Interview Transcription

1. This interview reflects the Civil Rights Movement and what it was like to live in Montgomery, Alabama during a time of segregation, violence, and protests. There are also some military themes discussed in this interview. My Grandpa served in the Air Force band and so he talks about what life on and off base was like and his reactions to the changes in culture from moving around constantly.
2. Pete Moreau Interview, History 150 Spring 2016, Conducted by Caroline Ross, Civil Rights Era and Military, March 16, 2016.
3. My grandfather, Pete Moreau, was born on February 24^th, 1938. He grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire, one of the larger cities in the state. He was an only child & grew up with average middle class parents and home lifestyle. He and my grandmother attended the same junior high school which is where they met and started dating. Right after graduating high school, they got married. My grandfather joined the Air Force as a Percussionist and worked for them from 1955 to 1979. He and my grandma had three kids during the time of them travelling with the military, two daughters and a son, one of which being my mom. After retiring from the Air Force, they wanted to settle down as a family and so they moved to Yorktown, VA. He then worked in retail from 1981-2001. My grandparents are still happily married and are living in the same home. He spends his days working for Enterprise, solely because he likes to drive.
4. This interview was conducted over the phone. I recorded it through an app called “TapeACall,” which was very effective for turning the phone call into MP3 audio. I had to edit out some of the beginning of the interview because it was just my Grandpa and I chatting, but besides that it didn’t take much work. The interview itself took about 16 minutes which was right in the middle of the preferred time-frame.

Transcript:

PM: So I understand you have a project?

CR: I do have a project. Are you going to answer my questions or is Grandma?

PM: Uhh, she said I could answer it better.

CR: Okay! I mean either one works for me (….) My mom told me y’all lived in Alabama in the 60s, which happened to work out for me (….)

PM: (………)

CR: Where in Alabama did you guys live, and if you remember the year, what year?

PM: Yes, we lived in Montgomery, Alabama from 1961-1965.

CR: Cool, okay!

PM: It was all happening.

CR: Yeah definitely, and you were in Montgomery, wow. Okay, so did you or any of your kids have African American friends?

PM: Uh, say that again now?

CR: Did you, or any of your kids, so like mom, Aunt Laura, or David have friends who were African American?

PM: Umm, yes and no. More no than yes. The reason I say that is because, living off base, blacks and whites did not mingle, but on base there was some interaction between families.

CR: Okay, cool! That’s interesting. Um, that kind of goes into another question. So you said on base your job, like, was the Air Force integrated at that time?

PM: Yes, my supervisor was black.

CR: Really? So would you say it was equal? Or was it mostly white males and then some black men?

PM: Um…

CR: Or did it just kind of depend?

PM: Everything was fine on the base between blacks and whites. The problem came in situations like, uh, one day your grandmother had the car, my car, and I needed a ride home. So, my supervisor offered to give me a ride home, which was in Prattville, AL, Prattville was like 11 miles up the road. And he took me all the way to the head of the street and he would not go down the street because he was afraid. He was black, so he just dropped me off at the top of the hill and I walked the rest of the way.

CR: Oh wow…

PM: Yeah, it was that bad.

CR: Dang, that’s crazy. So the base was kind of like a safe place?

PM: Yes, it was. You weren’t allowed to have any racial things on base. At least, nothing overt anyways.

CR: Um, so what businesses, restaurants or that type of thing were segregated? Were they places that I would recognize now?

PM: In Montgomery, AL?

CR: Mhm

PM: Places that you would recognize as what?

CR: Well, just kind of places that were segregated. So like, businesses and restaurants…were they all segregated?

PM: Yes, they were.

CR: Every single one of them?

PM: Everything off base was segregated.

CR: So you saw there was a black restaurant and then a white one….and like water fountains and stuff?

PM: Absolutely.

CR: You already answered how long you lived down there, you lived there for about four years right?

PM: Right.

CR: Did you see or witness any of the Civil Rights Movement in action? And what do you remember about that?

PM: Oh yeah, yes. I did at least twice, driving home from the base to Prattville, uh, KKK rallies out in the fields where they were burning crosses in white robes and things. I saw it twice; it was right on the side of the highway.

CR: WOW! That’s crazy! Did you see any movements or anything?

PM: Yeah, umm, I played drums at the Air Force base right outside of Selma, where the march started and all the riots and things. I played there on a Friday night, or Saturday night and they marched the next day. And I drove home from a job that night at about 1 in the morning and one of the people was killed, one of the white ladies was shot, on the highway there, on the road I had just driven past. And uh, three days later they marched into Montgomery, they marched from Selma to Montgomery, AL.

CR: Wow, so you kind of saw a lot of things happening. You were right in the middle of it.

PM: Yeah a lot of it first hand. And the yelling, and the, you know, umm, attacking the buses and things that people were on. Screaming at them to get to the back of the bus and cussing. I was there when the government wall stood in front of the Capitol and wouldn’t allow the students into the building. The black students tried to go, the University of Alabama, I was there. And, on another night I was hosting a band from Washington, DC. Air Force Band that performed at the base, and uh, anyways they were hungry after they played their show. I offered to take them in my car into Montgomery to try and get something to eat because it was like 10 o’clock at night. And we could not find a restaurant that would take them because they were Hawaiian. They weren’t white.

CR: Wow, so even people who, even if they weren’t black, there was still segregation. So if you weren’t, you didn’t look white, you weren’t allowed in?

PM: Absolutely. If you were Asian or you know. All five of these guys were, grew up Hawaiians, and um, no one would even give their chair up. They came from Hawaii and were performing in and around Washington and they happened to come down here, or come down to Montgomery for a performance.

CR: Were you ever worried about your children’s safety?

PM: Yes. While we were driving by the rallies going on, we made it a point not to go out on those particular nights, or those particular neighborhoods.

CR: So was their school segregated? Or did they go to school on base?

PM: Yep, completely. Umm, well I don’t know about schools on base. Your mom and David and Laura all went to school’s, what am I saying here…they weren’t that old. 5, 3, 1…something like that. Your mom was like one in 1962. So, um, yeah.

CR: So David’s school was segregated?

PM: Umm, he didn’t go to school there. He didn’t go to school until we moved up to Alaska…1965.

CR: Okay. But you were definitely were worried about them seeing certain things?

PM: Oh yeah! We were in the middle of a definitely white neighborhood and we felt kind of safe in there.

CR: Gotcha. That was one of my questions, was your neighborhood mostly white?

PM: Yep, absolutely. Like I said, my boss didn’t even drive me down the street to drop me off at my own house.

CR: Yeah, but could you have chosen to live on base?

PM: Umm, I’m sure, yeah we had several friends living on base. In fact, there was a housing area right outside the base that belonged to the base, government quarters. And that’s where my boss lived and he had three kids, and we went to his house for dinner, and his wife hosted dinner for us and everything. So, you know, umm your mom and David played with his kids. We were on base everything was fine.

CR: Right, so I guess you personally weren’t affected by, or influenced by the Civil Rights things that were going on? Like what were you and Grandma’s views on it?

PM: Umm, we thought it was bad. We didn’t like it. Umm, but that’s the way it was back then, and there. Once we got up to Alaska, in 1965, everything changed, everybody was fine up there. So it was strictly an Alabama thing, or in the South actually.

CR: Yeah, so was it kind of like, where did you live before Alabama?

PM: We were in Panama.

CR: Was it kind of like a culture shock to go from Panama to Alabama in the midst of all that?

PM: No, because in Panama they had their own culture problems there. Umm, the poor people, the lower classes, were in their own space and they didn’t mingle with the “whiter” people. In Panama you had the dark colored people, the mixture, the tan type people, and we were the white people. Pretty much like it is in the States.

CR: And they didn’t mingle?

PM: Uh, they did but they didn’t. As far as rubbing elbows with them, yeah you could do that, but um, they weren’t friends.

CR: So you kind of knew what to expect when you got to Alabama?

PM: Yeah, yeah. But even prior to that my first duty assignment was down in Florida in 1966. And I took the train from Boston, Massachusetts, down to Cocoa Beach, FL. When I got down there, the porters dropped me at the gate door of the train, and they said “you can’t get off on that side, that’s the black side, you have to get off this side of the train.” And that was my first culture shock and that’s the first time I saw the white and black drinking fountains and black and white taxi cabs. And I could take that one, but I couldn’t take that one.

CR: Wow, that’s crazy.

PM: Yeah, it was pretty bad! I felt sorry for them. There’s nothing I could do, other than being friends with the people I could be friends with without getting shot or beat up.

CR: Right, because it was a lot of violence and things. Wow

PM: A LOT!

CR: Well, that’s pretty much all the questions that I had. Is there anything else you would like to add?

PM: Well, I’m glad the situation has improved over the years. It’s still not perfect but its getting there.

CR: Yeah, better than it was then!

PM: Well, depends on where you live. Right now if you live in Detroit or Chicago, you’re in trouble.

CR: That’s very true. Would you say that at all in the Air Force that gender was an issue at all?  Just as a side question…

PM: Umm, no. No. I never found it to be. I know the restrictions on it, but they’re still changing all that. I don’t know whether or not a lot of it was just the idea that females wanted to be strong or as capable as the guys as far as flying an airplane or shooting a gun or whatever. I guess that’s all been changed.

CR: Right. Oh, interesting. Okay well, that was just about it. That’s all I need to know for my interview!

PM: Alright, well I’m glad I could help! I hope I helped!

CR: You did! Thanks for answering my questions.

PM: No problem!

Conclusion:

I think that this interview went fairly well. I got all the answers I needed with enough depth to do a report on his life. I think it flowed very well because he was very conversational and able to speak a lot about the questions. This meant they were open ended and provided lots of opportunities for him to talk about his life. I had some problems staying to script because there were a few random details he threw in there and times where he was just talking to me, but for the most part it went very well. If I were to do it over again I would do it in real life, which was not an option for me at this time. Both of my grandparents were out of town during my spring break. If I did it in person, the sound quality of the interview would be a little better and more clear.