Memories of Autumn
Fall Leaves, Harvesting & Halloween
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Here we are again in the midst of the fall season—the cooling of the earth, the falling of the leaves, the change in temperature, and the nostalgic colors that remind us winter season is just around the corner. We thought we should share our HistoryMakers’ memories of fall and Halloween, which is Sunday! |
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Dumbarton Oaks, Georgetown, Washington D.C., undated |
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Chemist Billy Joe Evans said: “I'm always excited about school and the campuses are so nice in the autumn, somewhat quiet, the leaves are falling and one can walk the pathways comfortably. I grew up in the south so the spring wasn't really my favorite because it got hot very soon, very quickly. And so by May, it was really too hot… and we had no air conditioning.”[1] Civil engineer Oliver McGee, III (1957 - 2020) similarly said: “I love the fall. I love the change of the foliage. I tremendously love how Georgetown looks in the fall season. Absolutely beautiful. Last year, my sister [and I]… took a walk through Dumbarton Oaks [Washington D.C.] and saw the fall foliage and smelled the colors that were in our backyard where we grew up. So, fall is a lovely time of the year for me.”[2]
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Autumn sunset outside Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, undated |
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The autumn sky is what resonated with the late journalist Vernon Jarrett (1918 – 2004): “I really love autumn… I used to like the sunsets in autumn when I was a kid in Tennessee, the sky's different colors.”[3] Jazz pianist Bertha Hope added: “I love the wind in my face, I love the sound of leaves in the park… being blown by the wind, I like walking through leaves.”[4] Lawyer and nonprofit executive Laurie Robinson Haden also spoke of the leaves growing up in Fort Washington, Maryland: “We would… have kickball tournaments in the backyard. We would rake leaves and then jump onto the pile of leaves and make a mess.”[5] It was the smell of the leaves for Federal Judge Deborah A. Batts: “There are… autumn smells. Like when I grew up, when people raked leaves they used to burn them. And… the smell of… wet falling leaves with the various colors.”[6]
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Steen’s Sugarcane Syrup Mill, Abbeville, Louisiana, c. 1940-1950s |
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Lawyer and corporate executive Angela Vallot remembered the smell of her hometown of Abbeville, Louisiana: “In the fall when they would harvest the [sugar] cane they would cut it and then they'd burn the flags… there was this wonderful, wonderful smell in the fall, it smelled like molasses… So, I always loved fall because it was a time of harvest and, and then there was a sugarcane mill in town.”[7]
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Pecan harvest (left) and pecan praline (right) |
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Harry Sykes (1927 - 2012), the first African American city councilman in Lexington, Kentucky, spoke of his growing up on the farm: “We had pecans and walnuts that you get in the fall and had to store them up. We had to get in the crops for the winter… Then, when it comes harvest time… my father build a double bed… to haul the corn in. And, he had cotton and he'd take that to the mill to sale… after we got all the corn harvested, they would turn the cattle in the field to eat the [corn] stalks and that served as food for them.”[8] Pecans were also a favorite memory of chemical physicist Joseph Francisco growing up in Beaumont, Texas: “In the backyard… was a pecan tree... Fall time is pecan-tree picking… I would actually… pick the pecans and then sell them or one of the things that me and my grandfather [Merlin Walker] would do is to make pecan praline, which is a… real treat.”[9] Gloria Scott, former president of Benedict College, did not grow up on a farm, but remembered: “My grandfather every October, after the harvest was in, would send us peanuts to roast and potatoes, sweet potatoes he'd dug up, walnuts, they always send packages to us… and then we would go and visit.”[10]
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Left: Men shucking corn, Tally Ho, North Carolina, 1939
Right: Boys sitting on a wagon of picked cotton, c. 1940s
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George L. Brown (1926 - 2006), the first African American Colorado Lieutenant Governor, recalled his hometown of Lawrence, Kansas: “During harvest season… they would go from one farm to the next so that everybody got their crops harvested with a full crew coming from each family… the women at… each farm tried to outdo the others for the lunch, the wonderful lunches that they would fix.”[11] Architect Leatrice McKissack added: “I can remember the great harvests… all these wonderful crops… in the fall… they'd have to have the hired hands come in to help… all we did was have a good time playing and eating… And the food was fabulous.”[12] For C. Jack Ellis, 40th Mayor of Macon, Georgia, fall represented having to work harder, not less: “I loved to go to school and I used to cry when I couldn't go to school because… in the fall… you had to stay out of school two or three days to pick cotton or to harvest the corn or… potatoes… sweet potatoes… And that used to bother me eventually because you were just getting deep in a subject maybe after… four or five weeks in school and then you would disappear for two or three days and you would get behind.”[13]
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Students feeding chickens at Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural School, St. Helena Island,
South Carolina, c. 1930s
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Real estate developer Charles Edward Simmons, Jr. detailed the unique harvest while attending Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural School in St. Helena Island, South Carolina in the 1940s: “Penn has hundreds of acres of property… they had a boarding department and they grew just about all the food that they served in the boarding department… [They had] what we called the harvest week… instead of letting you come home to spend the [Thanksgiving] holidays at home, you'd stay at Penn and harvest the crops… we'd get a kick out of that because the girls are in the field along with us so we had fun doing what we was supposed to do.”[14]
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A farmer and his livestock, Georgia, c. 1986 |
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Educator and nonprofit chief executive Dolly Adams added that fall was also the time for butchering: “Every year at harvest time in the fall, they would slaughter cows and pigs and they would cook pigskins outside and they would make… a boudin, which is a sausage, and they did a lot of cooking. And then they didn't have the refrigeration… They salted a lot of that meat… [And] everybody in the community… twenty, thirty folk out there cooking and cutting up meat.”[15]
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Children’s Halloween party, undated |
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Educator Adelaide Sanford shared: “I think I like fall most of all. I have an aunt who's a poet, and she said that nature arrays herself in the most flamboyant colors, red and gold and orange in order to announce to the world that, even though its late, she's going to have her flame… there's something special about autumn.”[16] Among our fall holidays, Halloween is a special one. Art collector and curator Patric McCoy remembered the holiday growing up in Chicago, Illinois: “On Halloween… we knew everybody on the block, so… we were able to go by ourselves… Halloween was a really, really, really special time for us when we could run the street… in our costumes and unescorted… it was a wonderful experience in that neighborhood.”[17] Trick-or-treating was a major event in the neighborhood where Deborah Prothrow-Stith, the first woman and youngest Commissioner of Public Health in Massachusetts, grew up in Atlanta, Georgia: “Halloween was a big production on Hermer Circle. We not only trick or treated, but we trick or treated at certain times. So, it was divided by age groups, and then each age group had a house that represented the end of trick or treating and the parties.”[18]
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Children in their costumes, Chicago, Illinois, c. 1950s (left) and The Invisible Man movie poster, 1933 (right)
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Halloween stood out for Playboy foundation executive Cleo F. Wilson as well: “One of my early memories is in Altgeld Gardens [Chicago, Illinois]… on Halloween, at night, they would… project movies outside on a big screen and there would be a bonfire and I remember the movie that was showing was 'The Invisible Man.' And I don't remember much about it except the fire and it's dark all around us and this big, white screen and a chair rocking with nobody in it. (Laughter) That was just so scary to me.”[19] Police officer and city government administrator Maxie L. Patterson recalled getting the community kids in Albion, Michigan in the Halloween spirit: “I got involved in community theater… I started telling… Halloween stories on Halloween nights to local kids (laughter), and used to do that in the park up near the cemetery (laughter).”[20]
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“Fall Road” by Nyree Morrison |
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This Sunday is Halloween!!! Even in this COVID season, there will be new Halloween stories. Enjoy! |
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[1] Billy Joe Evans (The HistoryMakers A2012.177), interviewed by Larry Crowe, October 22, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 2, Billy Joe Evans lists his favorites.
[2] Oliver McGee, III (The HistoryMakers A2012.235), interviewed by Larry Crowe, September 11, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 2, Oliver McGee lists his favorites.
[3] Vernon Jarrett (The HistoryMakers A2000.028), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, February 10, 2000, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 1, Vernon Jarrett's favorites.
[4] Bertha Hope (The HistoryMakers A2007.315), interviewed by Adrienne Jones, November 1, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 2, Bertha Hope lists her favorites.
[5] Laurie Robinson Haden (The HistoryMakers A2016.149), interviewed by Larry Crowe, December 13, 2016, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 9, Laurie Robinson Haden remembers her community in Fort Washington, Maryland.
[6] The Honorable Deborah A. Batts (The HistoryMakers A2007.239), interviewed by Adrienne Jones, August 15, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 3, story 1, The Honorable Deborah A. Batts describes the sights and smells of her childhood.
[7] Angela Vallot (The HistoryMakers A2016.096), interviewed by Harriette Cole, December 15, 2016, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 3, Angela Vallot describes the sights, sounds and smells of her childhood.
[8] The Honorable Harry Sykes (The HistoryMakers A2002.224), interviewed by Larry Crowe, December 10, 2002, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 2, Harry Sykes describes working on his family's farm.
[9] Joseph Francisco (The HistoryMakers A2013.176), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, June 28, 2013, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 7, Joseph Francisco describes the sights, sounds and smells of his childhood.
[10] Gloria Scott (The HistoryMakers A2007.055), interviewed by Denise Gines, February 8, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 3, Gloria Scott describes her maternal grandparents, pt. 1.
[11] The Honorable George L. Brown (The HistoryMakers A2003.018), interviewed by Julieanna L. Richardson, January 23, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 1, George L. Brown describes his experience on his family's farm in Lawrence, Kansas.
[12] Leatrice McKissack (The HistoryMakers A2007.087), interviewed by Larry Crowe, March 13, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 7, Leatrice McKissack remembers her family's farm in Keytesville, Missouri.
[13] The Honorable C. Jack Ellis (The HistoryMakers A2011.027), interviewed by Denise Gines, April 22, 2011, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 7, The Honorable C. Jack Ellis recalls his early education.
[14] Charles E. Simmons (The HistoryMakers A2007.032), interviewed by Denise Gines, January 29, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 9, Charles E. Simmons recalls the harvest at Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural School.
[15] Dolly Adams (The HistoryMakers A2012.246), interviewed by Larry Crowe, December 13, 2012, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 10, Dolly Adams describes the sights, sounds and smells of her childhood.
[16] Adelaide Sanford (The HistoryMakers A2003.219), interviewed by Cathy Sandler, September 19, 2003, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 2, Adelaide Sanford's favorites.
[17] Patric McCoy (The HistoryMakers A2008.129), interviewed by Thomas Jefferson, November 7, 2008, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 2, story 3, Patric McCoy describes his childhood neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois.
[18] Deborah Prothrow-Stith (The HistoryMakers A2005.103), interviewed by Robert Hayden, December 7, 2005, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 2, tape 1, story 10, Deborah Prothrow-Stith describes Collier Heights in Atlanta, Georgia.
[19] Cleo F. Wilson (The HistoryMakers A2010.100), interviewed by Larry Crowe, August 25, 2010, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 1, story 11, Cleo F. Wilson describes her earliest childhood memory.
[20] Maxie L. Patterson (The HistoryMakers A2007.060), interviewed by Denise Gines, February 9, 2007, The HistoryMakers Digital Archive. Session 1, tape 4, story 3, Maxie L. Patterson describes his community involvement in Albion, Michigan.
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