WEBVTT 00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:19.000 Trina Grogan: Testing. Testing. This is Trinia Grogan, and I'm interviewing Mrs. Aika Thomas. Today is July 25th, 1976. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.000 Grogan: Question 1. In what roles of-- 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Grogan: your mother's do you find reinforcement of your own self-esteem? 00:00:27.000 --> 00:01:08.000 Aika Thomas: I think in raising my children for the fact that I think I took over a lot of her parents, you know, and raising my daughters. Um, and maintaining my home. Grogan: Why are these important to you? Thomas: Number one, it gave-- she taught me a sense of responsibility and how to help myself be an independent woman. Yet a good house-- well, a house mother. A housewife what you want to call it and a good mother. Grogan: Question 2-- 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:13.000 Grogan: How much education have you received? 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:15.000 Thomas: Eleventh. Grogan: Eleventh grade. Thomas: Eleventh grade. [simultaneous talking] 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:23.000 Grogan: Has it been enough? Thomas: No. Grogan: How much education should a Black woman have in order to be successful? 00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Thomas: I think she should get all she can in order to, uh, reach to the top of her goal, you know. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:40.000 Grogan: Has religion been an important factor in raising your family? Thomas: Yes. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:44.000 Grogan: Question 4. What kinds of Grogan: sacrifices have you made for your children? 00:01:44.000 --> 00:02:07.000 Thomas: Oh, boy. Um, I have, when they were very small and I wasn't working, um, went without a pair of shoes, a coat in the wintertime, you know, a coat that was so raggedy inside, didn't know whether, you know, even how to which way to put your arm in you know. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:11.000 Grogan: How much do you feel a woman should sacrifice for her children? 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:22.000 Thomas: As much as she can. But and not during the struggle, you know, pounding the children's head that she's doing them a favor, you know. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:31.000 Grogan: Question 5. Name and discuss a few ways in which religion, self-esteem and family upbringing determine your career. 00:02:31.000 --> 00:03:18.000 Thomas: Well, one thing I am Catholic and, and one of our roles was that, you know, it taught us was what to expect out of life. And I think it was a sheltered one, but. I by going to my children, going to Ozanam Head Start programs made me think about what I wanted to be. And that's and that was a worker at Head Start and helping young children to get a good education from age three, you know, from the very beginning. 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:27.000 Grogan: Question 6. Why why did you as an adult join clubs, church auxiliary, sororities or national organizations? 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:49.000 Thomas: Number one, as a Black woman, Black woman, you didn't even do these things, you know, go out and help, uh, you know, to be in an organization, you know, um, gives one some self pride. I mean, this, you know, whatever you do in this organization is you doing this not your husband, not your children. It's you. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:58.000 Grogan: Question 7. What active moves have you made as an organization member that affects a large number of Blacks? 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:43.000 Thomas: Well, I guess, um, there was a teacher in one of our schools, Catholic schools, that, uh, did not like Black children. She was a nun. Okay. And she, um, taught the preschoolers how to she wanted them to handle snakes and different things. And she would do things to antagonize the children. And it had never been done to fire a nun. And I, uh, got parents together, and we fired her. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:49.000 Grogan: Question 8. Have any organizations for Blacks ever made help available to you or anyone in your family? 00:04:49.000 --> 00:05:26.000 Thomas: Yes. Grogan: Discuss. Thomas: Um, the Black Catholic Ministries has helped my, uh, help me with my, um, family in terms of education, um, getting my, my, uh, brothers, I had a young brother, um, who wanted to go to college, you know, that organization helped him to, to do so. And a young sister. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:35.000 Grogan: Question 9 What changes, if any, occurred in Black organizations since World War Two? 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:55.000 Thomas: Well, I think two major organizations that we have, the Black Muslims have invited Whites into their organizations. Okay. And NAACP has invited has Whites in the organization. And I think them was two big moves. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.000 Grogan: Okay. During the 1950s? 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:07.000 Thomas: Um, I think. I think, um, you know, since together, I really think you can. 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:14.000 Grogan: Question 10. What do you feel is the most powerful tribute a Black woman has? 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:39.000 Thomas: Herself. A Black woman has always been a main factor in helping their their men and getting their children together. Grogan: Do you use it? Thomas: I think she should use it wisely. Um, uh, not just you. When she, um, do anything, I think she should do it well. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:46.000 Grogan: Question 11. At what point in your life did you feel a sense of responsibility for other Blacks? 00:06:46.000 --> 00:07:04.000 Thomas: Um, well, I was raised at, um, not by colors, uh, but all my life I have cared about other people, and I really can't tell you when I-- it was just for, say, Blacks. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:08.000 Grogan: Question 12. Have you ever attended a church sponsored school? 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.000 Thomas: No. Grogan: OK. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.000 Grogan: Question 13. What do you Grogan: feel? What do you recall of your grandparents? 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:21.000 Thomas: Um. 00:07:21.000 --> 00:08:06.000 Thomas: My grandmother. And well, let me explain. Our family tree, as they call it these days. Uh, have a has a long list of long livers. My great-grandfather was been died, so he was 117. My grandmother is still living on my mother's side. And I remember a lot of things because she more or less raised me and, uh. Things like she told me, she said, You reap what you sow, you know, and little sayings,you know, little things. And today I and I'm going through life and watching my children. I see them, you know, happening every day. 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.000 Grogan: [unintelligible] Your great grandparents. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:09:02.000 Thomas: Um, only through letters that I can, you know, talk about because I've never seen, uh, my great grandfather or great grandmother. They lived in Florida, and I was very young when they passed. Only thing I remember on the phone, no not on the phone, through a letter one day, he told me that he, um,was still working on the ship. He was a ship's cook because in his day, I guess, and, uh, probably was going when I was younger to that Blacks, you know, weren't on, on Navy ships. And he was a chief cook. And I remember how they used to say, call him Crazy Day because he allow no one in his kitchen and he was from the West Indies. He was a Barbados. And he did not allow no one, you know, to come in his kitchen. He almost killed a man because of this. 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:10.000 Grogan: Question 14. Is the woman as head of the household a bad thing or a good thing? 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:31.000 Thomas: I think it should be equally you know, I think a man if if if a wife has to go somewhere, it's out of town. I think her husband should be able to take over the household and also the, you know, her children. I think that this you know, it should be a equal thing, a family thing. 00:09:31.000 --> 00:09:40.000 Grogan: Question 15. As a proud Black woman, what pieces of your culture or heritage are you leaving with the younger Black woman? 00:09:40.000 --> 00:10:01.000 Thomas: I think, um, the best thing that I, I am leaving is the fact that I'm out there trying to fight for their rights, um, and getting them some, some privilege that I did not have. And I think that, you know, right now it's, it's going really good for them. 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:12.000 Grogan: Question 16. Do you think that it is better for a woman to work and have a and and have a career or to take welfare so that she can be with her children? 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:42.000 Thomas: I think when her children are small from the, uh, young, young babies, I do not think it's fair. Unless it's-- and I'm not even I was going to say, unless their grandparents I'm not going to say that, I think a woman should raise her children up to school age. I really do. Because they need that mother love. They need that mother's care. And after that, I think she then should try to get her a job and finish raising them. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:50.000 Grogan: Question 17. Do you object to the image of Blacks on television, radio and in the news? 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Thomas: No, I do not. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.000 Grogan: What kinds of exaggerations do you see? 00:10:56.000 --> 00:11:26.000 Thomas: I see a lot of, you know, exaggerations such as, uh, uh, they show, um, uh, Blacks who are wealthy and who are, you know, are like ordinary people. On some of the stories I I've seen and stuff and nine or ten cases. And it's very sad that when we get to be rich folks, we don't want them not, you know, we're just not that kind to our to our other people, to the poor. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:31.000 Grogan: Question 18. How do you choose to determine your own destiny? 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:46.000 Thomas: Well, I choose my own destiny because the fact that I live the way I want to live, you know, and I'm not forced to live like my mother and them were forced to live. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:55.000 Grogan: Do you feel that society in America dominates your actions most of your adult life? 00:11:55.000 --> 00:12:05.000 Thomas: Yes and no. And for the simple reason that, um, you know, you have to go with the changes. 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:06.000 Thomas: You know. 00:12:06.000 --> 00:12:17.000 Thomas: I don't go for every change that goes on, but I try to keep up with all movements of our society because we live in a very tough society these days. 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:26.000 Grogan: Question 19. Do you involve yourself in the decisions of the local school board when you when your children are directly affected? 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:31.000 Thomas: If my kids were not affected, I still would do so. 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:34.000 Grogan: How do you influence what they are taught? 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:56.000 Thomas: By going to the schools, seeing what they're they're teaching and which I've always did when they were small children, uh, going, uh, finding out what is going on, looking at their grades and seeing that, uh, as long as they're at my underneath my roof hitting them books. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:09.000 Grogan: Question 20. In what ways do you curb your spending in the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant business world? 00:13:09.000 --> 00:13:32.000 Thomas: Well, uh, nine, let's say 97% of the business world is theirs. So, I don't know how I could curb. I spend as much as I can with the Blacks. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:40.000 Grogan: You. You didn't call. You didn't think that question was educated to Black businesses? 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:46.000 Thomas: Yes. Because the fact that I think we need to stick together. 00:13:46.000 --> 00:14:03.000 Grogan: Question 21. Do you remember any joint business ventures by any Black organizations, clubs or sororities? Thomas: No. Grogan: Question 22. How much education do most of your friends have? 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:12.000 Thomas: Uh, I have friends-- that a friend that's going into college is-- is in college right now getting a degree. 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:17.000 Grogan: Okay. How does this seem to help or hinder the development of their children? 00:14:17.000 --> 00:14:31.000 Thomas: I think it helps because, you know, we're not spring chickens anymore. And I our children seeing us going back, getting our education, I think makes them want to get theirs so when they get our age, they they won't have to go through this. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:15:31.000 Grogan: Okay. Thank you.
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