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2 Sep 2015 – Davis Avenue

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During the 1950s, my grandparents owned a night club for about a year on Davis Avenue.  By the 1960s, Davis Avenue was the hub for Negroes in Mobile.  There were grocery stores, night clubs, doctors, lawyers, barbers, hair salons…everything needed to support the community.

I couldn’t find a good picture of Davis Ave.  My mother told me that she never went on that side of town because the neighborhood had gotten really rough – people fighting, gun shots, stealing, etc.  I imagine it must have looked like this:

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31 Aug 2015 – Love Can Conquer All!

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We celebrated my Mom’s birthday on 29 Aug 2015.  It was one of the most emotional, precious and memorable experiences I have ever had in my entire life!  Our family is truly blessed!  We all met in Tampa, FL 27-30 Aug 2015, stayed at a hotel in Ybor, the historic district of Tampa, and celebrated my Mom’s birthday on Saturday night.

Our plans for the weekend were to enjoy our family, reconnect, reminisce and celebrate Alice’s birthday.  We had five generations represented in person, and with our stories, we had up to eight generations!  It was truly amazing!  We had a nice turnout, from our newest member that is 11 weeks old (Andrea Jenea or AJ) to our oldest member, Inell who is 82 years old!  We used to have family reunions every other year, but with all the competing priorities in our lives, we stopped having them years ago.  In the past, when we got together, we were the kids in my generation, and now most of us are the grandparents!

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23 Aug 2015 – Cairo, Egypt

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While working for the Army, I had the opportunity to travel to Cairo, Egypt for business!  How often does that happen?  For a civilian, not often!  It was a memorable experience for me.  It’s like it was a few years ago.

During our free time, we visited the pyramids, toured the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and did a dinner cruise up the Nile River.  I would love to visit Cairo again!

Debra Saletta in front of Great Sphinx of Giza with the Giza Necropolis in the background

Debra with Great Sphinx of Giza and the Giza Necropolis in the background

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21 Aug 2015 – I Couldn’t Wait To Have A Job

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This event takes place in Mobile, AL around 1948.  Alice (my mother) was 13 years old, and Eva Jasper (my grandmother – Mom’s side) was 51 years old.  Eva worked for a white family as a house keeper.  During this time, Jim Crow laws were still in effect and the civil rights movement was not officially active (check out the history section at the end of this post).  In Mobile, Negroes worked low paying jobs, and one of the primary sources of income for Negro women was cleaning the house and keeping the children of white people.

On this day, Alice went to visit her grandmother.  However, this day was different because when she arrived at Eva’s house, she had a bandana tied around her head.  Alice asked, “Momma Eva, what’s wrong?”

Eva responded with her head hung low, “I’ve got a real bad headache.  This bandana will help it go away.  Only problem is I have to go to work today.”  Without hesitation, Alice said, “What if I go for you today?  I don’t mind!”

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19 Aug 2015 – Suggested Interview Questions

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When I started this journey, “Between The Dashes”, I struggled with how to gather short stories to actually better understand my family history.  One way to do this is to interview living relatives.  I quickly found out that my Mom prefers oral interviews (versus video).   In this post, I will share the 50 interview questions, and periodically share her answers in future posts.

I researched several sites and found a good, comprehensive list of questions here at Fifty Questions for Family History Interviews  (repeated below):

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