Larry Thomas

DR. JANICE K. NEAL-VINCENT: Hello. I’m Dr. Janice K. Neal-Vincent, oral historian of Scott Ford House, Inc. and W.K. Kellogg team. Dr. Alferdteen Harrison is the Executive Director of this project. It’s Friday, July 30th, 2021. I’m accommodated in this video recording by Mr. O’Shawn Brewer [sp?]. I have a series of questions pertaining to Mississippi granny midwives here in Anguilla, the Delta region. Will you please, sir, state your name?

LARRY THOMAS: I’m Larry Thomas.

JKNV: Mr. Larry 00:01:00Thomas. May I have your permission to interview you?

LT: Yes, you may.

JKNV: Thank you. My first question is: what was the time period when you knew of a granny midwife who worked with you and/or your relatives?

LT: Well, I was born in 1960.

JKNV: 1960?

LT: 1960. And I guess it would’ve been around 1965 when I really got to know a midwife, ’cause I was small.

JKNV: Can you project a little louder?

LT: Right. Well, I was sayin’ that I was born in 1960, and it should’ve been probably around 1965 when I got acquainted with a midwife as I grew 00:02:00 up.

JKNV: Okay. Can you tell me specifically with whom she worked? Did she work with other folks as a midwife?

LT: Yeah, she did. She was the community midwife. She worked the whole community in which I stand [ph], and, you know, she—that was her job. She went from house to house, whoever— JKNV: She moved from house to house.

LT: She went from house to house. She came to your house; you didn’t go to her house.

JKNV: Okay. 00:03:00So she was a traveling midwife.

LT: Yes.

JKNV: Okay. In what community and/or county did she work?

LT: Sharkey County, Anguilla, Mississippi. I stayed on a plantation, and the name of the plantation was C. B. Plantation, which stands for Clarence Bernard Plantation, and she worked that plantation, and the other plantation that was in that community. And there was another plantation in the community she also worked.

JKNV: What was the name of that plantation?

LT: Well, I’m not sure. I know I stayed on Clarence Bernard, and there were other, you know, plantations 00:04:00there were then.

JKNV: Okay.

LT: Yes.

JKNV: Is that D-A-N-A-R-D? Clarence?

LT: B.

JKNV: B, okay, as in boy.

LT: Right, yes, ma’am.

JKNV: Okay, Clarence Bernard. Now, the other plantations on which she worked, were they surrounding areas?

LT: Yes.

JKNV: Okay. What was her name?

LT: The midwife that caught me was named Essie Love [sp?].

JKNV: Okay. Was she a member of your family?

LT: No, she was not.

JKNV: How old was she?

LT: I would say when I got to know her she was in her fifties, probably mid-fifties.

JKNV: Okay. 00:05:00And about how long did she serve as a midwife? About how many years?

LT: If I had to guess, I would say 20 to 25 years, or longer.

JKNV: Okay. Did she catch babies beyond family members?

LT: Yes.

JKNV: Did she catch Black and white babies?

LT: I don’t know about white, but I know she caught Blacks.

JKNV: Okay. 00:06:00Why did the midwife catch babies outside of medical clinics and hospitals?

LT: At that time, most Blacks in my community, they didn’t have access to any type of insurance. I think that was the only way that the baby could be born: they had to use a midwife.

JKNV: Okay. [Break in video] JKNV: Did Ms. Essie spend time with the children she caught?

LT: Yes, I know of two that she raised her own which wasn’t related to her. 00:07:00The mother passed on, and she raised two young ladies as her own.

JKNV: Okay. [END OF INTERVIEW]