Lisa Stewart

Published on July 25, 2017

Photo of Timothy George "I remember we was the first one on the street that had a telephone and a T.V. . . . it was a big deal to me because everybody in the neighborhood used to have to come to our house to use the telephone and then I remember on Sunday nights everybody used to come to our house to look at the Ed Sullivan Show."

Authentic stories are told with authentic language that might offend some listeners. The following interview contains descriptions of racist language and views in the context of the subject's personal experience.

Chapters

Racial Boundaries in Rosedale

Lisa Stewart recounts crossing the wall that separated the black community from the white.

Play Segment

Growing Up in Rosedale

Lisa Stewart talks about her childhood in Rosedale, including her school, church, and community events.

Play Segment

Family

Lisa Stewart talks about her family’s history in Alabama, Birmingham, and Rosedale, and recalls stories about her Aunt Velma, a bootlegger.

Play Segment

School and Integration

Lisa Stewart recalls her experiences as one of the first African American students in the Homewood school system.

Play Segment

Church

Lisa Stewart recalls that role that churches played in Rosedale during her childhood.

Play Segment

Rosedale Community: Children’s Recreation

Lisa Stewart describes the activities in which she participated as a child, including scouts, swimming, and sports. She also recounts some childhood escapades in which she and her friends jumped into a “whites-only” pool.

Play Segment

May Day

Lisa Stewart recalls Rosedale’s May Day celebrations.

Play Segment

Christmas and Fourth of July Memories

Lisa Stewart recounts memories from Christmas and the Fourth of July.

Play Segment

Rosedale Community

Lisa Stewart discusses various aspects of the Rosedale community. She describes how Rosedale residents never locked their doors, and talks about cooperation between Rosedale and other communities.

Play Segment

Transcript

LISA STEWART: Well, Dr. Clapp wanted me to tell you a story about the wall,
so...The wall, it starts at the end of B. M. Montgomery Street. And it goes all
the way up to the top of the hill, you know, where the very top of the hill is?
You know, Twenty-fifth Court. So it's a brick wall and so, and the wall's still
there you know. So I used to, we, my mom used to go to the top of the hill like
to get her hair fixed and stuff like that and we'd go to different neighbors'
house. But every time we went to this one neighbor house then, I would go, you
know I would always wander off so I would go. (laughs) I would go, and the wall
was real tall but I used to climb trees, so I would climb that wall and I'd get
up there and I'm see them children's toys. And they had some pretty toys, and I
liked their toys. And they did, they had swingsets, oh and I liked those
swingsets they were real pretty, you know. And I said, I'd be laying on the
wall, and I'd say, "Hey! Hey! Anybody around? Is anybody around?" And finally
the little children would come out and they'd say, "Hey! What's your name?" And
I said, "Lisa." And then they'd say, and I'd ask them their names and they'd
tell me their names and I'd say, "That's y'all's swingset?" They'd say, "Yeah."
They said, "You want to play?" I said, "Yeah!" And then I'd climb on the wall,
climb over the wall, and we'd be out there we'd just be playing. We'd be having
a good time. And their mama come out their house (laughs) and see me out there.
Playing with their-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And think "(gasps)."

LISA STEWART: Ooh, she had a fit. "What are y'all doing?! Get in this house!
Now! Get in this house right now!" She just be hollering at the children. And
then she'd say, "And you go! You go right now!" I said, "You don't tell me what
to do." (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-oh.

LISA STEWART: I was little. I said, "You ain't none of my mama. You don't tell
me what to do." She said, "You'd better get now!" I said, "I ain't going
nowhere." I be stepping a little, walking off. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: And then I'd jump and jump and jump 'til I could get to the top of
the wall and then I'd climb over the wall back again. But every time we went on
top of the hill, I jumped to that wall and I'd be calling for the, the children,
I'd say, "Yoohoo! Yoohoo!" And then I'd say, "Anybody home?" And the children
would come out and they'd, "Hey, Lisa, so good to see you! Come on and play,
let's play!" And I said, "Mm-mm, you know ya'll's mama's mean." They said, "She
ain't here today, I have our daddy here today, he's asleep." But whatever they
said that for, we had a good time that day. We had a good time that day. Ooh, we
had a good time.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So how hold were you, about? At the time?

LISA STEWART: Ooh, I was about, about six.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: About six, about six, or about seven.

LISA STEWART: Uh, about five too. Oh, because I remember, I was real young.
Because I could hardly reach the wall, I used to jump, and just jump 'til I
could get it, til I could, I'd just keep jumping 'til I'd jump up and catch the
bricks, and then I'd just start climbing it, uh, and then get over it. So I, I
wasn't, I wasn't old at all, but I was about five and six. And maybe seven.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And were you born in Rosedale? Or?

LISA STEWART: Oh yeah.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So born and raised...

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Grew up here and...

LISA STEWART: And then when I got sixteen my mama built a house in Powderly, so
we moved to Powderly, so I had to do my last two years at Jones Valley.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Ok. And then you eventually came back here?

LISA STEWART: I came back, mmhmm, I came back, but now all my children went to
Homewood, though, because I called like I knew, Mr. Gross, he was the
superintendent. So I called Mr. Gross and asked him could my, could my oldest
daughter come to school over here, and he said "yeah" so she went to school over
here. Then my other daughter, when my middle daughter got ready for middle
school I moved over here again.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay. So did it feel like coming back home or--

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So, I mean it sounds like growing up, everything I heard about
growing up in Rosedale was that it was, you know, a tight knit, close, friendly community.

LISA STEWART: It was, it was. Because I remember my mama and them, like, I don't
know what they used to say, like we used to have, I remember we used to have a
Halloween party every year. And then every year the Halloween party used to be
at our house in the living room.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh huh.

LISA STEWART: And then we used to bob for apples in the living room, I'd, they'd
just have buckets in our living room, we'd be bobbing for apples in the living
room, and we would have a good time. And then I remember in the summer time we
would have the, the neighbors, they would have a party. And everybody would be
at the party, even the children. And we'd be up on the like we'd be up on top of
Twenty-fifth Terrace. And they had some, they had some, they were like shotgun
houses, but they sat up real high. And we'd be up under the houses having a
party. We'd be having a party, the grown people'd be having a party and the
children would be under there too and we'd be having a good time. I ain't
kidding, they'd be drinking. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) Uh oh.

LISA STEWART: They would. And we would be having so much fun. And I remember I
would be about, oh I was about six and seven then. Uh...yeah. We'd have a good
time. And they would do that all the time. And then on Sunday morning, they used
to be in church. And then I was telling my mama, I said, "Ooh I remember Mr.
Pope. He used to could pray, ooh he could pray." My mama said "Mr. Pope?" I
said, "Yeah." She said, "Mmhm, he sure could pray." And said, "Half of the time
he was half high too."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) Did one thing have anything to do with the other or what?

LISA STEWART: (laughs) No, no. He might have been, but he was, she'd, I guess
she'd tell me he was hungover from the night before.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: He might have been, but baby he would call on the Lord when he got
through praying, baby the whole church would be shouting, baby they'd be
shouting all over the place. Because, you know, call on the Lord, baby. He'd be
calling on more. And I told her, I said, "Ooh I remember Mr. Pope could pray."
She said, "Mmhm, yeah." (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Was that, which church was that at?

LISA STEWART: That was at Bethel, the Methodist church, the AME Methodist Church
[Bethel AME Methodist Church] you know, across from it ain't Texaco now but
it's BP.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah. Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: That church. That's the church I grew up in.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: But I don't go there now. I go to Union Bethel, Union Bethel,
um...Christian Church, in Mason City.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: You know the kids from Mason City used to come to Homewood too.
They used to go to Homewood schools too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I didn't know that.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, yeah. You know Mason City is the neighborhood, like where
Barbara's ice cream is?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mhm.

LISA STEWART: And, and, and then you take a right like if you go out Valley,
straight out Valley, and take a right, and go straight down, until you get to
that Shell service station down there on the left. That neighborhood right there.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: That's called Mason City.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: And the kids from that neighborhood used to come over here and go
to school. And the kids from Oxmoor used to come over here and go to school too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay, yeah.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So Rosedale's kinda in between the, those places.

LISA STEWART: Well, those, those used to be the, like the suburbs of Homewood.
Oxmoor and Mason City.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And were you-- this might be backtracking a little, bit but
were your parents, were they from Rosedale or move here?

LISA STEWART: Mm-mm, my mama was from Titusville. Mm, and my dad was from downtown.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: And my grandmom, she was from Wilcox County. That's Camden,
Alabama. But my grandmamma moved up here from the country. I think she was in
her twenties when she moved up here. But my mom was born up here. Uh-huh. And my
mom married and moved to Homewood.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And what did your mom and dad, what did they do for, for a living?

LISA STEWART: Well my dad worked at a Silph Co. And my mom, she used to work at,
first she did, she, at first she was working at UAB. And then she did like, she
worked in people's houses too. And then she, she did, did a dress shop. She
always worked two jobs. Mmhm. Like, you know, she'd, she worked at the
Parliament House, you know. And they had a dress shop at the Parliament House.
And then she worked for a store called Bermum's, they had, it was a dress shop
too. And she worked for some dress shop like downtown Homewood too - I don't
know the name of it - she's in there, she knows the name of the- I, I told you
I'd let you, let her, you ask her some questions too. Because she said, "Hmm. I
don't know what he ask me no questions for." She said, "I always hated
Homewood." (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (Laughs)

LISA STEWART: That's what she said, that's what she said! I said, "Well I won't
let him ask you no questions since you always hated Homewood."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) I'll stay away from that then.

LISA STEWART: (laughs, claps) She's always hated Homewood and Rosedale, always
hated it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: But she leave (unclear).

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: She didn't--I remember we was the first one on the street that had
a telephone and a T.V.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Really? So that, was that a big event or was that, or-

LISA STEWART: Yeah. It was a big, it was a big deal to me because everybody in
the neighborhood used to have to come to our house to use the telephone and then
I remember on Sunday nights everybody used to come to our house to look at the
Ed Sullivan Show.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Really?

LISA STEWART: Aw, the whole neighborhood. They would be in our living room and
we'd be looking at the Ed Sullivan Show. And especially when the Supremes was on
there. You know when, Diana Ross and the Supremes, they first got popular. We'd,
we saw them on my, on our T.V. The Ed Sullivan Show.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Cool.

LISA STEWART: Yeah. I think we were about, I about, about five I believe and you
know I'm 62 now.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay,

LISA STEWART: I will be Thursday.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: This Thursday?

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Well happy early birthday. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: Yeah, thank you. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: You got any big plans or-

LISA STEWART: No, I don't ever do nothing.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Uh, I never do anything, I never go anywhere. I go to church, and
to Walmart, and to Sam's. That's it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) That's nice and simple.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. That's it. I'll never do nothing.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah. So uh, is it, oh, I got another question would be, you
know, related to family growing up, did you have, um, siblings, any brothers or sisters?

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. I had one sister. And then I had an aunt that lived on, on
25th Court.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. She was a bootlegger.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Really? (laughs) So did you hang around her place any or she was-

LISA STEWART: I'd hang around her place all the time.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah?

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, because my mama always worked two jobs, and my grandmama
was working too. So I'd hang around up there with my aunt all the time because
she didn't work.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: You know, she'd, she had her own business.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) On the side there?

LISA STEWART: Yeah she had her own business. So I, I'd hang around her. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) That's pretty funny.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. Her name was Aunt Velma. Her house sit up on top of the
hill; her granddaughters live in it-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: -now. Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: They're not still running bootlegging are they? (laughs)

LISA STEWART: (laughs) Oh, no. They live there, (unclear).

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So do you remember any people coming by to like-

LISA STEWART: Buy whiskey?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -buy liquor or anything like that or-

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, yeah. I remember some people came by there to buy some
liquor. I remember one man came by there, he bought some liquor, he kept telling
my gra- my auntie, saying, "Yeah, that niece of your sure is pretty." He wasn't
talking about me. He was talking about my sister.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Oh, okay.

LISA STEWART: And Velma would say, "I done told you." He's, and then so he, he,
he said, he, he got off that conversation, and then he got back on it. He said,
"Yeah, you sure is got a pretty niece." And Velma said, "Now I done told you,
you don't say nothing else about that child." Said, "Because I brought her in
this world." Said, "Now don't you say nothing else about her."

CHASE TRAUWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And I guess he got to drinking that liquor. And he said something
about it again. And Velma said, "now I told you don't say nothing else," said
"Now you just wait right there."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: (laughs) She- I say, "Velma, don't do it!"

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: She went, she went in her room and she came out, she had a .22.
She said, "Didn't I tell you don't mention my niece's name no more." He said,
"You crazy." She said, "Bam!" And she shot him.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Really?

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-oh.

LISA STEWART: Right there.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) He go running?

LISA STEWART: Nah he couldn't run.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: He couldn't run?

(both laugh)

LISA STEWART: She took him down. He couldn't run. She told Homewood what he did.
They took him home. And, and, and they didn't say nothing to her.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Man.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I guess he couldn't run if he'd been drinking-

LISA STEWART: Uh-uh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -and then he got popped in the-

LISA STEWART: But you know what-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -behind. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: -I think he was like a, what you call them, you know like a pedophile.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm, I think that's what he was. That when she said, "I told you
don't say nothing else about her."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Because she was like, she might have been like twelve at the time,
when he was saying that.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay, yeah, then that ain't, mm.

LISA STEWART: Mm-mm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah. But yeah she doesn't, sound like a lady you wouldn't mess
around with.

LISA STEWART: LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, and they didn't mess around with a
hurricane. Mm-mm, she ain't play that, man.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yep.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I guess growing up, you know you said you had finished school
at the other, when y'all had moved?

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: At the other school.

LISA STEWART: Mm, Jones Valley. But let me tell you what happened. I did finish
Jones Valley, but lemme tell you, do you know Homewood sent my scholarship over there?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Really?

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, they did. I was so shocked I didn't know what to do.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: They sent me a four-year scholarship in biology. Uh, to go to
Miles College.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, and I was really shocked.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So did you end up going to Miles?

LISA STEWART: No, I didn't, because I had a baby, and Miles, you couldn't take
your baby to school with you.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: So I ended up going to Lawson State, and I had to take the child
to school with me every day.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Wow.

LISA STEWART: So that's what happened. Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh. And so before you moved to Jones Valley you were in the
Rosedale school?

LISA STEWART: I was at Homewood.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Or Homewood, oh, okay, alright.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. I integrated Homewood's school.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Me and my sister and some more people.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Because like the year we integrated Homewood, well, I think my
sister then went a year before I did because like they went like in nineteen
sixty...sixty f-...maybe '65.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And I think I went in '66. Uh-huh. Yeah.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I imagine that was a big-

LISA STEWART: It was a big deal-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -a big change.

LISA STEWART: -because it was four of us went. And then, then but two stayed.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. So just two black children in the whole school. And, and,
and that's the way it was.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And then until, and then, then some more kids came from Mason City.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And in the other area, like, the Goldwire area. Some more kids
came from over there.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, you know Judge, you remember Carole Smitherman? A judge-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I know the name.

LISA STEWART: -judge, uh-huh she's a judge. Anyway, Carole went to Homewood too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm, she went to Homewood. Homewood Junior High School.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: And Luther Strange went to school with me too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Really?

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So did, y'all knew each other as classmates or-

LISA STEWART: No, he wasn't- well, I knew him, and, and, and he knew me I guess,
but anyway, Luther was in the ninth grade and I was in the seventh grade.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Small world.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, but you know, it, it wasn't but two blacks in the school
then, so that when I said "I know he knew me."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: You know, because

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah, about to say, everybody probably knew-

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -who y'all were.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh yeah. It was me and a girl named Betty, we were the only
two. Mmhm. And one day we were standing outside the lunch room, and me and Betty
were just talking. And we used to talk in pig Latin so, so the children wouldn't
know what we were talking about. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: We did, and then nobody knew what we were talking about. So we
were there talking in pig Latin. And so, we were just standing there talking and
then next thing I know Betty grabbed her mouth like that (covering her mouth).
And I said "what's wrong?" And then her mouth was bleeding. Somebody had thumped
a pin in her mouth. And then it was a guy named Steve, he was a bully. All the
children were scared of him.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: The children were, not us. The ch- the other children were scared
of him. Betty said, "Who did it?" And they said, "Oh, not me, not me, not me."
Betty said, "Who did it?" They said, "Not me, not me, not me." And then Betty
said, "Don't nobody tell me who did it, I'm fixing to jump on all of y'all."
They said, "Steve did it!" (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: Betty went upside Steve and (claps her hands in a smacking noise)
(laughs). Betty went upside Steve and baby he thought he was in a f-, he thought
he was in a fight.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: It was a straight beat down. Betty beat him down, she beat him
down, baby, and he was the baddest boy in the school.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: She beat him down. Baby after she beat him down, that wasn't good
enough. She pulled her- she was real poor, I mean poor, poor-poor-poor as dirt.
Like their floor was dirt. She lived in Oak Grove, the area called Oak Grove-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: That's where Wal-Mart is now. The big marketplace, that's where
Wal-Mart is now. So. She lived over there in that neighborhood. She pulled off
her shoe. And then she had on a, like a little, low- we used to have some little
heels like pump heels, and even they had gone out of style when she had them on.
We- they weren't even in style, but she had them on. Baby and they'd look, the
little iron part had, was in there. She pulled that shoe off and she went to
whamming on him.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: (unclear) Mr. Crow came out, he said, "Oh, you're gonna kill him!
Stop, you're gonna kill him!" She said, "That's what I intend to do." (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: My word. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: Baby, his mom done came and got him. We never saw him again no
more at that school.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Never no more. And wasn't no more bullies at that school. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: I ain't lying, wasn't no more bullies. No more bullies.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: They all heard what she had done and-

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, wasn't no more bullies, uh-huh, because he was the bully
at the school.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Everybody was scared of him, everybody- I wasn't scared of him,
though, but all the children were scared of him.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: I wasn't scared of him. Evidently Betty wasn't scared of him
either. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) Man. Man.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. Okay, so I'm going to let you ask your question.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: You're good, yeah, you're good. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I got, so things like, you know, school and church, you know,
they were a big- well I guess church especially like, from what I've heard I
think, you know the churches were-

LISA STEWART: Well when we were growing up-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -a big role.

LISA STEWART: -we had to go to all the churches.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Because you had to know what everybody's doctrine was. Mmhm. You
had to know the m- about the Methodist doctrine, you had to know about the
Baptist doctrine, you had to know about the Pentecostal doctrine, you had to
know what everybody's doctrine was. In case, I guess they did that in case, like
if they weren't able to run their church, then you were going to have to step in
and run it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: You know, so everybody had to learn what everybody did at
everybody's church.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Huh. That's interesting.

LISA STEWART: Wasn't it?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Because a lot of times you hear about people saying, "Well, you
know, they, they're different, and we're just gonna stick to our-"

LISA STEWART: Exactly.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: "-our place."

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, but we had to do what, we had to go visit a- we had to go
to all them churches. Like, the YPD, the, the Methodist people have a thing
called a YPD that was the Young People's Department. And the, the Baptists had a
thing called BTU, and that was Baptist Training Youth.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And I don't know what the Pentecostal people had, what they had,
but anyway whatever they had, what theirs was called, whatever it was, we went
to it on Sunday evenings. One was like, like the Methodists might have been on
first Sunday, the Baptists might have been on the second Sunday, and the other
Baptists might have been on the third Sunday, and the Pentecostals might have
been on the fourth Sunday. Whatever it was, we went to all of them.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. So we knew what everybody did.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So, I mean it sounds like the churches played a big role in the community.

LISA STEWART: They did. And if you didn't go to church?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: You didn't go to church, you couldn't go nowhere that evening.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm, because you know we didn't have nothing to do but walk the streets.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: And if you didn't go to church, you couldn't walk the streets that Sunday.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And no one ever with us.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah. So you made sure you went to church then?

LISA STEWART: Oh yeah.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah (laughs) because who wants to sit at home, you know what
I'm saying.

LISA STEWART: Yeah, uh-huh. Who wants to sit at home?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) So then with...things like do, do you have memories of
things like, you know, community events like sports or picnics-

LISA STEWART: Oh yeah, yeah, goodness.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -anything like that?

LISA STEWART: Now we played ball - Miss Finley, she was over the Girl Scouts and
I think she was over a lot of stuff that the youth did. Miss Finley and a man
named Mr. Samson, he was over the center, the community center.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mhm.

LISA STEWART: And they used to take us to Jasper to swim every year. And then
after we used to go to Jasper, then we started going to Leeds to swim. And I
remember we used to ride the train.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Really?

LISA STEWART: Uh, I think we used to ride the train to Jasper. Or to Leeds, one
of, one of them we used to ride the train to. And then they got a bus, so we
started taking the bus. All the time Homewood had the pool down there where it
was at.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: But, and all the time we had to go all these places to swim
because, because we couldn't go down there and swim at that pool. And I remember
one day, all these big boys, they were walking. And, and girls, they were
walking with us on a Sunday and they were walking. And I used to like to be with
the big children, you know. And, because I was always a tomboy, you know, I'd be
with the big children, you know and when I mean big, it's like they're, I would
be about seven and they were like eighteen, you know, and I'd be with them you
know. And, and they would be walking, and one day they said, "We're gonna get in
that pool. We're gonna leave here and we're going down there and get in that
pool." And so they walked and they went down there and they jumped in the pool
at the park. I jumped in there with them because I could swim. But I was the
only girl jumped in there with them. (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: They climbed the fence and jumped in the pool. And after then they
built us a pool. Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So then y'all didn't have to take the bus or the train anymore?

LISA STEWART: Mm-mm, mm-mm. But it took them like two years to do it, but they
built us a pool. Because I think, when I got to sixth grade, they finished the pool.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. So I was about seven when that happened. (counting to
herself) Okay so it took them about, it took them like three years to do it, but
anyway, they did do it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And was that where-- I think there's a park now?

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, the Spring Park.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Spring Park.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, yeah. They put the pool down there. And then they closed
up, put, put dirt, filled it up with dirt. Talking about, they were selling too
much dope in the park. Pissed me off. It did, because I used to go to that park,
you know even though we lived across town. I used to go over there and swim all
the time, take my children too. That was the only pool I would swim in.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Because I didn't trust nobody else's pool.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: I can pass all kinds of pools to come here and swim, because I
ain't want to, because I knew that pool was clean.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And it's just right there.

LISA STEWART: Yeah and I knew it was clean, you know, but we lived in Powderly
so I used to come all the way past all kinds of pools to come over here.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Because I knew it was clean because I knew the people that worked
at the pool, you know.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. And I knew how often they tested the water, you know and
everything so. I knew it was real clean so.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Then when they closed down the pool I was so mad with them for
closing down the pool. They claim it was a leak and it might have been a leak,
you know, but it was a, if it was a leak it was always a leak.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: You know because it was always wet out there you know. You know
what I'm saying, so, it was always a leak. And that wasn't the problem. But
anyway, so they closed down the pool. I was so mad about that.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Did, did you ever play any sports at the ball diamond-

LISA STEWART: Oh yeah!

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: - they had?

LISA STEWART: Mmhm, yeah, because you know I was, I was telling you about that,
yeah, but anyway, I played every sport there was. When we had baseball, I played
baseball. And softball, I played softball. We played basketball, I played
basketball. I played everything. Mmhm. Every sport there was.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. And even at school too, I played every sport there was to
play at school.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: They, I think a- another thing, well, do you remember, they,
this may have been just at Rosedale School, but it was a big event called May Day?

LISA STEWART: Oh yeah, uh-huh. At May Day, mmhm, yeah I participated in May Day,
yeah and when we got to the sixth grade we used to plait the May pole.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: But I think Miss Carvan, Miss Carvan was sick. And Miss Carvan got
sick. And for about two years, so she wasn't able to plait the May pole. And so
they put it down to the fifth grade I think. I think the fifth grade. But
anyway, I remember plaiting the May pole.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And was that a big, big deal for-

LISA STEWART: Yeah it was a big deal to plait that May pole because that thing
was hard to do.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: (laughs) It was hard to do. I mean you had to learn how to do that
thing, that thing was hard to do.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. Because they had the like this big old pole.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: And then you plait the pole. Uh-huh, you plait the pole with all
these different colored like flags as they called it, but it would be like flags
of material. And it would be so pretty when you finished.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Cool.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. And I mean it was a big pole, like a telegram pole.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: And then you, the flags, it might have took you like, look like it
took like an hour to plait it; it did.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: But it might have took maybe thirty minutes.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, but that would be the event of the day, plaiting the may pole.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So everybody came?

LISA STEWART: Um, um, no just one class had to plait it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: It would always be the fifth grade or the fourth grade or the
third grade, one of them had to plait it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Plait the May pole. Uh-huh. But every class had a different thing
to do. One class may do the uh, the hokey pokey.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: I remember that. Yeah, yeah I remember one class may do the hokey
pokey. Then one class might do the twist.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, whatever dance was out, they were, they were doing it. Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: They did.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So it was a lot of fun then?

LISA STEWART: Oh yeah, yeah, it was big fun.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Did, did the, I think I heard something about, they would, they
would have a Christmas parade sometimes down that way too.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: But I don't know if that was more in Homewood.

LISA STEWART: They would have a Christmas parade, you know what, but I, I don't,
I don't hardly remember going to the Christmas parade though.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm. Yeah.

LISA STEWART: I'll tell you what I remember doing. I remember going down and
getting a Christmas tree every year.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: My mama would say, "Y'all like, we gonna, come on we're going to
get the Christmas tree." And we'd say, "Okay," me and my sister. She said, "Now
we're gonna pick out the tree we want." And then she'd say, "And I tell y'all,
y'all show which tree y'all want and then I'll go back there and pay for the
tree and I tell y'all, when I go back there and pay for it y'all get the tree
and go on home, across the highway." And we said, "Okay." So we would get the
tree. We'd pick out the- we'd walk around the whole thing, pick out the tree we
want. And then she'd say, "Y'all like that tree?" We'd say, "Yeah!" She'd say,
"Well y'all get that tree and go on. I'm gonna go back and pay for the tree." So
we'd get the tree and go on across the highway with the tree, me and my sister.
And we went home with the tree. Did that for years.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm. Carrying it up, up the hill?

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Man.

LISA STEWART: (whispering) You know we were stealing the tree.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-oh.

LISA STEWART: Didn't even know it. We didn't know it, me and my sister didn't
know it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: But I think she did. But I didn't.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. But I found out later on. Because a man said (whispering),
"Hey! Y'all better come back here! Y'all better come back here!"

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: My sister said, "Run! Run!" (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: And we would run.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: With the tree up there-

LISA STEWART: We would run with it. Did it for years, for years!

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So and then no one, no one thought to tell you that, "Hey, this
is what we're doing" or-

LISA STEWART: No! No. She said, "Y'all just, we're gonna go down here and get
the tree now. Y'all pick out the tree you want."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And we would pick it out. We were children; we'd pick out the tree
we want. "That's the one y'all want?" "Yeah!" "Okay, well now y'all get it and
go on. I'm gonna go back in and pay for the tree."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm. (laughs) Oh goodness. Yep.

LISA STEWART: But anyway, so that was a lot of fun-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: -'til. 'til, 'til we found out different. I told my sister, I
said, "I ain't going in there with those trees." She said, "Me neither."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So was that in Homewood, or Rosedale or-

LISA STEWART: Yeah, there was, I'll tell you where the trees used to be at. You
know where Texaco is now?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: All the area, that's where the trees used to be, right there.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay.

LISA STEWART: Every year.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Trees used to be right there. (laughs) Right there. That's where
the trees used to be. I remember one Fourth of July we were right there and
there was a man; he was in his car. I'll never forget that. I was a little girl
then. There was a man, he was in his Corvette or something, and it was the
Fourth of July. And that man died in that car. And everybody went down there,
because it was a bad wreck and everybody went down there, and he died in that
car. And like, they didn't have no jaws of life then, you know.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: But the, the firemen and everybody were just cutting and trying to
cut him out of that car, and he was, I remember he was just dead.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: He was dead in the car. And I was just crying.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Didn't even know the man.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: I didn't, but I was just crying, just crying. And they had to make
me go home.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And my sister, "You just go home! Because you're, you're just
crying and you don't even know the man! You're just crying." And I said, "I
don't wanna go home, I wanna stay with him," you know.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: I was just, I don't know what went wrong with me but I, I was a
little girl, though, you know, but I remember that.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Do, do you remember were there a lot of, lot of like shops and
restaurants, things like that? In-

LISA STEWART: Downtown?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -Rosedale or downtown?

LISA STEWART: Yeah. It was (laughs), you know they used to have a movie theater
downtown Homewood too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I heard a few stories about that one.

LISA STEWART: It's just (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: People would, I think that, that, you know, some people would
have to go upstairs and there was an upstairs-

LISA STEWART: Yeah, uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -and a downstairs part.

LISA STEWART: There was a friend of ours, and his name was Selly, you know, he
was a friend of, he was a friend of ours and he was, he was a kid to the Benson
family, he was in the Benson family. So Selly told us one time, him and his f-
friend- (laughs) had, they had come from the movie upstairs and Selly was- (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: They were walking behind (laughs). They were walking behind a
white man and his girlfriend and they were walking home. Selly said he and his
friend kept, kept passing gas.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: (laughs) Man looked back at them (makes a face). Selly said they
looked back too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: And said, the more they walked, the more the friend passed gas.
Said the man turned around said, said "Nigger, (laughs) nigger, if you fart one
more time in front of my woman I'm gonna kill you nigger." Said, "I'm gonna kill
you if you (laughs) if you fart one more time in front of my woman."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Oh my gosh.

LISA STEWART: Selly (laughs) Selly said, and the man couldn't hold (laughs)
couldn't hold it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: Selly said when the man turned around said that- said the man just
shown-off his pistol. Selly's out! Selly said, "I took off running. Yeah because
I didn't want that white man to start shooting at me."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: And Selly said he left, the man said- man said, "Selly, wait a
minute Selly, Selly wait a minute Selly"

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: You, you left me here

LISA STEWART: Selly said he took off, the man took off running too (unclear).
Oh, I was so tickled. Oh...

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: It was just crazy. Selly and my grandmama, one, one Christmas, it
was Christmas Eve. I was about ten or eleven. And my grandmama would go calling,
they said, "We're going somewhere." They said they were going to get a fish,
that's what they said they were going to get, a fish. But I knew they weren't
going to get no fish. And they were headed to Titusville, we were at the end of
Greensprings, like where the Vine-mart is and fixing to go across that railroad
track. And so, and it had, it had begun to rain, but it was Christmas Eve. And
Selly (phone rings) got ready to turn, and then a man hit him. Bam! And he was
in a big old bus-like thing, like (phone rings) one of those big old SUV things.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: And uh...oh Lord, this is Walgreens. (phone rings) They're calling
me about some medicine. (Phone conversation: "Hello?") I was supposed to pick
this medicine up three days ago and forgot. (Long silence while someone talks on
the other end, Lisa Stewart hangs up). But anyway, (clears throat) so. So he was
driving this big old bus like thing and the man hit him. Bam! And so, and he and
my grandmama were headed to get some Joe Louis whiskey.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: For their Christmas. So, he said, "Oh Lord, I ain't got no
license, Oh Lord!" He had hit a white man.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-oh.

LISA STEWART: He said, "I ain't got no license. Oh Lord Miss Bessy, I told you
Miss Bessy I ain't need to be here down here fooling with you, I told you!" She
said "Oh Selly, Jesus have mercy, Jesus, oh Jesus." I said, "Y'all might as well
just be quiet now because y'all had a wreck." So. The man came to the car. He
said "Sir, y'all hurt?" "Uh, no sir, sir, no sir, no sir, is you hurt sir? Sir
is you hurt?" Man said, "No I'm not hurt." Selly said, "Well sir, sir, uh, uh,
uh." He said, "Sir, don't worry about a thing, it's Christmas. Merry Christmas.
Y'all not hurt; I'm not hurt. Merry Christmas, sir. Y'all have a Merry
Christmas." "Sir I sure do thank you sir! Sir, you don't know how much I thank
you!" He and my grandmamma, "Yes sir, Lord have mercy. Sir you don't know how
much I thank you!" That man just started laughing.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: He got in his car, he said, "Merry Christmas." (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: And then just drove off? Or left?

LISA STEWART: He drove off. He drove off. I said, "I guess y'all can get that
Joe Louis and go on home now."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: They probably needed it to help them relax.

LISA STEWART: They did! They said, "Well since you know so much, you just go in
the lady's house and get it."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: So when they pulled up in that lady's, that lady's house, I went
in there, I said, "They sent me in here to get it; they sent me after the fish."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs) The fish.

LISA STEWART: The lady said, "Fish?"

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: I said, "Yeah my gradmama said you had a fish, you had made a fish
for her." She said, "Who your grandmama is?" I said, "Bessy Brammer." She said,
"Ohh yeah, okay." (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: She had (unclear) said, "Here's your fish, here." She gave it to
me, I went on out the door I said, "Y'all better come on here and let's go."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: So we went on, on home but, but yeah, I had forgot about that
thing. But I ain't had no ride nowhere.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm, to get that prescription. I had called Dr. Clapp to pick up
the prescription. He said, "Oh yeah." I said, "I need you to pick up a, a
prescription." I said, "And I need you to deposit some money in the bank because
I got a check fixing to bounce." He said, "Well, I'm in Colorado."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: I said "what?!"

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: That's a bit of a drive.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh that was, that was Saturday.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: He said, "I'm in Colorado." I said, "Oh my God." I said, "No!" He
said, "Yeah." I start to say "Well dagnab. Find a Region's bank and go on and
put it in there anyway. I don't care if it is in Colorado." (laughs) But I, I
didn't say that, I said, "Okay then." I said, "That's alright. I'm alright then."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: And then I, I called this lady, what I know, that go to our
church, she is an attorney. So I had her to go do that, but I ain't have her to
go by Walgreens, you know because I knew she didn't have time to do that.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. Okay so now how many more stories we got here?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: To go through?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Those are good ones. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: (laughs)

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: You're a gold mine with those, that--the-- I guess, this
question, it might be a, a broad, general question.

LISA STEWART: Okay.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: But, but how would, I guess, how would you describe, like,
Rosedale and like its people, like the kind of community that -

LISA STEWART: You know -

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: - it was like growing up.

LISA STEWART: - Rosedale was a good community growing up and like I'd say the
people was like, like family, you know? Because everybody stuck together, and
everybody whupped everybody's children.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: They did. They did and they, you can, then they could say, "Oh,
I'm gonna tell your mama on you." And baby, and they would tell your mama too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. So Rosedale really was a good community, and still the same
way. Because, and I could tell you something else: we ain't never had to lock
our doors.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: And you still don't have to lock your door.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, in Rosedale, not over in here either.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm. Because I remember one year I went to Texas. And, and, and
the house in Rosedale, I didn't even have a key to that house.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm,

LISA STEWART: I rented that house from the Tinsleys, I ain't even have no key.
And somebody came by my house and the man across the street--I had told him I
was going to Texas to the family reunion; I'd be gone a week. And so somebody
came by my house and was knocking, the man said, "Hey, what you need?" And he
said, "Oh I'm looking for Lisa." He said, "She's not there." He said, "The
screen door hook." He said, "That don't mean that because the screen door is
hooked. You come away from there. That I said she ain't there." He said, "She
said you were going to come by there anyway, is your name Pearson?" He said,
"Yeah." He said, "Well she ain't there. She said she's in Texas."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: But I just hooked the screen door because the door wouldn't lock.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: So I hooked the screen door and went on out the back door and
everything and went on to Texas.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh-huh.

LISA STEWART: I was gone a week.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Because I mean, I just, something like that...

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: You know, not even having to lock your door that's-

LISA STEWART: Yeah.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: -that don't happen much nowadays

LISA STEWART: That's what I'm saying, you don't even have to lock your door.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: And you really don't. Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: That's the, you don't come across that a lot in-

LISA STEWART: Mm-mm. Don't have to lock your door, honey.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Because I slept with my door unlocked over there many nights.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, sure did. I remember one night, one day somebody was at my
door and they ain't know the door was already unlocked and they were just, just
hitting on the door (hitting one hand with the other) boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, just beating the door like they were crazy. I got up. I said "Okay MF, I
got something for you." I said, "Now you just come on through the door." I said,
"I got something for you. Now come on through the door." I said, "It's open.
Come on in here because I WANT you to come in here." Whoever it was, they left.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: (laughs)

LISA STEWART: But anyway, I-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Hey, I would too if I heard that. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, well I looked out the door, it was Jerome, with his crazy
self. I said, "Jerome, you crazy so-and-so." I said, "You better not knock on
that door." "Uh, Lisa, I just wanted to know if you had a quarter." I said,
"Jerome you better not knock on that door no more talking about a quarter."

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Was it, was he your neighbor, or?

LISA STEWART: No, just a fool hanging around.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Oh. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: He was crazy. He's so crazy, you know just in the head, crazy in
the head, and, and be dirty and stuff all the time. And Demisha, truly, she must
be a child of God, because from a little bitty girl like that, me and her used
to be walking to ballet. And we'd see Jerome sitting; he'd just be sitting on
the street just sitting there, just dirty.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: And Demisha, she would see him and she'd say, "Hey, hey, Jerome."
He'd say, "Hey Mi-Mi." And then she'd reach down there and hug him.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: I wanted to say, "I don't know what you hug him for with his
stinky self." (laughs) But I ain't said nothing to her, because I knew it was
the God in her. I let her hug him and I took her home and gave her a bath.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah. (laughs)

LISA STEWART: And now, right now, if she sees Jerome she says, "Hey Jerome." And
he says, "Hey Mi-Mi." She always knows him when she sees him. Uh-huh, but he
just cray- he used to be hanging around Homewood begging all the time.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: But, but now he be working. I ain't seen him in a long time.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: So I guess another question would be-

LISA STEWART: Mmhm.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Like, I guess, how would you describe, like, Rosedale's
interaction or relationship with like the surrounding like communities or
neighborhoods, places like, like Homewood or Titusville, or places like that?

LISA STEWART: Mm...well now, now they always interact with other neighborhoods
you know that?

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Right.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh they always do. Because like you know they, like F-, I know
Friendship Church used to be involved with Dawson all the time. Uh-huh, and the
whole neighborhood used to go down to, for the for the Easter service.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: They're all in, all in. Everybody in the neighborhood used to go
down there to all the churches, you know, when we were going to all the churches
for the Easter services.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. We all used to be going to that, but somehow or another
everybody just broke away from it. I don't know why or how.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: But we did break away and I; I don't why. I don't even know why.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Just kind of split away.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. Just... it maybe because the preachers changed or
something like that, you know. They changed preachers at the churches I think it
what did it.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay, yeah.

LISA STEWART: Because one while all the preachers were friends.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Yeah.

LISA STEWART: You know. And then you know the Methodist people, they'll change
their preachers. And then the Baptist preacher, that one had been at the Baptist
church for like thirty-something years. He retired so then that brought in a new
preacher, you know.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Okay, yeah.

LISA STEWART: And he wanted to run everything. And then the other church, First
Church, they had had their preacher a long time, but then he ran off with their,
all the money they had in the bank.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Uh oh.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh, and so when he did that they had to move out of Homewood.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: That ain't good.

LISA STEWART: No, it wasn't good at all.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mm.

LISA STEWART: So, I think that's what happened, like the preachers changed and
stuff like that. Man I, I, I think that's what happened.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhm.

LISA STEWART: But I remember when all of us here got together real good one
while. I mean we were doing good things too.

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: Mmhnm.

LISA STEWART: Uh-huh. And we were having a good time. Because the service was
real good. You know-

CHASE TRAUTWEIN: I bet.

LISA STEWART: -it really was. Uh-huh. Because I looked forward to it.

Audio Information
Attribute	Value
Interviewer	Chase Trautwein
Interviewee	Lisa Stewart
Repository	Samford University Oral History Collection
Accession	SUHist/Rosedale/003

Lisa Stewart

Chapters

Racial Boundaries in Rosedale

Growing Up in Rosedale

Family

School and Integration

Church

Rosedale Community: Children’s Recreation

May Day

Christmas and Fourth of July Memories

Rosedale Community

Transcript

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