Newspapers / State Port Pilot (Southport, … / Jan. 3, 1962, edition 1 / Page 2
Part of State Port Pilot (Southport, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
Migrant Workers Stop In Brunswick By EUGENE FALEON The sign in front of the store located a little more than a mile south of Bolivia on IT. S. High- j way 17 caught my eye. It read: i “Migrant Workers W e 1 c o m e". ! This was a switch, and so 1 pull ed into the service station-grocery store to find out why. H. .1. Bryant operates the store. He is a native of Brunswick and was raised in the Supply section. Come April, and Bryant will have been at the same stand for 23 I consecutive years. That's a. lot of 1 traffic, even if one uses a corn- i putt.' to figure on. The sign, said Bryant, has been there for some few years now, sver since the first caravan of migrant farm workers stopped in. fhe initial group, figures Bryant, ivere lured by another sign that once spread across the front of his business building, a sign which proclaimed that here was a grill. The business of serving sand wiches and short orders has ceas ed now at Bryant's place, but the migrants still stop by. “These gypsy-workers” says Bryant, “have a certain appeal They arouse your pity and cu riosity. No one wants their busi ness much, and yet they art PEACOCK FUNERAL HOME 24-Hr.~ AMBULANCE—24-Hr. SHALLOTTE, N. C. Day Phone PL 4-8253 Night Phone PL 4-2491 1 ELLIS' SHOE CENTER House of Famous Brand Shoes Red Cross, Cobbies, Socialite, Joyce, Tweedies, Coach & Four, Delano—and Ladies’ Fashion Hats. “Columbus County'. Only Exclusive Ladies' Shoe Store” America’s Most Talked About A Walked About Shoes for better BUILDING MATERIAL Point © Erick © Cement • Noils Siding • Windows • Doors Moulding © Roofing • Lumber © Sheetrock SEE OUR COMPLETE BUILDING LINE AND COMPARE OUR PRICES. CALL SUPPLY, N. C. CL 3-6290 J. M. Parker & Sons SUPPLY,-N. C. I amongst the best-behaved groups | which have ever stopped at my j place." According to the proprietor, the I migrants move seasonally, becom j ing thick on the highways of I Eastern North Carolina in fall ; and spring. What happens to them in summer, God only knows. Bry I ant is certain he doesn't. They arrive in old buses, in open-body trucks, sometimes cov i ered from wind and rain with a I tarpaulin overhead. And they come in cars squeaking in last throes. Cars upon which junk dealers look askance. If they were j all adults with little behind them j and less to look forward to. it | wouldn't be so bad. But they pull j stakes for an entire family I wives, and small children, even ; nursing babies. In the land of | plenty they live in eternal want. Bryant says the migrants are [ mostly American Negroes, with j an occasional white worker. Some j times there are Mexicans, and many Puerto Ricans of recent years. Like locusts, they wait until harvest time and descend upon the fields stripping them of pro duce with prehensile fingers. And these workers are a very neces ! sary part of American agriculture. | Machines have not displaced them. It is doubtful they ever will. Most of the migrants who make of H. J. Bryant's store a regular stop ply between Long Island and Florida points. They stream southward in October and Novem ber. headed for the bean fields of Florida’s Lake Okeechobe coun try; move into central Florida and the citrus belt later on, and head north to Aurora (N. C.) and the white potatoes in spring; winding up in the pratie fields of Long Island, grubbing in the black soil for the tubas. Bryant said that, when asked what they do with their sum mers, they shrug, saying: "Some times we camp at migrant shel ters up north and trv to live on what we have saved.” “On the whoie,” says Bryant, “these people are quiet and peaceful, even possessing a sort of dignity. After all, they are not beggars. They work at the only thing they can do well harvest in ga cron. I think it is pretty sad for them to be met with suspicion and hostility. Most busi ness owners send them on their way. They travel pretty ragged, being very poor people, they are often travel-stained to the point of appearing dirty. That's why they get the cold-shoplder most places.” Bryant looked thoughtful. “It tell you,” he said finally, “their behavior is better than their looks”. Bryant recalled a few incidents relative to his place serving as a sort of sanctuary to these un wanted tourists. “One of the migrants who trav eled in an old Buick with his family consisting of wife and four children, just made it into my place. He was on his way to Florida. His old car had a fouled up transmission. He asked me to repair it for him and he would pick it up coming back. “I put better than fifty dollars into that transmission. He wrote me from Florida, and even called me by phone. Finally he sent a postcar d that, due to sickness in his family, he could not get his car and that I could dispose of SOUTH CAROLINA Located in the center of South Carolina is its Capitol City, Columbia. As a result of Gen. Sherman's artillery i<n I 1865 the State House boars the marks of battle. Stars made of bronze marks the scars left in the walls, and are of special interest to anyone wishing to take a look- The building also houses a Confederate relic room which con tains a historic collection. The boyhood home of Woodrow iWilson and the University of South Carolina is located here. Fort Jackson is nearby where many of our world war heroes were trained. LIVE MODERN-LIVE BETTER IN A FLAMELESS ALL ELECTRIC HOME. ELECTRIC HEAT MEANS COMFORT ABLE LIVING. FOR FULL DETAILS SEE YOUR POWER SUPPLIERS TODAY’ Compliments Of BRUNSWICK ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP CORPORATION SERVING BRUNSWiCK, COLUMBUS, ROBESON and BLADEN COUNTIES “Community Owned ... Community Built.., Community Builders” * Students—Clip this Ad for your scrapbook. Heating - Electrical and PLUMBING SPECIALIST r - \ PIPE THREADIKG SERVICE !4” to 4” All Threading Done On Our Modern Electric Machine. Insures A Leak-Proof Joint Every lime. Shallotte Hardware SHALLOTTE, N. C. GLEN WILLIAMSON PHONE PL 4-2500 ALTON MILLIKEN it in any way T could, in order j to get my money back. I sold , parts from it and did not lose | anything on it.” They stick together pretty well,” added Bryant. "When this fellow developed trouble, a truck load of migrants waited for de | velopments. When a deal was i ! made, the family simply trans- I ferred to the truck and off they headed for Florida." In the fall of 1959 a stake- ! body truck came in towing a I busload of migrants. In all. the vehicles carried 35 men. women and children. All remained on the premises for a solid week. 1 sleeping in the bus and in the I open truck. While here t he men ' drove that truck clean down to Myrtle Beach a number of times, in order to buy junked parts there. Sometimes the secondhand parts would not fit, and they would have to make the long trip : back to South Carolina, to haggle I and exhange. | “That particular group," recalls | Bryant, “were fresh from the potato fields of Long Island, en- 1 route to Florida, and they came j - pretty well heeled. They spent j , about $40 a dav with me during that solid week.” The last caravan to stop at i Bolivia and Bryant's place, came j along in the last of November. : "I expect to see them in the spring,” says Bryant, "if things , run according to form.” It’s a way of life. The produce, j like the proverbial sheaves, must j be brought in at harvest time. j Mrs. Mary Royals Dies Near Supply Mi's. Mary Mooney Royals, 82, died Friday at her home near Supply. Final rites were held Sun day at 2 p. m. from the graveside in Chapel Hill Cemetery by the Revs. Leo Cannon and Bert Ben nett. Survivors include three sons, M. G., A. R„ and E. T. Mooney, all of Supply; three daughters, Mrs. Rob Cumbee and Miss Lovie Mooney of Supply and Mrs. Roy Farrek, Houston, Tex.; 17 grand children; 13 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchil dren. Active pallbearers were Stanton Brown, R. E. Sellers, Jr., Hulan Royals, Bernice Hewett, Texas Hardin and Leton Clemmons. MTF Sl'B-DISTRICT A call goes out from Mrs. Gro ver M. Sellers, counselor' for the Methodist Youth Fellowship, for a representative member, a coun selor and a minister from each! Methodist church in Brunswick County to participate in a Sub- I District meeting to be held at i Camp Church. Shallotte, January j 8, beginning at 7 p. m. In con- ! BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT Mr. and Mrs. Charles Blake of Southport announce the birth of a son, Charles Edward, at Memorial Hospital in Chapel Hill on Decem ber 28. junction with the meeting a skat ing party will be held at a. Shal lotte rink the same evening. FOYROE &C0. PHONE RO 2-5923 9 North Front St. WILMINGTON, N. C. WEST COAST LUMBER CO. 200 Castle Hoy"* *4 WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA PHONE RO p.O. BOX 989 Dear Friends: c thnt WEST COAST LUMBER means QUALITY BUILDERS means a better home, a truer framework, and ° s . er is easier to handle, easier What's more, WEST COA ^ jt yards better at your to work. It has good na.ItoU^ ^ warping or cupping, job site; little loss due to exce shirnming when walls and Straight, stable.umber^means^ ^ ^ LUMBER! floors are applied, so us v NIW ITEMS Redwood Precut Stud* 2x4 Premium Grade $99.27 Douglas Fir Precut Stud* 2x4 Old Growth $97.37 V Grooved Paneling Douglas Fir . . • P''*ce $3.50 BC Vi" & »/*" Exterior plywood Saves $5.00.Per.Thousand - Premium Spruce Shelving 1x12 R/L $166.25 %/.>• Birch —Now 4 Type* Sound 1 or sound 2 sides on hardwood core. Sound1s'd fir plywood core —chip core. Const. 25% Std. Fir Framing - j. ov q 22 & 24 2x 6, 2x o » 2x10. 2x12 22 & 24 HEW PMC* CUT* Douglas Pir Plywood Prices cut $5.00 to $18.00 Dropping Grade Paneling Ceda" White Fir, Lodgepole $90.25 Most Noil Prices Cut 50c to $1-00 per 100 lbs. Knotty Pine Plywood 14 & %/a" Price Cut $25.00 Clear & Select Oak Shorts The 2 top flooring grades $114.00 long Length Utility Framing cut $5.00 to $10.00 No. 1 Common Pir Pl"i*h 1x6 & 1*8 Now $142.50 Prices Net — Delivered Thank you, WEST COAST LUMBER CO. Save For A Rainy Day At WACCAMAW And Be Showered With 4% EARNINGS-From Their 4 Per Cent One Year Certificates Of Deposit. MEMBER FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION
State Port Pilot (Southport, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 3, 1962, edition 1
2
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75