Interview: Ernest Grey, July 12, 1984

Interview: Ernest Grey, July 12, 1984

United States--Race relations.

African Americans--Segregation

Race discrimination.

African Americans--Employment.

African Americans--Social conditions.

Migration, Internal.

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social conditions.

African Americans--Southern States.

Born on Cat Island, South Carolina, sometime in the early 1890s Ernest Grey spent his childhood moving between family members in Georgia and South Carolina. Unable to read or even spell his last name, Grey came north on the free transportation offered by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1916 and after working briefly for the railroad, found jobs in Camden, New Jersey, and then, for 35 years, in a Philadelphia laundry. Grey did not return to South Carolina until 1982, when a church-sponsored trip enabled him to meet relatives he had not seen in close to 70 years.

1984-07-12

audio

2014OH199GN051

Donna DeVore

Ernest Grey

World War, 1914-1918

Childhood

Racism

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social life and customs.

African Americans--Social life and customs.