Lily Haley and Emma Leon, 1972

File — Box: 1, Folder: 9

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Mrs. Haley was born in 1889 in Sedalia Missouri, where she only made it through the sixth grade. She came to Ogden in 1922. At the time, the economy was based around the railroad, where her husband got a job. She states that the economy has since shifted to an emphasis in government defense plants, and that the city has grown since they first arrived. She claims that the main jobs available to African Americans when she moved were for waiters, cooks, domestic service, and railroad jobs and that no African Americans owned property at the time. Most of people’s husbands worked on the railroad. Mrs. Haley did not have a job. She currently lives off her husband’s pension and does not require welfare.

During the Depression, which was particularly difficult in Ogden, Mrs. Haley recalls potatoes and rabbits being given to the poor. In discussing property discrimination, she does not seem to think race had as much to do with lack of property ownership as did lack of money among African Americans.

She did not recall anything about the KKK in Ogden or lynching. She did mention segregation of theaters and restaurants, but states that she was used to it having grown up in the South. She acknowledges that schools and opportunities have increased for African Americans. She worked briefly with the NAACP and believes they were instrumental in making more jobs available to African Americans. She also mentioned her distaste of the word “Black” as a descriptor of African Americans, believing it to be generic and inaccurate.

Mrs. Leon, Mrs. Haley’s sister, joins the conversation and describes how she gradually adapted to Ogden after she moved there. She grew up in Texas and attended school up to the eighth grade. At the time that she moved, she was separated from her husband. She relocated with the intent of helping her sister, Mrs. Haley, who resided in Ogden. Mrs. Haley owned a restaurant, called the Haley Restaurant, which was the one restaurant that allowed African Americans at the time in Ogden. Leon relates that she had a difficult time adjusting to the segregation and feeling of being alone in Ogden. Audio CD A0038_B-14_01.

Dates

1972

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