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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLincoln High School A. Steen WilliamsonHISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE City of College Station, Texas 77840 ORAL HISTORY DATA SHEET I hereby give and grant to the HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMITTEE, City of College Station, Texas, for whatever purposes may be determined, the tape recordings, transcriptions, and contents of this oral history interview. Also, permission is hereby given for any duplications of original photos, documents, maps, etc. useful to the history project to be returned unharmed. Interviewee releases, relinquishes and discharges CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from all claims, demands, and causes of action of every kind and character, including the cost of defense thereof, for any injury to, including the cost of defense thereof for any injury to, including death of, any person, whether that person be a third person, Interviewee, or an employee of either of the parties hereto, and any loss of or damage to property, whether the same be that either of the parties hereto or of third parties, caused by or alleged to be caused by, arising out of, or in connection with Interviewee provision of historical information, whether or not said claims, demands and causes of action in whole or in part are covered by insurance. l jI i Si1 / f I / /// �' l /N � G �� Inj.erviewee VPlease print) M0 LL Interviewer (Please Print) �%✓ 1/ Sign>..ture of Interviewer NI t Place of Interview List of photos. documents. mans, etc. sig of Name- ,ddress Li,) y ( 3 — 7 Telephone _ ; Date of Birth � , / o_ / / -S Place of Birth (� INTERVIEW STATUS: Completed Interviewee agrees to and shall indemnify and hold harmless CITY, its officers, agents and employees, from and against any and all claims, losses, damages, causes of action, suits and liability of every kind, attorney's fees, for injury to or death of any person, or for damage to any property, arising out of or in connection with the use of the items and information referenced aboved by CITY, its agents, representatives, assigns, invitees, and participants under this grant. Such indemnity shall apply where the claims, losses damages, causes of action, suits or liability arise in whole or in part from the negligence of city. Date Initial n /" lei ? — r\- - viewviewT i e In progress Lincoln High School Reunion - 6 July, 1996 Moderator: Mollie Guin Interviewee: Audrey Steen Williamson ��l ) L. S .r MG: For the purpose of the interview, please state your name. AW: My name is Audrey Steen Williamson. MG: OK, and you are a native? You were born here in College Station? AW: I was born here in College Station, yes. MG: OK, and attended school? AW: Yes, attended high school at Lincoln. First it was A &M Consolidated Colored High School, then we wanted our own identity, so we changed it, they changed it to Lincoln High School. MG: When did this happen? AW: It happened maybe 1945 or '46, somewhere thereabouts, I think. I'm not certain of those dates, but I think it's in the history of that program that was handed to you. MG: OK, so this was decided on by the community that they wanted their own identity? AW: It was the principal and the students and the teachers. Because we were confused a lot with A &M Consolidated High School and even though the "Colored" was in there, sometimes they would get things that belonged to us, and we'd get things that belonged to them. So, in order to not have that confusion, we just changed to Lincoln High School. MG: What is your fondest memory growing up in this community and school and all that? AW: Oh, I have a lot of fond memories. One of my fondest memories is being blessed with parents that were so idealistic and were very concerned about their children receiving an education and growing up in a loving family, a church - oriented family and then having all of those skills necessary to advance in schools and that's what I was proud of . And then when we entered into school, we were able to perform well and well behaved children. You know, I can boast about my family because I know how we were. And then, I enjoyed teachers, enjoyed participating in scholastic leagues. I wasn't a basketball player, even though I'm tall, you know people would always ask, "Do you play basketball ?" No, but I was a member of the and I was a member to the spelling team. And during the time I was growing up, we were exposed to a lot of things. My principal felt that I had a lot of potential, so he and his wife would take me to Prairie View on various trips there, and you know, different places. And all of these are fond memories to me. Very fond memories. MG: And you have how many brothers and sisters? AW: I have a baby sister that expired in '83, but there are four sisters and two brothers in all. MG: And Phillip is...? AW: A cousin of mine. MG: OK. I'II get all the names straight, OK? Describe the type of clothing that you wore. AW: The type of clothing that I wore? I was always, it seems like I'm trying to pump myself up, but I was always cautious about what I looked like. You know, was very careful about, I liked to be neat and even though we didn't have very much, my mother was always sure that we looked neat. I would always tell people when I was growing up, my mother would send me to the beauty shop every two weeks even though I didn't need it sometimes. She just wanted us to. .. And there were times, you know, when it was so hot in the house, she would take an oil stove, and you know, our hair had to be pressed and there were five girls whose hair she had to press. She would get outside with that oil stove and press our hair so we would be decent for Sunday church and be decent the week of school. MG: All right, explain to me, what do you mean by "press "? AW: Well, there were straightening combs. They were metal or iron straightening combs that would heat up over the burner and , you know, with our hair being the type of hair that it is, she would just wash it first, and with the hair being kinky, she'd take the straightening comb and just straighten it out and it would be easier to style in whatever way that we wanted. That was when we were children. But, then when we got old enough to go to the beauty shop, then we went to the beauty shop. MG: OK, and then what was the style of hair that you would do, then? Because I love those braids. AW: A curl. I wore a curl most of the times. Just as soon as the curl would start to get pretty, that's when I'd have to wash it out and go to the beauty shop. That's the kind of mother we had and then we had a father who was very supportive. Naturally, with seven children, he had to be. MG: Yes. All right, well, the girls could not wear shorts? Only wore dresses? AW: Oh yes, right. MG: Only wore dresses, OK. AW: In fact, we were brought up under very strict training. Our father was a very strict disciplinarian. We were not allowed, even if they did wear pants, we were not allowed to wear pants. We were not allowed to wear a lot of things. We were not allowed to dance, and I guess that's why I like dancing so much. Danced my feet away last night. MG: Oh, at the Hilton? Ya'II had a fun time? AW: Yes, we did. MG: I grew up the same way in North Louisiana. Very Straight laced Baptist. And I love to dance. And so, we had to do an act to get out of school. All Right. What affect did any of the wars have on education here that you can recall? AW: I think, during the wars, there were, oh, what were those things called? Stamps or something that parents had to use.. . MG: Rationing Stamps. AW: Rationing Stamps that they had to use in order to purchase certain things. remember that. And growing up, being of color, you know, we did not have access to a lot of things perhaps your people had access to. So, we had to do the very best we could with what we had. But, my father, seemingly, and my mother were very good managers, and we never knew just how difficult things really were. Because I guess we were so much concealed from that, you know. But, all in all, we could tell that something wasn't... I was old enough to know about one of those wars.. . -End of tape- Ms. Williamson: Please feel free to add anything else you wish to the end of this transcription since this interview is incomplete.