Bridges Digital Archive: Audio and Video Recordings

Marcella Susie Pruitt

Wilmer Amina Carter Foundation

Abstract

Marcella Pruitt was born and raised in Redlands where her grandmother moved in the early 40s. She shares stories of her grandmother who raised her children, and Marcella, as a single mom working cleaning houses. In 1947, a Black real-estate agent, Mr. Burton helped her grandma purchase a house on Herald street in a predominantly Mexican neighborhood. Susie Pruitt describes the tight knit Redlands community she grew up in, the diversity of north side neighborhoods and the strong connections among Black families. She shares stories of Second Baptist Church where her grandmother put on plays and her father Kenny Pruitt was in a church singing group. Marcella attended Redlands High School and was a recipient of the Caesar Hangan scholarship. Despite growing up during the Civil Rights movement, Susie Pruitt did not feel her race limited her and she experienced no direct racism, though her uncle did. Overall, she shares fond childhood memories of growing up in Redlands and worries that race relations seem worse today than she remembers growing up.