Ida Mae Parker
Interviewee: Ida Mae Parker
Interviewer: Jennifer Prewett
Date of Interview: 21 March 2002
Length of Interview: 80 minutes
Ida Mae Parker grew up in Georgia in the 1930s. During the Depression her family did fairly well because her father was the warden at the State Farm Prison in Milledgeville. Ms. Parker talks about this situation and tells of their household servants being “trusties”—trusted prisoners. Ms. Parker’s father got sick and had to quit his job as warden. He then bought a large farm and opened a store down the road. There were three tenant farming families living on the farm. Ms. Parker says that her father was a very fair and kind landowner. She tells of the tenant families coming to their house for Christmas and her father giving gifts to all of the children because they did not have any presents otherwise. She describes the tenants as family and says that she was very close to their children—one of them even baptized her (she tells of this in a funny anecdote). She also talks about the out-of-work people that would come to the door asking to do odd jobs for a little money, and says that she cannot remember her mother ever turning anyone away. In this interview, she describes what her life was like at the time and what she would do for fun. These activities included riding horses, swimming in Lake Janesco, and going to the nickelodeon to dance. Ms. Parker talks about going to school at the time and tells of how there were separate schools for boys and girls and only eleven grades. In 1939, when she was sixteen, she met her husband, Snow, at a dance. They dated, going to dances, fairs, etc., for a year and then married when Ms. Parker was seventeen years old. When the United States entered World War II, Ms. Parker’s husband was drafted, but he failed his physical because of an old injury and became a tool maker. He worked at a naval ordinance plant, making war materials. She worked there as well, gluing small parts together for weapons. Ms. Parker’s account of the Great Depression in the South, and also of the war is very interesting and informative.