Mr. and Mrs. Junior Hall, 1973

File — Box: 1, Folder: 10

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Mr. Junior Hall was born in Quentin, Mississippi on August 21, 1933. He attended Alexander High School. Mrs. Junior Hall was also born in Quentin June 19th, 1934.

Mr. Hall came to Utah in October of 1951, where he began work as an aircraft cleaner for $1.30 an hour. His main complaint about this work was that it was extremely difficult to move out of the entry -level positions as an African American, regardless of skill, unless you had a PhD. He also mentions his difficulty in finding housing at the time. He said that at one time he was going to buy a sixteen-acre farm, but the previous owner’s neighbors made such a big deal that the real estate agent would not sell it to them. He believes that running a household is the most important thing a woman can do, far more important than any job. He describes the recreation that was available to African Americans at the time, which was mainly going to a beer tavern called Sloppy Joe’s, singing and having gatherings within the church community, and fishing.

Mr. Hall believes that people should be proud of their identity, no matter what other people, particularly White people, say about it. This heavily influences the ideas he holds about the LDS church. He had not experienced any influence from the LDS church until he came to Utah, and recognized the discrimination from them. He stated that if they didn’t accept his identity as a Black man, he didn’t want any part of the church. His one experience with the KKK in Utah occurred when he was working at the airport in 1963, and received a threat from the KKK. He also stated that the pervasive lack of jobs and opportunities had the same effect as blatantly killing someone.

Mr. Hall sates that he believes that education is key to opening up new career opportunities for African Americans, particularly in high-status, high-paying jobs traditionally held by White people (such as doctor, lawyer, etc.). He believes that it has improved “100%”, but that it needs to expand its reach and encourage more African Americans to go into nontraditional fields such as medicine and finance as opposed to sociology and physical education. In addition, he hopes that African American history will become a more prevalent topic in schools because “you can’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’re from” and his own education in this area was extremely limited. In addition, he is concerned about losing African American kids to the drug culture because there is already a limited population in Utah, and blames this problem on materialism and parents working out of the home. He believes that an effort on materialism is hurting the younger generation because they do not feel loved with parents working all day. He also sees that African American kids must get jobs younger, and that these jobs are usually hard to come by or menial. In his own life, he states that the church was influential, especially the musical aspect. He notes differences in the professional scene between Utah and the South. When he first came to Utah there were no African American professionals, whereas in the South there had to be African American doctors because the White doctors wouldn’t treat African Americans. He still believes that many youths see these professions as out of reach, and that the way to treat this issue is to actively talk to young adults about it and work together.

Here, Mrs. Hall joins the conversation at times. Mr. Hall discusses how his worst fear is identifying with White people. He says he wants all of his descendants to be Black like him. Mrs. Hall agrees with her husband’s position. They continue to stress how simplicity and family unity matter over money. The conversation ends with Mr. Hall proposing an idea that African Americans raise money to support each other and support young people pursuing higher education, so that they are not forced to go to the White community for support. He also believes that they need to band together to clean up 200 South (Second South) on their own. Audio CD A0038_B-24_01.

Dates

1973

Conditions Governing Access

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