Interview with Wilma Simpson

Wilma Howell Simpson is interviewed by Lorraine Crittenden on May 19, 1986 as part of the Western North Carolina Tomorrow Black Oral History Project. Her husband, Morris (1914-) is also present and comments throughout the interview. Mrs. Simpson traces her family tree from her great grandparents who lived in Bryson City, North Carolina. Born in Bryson City, she talks about attending school and growing food during the Great Depression. Mrs. Simpson recalls using food stamps during rations in World War II and how white people received meat before people in the black communities. She also remembers segregated conditions in Bryson and Sylva, such as riding in the back of the bus or train, sitting in a different waiting room at the hospital, and voting in Jackson County. Mrs. Simpson describes wakes and funeral practices, weddings, dances, church entertainments, and Christmas. She talks about working for the Enloe family from 1948 to 1960 and then for Western Carolina University as a housekeeper from 1960 to 1981. She also mentions a huge flood in 1941 that affected Bryson City and Cullowhee