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Black Heritage in the Upper Piedmont of South Carolina

Ponder Cassette 1 Side 1

Media

Part of Interview: Ponder, Runette

Title

Ponder Cassette 1 Side 1

Source

Runette Ponder Interview

Date

1990-08-10

Description

Side 1

00:00--Mrs. Ponder gives a brief family history before making comment on her job in Washington, D.C. with the General Accounting Office. She then gives reflections of her childhood in regards to her father's farm, her early education, and popular holidays such as Christmas and Easter. Mrs. Ponder had two sisters and six brothers.

8:56--Her parents attended the local African Methodist Episcopal Church; she herself was a Catholic. She joined the Catholic Church while she was doing domestic work for a doctor's family in New York City. She describes the ways in which funeral practices and wedding ceremonies were different when she was young. She states that her grandfather was a white man from Abbeville, SC.

17:05--Mrs. Ponder makes comment on the differences between white and black schools before giving her opinion that Clemson University was a good place for the employment of blacks before desegregation, and afterwards was a good place for education of the black community. She goes on to describe camp meetings, singing conventions, homemade quilting and sewing, as well as a tornado that her family experienced.

31:39--Audio ends.

Rights

Interviews may only be reproduced with permission from Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives. All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives.