As a child,
Charlie Carter went to an all black only school and worked in the cotton fields
48 hours a week, where the sun threw off heat and sweat would pour down his
cheeks.
Life needed to get
better, he knew.
The
son of Mary and Willie Lee Carter, Carter was one of 12 children. Growing up in
Aberdeen, Mississippi, during the civil rights era was a challenge for many
African Americans, such as Carter.
“Living in the south was difficult. We lived
on a farm and I worked in the cotton fields chopping then picking the cotton 48
hours out of the week. The hot days were tough to deal with,” Carter said.
In 1971, at the
age of 20 and with a few items in hand, Carter decided to make the long move up
north.
“When
my mom passed in 1969, my brother Henry and I decided to come up north. My dad
and other family stayed,” Carter said.
The north
presented many more opportunities for not only Carter, but for other African
Americans.
One of the main
reasons he and his brother moved north was because of the pay. Working hard for
little reward was demoralizing and change had to be made, he said.
“The job I worked
in the south before I came up north only gave me $69 a week. I worked on a
killing farm where I would kill cows and pigs,” Carter said.
After the long
drive from Mississippi, Carter found himself in Brockton, Massachusetts, The
City of Champions.
Families and individuals,
who migrated north usually ended up in bigger cities like a Chicago or
Philadelphia, often clustered in the same neighborhoods where they knew people
and felt comfortable.
“Brockton wasn’t
my first choice of places to go. I wanted to go to Philadelphia. I bounced
around between a few towns but stayed in Brockton,” Carter said.
Finding work in
the north wasn’t an issue for Carter as it was for others who migrated. During
these times, some companies did not want to hire African Americans.
“When I first got
here I took a job at A & D Candy on Belmont Street. The increased wages
from what I was making in the south helped me learn how to manage my money
better then I was before,” Carter said.
As time went on
and adapting to the north seemed to be getting easier, Carter decided to take a
few courses at Roxbury Community College. This was the first time he had
attended a non-segregated school.
“That’s one of the
main reasons you moved up north, you wanted to avoid segregation, you didn’t
believe in it,” Carter said.
Even though he
only took a couple courses at Roxbury Community, it was another opportunity
that Carter grasped while in the north.
Nothing brought
him closer to the community than religion and Carter became a strong believer
when he arrived up north.
“When I was down
south I went to church sometimes but mostly on Easter and Christmas. When I
moved up here I found Christ,” Carter said.
During his life, Carter
experienced things he hoped his children would learn from. He said he wasn’t
always the most religious, he did not always manage money well and he didn’t
consistently go to school.
“I wanted my kids
to get an education, that was very important to me. The second thing I wanted
them to do, and I cared about this deeply, was to maintain their relationship
with Christ. The last thing I wanted was to make sure my kids treated people
the right way. I always told them to treat someone the way you want to be
treated,” Carter said.
Carter said he is
happy he migrated north.
“I had tough but
good experiences,” Carter said. “Everything helped me come closer to my family
and that’s what’s important.”
Fighting
through the hard times in a heavily segregated south proved to be a positive
for some African Americans. For Carter the life lessons he attained from the
move bettered not only his life but also his family's.
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