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Chapter 4. Gerry: The Mother, 1933–1960s
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Chapter 4 Gerry: The Mother, 1933–1960s Gerry and Zin By Gerry’s senior year in 1932, the majority of the female students at Fisk were making plans to teach school after graduation. As for Gerry, the mathematics major with absolutely no interest in teaching, she decided to pursue a career as an engineer. She knew that this was a male-dominated field strictly reserved for men, but she was passionate and highly motivated to pursue her dream. She made up her mind about this career choice and was self-driven “to go out and check to see if [she] could get work like that” after graduation.1 Starting with her first year at Fisk, Gerry was particularly fascinated by rumors of one student’s father “being a big oil man in Texas.” The rumor was that Molly Taylor’s father “owned seven big oil wells that he leased out to some big oil company,” making him a very wealthy man. It was said that Molly’s lackadaisical academic performance in her freshman year caused her to “flunk out” of Fisk; however, when students returned the following year from summer vacation, they found Molly still enrolled. Rumors abounded that the wealthy oil magnate had made a donation to Fisk by paving its rock-laden walkways with concrete, which led to his daughter being readmitted.2 Even though Molly deemed this anecdote a mere fairy tale, Gerry did witness Molly’s beautifully designed, large corner room, which her father had renovated for his incoming freshman daughter. Unlike the other dorm rooms, her room was carpeted, had new furniture, and was filled with other comforts to make Molly’s stay pleasant. During summer vacations, she traveled abroad with her family, enjoying a lifestyle uncommon to most Americans, Black or Gerry: The Mother, 1933–1960s 78 White. Whether or not the rumor was true, Gerry was convinced that Molly’s family wealth was from the oil industry, an industry that held Gerry’s attention and later influenced her career interest.3 During her last quarter in school, Gerry informed her parents of plans to move to Texas upon graduation and seek a job as an engineer with one of the oil well companies. While she did not mention her hidden hope of also meeting a nice suitor from an oil-rich family, she was determined to carry out her plans. However, when Gerry graduated from Fisk University in March 1932, her plan was thwarted once her father sent her travel fare for a one-way ticket back to Orangeburg. He figured that if “Miss Independent” had plans of going to Texas, then she also had plans to pay her own way there.4 Most upper- and upper-middle-class Black females graduating from colleges or normal training school programs normally went on to become teachers in primary and secondary schools or seamstresses, retiring once they married . Being one who constantly challenged or did not follow the usual norms, it was a disappointing for Gerry to have no other choice but to return home to Orangeburg, still with no interest in or plan for a teaching career. Once she arrived home, however, she learned that her father had already lined up a job and signed the contract for her to teach at Felton, State A&M’s grammar school. Gerry knew that once her family’s patriarch had made his decision, she had no choice but to submit. She had neither teacher training nor experience since she consciously had opted out of the teaching training program at Fisk with hopes of being an engineer. Subsequently, Gerry came to appreciate the advantages of her father’s affiliation with State A&M. Because of his influence, she did not have to compete with others when it came to searching, applying, and interviewing for teaching jobs.5 Felton was a teachers’ training school built on State A&M’s land during the Great Depression with funds from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. Students in the college’s teacher education program visited Felton to observe and get “hands-on” teaching experience. Before starting her appointment in the fall, Gerry decided to spend the remaining school months at Felton volunteering in its classrooms so that she could “find out what teaching was all about.” When she arrived at Felton in September, the staff consisted of a principal, four teachers, and a college faculty supervisor who taught and directed the students in the teaching education program.6 Serving mainly as a demonstration school for future teachers at first, groups...