a>
Grace McCune, Born into Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1938.

Vol. 4, part 2, Bill Heard, Ex-Slave, 136-147

<a name="#2n"><a href="#2">2. </a>
James L. Roark, The American Promise: A History of the United States (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2003) Chap. 23, 598-600

<a name="#3n"><a href="#3">3. </a>
1930 United States Census, Grace McCune in Athens, Georgia (Clarke County, Georgia: University of Georgia Microfilms)

<a name="#4n"><a href="#4">4. </a>
Athens Banner Publishers, Athens City Directory (Athens, 1909) 165

Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1912) Vol. 4, 178

Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1914-1915) Vol. 5, 205

Athens City Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Athens, 1920-1921) 156

Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1926-1927) Vol. 8, 206

Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1931) 163

Piedmont Directory Co. , Miller’s Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1935) 181

Piedmont Directory Co. , Miller’s Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1937) 174

Piedmont Directory Co. , Miller’s Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1938) 199

Piedmont Directory Co. , Millers’ Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1940) 204

Baldwin Directory Co. Inc. , Athens Georgia City Directory (Charleston, 1947) 257

Baldwin Directory Co. Inc. , Athens Georgia City Directory (Charleston, 1949) 264

Baldwin Directory Co. Inc. , Athens Georgia City Directory (Charleston, 1952) 209

<a name="#5n"><a href="#5">5. </a>
Athens Banner Publishers, Athens City Directory (Athens, 1909) 165

Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Search for Ancestors, March 1999 [database on-line] available at http://familysearch.org; Internet.

<a name="#6n"><a href="#6">6. </a>
Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1912) Vol. 4, 178

<a name="#7n"><a href="#7">7. </a>
Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1914-1915) Vol. 5, 205

<a name="#8n"><a href="#8">8. </a>
Athens City Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Athens, 1920-1921) 156

<a name="#9n"><a href="#9">9. </a>
Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1926-1927) Vol. 8, 139, 206

Piedmont Directory Co. , Athens City Directory (Jacksonville, 1931) 68, 163

1930 United States Census

<a name="#10n"><a href="#10">10. </a>
Piedmont Directory Co. , Miller’s Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1935) 87, 181

Piedmont Directory Co. , Miller’s Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1937) 73, 174

Piedmont Directory Co. , Miller’s Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1938) 114, 199

Peter Thompson, Dictionary of American History: From 1763 to Present (Great Britain: Cassell’s Dictionary of Modern American History, 2000) , 455

Piedmont Directory Co. , Millers’ Athens City Directory (Ashville, 1940) 204

Baldwin Directory Co. Inc. , Athens Georgia City Directory (Charleston, 1947) 257

Baldwin Directory Co. Inc. , Athens Georgia City Directory (Charleston, 1949) 264

Baldwin Directory Co. Inc. , Athens Georgia City Directory (Charleston, 1952) 77, 209

Stephen J. Wright, The New Negro (New York, NY, 1961) 1-27

Wright, The New Negro, 1-27

Wright, The New Negro, 1-27

Wayne Weiten and Margaret A. Lloyd, Psychology Applied to Modern Life: Adjustment in the 21^st Century (Canada: Thompson Learning, Inc. , 2003) 35, 66

McCune, Born into Slavery, Bill Heard, 136-147

Grace McCune, Born into Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1938.

Vol. 4, part 3, Mirriam McCommons, Ex-Slave, 51-56

Grace McCune, Born into Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writer’s Project, 1936-1938.

Vol. 4, part 3, Robert Shepherd, Ex-Slave, 245-264

McCune, Born into Slavery, Bill Heard, 137

Athens Banner-Herald (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Microfilms, 1938) January through July

</body>

</html>