African-American Contributions in St. Mary's County UNIFIED COMMITTEE FOR
AFRO-AMERICAN CONTRIBUTIONS
Post Office Box 1457
Lexington Park, Maryland 20653

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Everlyn Holland graduation from Henryton Nursing School 1952 - photo courtesy of Ms. Holland



Everlyn Holland

. . . you talk about moving out into the world and earning money: The first job that I had was at Leonard Hall School. I worked there in the evenings. I used to wait on tables and wash dishes. I think I made $10 a week, and that was in 19--1947. And, that's essentially what I did. .

After I graduated from Henryton, I worked at St. Mary's Hospital and I made a dollar and 75 cent an hour there. That was in 1954. You didn't live extravagantly. Over that time--. Over that time period, we lived in a house or we lived with my mother at first, and we still had a garden. We still canned. We did all of those things so you did have enough money to pay your bills. You pooled your money. We all had to have heat so everybody contributed to that. Everybody contributed to the food. Everybody contributed to the work so, therefore, you could support yourself. You had the bare necessities, or necessities, and then there were things that were left over. You had money. And if you wanted to go out and enjoy yourself, you could at certain times, places. So, there was a social life and it worked out very well.

So, we were never hungry. We were never homeless. We were never without clothes. That's the other thing from my grandmother: She--everything that came in her house had to function, had to turn over at least five times! [chuckle] You know, you didn't just use it and throw it away. Well, what else can we do with it? Had to do several things. If it was a dress, you know, it would become,

    "Well, we can cut the sleeves out and make it a sleeveless dress. We can make potholders out of it. We can make dish towel out of it. We can put it in this quilt."

All of those things had to happen when something came in. She used to take feed sacks, you know, make underwear. She'd make towels. She'd make pillow cases. She'd make sheets. All of that. She'd cut the seams out and she'd sew it all.

So, my mother did the same thing. She crocheted and knitted and she would make hats, gloves, scarves. Made all of my clothes. So, the money you made, you know, you learned to do things with it.

 

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