Audio
Churches
Transcript
Start of recording
Woman 1: “What role did the church play in the community?”
Charlie Reid: “Um”
Woman 1: “And which churches… were most important in that area?”
Charlie Reid: “I would say Little Union…”
Woman 1: “Mm hmm”
Charlie Reid: “Uh… Neabsco Baptist church. Um… You’re talking about during Batestown time?”
Woman 1: “Mm hmm”
Charlie Reid: “Okay”
Woman 1: “up until 1945.”
Charlie Reid: “Mm hmm, okay. I don’t know if Star of Bethlehem was around then. I don’t know if it was. But I know, uh, what’s the church on Joplin Road? Star…”
Woman 1: “Mt. Zion”
Charlie Reid: “Mt. Zion. And…”
Woman 1: “First Mt. Zion.”
Charlie Reid: “First Mt. Zion. They were more like the churches of the time for the black community anyway.”
Woman 1: “Yeah, um… what were some of the activities that they did?”
Charlie Reid: [deep breath] “To this day I will always remember the Christmas plays. I – you know – you know it didn’t matter how bad you were, when you grew up, it didn’t matter, um, you know whether your parents went to school or at church. You were going to Sunday school. You were going to go to Sunday school. You were gonna get baptized.”
Woman 1: “Mm hmm”
Charlie Reid: “You know, um. In one – that was one of the biggest things for me, was going to Sunday school and having that Christmas play because the Christmas play always, you know, you were gonna get some candy, some oranges, a little present, you know. And a lot of kids, that’s all they got.”
Woman 1: “Mm hmm”
Charlie Reid: “You know, I can tell you without a doubt, uh, there was a many Christmas I didn’t get anything. It didn’t bother me that much like it does these kids. But uh, I remember when the, the military used to come up with, uh, these big trucks and we’d always wait the whole month of December, waiting for those trucks to come up. And they’d, they’d just – and it would be a big ‘ol paper bag and it’d say ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ and they’d throw ‘em at you, you know, and you’d grab it and you got good stuff – sometimes you did sometimes you didn’t, you know, and that was your Christmas.”
Woman 1: “Hmm”
Charlie Reid: “And that was just the way it was, but it didn’t bother me. But I always knew the church you’re gonna get that good, big bag of candy – gonna last you for a month… and some apples and oranges. And Miss Dina was always in charge of the, uh, Dina Bates was in charge of the, uh Sunday schools. And that’s probably one of the most spiritual men I’ve ever met in my life. You know, I thought the world of him.”
Woman 1: “He seems to have been just an extraordinary person… everyone, that we’ve talked to-”
Charlie Reid: “Yeah, absolutely. Abso - totally, I mean – lutely. I mean he, he’s, he’s the same way wherever you saw him at and, actually, he was very influential with me in church… very, very important.”
Woman 1: “What about things like the homecomings…”
Charlie Reid: “Oh yes, yes. My aunts would come back from DC, uh, from homecoming and, uh… The revivals, you know… you’d get to see… um… all of your, uh, relatives and also usually, you know the church – whenever they had funerals – you know, whether you were a member or not, they’d always let you have that funeral. And then you’d always get to see people that had been missing…”
Woman 1: “Mm hmm”
Charlie Reid: “Or that you hadn’t seen, hadn’t had any contact with ‘em, you know? And I remember one time the churches used to allow you to keep the – cause I remember my grandmother wasn’t buried. I used to – we – it was me, my father, and a couple of my uncles… they’d leave the, the body in the church all night long. And I remember one time I was just sitting there in the back pew, the old one when you get into the church, and they had took – went outside to smoke or whatever and I looked around - I was by myself and I kept looking at that casket and I’m like ‘oh my lord’ I said ‘please don’t wake up now!’ It scared me.”
[woman laughs]
Charlie Reid: It scared me and I – and I was trying to play like I was brave but I was terrified and I was like ‘Daddy, come on back in here now.’ You know.”
Woman 1: “Mm”
Charlie Reid: “But, things like that, and, uh, I – I re – I loved the fact that the old church – I loved the old church. It was small. You were personal with people. You know churches these days, I think, they’re basically too big, I really do. I really do. You can – cause there can be issues with people in those big churches that you could probably pass them every day and never get to – know it. Or, uh, be able to handle it because it’s more like a business rather than a church.”
Woman 1: “More for entertainment…”
Charlie Reid: “Absolutely. And, uh, when I moved to Spotsylvania several years ago, you know, went leavin’ the church in Little Union, and cause it was just too far I looked, I specifically looked for a small church and we found one – a little place down in Cooktown, down there. I don’t know if you ever seen… and I said ‘that’s Little Union’ I said ‘that’s the old Little Union’ I said ‘we’ll go there’ and it was pretty good. But, I will always remember the old Little Union; there is nothing like it.”
Woman 1: “Mm”
Charlie Reid: “You know, I like the people in the new Little Union but there’s a huge difference.”
Woman 1: “What’s the difference?”
Charlie Reid: “Uh, like I just said, ya know, it’s just so big. It’s, it’s ran like a corporation there.”
Woman 1: “Okay”
Charlie Reid: “Whereas, uh, back then you know, um, the church was built probably and paid for the same day it was built… you know? They’d – somebody would donate the land, somebody would donate the, the uh materials, and just the, uh, congregation would build it. Nowadays, you know, these – it’s a multi-million dollar church. It’s gotta be ran like, you know, like I said, my brother’ll tell you – you know, it takes – every time you open that door, got those lights on… the meter’s a running; it takes money to run it, you know?”
Woman 2: “Mm hmm”
Woman 1: “Yeah”
Charlie Reid: “And uh, I think it’s just gotten away from it; everything’s so high tech and, you know, and they… years ago like I said, you went to church, your whole day was gone. You went to church all day.”
Woman 1: “Mm hmm”
Charlie Reid: “Man, they do a hour and a half and they go crazy. If it’s-”
Woman 1: “Oh no”
Charlie Reid: “If it’s an hour and forty-five minutes, you know?”
[overlapping]
Woman 1: “Yeah, that’s right.”
Woman 2: [joking, slamming fist on table] “I want one hour – no more.”
Charlie Reid: “Yeah, yeah. I mean-”
Woman 1: “We have someone in our congregation who will sit back there and they’ve got a timer on their watch-”
Charlie Reid: “Ooh yes, ooh yes.”
Woman 1: “And it goes ‘beep beep’”
Charlie Reid: “Oh absolutely. Absolutely. Or, they’ll let the, the preacher know that it – it’s football time, better hurry up, you know? [women laugh] I mean, but back then you and, and… like I said, everybody was principal. You knew – you couldn’t do anything and it not be known. I know who, you know, take the breaks in the church and go out… open that trunk and take a little joy juice, or whatever you want to call it, you know. I mean I knew; I saw it. You know, and it was like – it was just so funny, you know.”
Woman 1: “Did you ever hear of the red card [marly] men?”
Charlie Reid: “Red card marly men… that rings a bell.”
Woman 1: “These were the…”
Charlie Reid: “Rings a bell.”
Woman 1: “At least from what I understand, these were the guys at the revivals and the homecomings that would take the cards and go out into the woods… and do their gambling.”
Charlie Reid: “My father said something about that. He was not, at the time, [small laugh] the religious type. He went to church every now and then but he – he used to say some stuff about ‘em [laughs]. He mentioned something about that. I – I couldn’t – I recall it but I can’t-”
Woman 1: “Okay”
Charlie Reid: “can’t recall the conversation.”
Woman 2: “Now, did you say the original church is still standing somewhere, or Little Union?”
Charlie Reid: “No, it’s not there anymore.”
Woman 2: “No, okay”
Charlie Reid: “No, they tore it down.”
Woman 2: “That’s what I thought.”
Charlie Reid: “Against my wishes – I wish they had left it there.”
Both women: “Yeah”
Woman 1: “I bet they’re wishing that now too.”
Charlie Reid: “Oh yeah, absolutely. But, uh, and that was one of the things with the newer people wanting to get rid of and I’m like ‘what was the big deal?’ whereas the older one is kind of- the second oldest one is kind of merging the two – they’re using like a study. You can’t really tell it’s a part of the church but it is. But the first one that’s gone.”
End of recording
Description
Listen to an oral history about the role that church played in the community from a descendent of a park family.
“It didn’t matter whether your parents went to school or church. You were going to Sunday School. You were going to go to Sunday School. And you were gonna get baptized.”
Interviewee: Charlie Reid Interviewer(s): Arvilla Jackson and Sue Taylor
Date of Interview: 6/8/05
Duration
8 minutes, 32 seconds
Credit
Justine Rothbart
Date Created
08/02/2011
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