Bridges Digital Archive: Audio and Video Recordings

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Document Type

Oral History

Publication Date

10-7-2014

Abstract

Hania Mubashir interviews Zoie Coleman and Annette Overstreet, women with a deep history in San Bernardino. The audio recording starts with an explanation of the women moving from Pasadena to San Bernardino in 1949. When moving, they noticed the major difference between both cities is that San Bernardino had no sidewalks, electricity, or inside toilets. The women also mentioned that they grew up in the Valley Truck Farm area, where their father grew crops such as black-eyed peas, corn, boysenberries, tomatoes, okra, greens, and turnips. Mubashir then asked about expectations that the women had from their family, which came back to outside farm work, inside domestic work, and church services every Sunday. After moving to San Bernardino, Coleman and Overstreet joined more church activities in comparison to when they were in Pasadena. Their parents, however, were wary of dancing and listening to non-religious music as it might lead to interaction with non-Christians. They also had little recreational activities and mostly cleaned, read, and stayed inside. Coleman had been able to leave the family home at the age of 24, once she was married. Within the topic of jobs and prejudice, Overstreet mentioned how during her time working as a Harris Company operator, she had been called a racial slur over the phone. Coleman herself was given a lower job than her qualifications allowed due to her ethnicity. They mention that their parents never liked to make a big scene if there was a racist altercation and that their parents never talked about their own experiences. All three women then recollect memories of hairstyles and fashion from the past, such as the flip and the full-slip dress. The conversation moves to their educational journeys, the defunct system of schools’ 13th and 14th grades, and learning about Black history from non-family. After talking about Little Tim, their preacher relative who preached from a coffin, and about church conventions, the two interviewees Valley Truck Farm churches. They explain that there were churches on every corner, and the recording ends with the names of Allen Chapel, AME, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, Canaan Temple, Holiness Church, Church of God in Christ, and Full Gospel.

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