Rita Robinette Interview, History 150 Spring 2019, Conducted by Payton Minnick, March 17, 2019.

Overview: This interview was conducted over the phone because Ms. Robinette is currently living in South Carolina. I had to cut some small sections out, where she went off topic slightly, so that I could cut down the time, but the majority of the interview is shown below. The technology used was a voice recorder from iPhone, in addition to GarageBand video editor. I recorded inside my enclosed, still car so that a minimal amount of sound could be around me while I was recording. The only obstacle I faced was the quality of the phone call making some of her words difficult to hear, but overall I felt like the interview ran smoothly.

Biography of Rita Robinette: Ms. Robinette is my grandmother and during the interview I refer to her as Mamaw because that’s what I’ve always called her growing up. She was born on February 17th, 1934 in Harold, Virginia. She grew up during the Great Depression. She was the youngest of three siblings, both of her older siblings were male. The oldest brother was drafted for World War 1 and the middle brother was drafted for the Korean War. She attended Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia, and came out with a degree in English and went into the profession of education. After 3 years of teaching, she became a secretary for her husband’s doctors office (he is refereed to as “Papaw”). After several years of secretary work, she stayed at home and raised her two children, my uncle and my mother. She claims to have had a great life, but admits to playing the stereotypical role of a woman with her career paths, and how she handled her family life.

Research: (MLA Format)

• (Great Depression Research) Source:

“Great Depression.” Econlib, www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GreatDepression.html.

The Great Depression occurred between 1929-1939, right after the “Roaring Twenties”, where the middle and upper-class prospered in the economy. However, during the Great Depression, the economy took a detrimental downfall. In 1929, there was a stock market crash, leaving a quarter of the U.S. workforce unemployed. Those that stayed employed experienced income decrease, which led to financial instability for families. A Great Depression motto was “Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.” This relates to my Mamaw’s viewpoint on buying things nowadays. I’ve realized that she tends to buy things and make full use of them, as she grew up learning to appreciate what you have. Board games and radio were popular forms of free entertainment during this era. Women began entering the workforce, even though many men lost their jobs. Women worked worked in areas that included teaching, secretaries, nurses, and telephone operators. They got paid less than men, no matter the economic circumstance. Overall, the Great Depression left families with extreme financial and psychological issues. Many families became divided because of male embarrassment of losing jobs. This source was helpful because it provided a general overview of the impact that the Great Depression had on families, which I discussed with my grandmother, Ms. Robinette, during the interview. She stated that she lived on a farm, so as long as her and her family worked every day, they were able to provide themselves with a liveable amount of food. However, she also mentions that the clothes she was provided with were limited and that she wore them to their fullest potential before she got new ones. She also usually wore hand-me-downs from her older brothers. She made the point that people during this time, including herself, made the most of what they were given since resources were limited due to the Great Depression occurrence.

• (Gender Roles in early-mid 1900 Research) Source:

“Postwar Gender Roles and Women in American Politics.” US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives, history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/WIC/Historical-Essays/Changing-Guard/Identity/.

Although post-war women began to enter more in the workforce, the general view of women is that “A woman’s place is in the home.” Women were expected to be seen as well-mannered and polite, and it was frowned upon of they were “belligerent, coarse, or nasty.” Especially around the 1950’s women gave up their aspirations to do anything outside of the home. Only approximately 40% of women attended college during this  time, and if women did attend, they came out with jobs such as nursing, teaching, or secretary work. Social expectations of women created inequality and lack of fairness within politics and the women involved. For example, Coya Knutson had a congressional career in the 1950s, but her abusive husband falsely accused her of neglecting their family and having an affair, which ruined her career due to male bias. Also, women couldn’t hold important/high end jobs within government at this time, as it was and still is fairly male dominated. This type of society and the role that women were expected to play during this era was known as the “woman’s sphere” and there was a “glass ceiling” when it came to jobs that women could never reach or succeed with in comparison to men. This source helped in the aspect that it listed specific examples of women, especially in politics, which gave me a better sense of the gender discrimination and rigid gender roles that females had to face during the mid 1900s. My grandmother, Ms.Robinette, accepted her role as a woman and enjoyed most of it, but still admits that her opportunities for career choice were limited because her only real options were being a teacher, secretary, or nurse, and she filled two of those careers during her time of work. She also took the role as a housewife because she felt as though it was her duty to take care of her children, and this role was held by almost every woman around her that had children, as well.

Title IX/Women’s Sports Participation and Equality Research

• “Sporting Equality: Title IX Thirty Years Later, 1st Edition (Paperback) – Routledge.” Routledge.com, Routledge, 31 Oct. 2004, www.routledge.com/Sporting-Equality-Title-IX-Thirty-Years-Later/Simon/p/book/9780765808486.
• “1950s.” Five Colleges of Ohio,

www.ohio5.org/woosterwomeninsport/exhibits/show/eras/1950s.

During World War II, when men were drafted, women began engaging in sports, including basketball, volleyball, field hockey, and softball.There were organizations such as the Women’s Athletic Association (WAA) that organized and sponsored intramural sports for women. An interesting thing is that women usually wore skirts when playing sports, and conservatively dressed in apparel that wasn’t very “athletic.” Also, when the men began to return from World War II, women were expected to stop doing this and go back to being the stereotypical “housewife.” They were expected to take care of the home and provide food and clothing for their families, while sports were left once again to men for their recreational ideals. Gender discrimination is still seen in sports today, as many of them are divided by genders, and predominantly males play sports professionally. These gave insight to how women got introduced to sports, and how it was taken away from them when the men began to return from war, which surprised me and made me realize that women always took a backseat to men. They explained the general rules and expectations Title IX strived for. In relation to Ms. Robinette’s background, her and her female sports coach both advocated for the enforcement of Title IX, as both of them were very passionate about women playing sports, and they played sports themselves. During Ms. Robinette’s interview, she makes it clear that playing sports throughout her childhood and school careers was one of her favorite past times and passions.

• More Title IX Research:

“Title IX and Sexual Assault.” American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/title-ix-and-sexual-assault.

During my interview, Title IX was brought up when discussing my grandmother’s participation in organized sports growing up. I had heard of it before, but wasn’t sure exactly what it was in detail so I decided to do more research on it. I discovered that Title IX is apart of the Education Amendments of 1972 and is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination of the basis of sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. Rita Robinette, my grandmother, talks about how her and one of her friends growing up advocated this amendment, as there was some inequality they faced when they played organized sports, such as less equipment provided for girls, and less opportunities to travel and play than the boys had. My grandmother loved to play sports, especially softball and basketball, but sports weren’t taken as seriously for women during the time when she grew up. Fortunately, she still had opportunities to play them due to the introduction of  Title IX as she was growing up, however, she still agrees that women today have more opportunities to play and excel in sports than she did when she was younger.

Transcription of the Interview:

PM: Hi, can you give us your full name?

RR: Absolutely, it is Rita Anne Edwards-Robinette.

PM: Awesome. And do you agree to this interview? And do you consent to me sharing this with my other classmates?

RR: Alright, that’s fine.

PM: Alright. I’m gonna start off with the first question, okay?

RR: Alright.

PM: Can you explain what it was like growing up during the Great Depression and what kind of impact it had on your family? [Had to repeat question]

RR: [inaudible] We lived on a farm, so we mostly had everything we needed.

PM: Well, that’s good. Did you notice any impact of the people around you during this time?

RR: Well we did have some people that needed help and we always had extra food left that we could give them. And (uh) my Papaw made cheese, and he would give them blocks of cheese, and (uh) any vegetable we had left over we could give them.

PM: That’s good to hear. Did you notice anything with your parents or anything with your family that had an impact on you?

RR: We had, when I was growing up, I got one new dress for Spring, and one new dress in the Fall and I wore my shoes out and got one new pair of shoes. Cause I went barefoot all Summer and I only had those one pair of shoes to wear the rest of the year to church and to school and other than that, I went barefoot.

PM: Yeah, so you would say that you kind of put use into like the clothes that you had?

RR: Absolutely. I got one coat and had it until I wore it out.

PM: Yeah.

RR: I actually wore Uncle Jim’s clothes…

PM: Oh really?

RR: Yeah, they fit me, and they wore knickers, I don’t know if you know what knickers are (laughs), but they come up just below the knees, and then you wore long socks with them. I wore knickers and leather caps and denim coats, oh denim coats with a lining in them. And I wore boots, and they were mostly boys’ boots because I had to wear the leftovers from Uncle Jim. When he was finished, I could wear ‘em…his old clothes.

PM: So you took some leftovers from what your brothers wore, right?

RR: Yeah I did. Whenever we went down to town to take our milk and butter and strawberries and raspberries and whatever we had to sell on the farm, when we were down there (uh) a man saw me and said to my father “is that your son?” and he would say “no that’s my daughter” (laughs).

PM: (laughs) Cause you wore all his clothes.

RR: He thought that I was a boy! Cause I was wearing Uncle Jim’s clothes.

PM: Okay, well speaking of Uncle Jim and your brothers, I have a question related to that, actually. Um, would you say that you were treated equally amongst your male siblings? And how was it like living with two male brothers? Did you feel that they had different expectations?

RR: Uh, they were older than I was, and uh we, actually they were almost grown before I got uh big enough to do anything. We did uh play together some, and I got to play ball with them cause they needed somebody else to play.

PM: Oh yeah, that’s cool.

RR: And we rode horses, we rode mules, and uh we would run like crazy through the woods on horseback and mules and uh I finally learned that if I got on a tail end and they lifted me up and they followed it, I could jump on its back (laughs).Yeah, we had such a good time and lots of other kids, all boys, that worked on the farm..

PM: Did you have to work on the farm or do anything different from them?

RR: I had to work just like everybody else did.

PM: Oh, okay.

RR: And I would work in the fields and then I would come home and help mom cook lunch and we had a big, round table on the porch and uh when all of them finished working they’d come in and then have their lunch, which we called dinner, and I mean it was just a fantastic meal. And then they had an hours rest, and then they went back to work.

PM: Alright, well that sounds about right. Um, I have another question. Um, and this is a little unrelated but I mentioned, I heard that you mentioned you playing ball with your brothers. Did you play any organized sports growing up? And if so, did you face any sort of discrimination and do you know anything about Title Nine?

RR: Oh, well let me tell you. I..I, I went to school and I played everything I could play. I played softball, I was the catcher, for the softball team and we had three balls, and our softball in high school, our field, was, you had to go across a swinging bridge. And we got over there and we had uh three balls, softballs, and if you lost one of ‘em, you had two softballs (laughs). One time somebody knocked one off and it went in the river.

PM: Oh no!

RR: And then we only had two balls left. But anyway, I played softball in uh high school and uh I lettered in that, and then I played uh basketball, and I lettered in that.

PM: Oh wow.

RR: I was the captain of the team. And I mean we, we won the championship, actually. And uh, and the rules were very different then than they are now. We had six people on the team, three guards on one end and three forwards on the other end and the other team had it reverse. And uh, you had to cross the center line and you had to uh run like crazy and I played that. I could run and jump and I had a good friend who was a guard and I would run and catch the ball and touch the center line and fire that ball to the other end (laughs).

PM: That’s awesome. Do you know about any like, were your rules any different from the rules that the boys had when they played?

RR: Uh, yeah, it was very different because you couldn’t cross the center line. You couldn’t run from one end to the other. You had to run to the center line and stop. And I was a guard and if there were boys on the other end, and I would jump straight up in the air, which they wouldn’t expect me to do, and I would throw that ball as hard as I could. Uh..I..I , I can’t talk (laughs).

PM: (laughs) No, you’re okay!

RR: Hold on a second. My friend, Joanne, and I helped win the championship. We were good, we had a great time.

PM: So you would say you had a good experience?

RR: Oh, I thought it was fantastic.

PM: Yeah. Did you feel, did they have any like rules against the women playing? Like did you feel like boys maybe got more opportunities back then to play at higher levels?

RR: Yeah, but sometimes they came to see the girls play. You work during the day then come at night and watch everyone play. In all those years that I played sports, my mom never came and saw me play a game.

PM: Oh really? Why? Why do you think that?

RR: Uh, back then the girls didn’t do that as much

PM: Yeah.

RR: But she never had to chance to play when she was growing up, so she was really stopped at the sixth grade, and after that there was no way to get to get to a school so she had to stop school.

PM: Oh, so you would say probably some more opportunities were open when you were growing up than your mother?

RR: Yes, very much.

PM: Well, that’s good to hear on your part.

RR: It is, because I went on to college and I uh kept playing sports. I still played softball but it wasn’t as big then.

PM: Right.

RR: I played basketball, and tennis, and you know, uh, field hockey. One of my coaches was working with Title Nine and she was one of the people that were attempting to get it together.

PM: Oh, that’s awesome. So she advocated that?

RR: Yes. But anyway, that’s when I got started, when I was a senior in high school. And from then, I went on to Emory and Henry and I played sports there.

PM: Well thank you so much for sharing that with me. Um, I have another question about uh kind of growing up and going to college. Um, did you attend college? And if so, how did you feel your experience was?

RR: Oh, I had the best time. I’m so happy I have never been alone before. I went to Emory and Henry College and did everything I could do and it was just the most wonderful experience because I finally got to get away from home.

PM: Aw, well that’s good to hear.

RR: Yeah it was great.

PM: What’d you study in college?

RR: I uh have a degree in, wait a minute, let me think. I have a degree in Spanish and Reading. I haven’t got a full blown degree, I studied different things.

PM: I’m glad to hear you enjoyed your college experience. It sounds like it was really fun for you. Would you say most of your friends were females, like you had a bunch of girl friends?

RR: Oh, everybody was girl friends. A school like that supported the Methodist Church, and I was a baptist, but I ended up a Methodist and went to church with my friends. Actually though, I had a friend and they caught her in a room with a boy, and they sent him off to New York.

PM: Oh, wow.

RR: They did not tolerate that.

PM: Oh, that’s, that’s funny to hear. It’s a lot different nowadays.

RR: Oh, are you kidding? There’s nothing like that now. I did have a great experience in college though.

PM: That’s awesome. Um, what about outside of college? What was your first job coming outside of college? And did you have any other jobs?

RR: When I got out of college, 20 days after I graduated, I had gone on the train that runs through campus and runs through Charlottesville, and uh then uh I filled out the application and your grandfather taught, and I taught for one year outside of college. I went to Charlottesville and worked at the University of Virginia.

PM: What were you doing at the University? Were you teaching?

RR: I was working and teaching and made enough money to buy a car, not automatic. I drove all around the football stadium, I really drove that thing.

PM: (laughs). Well that’s good. You got a good start to your career life. Did you, I heard you said, you mentioned this before, that you did serve as a secretary job for Papaw when he was working in his Doctor’s Office.

RR: Oh, I worked at your Papaw’s office for years.

PM: When you stopped working did you stop working to help raise um your children?

RR: Oh, I did. I had to stop working when I had Chris and then I had Shannon.

PM: Yeah and how do you feel about that? Did you feel like that was a duty you had to fill um considering they were your children and they needed a motherly figure? Did you feel like you played a good role in that?

RR: Oh, I was, I was happy with it. I thought they were terrific.

PM: That’s good. Sounds like you were a really good mother to them and you raised a really good mother to me.

RR: I think so (laughs).

PM: Yeah. Did you feel like do you feel restricted in any way? I know you enjoyed taking care of your children obviously but do you feel like other women also did this as well? Did a lot fo your friends that were women take care of their kids as well?

RR: Uh, most of the kids, uh most of  the mothers were like me because we had children. Some had three children and three boys, and uh they were all, you know, we got together and did well together. The friend of mine that had three boys, I still know her, see her, talk to her.

PM: Well that’s good.

RR: And uh, most everybody else has moved away from around here now.

PM: Mmhmm. Okay, well, I have another question. And this is the last question actually. Um, so I’m just going to ask you during your time of raising your family, did you feel like there were any generational expectations of women back when you were raising a family versus the opportunities I have a s a woman right now? Do you feel like being a woman right now is different than how being a woman was back then?

RR: Oh yeah. A bunch of differences.

PM: How so?

RR: Well, you had the, you couldn’t go places much like you can now. We didn’t drive much. I did because I had to

PM: Right.

RR: And uh we didn’t have the choice of what you did as much and uh I worked enough to buy a car and uh I did and I drove it, but now they take it for granted. Everybody has cars.

PM: Yeah, you’re right.

RR: So, you know, there’s quite a bit of difference now. We didn’t have the choices y’all have back then.

PM: Yeah, it’s a little more restricted and rigid with the rules, right? You had to work a little harder probably.

RR: Yeah. I think we worked harder.

PM: Yeah. Do you think that’s maybe because of technology or something or any generational like roles changing maybe?

RR: Uh, we didn’t have a lot of opportunities. Uh, we had jobs that you were expected to have back then.

PM: Yeah, right.

RR: Teachers, and nurses, and that kinda thing.

PM: Right, exactly. And you ,and you filled those roles right? You filled, you were a teacher, which is a very respectable profession and you were a secretary for Papaw, your husband. So what you did was very important, um but definitely a lot of other women did that as well, right?

RR: Right.

PM: Well, I appreciate you taking your time to answer these questions, thank you.

RR: You’re very welcome.

Overview/Conclusion of Interview: Overall, I think that the interview ran smoothly. I honestly thought my grandmother would have faced more difficulty during the Great Depression, but what was atypical was that she actually claims that she was pretty comfortable during this time, besides being limited on clothing. However, the majority of her answers supported the concepts of women gender roles in the early/mid 1900s, some gender discrimination in sports, and limited supplies during the Great Depression. I found it difficult to respond to unexpected responses, and had to change the wording of my questions a little bit in order to get her full understanding. If I had another chance to do this interview, I’d try my best to do it in person so that we could both have a full understanding of our responses. 

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