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Return to Oral Histories
Early Background
My parents were Jessie C. and Elzora (Harper) Robinson. They were married
December 26, 1901 in Georgia. I really don't know anything about their
early life together. I just know immediate social conditions before they
left the state ...which was racial unrest and rioting. So they decided that
they would leave. People have asked why did they settle in Northern California?
They came with a family named “Gordon” and the Gordon family settled in the
East Bay. Coming from a rural community in Georgia, they wanted to live rurally.
The family moved first to Southern California, then later to Ft. Bragg,
and eventually located in Healdsburg in 1919. My father had had experience,
of course, working on small farms and he worked for a few people in Healdsburg,
including the Passalacquas. I don't know how many years it took for him
to get settled in [as groundskeeper of] the golf links [Tayman Park]. It
seemed like a natural transition for a person who liked to work out of doors.
First Black Child Born in Healdsburg
In our family, there was an older sister who drowned up near Eureka. Then
there was Mattie Irene who came with [my parents] to Healdsburg; then a
sister Elizabeth who we called Betty; and then I, Effie; Kathleen; then
Genevieve, who died when she was a senior in high school; then two men,
Smitty [Smith] and James. I was the first one of our family born in Healdsburg.
I was born in 1920. I believe I was the first black child born in Healdsburg,
and Dr. Stone was the physician. We were the only black family in town when
I was growing up.
My Parents
One thing I remember about my parents was the tremendous importance of
education to them. They knew that this was the main route to a better life
for their kids. And I have been so impressed by the intelligence of each
in different directions. My father, for a person who had very limited education-perhaps
only sixth grade or around there-my father could do math by himself. And
he taught himself harmony. When my brother James was at USC doing graduate
work in harmony, my father could talk to him about it. And he taught himself,
from math books, to do math himself.
My mother's strongest intelligence--it seems to me--was a social intelligence:
in the community, being part of it; helping her kids be a part of it; and
helping her kids associate with everybody. And my mother had the most incredible
kind of self-confidence. I remember one time we were at Golden Gate Park,
looking at the pretty flowers, and there was a small party of diplomats
there, and my mother was talking to the head of this delegation, and she
said, “Oh, I wish you could see my garden in Healdsburg!” And he loved
it! He just loved it. We picked this up from her, because my father did
not have this confidence in dealing with a broad range of people. He was
happy and felt safe with his church. He was not a community person like
she was. He was authoritative at home-not authoritarian, but authoritative.
He was “the Father.” He was clear and interested. But he was not a broad
community person.
Family Values
Besides education-studying, there was great, great importance put upon
behavior. I don't ever remember my parents saying,
“Because you are black
and would stand out in this community,” but certainly I got that message,
and that we had a responsibility to behave. Another thing is that I don't
ever remember my parents saying that we should not talk to, or associate
with, any particular person. I remember a boy who was my age, in my class,
who was considered the “bad boy.” But my mother didn't treat him as a pariah
at all. She saw him as someone who needed help and as someone who needed
love. Her attention to him and faith in him paid off, because he grew up
to be a respected citizen--a fireman who we knew later in his life.
Religious Faith
My mother was sort of known as a mother in the church, a pillar of the
church. And even when times were really bad, such as when [her son] Smitty
was dying and other things, she would still go on Sunday morning, because
it was part of her strength. All of us went with her to the Baptist Church.
My father went to the Pentacostal Church, but again this was where he had
greater comfort. They were so fond of him. He had the same attachments
there that we had at the Baptist Church. It was interesting. But when we
became adolescents we went to the Presbyterian Church (Methodist-Presbyterian
Federated), but we went there because we seemed to have more in common with
the peers there. Smitty later became leader of the choir.
Cultural Appreciation
Many of our friends were Catholic too, of course--the Giamettis, the Passalacquas.
Our parents would let us go to special things with them, such as twelve
o'clock mass and special ceremonies such as that, which I think for Protestants
brought up in the South it was a very open kind of thing to let your kids
experience. People were so afraid of people becoming Catholics or whatever,
but we were allowed to.
My interest and knowledge about the Italian culture just lasted my whole
life. And if I had money I would go to Italy every year. I love Italy!
I felt very close to Italians, both the everyday kind of life and the culture.
I learned a lot about opera from the Passalacquas. One of the Passalacqua
brothers--the one who worked in the bank--was a famous tenor. I remember
hearing him sing a great deal. And Mrs. Giametti, an Italian woman, taught
me to do some Italian cooking. I remember I wasn't tall enough, so she
had a little stool in her kitchen I stood on. And I would stir sauces!
Another thing about family values: we didn't have liquor in our house--and
certainly our family would not have let children drink wine--but when we
ate at the Giamettis, my mother let us have a little wine because Mrs. Giametti
put water in it for her children. And my parents didn't see that as evil.
Isn't that interesting?
Importance of Identity
My parents, especially my mother, fostered learning about other people,
as long as you could maintain what you are. And that's a good thing to teach
kids. Our parents taught us to know who we were. Part of it was through
continuation of the fear they had in Georgia; part of it was protecting
their kids by good behavior--preparing us for the possibility of discrimination
or name-calling. Part of it was teaching us not to be afraid--not to capitulate--but
to expect and report to the teacher, so that we weren't exploited in any
way. They taught not to allow yourself to be exploited, but not to allow
yourself to be overly aggressive--which was kind of a good balance, because
they didn't want us to be overly submissive either. They taught us to tell
them what had happened in the day, and had the kind of attitude like,
“let
us handle it rather than getting yourself into trouble.” And for a family
that was the only black family that was really good sense.
Race Relations
They also taught us that in times of trouble there were people in Healdsburg
whom we could count on as friends. Mr. Passalacqua became our attorney,
and was our attorney for years and years and years. And the Passalacqua
family was a family that we were taught as children would help in times of
trouble. And when I was a child, during labor trouble, a man was lynched
in Healdsburg. And I remember the fear that that evoked in our family.
I don't remember otherwise feeling afraid in Healdsburg.
Why did my parents come to Healdsburg and why did they stay? There's something
about Healdsburg. . . in spite of some troubles we had-and never had them
as a family, I'm just talking about individual things at school-in spite
of that, there was something about Healdsburg that felt
“fair” to them.
They apparently just never feared assault on us or that someone would hurt
us. In the process of growing up, I've gotten a great deal of skepticism
and real kind of irritation from some black friends, who wondered,
“Why in
the world would you want to stay there?” And the feeling that there is something
. . . not quite right about a black family being content to stay in a white
community--and the implication that you must have some anti-black feelings
to prefer to live there. When I first came down to college in San Francisco,
I anticipated that every black person I saw was a relative! And so I would
be so friendly, wanting to talk to everyone. My friends would say,
“For Heaven's
sakes, you don't know them!”
It's an interesting thing that white people [in Healdsburg] would say that
they learned positive race relations from the Robinsons. I'm glad. You
know, when you think about teaching each other about the other race, it just
couldn't have been a better experience then. Because every day, on both
sides, you're testing, and obviously nobody got terribly hurt. And its interesting,
because I know I have black friends who don't really believe that I could
feel as safe as I feel with some white people. They absolutely don't believe
it. . . And yet, in the process of growing up, people being what we are,
I have been more vulnerable to hurt from black people than I have white people.
So I have learned that one doesn't, until testing and learning about friendship,
you don't just totally embrace anybody. I have friends of all races.
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