Randy Ford Interview

Interview with Plantersville native Randy Ford, at his barbershop, Randy\u27s Barber Shop. Ford is the seventh of eight children, and his parents were Joseph and Regina Ford. He can trace his father\u27s parents back three generations, but his mother\u27s mother died at a very young age, and his father left and scattered them amongst different family members. He grew up with his father\u27s family nearby in Plantersville, and he credits a lot of his successes to his grandfather Joseph Ebenezer\u27s influence. Ebenezer was a rice farmer and grew grapes. Ford\u27s father worked in the logging business as well as at a paper plant. His family grew a small amount of cotton and sustaining garden, as well as raising a horse, goats, chickens, and hogs for family use. He recalls everyone working in the field, and that the entire family would go and work larger farms that grew tobacco on a larger scale. His father would take him fishing about once a week. Ford attended Choppee High School, then went to Hartford, Connecticut to work and pay his way through school, because money was tight after his family lost their house in a house fire when he was five. He discusses Squires and the high quality of the teachers that made a positive impact on him, and this led him to be a successful barber. He uses his barbershop as a community center, to promote health and culture among Black men, as well as organizing a space where they can tour young people around the country. He is a member of Triumph Community Church, which also focuses on community development and housing assistance. He hopes that the future of Plantersville will be able to attract more businesses to sustain itself, and recapture some of the vitality from his young life.https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/plantersville-oral-histories/1016/thumbnail.jp