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Phyllis Griffin interview transcript, December 21, 2004

14

PG: I think she learned, um, I think she learned a work ethic from both her parents. Um.. I think she learned stubbornness from both her parents...um, she learned a love for nature because of where they lived. 

NL: Where was that?

PG: Wapelo, New Hampshire. In the country. My grandfather, uh, raised and trained horses, and took care of two farms. 

NL: I seem to recall reading an article where Edna attributed a lot of her activism to her father, who she said taught her to stand up for human rights. Do you recall conversations with your grandparents on Civil Rights issues?

PG: Tragically, they didn't speak to each other very much, um, until the final five or seven years of my grandfather's life. There was a problem there, I don't know what the problem was. 

NL: The problem was between?

PG: My grandfather and my mother.But, each of them acknowledged their intelligence to me. I can remember my grandfather was smart and my grandmother was smart, it was just for some reason my mother kept putting my grandfather...out there, and... right in front. And then, my grandfather, when I took a special journal to go and see my grandparents because no one was talking about them in the house,um. the first thing out of my grandfather's mouth was, "You know your mother's really smart, don't you?" And it almost made me burst out laughing because it was, like, oh I know the story behind this one. I believe that their closeness... the quality of closeness that my mother really wanted to have with my grandfather ended at the age of seven, when my mother brought home a scientific experiment that showed how a candle burned out when you put it, when you put a jar over it. And she was able to explain why the candle was burning out because of the lack of oxygen. And I think, I think having a seven year old child who was African American and could contain that information in their, in their head, scared him. I think he jumped to the conclusion that since she had that knowledge in her head she was ten times smarter than him, and he backed away. The relationship as never the same, and she remembers that very sharply, It hurt her.

NL: I might have to go back to that article and find... what the exact quotation was. Interesting story. Uh, New Hampshire does not seem to be a location that their may..likely would have been a lot of African Americans. 

PG: We were the only African American family within a 100-mile radius. 

NL: Wow, How did they wind up in New Hampshire. 

PG: Good question! Grandad, I believe, had to leave his home at a very early age, maybe as early as eleven. I think he came  from a very large family, and they ran out of

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14 PG: I think she learned, um, I think she learned a work ethic from both her parents. Um.. I think she learned stubbornness from both her parents...um, she learned a love for nature because of where they lived. NL: Where was that? PG: Wapelo, New Hampshire. In the country. My grandfather, uh, raised and trained horses, and took care of two farms. NL: I seem to recall reading an article where Edna attributed a lot of her activism to her father, who she said taught her to stand up for human rights. Do you recall conversations with your grandparents on Civil Rights issues? PG: Tragically, they didn't speak to each other very much, um, until the final five or seven years of my grandfather's life. There was a problem there, I don't know what the problem was. NL: The problem was between? PG: My grandfather and my mother.But, each of them acknowledged their intelligence to me. I can remember my grandfather was smart and my grandmother was smart, it was just for some reason my mother kept putting my grandfather...out there, and... right in front. And then, my grandfather, when I took a special journal to go and see my grandparents because no one was talking about them in the house,um. the first thing out of my grandfather's mouth was, "You know your mother's really smart, don't you?" And it almost made me burst out laughing because it was, like, oh I know the story behind this one. I believe that their closeness... the quality of closeness that my mother really wanted to have with my grandfather ended at the age of seven, when my mother brought home a scientific experiment that showed how a candle burned out when you put it, when you put a jar over it. And she was able to explain why the candle was burning out because of the lack of oxygen. And I think, I think having a seven year old child who was African American and could contain that information in their, in their head, scared him. I think he jumped to the conclusion that since she had that knowledge in her head she was ten times smarter than him, and he backed away. The relationship as never the same, and she remembers that very sharply, It hurt her. NL: I might have to go back to that article and find... what the exact quotation was. Interesting story. Uh, New Hampshire does not seem to be a location that their may..likely would have been a lot of African Americans. PG: We were the only African American family within a 100-mile radius. NL: Wow, How did they wind up in New Hampshire. PG: Good question! Grandad, I believe, had to leave his home at a very early age, maybe as early as eleven. I think he came from a very large family, and they ran out of