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AACHM Oral History: Johnnie Mae Seeley

When: March 21, 2013 at the Downtown Library

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Johnnie Mae Jackson Seeley was raised in Sarepta, Louisiana and moved to Ann Arbor with her husband Howard M. Seeley in 1954. She joined the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor where she was later crowned a Deaconess, and soon she became known for her culinary skills and hospitality, which led to some of the community's largest gatherings, first at her farm on the outside of Ann Arbor and later on Beakes St. For years her garden provided food for Sunday communal meals and for the Human Service Project which donated food to homeless shelters.

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Transcript

  • [00:00:29.55] INTERVIEWER 1: So can you first just please say and spell your name for us?
  • [00:00:35.80] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Tell my name and spell it? My name is Johnnie Mae Seeley-- J-O-H-N-N-I-E M-A-E S-E-E-L-E-Y.
  • [00:00:54.48] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, and what is your date of birth, including the year?
  • [00:01:01.21] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: September 27, 1916.
  • [00:01:12.51] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, and how old are you?
  • [00:01:18.16] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I guess I'm 96.
  • [00:01:20.45] INTERVIEWER 1: 96, OK.
  • [00:01:23.85] INTERVIEWER 2: And do you live in Ann Arbor?
  • [00:01:28.28] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I live here now. I wasn't born here.
  • [00:01:31.90] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, but you currently reside in Ann Arbor?
  • [00:01:36.04] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes.
  • [00:01:37.47] INTERVIEWER 2: OK-- some of these questions are for this national registry, and so Michigan. And what is your marital status, so single, married, divorced, or widowed?
  • [00:02:06.57] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I'm single now, but I was married. I lost both husbands, two husbands. My first husband was named Johnnie Mae Seeley. No, my first husband was Johnnie Mae Cooper. My last husband was Jonnie Mae Seeley, both of them deceased.
  • [00:02:37.74] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, they had the same name as you?
  • [00:02:43.67] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: My birth name is Johnnie Mae Jackson.
  • [00:02:48.19] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and how many children, if any, do you--
  • [00:02:55.52] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I don't have any children.
  • [00:02:57.43] INTERVIEWER 2: No children, so no grandchildren?
  • [00:03:01.15] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No grandchildren, just a host of claimed children.
  • [00:03:05.51] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and in terms of your education, the highest level that you completed?
  • [00:03:14.67] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: 10th grade.
  • [00:03:22.63] INTERVIEWER 2: Were you ever in the military?
  • [00:03:25.13] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No.
  • [00:03:31.00] INTERVIEWER 2: And what would you consider your occupation, and if retired, former occupation? And the things they have down here for under consideration are professional, clerical, service, the arts, athletics, homemaker, or manual.
  • [00:03:56.63] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Some of them I don't quite understand. But I just worked in the home for many years. And then, I got to be a caterer. And so I catered for around 30 years or more.
  • [00:04:19.17] INTERVIEWER 2: So you catered for 30 years?
  • [00:04:21.81] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Mhmm.
  • [00:04:24.76] INTERVIEWER 2: Wow, and then memberships in the following groups-- do you belong to a church group?
  • [00:04:35.23] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes, I belong to Bethel AME Church. And I belong to the choir.
  • [00:04:48.96] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, do you belong to any political parties?
  • [00:04:54.92] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Like what?
  • [00:04:57.87] INTERVIEWER 2: It just says, "political party," so I would guess like Democrats or Republicans or Independents-- I don't know, that's not really a party I guess. So apparently that's not part of your--
  • [00:05:11.37] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No.
  • [00:05:12.19] INTERVIEWER 2: You don't have a membership. Any educational organizations?
  • [00:05:28.64] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I don't think so. Some of these words are kind of--
  • [00:05:35.18] INTERVIEWER 2: Seem a little complicated?
  • [00:05:38.48] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE].
  • [00:05:39.86] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, any civil rights or human rights groups?
  • [00:05:46.43] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I used to work at the polls. I don't know if that's--
  • [00:05:53.90] INTERVIEWER 1: For the elections?
  • [00:05:55.05] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes, for the elections-- worked there for many years.
  • [00:06:02.39] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and you said you belong to the choir?
  • [00:06:06.32] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Mhmm, and I belong to the choir and the trustee helper board.
  • [00:06:19.26] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, so now, for your family heritage, how many generations can you trace your family back?
  • [00:06:42.92] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: How many generations? Like--
  • [00:06:47.69] INTERVIEWER 2: Like do you know where your grandparents came from, or your great grandparents, or your parents?
  • [00:06:56.46] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, my great grandparents on my father's side come from-- let's see, was it Germany or Italy-- I think Germany.
  • [00:07:15.70] INTERVIEWER 2: Came from Germany?
  • [00:07:16.40] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I think, mhmm. I don't know where my grandparents-- I don't remember right now where my mother's parents come from.
  • [00:07:29.22] INTERVIEWER 2: And so that might have been like in the 1800s or 1700s do you think?
  • [00:07:35.30] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Gosh, I really don't know about that.
  • [00:07:38.08] INTERVIEWER 2: Right, usually a generation is about 25 years. So I'm going to say maybe the 1800s, early 1800s.
  • [00:07:48.76] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Maybe so, because my father's father passed away when I was quite young. And I wasn't old enough to talk about the history.
  • [00:08:06.12] INTERVIEWER 2: Sure, and so your family came from, the part that you're aware of-- so Germany was one country.
  • [00:08:23.95] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: But my mother's parents was all from Louisiana.
  • [00:08:34.68] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, I never quite understood what this means in this part of the--
  • [00:08:45.16] INTERVIEWER 1: From this part of the world continent?
  • [00:08:47.59] INTERVIEWER 2: Well, this is-- so Europe and North America is what we know about.
  • [00:08:57.63] INTERVIEWER 1: Mhmm.
  • [00:08:59.86] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and what would you consider your ethnic background? And what we have to choose from here are African American, Caucasian, Native American, Hispanic, Asian, or other.
  • [00:09:16.76] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: African American, I think I would say.
  • [00:09:20.78] INTERVIEWER 2: And you can put anything. You can have more than one, too, if you had relatives that were Caucasian or Native American or--
  • [00:09:31.38] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I don't have no Caucasian relatives.
  • [00:09:35.96] INTERVIEWER 2: Your current neighborhood is primarily integrated, African American, Caucasian, Native American, Hispanic, Asian, or other? This is where you currently live. Would you describe it as--
  • [00:09:54.91] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Where I live now or where I was born?
  • [00:09:57.65] INTERVIEWER 2: Where you live currently, now.
  • [00:10:04.74] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Is which one now?
  • [00:10:07.69] INTERVIEWER 2: Integrated.
  • [00:10:08.74] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Integrated, yeah-- everybody lives there.
  • [00:10:11.81] INTERVIEWER 1: So everybody lives there, huh?
  • [00:10:13.71] INTERVIEWER 2: All right, so this is your economic self classification. Do you consider yourself to be upper class, middle class, working class, disadvantaged, or other?
  • [00:10:35.70] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I worked up until about 10 years ago, so I guess I'm in the working class.
  • [00:10:44.26] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and have you participated in any of the following historic milestones of the 20th century specifically affecting African Americans? And again, this is just for this national archive. And then, we're going to get to the real interview, which will be a lot easier than this. The Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North-- is your family or you part of that, that you came from the South here to the North?
  • [00:11:39.06] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I did come from the South to the North, but my husband was working. He brought us up here.
  • [00:11:51.55] INTERVIEWER 2: Right, so I think that counts. Any anti-discrimination protests prior to the 1950s-- did you participate in any of those?
  • [00:12:09.83] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Such as?
  • [00:12:13.65] INTERVIEWER 2: Well, I think the next thing is the Civil Rights demonstrations, asking about the Civil Rights demonstrations. And I think those are generally considered things that took place in the '60s and forward from there. And so if there were any protests that were for the anti-discrimination protests prior to the 1960s, I didn't know if you had participated in any of those.
  • [00:12:50.27] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I don't remember.
  • [00:12:51.71] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and any Civil Rights demonstrations?
  • [00:12:55.21] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I didn't.
  • [00:12:56.94] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, March on Washington, 1963?
  • [00:13:01.20] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I never marched. Heard of them, but I didn't march.
  • [00:13:05.63] INTERVIEWER 2: Poor People's Campaign?
  • [00:13:08.65] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No.
  • [00:13:10.46] INTERVIEWER 2: Million Man March or Million Women's March? No, and how about other?
  • [00:13:16.13] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No-- never marched.
  • [00:13:18.84] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, so that's it. So now, we get to the good stuff. Thank you for your patience. This is, again, just for this national archives for African American oral histories so that they can find you, the researchers can find the information they're looking for.
  • [00:13:37.89] INTERVIEWER 1: Yeah, so that was just a lot of background information. So now, we're entering into the real part of the interview, which will hopefully be a lot easier than those other questions. Because it's just you speaking from your heart and talking from what you know or remember, OK?
  • [00:13:52.78] So the first part of this interview is focusing on memories from your childhood and youth. So we're going back there. And so this part of the interview is just going to focus on that area when you were a child or when you were younger.
  • [00:14:07.91] So even if those questions happen to raise memories about other times in your life, we're going to get to those other times. But for this particular set of questions right here, we just want to focus on memories of your childhood and youth. So the first question is just asking, what was your family like when you were a child?
  • [00:14:27.56] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I think I had a good family. I was the youngest one in my family-- let's see, I think about 11 years younger than my sister. I was the last one to come along. I think it was 11.
  • [00:14:53.46] And my family had a big farm on the big farm. And we had families on the place. My daddy had families, three families always on the place. Of course, since I was the last one to come along, I played around if they had children. And so it was a good life.
  • [00:15:29.70] INTERVIEWER 2: Where was this farm located?
  • [00:15:32.88] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: In Sarepta, Louisiana, S-A-R-E-P-T-A, Louisiana.
  • [00:15:42.34] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, what sort of-- I know you said your family owned a farm. Could you tell us a little bit more about what sort of work your parents did?
  • [00:15:49.61] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: My father worked on the railroad in his absent times from the farm. And so when farming time was over, he worked on the railroad. Part-time he worked on the railroad. So my mother was always a housekeeper, cook, had a big garden.
  • [00:16:27.91] We had from two to three families on our place. We were one of the five families in that small town, Sarepta, Louisiana that had their own farm. And as I said, my dad had families on the place. And I played with the children.
  • [00:17:09.07] INTERVIEWER 1: What's your earliest memory, the earliest memory that you can remember?
  • [00:17:14.99] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Of what?
  • [00:17:16.74] INTERVIEWER 1: Of your childhood?
  • [00:17:23.17] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Of anything?
  • [00:17:25.70] INTERVIEWER 1: When you were a child, yeah.
  • [00:17:27.70] INTERVIEWER 2: The very first thing that you remember in your life.
  • [00:17:35.79] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Really the first thing that was kind of important to me was Santa Claus. And the things that I would get at Christmas times and birthday times was my really important days. And the 4th of July, my daddy would have big picnics for the family on the place and for friends around. He would have big picnics and we forget that you didn't have the-- like we have to cook now. They dug trenches and put wire over the holes. And that's how they barbecued.
  • [00:19:00.27] INTERVIEWER 2: I was going to ask, what kind of food did they have at the picnic?
  • [00:19:04.59] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: We had barbecue. He would kill a hog, or maybe two hogs. And if he killed a cow, small cow, maybe he'd use part of it for the 4th of July. Then, we'd have the neighbors and the tenants on the place. My daddy was one of the five, well really four, four or five, blacks that had their own farm in the small town of Sarepta, Louisiana.
  • [00:19:56.88] INTERVIEWER 1: I know you mentioned the barbecues, and you mentioned a little about being excited about Christmas. Were there any other special days or family traditions that you can remember from your childhood?
  • [00:20:08.77] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, Christmas was really a big day. Santa Claus-- oh boy. We'd go to bed at 5 o'clock.
  • [00:20:18.47] INTERVIEWER 2: To hurry Santa.
  • [00:20:19.54] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: To wait for Santa Claus.
  • [00:20:26.20] INTERVIEWER 2: Did you ever see him, or he snuck in and left stuff?
  • [00:20:30.24] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: One or two times I'd seen him, but I was scared of him. And I remember the last time, about the last time, that I'd seen him, it was a cousin of mine. And he was a big guy. And he wore a type of boots that were kind of odd. And he had those boots on. And I looked, and I was hiding behind my mother. But I said, Santa Claus has Isaac's boots.
  • [00:21:21.31] INTERVIEWER 2: You didn't miss a thing.
  • [00:21:22.83] INTERVIEWER 1: No, no, wow, so Christmas and the 4th of July. Were there any other holidays that your family would celebrate?
  • [00:21:33.06] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, our birthdays. Birthdays were special, everybody's birthday.
  • [00:21:41.76] INTERVIEWER 2: And what way did you celebrate birthdays?
  • [00:21:44.04] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, my mother would have dinners for the children my age and of course the parents. Mothers would be over, and sometimes the fathers, too. So there'd be a big cook-out. It depends on what month the children's birthdays were in. Mine was in September, and so there'd be a big cook-out.
  • [00:22:11.11] INTERVIEWER 2: Still warm enough to be outside?
  • [00:22:13.33] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes.
  • [00:22:14.73] INTERVIEWER 2: Do you remember any favorite gifts that you got for birthdays or Christmas?
  • [00:22:19.15] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Dolls, dolls, dolls-- dolls and cake, they were the favorite birthday things, sure.
  • [00:22:32.16] INTERVIEWER 2: And were they homemade dolls or store-bought dolls?
  • [00:22:38.07] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: One big sports star doll was given to me. But then the rest-- some of them were store-bought, homemade dolls, and dresses for the dolls and things. And paper dolls-- we were gifted in paper dolls cut out in the catalogs, having paper dolls.
  • [00:23:16.22] INTERVIEWER 1: Your birthdays and the holidays-- were there any other special traditions that maybe your family created or made up for themselves that they would celebrate?
  • [00:23:28.88] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Birthdays, holidays-- most of the holidays, like 4th of July. I can't think right now, but I know the 4th of July was a big holiday.
  • [00:24:01.31] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, and thinking about your school, what would you say about your school experience that's different from school as you know it today?
  • [00:24:16.92] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh my, a lot different, a lot different. I lived in Webster. I went to school in Bossier. I think that we called it the bayou-- separated Bossier from Webster, Webster from Bossier. Either way, we lived in Webster. I went to school in Bossier Parish.
  • [00:24:49.40] I'd walk-- they would cut a tree down to fall across the little bayou. We were to walk that log and go to school. If the water got too high, then we'd have to go around the road to the bridge to go to school. And I went there until I was sixth grade, to the little school where I had to go across the bayou.
  • [00:25:32.60] Then from sixth on, I had to drive about 15 miles to school. Of course, I was driving a T-Model at that time. I started driving when I was about nine or 10 years old.
  • [00:26:02.32] INTERVIEWER 2: So you drove the car to school yourself?
  • [00:26:04.55] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I drove the car to school. My daddy had to get permission from the officers. My brother had a T-Model, and I'd take him to work. Then, I'd come back and I'd go to school, go to Plain Dealing, Louisiana. Yeah, that was in Bossier Parish. And I'd go to school.
  • [00:26:35.97] INTERVIEWER 2: And was the school that you went to all African American, or was it--
  • [00:26:40.67] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Mhmm.
  • [00:26:41.09] INTERVIEWER 2: Yes?
  • [00:26:41.84] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Mhmm, yeah, there was no mixed schools at that time.
  • [00:26:48.91] INTERVIEWER 2: And how about the teachers?
  • [00:26:49.93] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: The teachers were all black.
  • [00:26:54.66] INTERVIEWER 2: Were also black, OK.
  • [00:26:56.94] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, did your family have any sort of special sayings or special expressions when you were younger, like a thing that they would say, or a phrase that they would say that you would hear often when you were younger?
  • [00:27:20.37] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I can't think of any right now.
  • [00:27:23.05] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, were there any changes in your family life when you were in school?
  • [00:27:32.02] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I don't think so.
  • [00:27:34.35] INTERVIEWER 2: During your school years? No.
  • [00:27:37.11] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, i don't think so.
  • [00:27:39.61] INTERVIEWER 2: Did you play any sports or join any outside activities while you were in school?
  • [00:27:44.44] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Ball, play ball.
  • [00:27:48.58] INTERVIEWER 1: Liked playing ball, huh?
  • [00:27:49.50] INTERVIEWER 2: What kind of ball?
  • [00:27:50.72] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, just ball.
  • [00:27:54.17] INTERVIEWER 2: Throwing it?
  • [00:27:55.05] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Mhmm.
  • [00:28:01.81] INTERVIEWER 1: You told us a little bit about this, but you lived during the era of segregation. Can you speak about that?
  • [00:28:12.25] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I don't know what to speak about. We knew where to go when we'd go into different places. Into the stores, everybody went into the same places, same stores. But if we would go into any other places, well, it was colored in one part and white in another. And so if it was a restaurant, colored would have their part to sit, white would have their part to sit.
  • [00:29:11.37] INTERVIEWER 2: So kept separate-- people were kept separate.
  • [00:29:14.26] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Separate mhmm, but in the stores, well, everybody went into the stores and bought.
  • [00:29:25.10] INTERVIEWER 2: Were there places for black visitors to stay in your town?
  • [00:29:31.72] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: With black people.
  • [00:29:33.10] INTERVIEWER 2: Uh-huh, so there were no hotels or inns or-- they would just stay with other black families?
  • [00:29:40.41] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes.
  • [00:29:41.40] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, do you remember having any thoughts about or feelings about things being separate when you were small?
  • [00:29:51.63] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, at that time I didn't. It was what I was used to seeing. My mother and father were very well known in the-- Sarepta, Louisiana was a small town. And he was one of the, I don't know, five or six families I just remember now-- that had their own farm.
  • [00:30:31.17] Not many blacks had their own farm. And he was very well-known there. And I have to say that I think now, as I think back on it, and the things that he did, and the things that they allowed him to do, that he was treated a little different from some of the other blacks.
  • [00:31:03.06] INTERVIEWER 2: Meaning how the white community treated him?
  • [00:31:06.49] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Mhmm, that's right.
  • [00:31:14.22] INTERVIEWER 2: Well, I think we will--
  • [00:31:15.88] INTERVIEWER 1: Get to that one?
  • [00:31:16.81] INTERVIEWER 2: Yeah, I think we will--
  • [00:31:18.73] INTERVIEWER 1: I think we've got that answered.
  • [00:31:23.99] INTERVIEWER 2: Oh, OK, we have one more question in this section, which is, thinking back on your school years, what important social or historical events were taking place at that time, and how did they personally affect you and your family?
  • [00:31:49.99] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Say that again.
  • [00:31:51.31] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, when thinking back on your school years, what important social or historical events were taking place at that time, and how did they personally affect you and your family?
  • [00:32:12.13] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: You mean, things that we did in school?
  • [00:32:14.68] INTERVIEWER 2: No, things that were happening in the outside world. Was your family affected by it, for instance, if there were wars going on, or if there were other kinds of social unrest going on? I don't know exactly what was going on during that time. And it sounds like you were in kind of a sheltered environment.
  • [00:32:44.90] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I think maybe I was. Because I don't remember anything going on. My daddy was a big farmer. We lived on the farm and had tenants on the place, children to play with. And so my oldest brother, when he was 20-- they said that when he started to work on the railroad, my father worked on the railroad part time when it wasn't farming time, off and on.
  • [00:33:55.37] So my oldest brother did the same. My second brother also did the same. My sister always was a housewife with my mother. My mother never worked in the field, but she had a garden almost like a field. And my sister helped my mother.
  • [00:34:32.24] INTERVIEWER 2: And you waited for Santa Claus?
  • [00:34:34.65] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I waited for Santa Claus. 10 years-- my sister was 10, nine and a half, almost 10 years older than me. I was the last one to jump out of the basket. So I played around and played with the children on the place. We had always from two to three families on the place. My father was one of the four, well, five for a while, black people that had their own farm.
  • [00:35:24.66] INTERVIEWER 2: Well now, we're going to jump to this part of your life, which is adulthood and marriage and family life. And this set of questions covers a fairly long period of your life from the time you stopped school and entered the labor force or started a family until you and/or your spouse retired.
  • [00:35:54.11] So we might be talking about a stretch here spanning as much as four decades, 40 years or so. So after you finished high school, where did you live? I mean when you got done-- I know you went till 10th grade. And then, where did you live after that?
  • [00:36:17.33] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I lived in Minden, Louisiana.
  • [00:36:22.34] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and did you remain there, or did you move around through your adult life, and what was the reason?
  • [00:36:29.42] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I remained there until I lost my first husband.
  • [00:36:35.27] INTERVIEWER 2: So maybe you can talk about when you got married, where you met your first husband and when you got married.
  • [00:36:45.09] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I met my first husband at the marriage of my sister. When my sister had her wedding, she had friends in Minden that she invited. And the young man that drove them up to the wedding, that's who I met.
  • [00:37:10.19] INTERVIEWER 2: Took a fancy to you.
  • [00:37:12.22] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: That's right.
  • [00:37:14.65] INTERVIEWER 2: And how old were you when you got married?
  • [00:37:18.04] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: 19 when I got married.
  • [00:37:20.16] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and what was it like when the two of you were courting?
  • [00:37:32.86] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, it was nice. Because he was about 30-some miles from Sarepta. I lived in a little small town. Minden was a-- well, they call it a big town, city. And so he lived down there. And so it was not too often seeing each other. Either he'd take the train up until he really got a car-- some of his friends brought him up.
  • [00:38:25.93] INTERVIEWER 2: And was he around your same age?
  • [00:38:29.10] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: He was five years older than me.
  • [00:38:31.00] INTERVIEWER 2: Older, OK, and how long were you engaged before you got married?
  • [00:38:44.44] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: We weren't engaged too long. We went together about two years-- yeah, about two years I think it was.
  • [00:38:53.93] INTERVIEWER 2: And what was your marriage like?
  • [00:38:55.81] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, we had a nice--
  • [00:38:58.16] INTERVIEWER 2: Nice wedding?
  • [00:39:00.44] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Marriage, yes.
  • [00:39:02.85] INTERVIEWER 2: And how long were you married?
  • [00:39:05.84] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: We were married about eight years-- between eight and nine. I've mostly forgotten, but it wasn't too long. And he had a heart attack on his job. He would deliver gas. He worked at a gas station. He would deliver gas.
  • [00:39:36.95] And luckily it just happened, they say, when he drove up to the station in the truck. And he sat there longer. Then, the owner knew he wasn't getting out of the truck. And he went out and asked him, said, Cooper-- he was a Cooper. He said, what's the matter? And he didn't say anything. And so he opened the door, and said he just went to pounding on his chest.
  • [00:40:13.58] INTERVIEWER 2: But he was all right?
  • [00:40:15.14] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: He ran in, and he was right in town there, because Minden wasn't too large a town. But it was a good-sized town. And so he called some of the other guys to get a car and take him over to the hospital. So they did. And then, they called me at home. And in about eight hours, he was gone.
  • [00:40:48.05] INTERVIEWER 2: I'm sorry. So you were a very young woman?
  • [00:40:53.88] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes, that's right.
  • [00:40:58.22] INTERVIEWER 2: And you said you moved from Minden at that point after your husband died.
  • [00:41:09.64] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: That, yeah, was several-- oh, how many years-- oh, maybe about five years, more or less. I don't just remember right now-- before the pipeline come through town. And that's where I met my second husband. And well, we went together about two years, more or less. And then, we got married. And then, I travelled on the pipeline. And that's how I got up here.
  • [00:42:05.82] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, do you know what year you came up this way?
  • [00:42:12.56] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Let's see, I came up here in-- gee, I don't know. I must have forgot what year I come up here.
  • [00:42:26.63] SANDY: '56?
  • [00:42:28.44] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: '56 then? I think it was '56.
  • [00:42:33.99] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and what do you remember when you first arrived in this area?
  • [00:42:48.87] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, when I first arrived in this area, well, my husband then-- I had married again. And he was working on the pipeline. And so the people that we were rooming with, I had asked her, I said, if you know anybody that wants to buy the work, I would like to work, you know? My husband is gone all day on the pipeline, and I'd like to work.
  • [00:43:21.96] And she said, oh yeah. She said, the lady right next door to where I'm working is soon to have a baby. She wants somebody. And so she told her about it. She asked her to bring me over. And so I went over. And I started to work for her.
  • [00:43:41.70] And we got to talking. And so I told her about how I cooked. And she said, oh. She said, well, we can get something going here, you know? And so she was the one that started me out really catering.
  • [00:44:02.64] Well, they call it catering, but they called it cooking back then. And people then were having parties and dinners mostly in their homes. And she started having big dinners at her house. Then, once she invited over-- started asking me over.
  • [00:44:32.75] INTERVIEWER 2: To cook in there?
  • [00:44:33.90] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: To do their parties. So that's how I got started out to the parties till the parties got too large for me to work in one place. So she was willing to give me up to get started on the others.
  • [00:44:55.18] INTERVIEWER 2: Something big?
  • [00:44:56.92] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Bigger.
  • [00:44:58.54] INTERVIEWER 2: And what kinds of things did you cook?
  • [00:45:02.27] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh my-- a little of everything. And I was doing a lot of southern cooking. Some of them weren't used to that. But the lady who I had started to work for was a southern lady. She was from Birmingham, Alabama. She was used to the southern cooking.
  • [00:45:27.51] INTERVIEWER 2: Style.
  • [00:45:27.97] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: And boy, the other people thought that was great. So that's how I got started.
  • [00:45:33.63] INTERVIEWER 2: Did your business have a name?
  • [00:45:36.53] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No.
  • [00:45:37.21] INTERVIEWER 2: It just was you?
  • [00:45:38.56] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Just was me.
  • [00:45:39.52] INTERVIEWER 1: Just Ms. Seeley.
  • [00:45:44.63] INTERVIEWER 2: And what did you like to do for fun in those years? Did you have any opportunities to do fun things?
  • [00:45:56.32] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh well, at that time, they had a-- what did they call it? It was a clubhouse, I guess a club where they'd have music and dancing and going on like that. We'd go.
  • [00:46:24.44] INTERVIEWER 2: Was this for African Americans only, or was it a--
  • [00:46:28.34] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes.
  • [00:46:28.63] INTERVIEWER 2: Yeah, and at the time that you arrived in Michigan, was it more segregated than it is now?
  • [00:46:40.06] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, when we arrived here, yeah, it was more segregated than it is now.
  • [00:46:54.17] INTERVIEWER 2: Did that surprise you?
  • [00:46:57.53] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well yes, into affairs, going out to having dinners and all, because I wasn't used to white inviting black and black inviting white and all. So it was different to that respect. And to churches, it was still segregated here at that time.
  • [00:47:34.50] INTERVIEWER 2: Right.
  • [00:47:36.94] INTERVIEWER 1: I know you mentioned for your first husband that they took him to the hospital when he went to the job that day. Were there any differences in the hospitals at that time in terms of some of the things we've been talking about?
  • [00:47:50.90] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh no, in the hospital, they had a floor for colored and a floor for white. And so it was the same doctors.
  • [00:48:05.35] INTERVIEWER 2: Were there any black doctors at the hospital?
  • [00:48:11.86] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: A couple-- yeah, Dr. Lloyd. I had to think, who were the doctors back then? There were a couple of black doctors, two I know. But that's about all there was. There wasn't any black doctors back then.
  • [00:48:31.98] INTERVIEWER 1: Can you remember what it was like to be seen by a doctor at that time? How did the doctors treat you, or if you ever went to visit someone else?
  • [00:48:41.85] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh the doctors were nice. Yes, we had no trouble, no, uh-uh.
  • [00:48:51.19] INTERVIEWER 2: And when people had babies at that point, did they have them at home still?
  • [00:48:57.93] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Different places-- they mostly had them at home, and the doctors would come to their homes.
  • [00:49:07.59] INTERVIEWER 2: Were you born at home?
  • [00:49:08.84] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: They tell me I was.
  • [00:49:11.81] INTERVIEWER 2: You don't remember unless it was Santa Claus who brought you.
  • [00:49:17.28] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: That's right.
  • [00:49:22.04] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, so you talked about a lot of the questions in the next section, which we were just going to be asking about-- what your working life was like. So you told us a lot about how you got started with cooking. And you started with one family.
  • [00:49:37.79] And people just started hearing about you. And as you were talking, I could even start to smell some of the food there. Could you tell us what a typical day was like when you were doing your cooking or your catering?
  • [00:49:58.91] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: What a typical day was like?
  • [00:50:01.22] INTERVIEWER 1: Or if you could remember a time, one day in your life when you were cooking, what it was like that day.
  • [00:50:09.48] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, for some reason, somehow, I was always treated very well everywhere.
  • [00:50:20.58] INTERVIEWER 2: But, for instance, did you do your own shopping for your food to make?
  • [00:50:27.98] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Unless the lady had a certain menu that she wanted. If she wanted me to just fix the dinner, then I would do my own shopping. If she had a certain menu she wanted, then she would buy the food, and I'd prepare it.
  • [00:50:48.43] INTERVIEWER 2: Did you also do all the cleanup and that kind of stuff?
  • [00:50:51.24] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: In the kitchen?
  • [00:50:52.44] INTERVIEWER 2: Uh-huh.
  • [00:50:52.73] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Mhmm-- depends on how many she was having that I would have help.
  • [00:51:01.36] INTERVIEWER 2: So help serving, help cleaning up?
  • [00:51:04.43] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, uh-huh, help cleaning up.
  • [00:51:08.37] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, what's the biggest difference, do you think, from when you were working as a cook or a caterer from the time you started until now?
  • [00:51:22.30] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Ooh, I think there's a big difference. I think it is. Of course, I haven't done much working up here, not into restaurants and things. I worked in homes. In homes, I can't say it was any different. Because in the South, it was nice if you were working there. And here, it was nice. So when you're working individually in homes, I couldn't see its difference.
  • [00:52:19.68] INTERVIEWER 2: And you worked in homes down in Louisiana as well?
  • [00:52:25.70] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: As cooking, yes.
  • [00:52:31.07] INTERVIEWER 1: What did you value the most about your cooking? What did you value the most about what you did for a living, and then why?
  • [00:52:41.76] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Cooking-- I liked to cook more than I did anything. Not much of a housekeeper, but I was a cook.
  • [00:52:51.86] INTERVIEWER 2: And why did you like that?
  • [00:52:54.02] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I don't know, I guess I liked to eat. I just liked food. Yeah, and I liked to try different things.
  • [00:53:07.37] INTERVIEWER 2: And apparently other people liked it as well.
  • [00:53:10.52] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes, and when I came up here, I was used to cooking southern food. There's a lot of difference in cooking in the South and cooking up here when I first came up here. And they thought it was great up here. So that went over big.
  • [00:53:36.39] INTERVIEWER 1: Did you have a favorite kind of dish that you would like to cook?
  • [00:53:38.91] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I've had that asked for me a million times.
  • [00:53:43.19] INTERVIEWER 2: You like it all.
  • [00:53:45.03] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I just liked to cook.
  • [00:53:47.54] INTERVIEWER 2: Did you have any specialties?
  • [00:53:49.33] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: That's what is this--
  • [00:53:51.00] INTERVIEWER 2: That's the question, same question, OK.
  • [00:53:52.95] SANDY: Turkey and dressing, Ms. Seeley.
  • [00:53:55.30] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Huh?
  • [00:53:55.79] SANDY: Turkey and dressing-- turkey and dressing?
  • [00:53:59.21] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, turkey and dressing, well, that was kind of-- well, it wasn't just my favorite thing to cook. But I'd like to cook it.
  • [00:54:14.28] INTERVIEWER 2: So what was your favorite?
  • [00:54:17.90] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Fried chicken. I liked to fry chicken.
  • [00:54:25.84] INTERVIEWER 2: Did you have a secret?
  • [00:54:27.71] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I don't think I had no secret. I just liked to season mine ahead of time, and wait and deep-fry it.
  • [00:54:41.15] INTERVIEWER 2: OK, and how did your life change when you and your spouse retired?
  • [00:54:52.94] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I haven't been long retired, and he didn't either. He retired from-- after we got up here, he was on the pipeline. And this was the first place we ever lived that it got too cold to work in the wintertime.
  • [00:55:16.57] When we were in the South, it maybe would get cold in a day or two, like that. They would be all-- but they soon had to go back to work and all. But up here, they had to close down. They weren't used to this cold and all.
  • [00:55:40.74] So that's when I was working for a Dr. Bruce Stewart. I don't know whether you might have read about him, but he was here. He worked the university. And that's who I was working for at the time. And so I was telling Mrs. Stewart that the job was closing down. Because it was too cold. They couldn't dig. And we were going to have to go back south.
  • [00:56:17.81] And she said, oh no. She said, we'll get him a job. So that's when she I guess asked her husband about getting him a job at the hospital at the university. And so when I first told him about it, he said, oh no, I ain't going around them dead folks. So I said, I don't know what you mean dead. They ain't going to be dead when you [INAUDIBLE].
  • [00:56:51.83] So I said, well, you can try it. You don't know what they want you to do. So anyway, he made up his mind to try it. And so I told Dr. Stewart when he was coming up. He said when he got up there. I said, no, still just catering through all the buildings and everything, catering. And when he got in there, he said they were signing him up in it when they got in there.
  • [00:57:21.23] And so he just did a lot of things. He was a very handy man, could do most anything. So it was a good while, for he had a steady job. Then, he got to be a window washer. That was hard to find-- people to hang out over the windows and wash the windows, put those loops around him.
  • [00:57:45.35] INTERVIEWER 2: So he was afraid of dead people, but not of hanging?
  • [00:57:48.00] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: That's right, he wasn't afraid of hanging out, that's right.
  • [00:57:56.88] INTERVIEWER 2: And when did he retire?
  • [00:58:01.63] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, he retired from the hospital-- let's see, I think he had retired maybe about-- you know, I don't really remember, seven or eight years before he passed, maybe. But always, he was a handy man and just worked and worked, hauling and always was doing something. And everybody knew him. And if they want anything done, they'd call for Howard.
  • [00:58:43.66] INTERVIEWER 2: And do you recall what year he passed?
  • [00:58:51.36] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Hm, now ain't that something? Sandy, what year did Howard pass?
  • [00:58:57.58] SANDY: 2009.
  • [00:59:00.37] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: 2009?
  • [00:59:01.08] SANDY: Mhmm.
  • [00:59:02.30] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: 2009-- my memory's not as good.
  • [00:59:07.27] INTERVIEWER 2: That's the same year my husband passed.
  • [00:59:08.80] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I remember things way back that I can remember right.
  • [00:59:12.26] INTERVIEWER 2: Yeah, 2009, it's almost four years ago. And did you get to do any things when he was retired? Did the two of you get to do any retirement sorts of things?
  • [00:59:30.90] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, we still had big dinners in our back yard on the holidays and all. So he still worked with his truck and hauled things and did things. He never stopped working. He retired from the hospital, but he still worked out. If anybody wanted anything done, they called for Howard.
  • [01:00:01.94] SANDY: Tell them how they close the street down on 4th of July and you have the big parties.
  • [01:00:07.99] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, the police in Ann Arbor, when we'd have the 4th of July party, they'd close 4th Street and Beakes Street. They'd block it off.
  • [01:00:24.95] INTERVIEWER 2: You know what, I've been at that party now that I come to think of it.
  • [01:00:30.46] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Really?
  • [01:00:31.39] INTERVIEWER 2: Yeah.
  • [01:00:32.79] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I know there's been a lot of people there that I didn't even know, you know? That's right.
  • [01:00:39.40] INTERVIEWER 2: That's exciting, wow.
  • [01:00:43.09] INTERVIEWER 1: That sounds like a really fun time.
  • [01:00:45.25] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, it was. I had as many as 200 right there in my backyard, in and out, you know?
  • [01:00:54.33] SANDY: And the students on Sundays come and everything.
  • [01:00:56.40] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh yeah, I have had students every Sunday just about.
  • [01:01:03.73] INTERVIEWER 2: Students from the university?
  • [01:01:05.49] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: University, yeah, wherever, and some that weren't students.
  • [01:01:10.52] INTERVIEWER 2: So just liked good food.
  • [01:01:11.71] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, their friends would come. I'd cook Sunday dinners.
  • [01:01:18.35] INTERVIEWER 1: Do you still do the Sunday dinners?
  • [01:01:20.42] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, you'd be welcome, but no, I don't.
  • [01:01:26.26] INTERVIEWER 2: Darn.
  • [01:01:27.06] INTERVIEWER 1: I know, just got awful hungry.
  • [01:01:30.88] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I don't do that. I don't hardly cook for myself now.
  • [01:01:35.10] INTERVIEWER 1: All right, when you were working, can you remember any important social or historical events that were taking place at the time and how they affected you or your family?
  • [01:02:00.01] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: You mean in my work?
  • [01:02:03.23] INTERVIEWER 1: Around you, like things that maybe were going on in the news, or anything that came on national TV, any kind of national thing that was happening at the time when you were working? Or it could have been in your community if any particular-- if there's a particular kind of climate or particular event that was going on around the time when you were working when you moved here.
  • [01:02:31.38] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Right this minute I can't think of anything. I can't think right now.
  • [01:02:38.36] INTERVIEWER 1: OK, I'm still thinking about those Sunday dinners.
  • [01:02:47.64] INTERVIEWER 2: So you said this a little bit, too, but maybe we'll ask you to expand. So tell us how it is for you to have lived in this community all these years.
  • [01:03:03.27] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: It was great. It's fine. I love living here, uh-huh. By doing the work that I did, I was used to mixing. So it wasn't hard for me.
  • [01:03:29.16] INTERVIEWER 2: So you have friends from all parts of the community.
  • [01:03:33.44] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: That's right.
  • [01:03:37.99] INTERVIEWER 2: And when thinking back over your entire life, what are you most proud of?
  • [01:03:50.30] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Hmm, I don't know what I'm most proud of. I'm just proud of all of my life.
  • [01:03:56.12] INTERVIEWER 2: Well, say something more about that.
  • [01:04:00.34] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I was easy to make friends. And I don't know, I think I've had a good life with all types of people. Take the street that I live on right now. In my block, it's not two, three-- well, one is facing Beakes. So to face 4th, there's not but two black families that live on my street. I get along with all of them.
  • [01:04:57.00] INTERVIEWER 2: How long have you lived there?
  • [01:05:01.39] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Ah, how long have I lived on Beakes Street?
  • [01:05:04.92] SANDY: I don't know how long, '50-something?
  • [01:05:08.53] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Since 1950-something. I don't remember right now.
  • [01:05:14.54] SANDY: What about all those students that you interact with in town?
  • [01:05:19.22] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh yeah, and now, I have all students in my house. Well, no I don't. The apartment joining mine downstairs, there's a lady and her son. But upstairs, I don't know what they do.
  • [01:05:48.04] SANDY: Talk about the old students like the Hudsons and all that used to live there.
  • [01:05:52.40] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, the husbands.
  • [01:05:53.82] SANDY: Hudsons-- Connie and Roy.
  • [01:05:57.27] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, they never did live with me, but they were my friends. But they never did live with me.
  • [01:06:05.22] SANDY: And Aisha visiting with you.
  • [01:06:09.57] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Aisha didn't live with me, but she was there all the time. I guess people thought she lived with me.
  • [01:06:16.81] SANDY: And you went to her wedding in Tennessee.
  • [01:06:19.81] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh yeah, they sent for me.
  • [01:06:27.23] INTERVIEWER 2: So you've had a lot of friends and a lot of connections. You connected to lots of people in the community.
  • [01:06:36.36] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Uh-huh.
  • [01:06:39.28] INTERVIEWER 2: So what would you say has changed the most from the time you were a young person until now?
  • [01:06:44.56] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I can't get around good. But I don't think-- well, by not being able to get around good, I don't have the chance to visit and to connect with my friends as I used to. But I have awful nice friends, awful nice.
  • [01:07:12.95] INTERVIEWER 2: So they come to see you.
  • [01:07:14.29] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, they come to see me. They come get me. Take those two nosey ones over there. You here what I said, Pat?
  • [01:07:23.52] PAT: Yeah, we go to lunch every Tuesday.
  • [01:07:25.62] INTERVIEWER 2: Yeah, lovely, so they don't let you get too isolated.
  • [01:07:29.46] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: They don't let me get too far from them. They come to see me and come get me out. Every Tuesday, they come take me to a luncheon. They have a little-- I guess a little club like they have. They come get me right in there. So I'm not lonely for friendship. And neither on my street, on the Beakes Street nor on the 4th Street side-- I have very nice friends.
  • [01:08:06.17] INTERVIEWER 2: Good neighbors.
  • [01:08:07.87] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Uh-huh, neighbor.
  • [01:08:10.03] INTERVIEWER 1: What advice would you give to the younger generation?
  • [01:08:14.78] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh my, just try to treat everybody right and be nice to everybody. I can't say whether it be right or wrong. Just treat everybody nice. Of course, there have been some who I could almost take their head off. But I didn't.
  • [01:08:41.74] But I treat them nice. And they still appreciate me. And I think about it later-- well, if I had just said and did what I had thought about doing, they wouldn't be doing this to me. Some things you let go, and you try to think of the right encouraging word to say to them if they get on your nerves. And then, if they get on your nerves too much, sometimes it's good to not say anything.
  • [01:09:18.98] INTERVIEWER 1: All right, so treat people nice, treat everybody nice.
  • [01:09:24.11] INTERVIEWER 2: Is there anything that you'd like to add that we haven't asked you about, something that you wanted to be asked or something you wanted to say?
  • [01:09:35.51] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I can't think of it right now?
  • [01:09:39.27] INTERVIEWER 2: Peanut gallery, anything?
  • [01:09:41.31] SANDY: About the missing man, Ms. Seeley, the little postman that was missing for years out of your yard that made the newspaper.
  • [01:09:49.35] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Oh, I had a school statue in my back yard. And somebody had taken him. And I didn't know who it was. And so I put an ad in the paper about it. And so-- how long was that gone, Pat?
  • [01:10:24.08] PAT: About a couple years.
  • [01:10:25.39] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, a couple of years, I know about two years. And finally one morning, I had this knock on the door. What's this? Was that this year?
  • [01:10:47.69] SANDY: Uh-uh.
  • [01:10:48.96] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Last year?
  • [01:10:49.59] SANDY: Mhmm.
  • [01:10:51.85] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yeah, last year-- I get my years mixed up. And I opened the door. It was the policeman. I said, oh my gosh. The first I thought about-- somebody in the house. I have three tenants in the house. I said, oh, what's going to happen, you know? They were just smiling. [INAUDIBLE].
  • [01:11:17.55] And he asked, are you Ms. Seeley? I said, I think I am. And so they said, we have something out here for you. Gosh, what is that? I said, OK. So I got my walker and went on out. They helped me down the steps.
  • [01:11:39.84] And they had the car backed into that driveway. And one was standing out there to the car. I said, oh, what in the world they got for me? And so I went on out. When I did that, he opened the trunk of the car. And it was a statue of the school crossing man. And they took it out, and I said, oh, that's my man.
  • [01:12:08.10] INTERVIEWER 2: He's come home.
  • [01:12:09.52] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: He's come home, that's right. So I was proud of that.
  • [01:12:14.66] INTERVIEWER 2: Had he been hitchhiking around the world, or where had he gone?
  • [01:12:18.33] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Well, I asked. I said, where did you find him? And so they told me. He was up on-- oh gosh, what street did I tell you all he-- did I tell you what street he was on?
  • [01:12:36.94] SANDY: I can't remember.
  • [01:12:38.44] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I don't remember either. But they said he was on one street out there. I said, well, did you know who it was? They said, who we found him at, they said they didn't know how he got there. So anyway, I got him in my little house now until I get somebody to cement him down good. But you know, he was in cement I guess about a foot deep.
  • [01:13:10.90] INTERVIEWER 2: Wow, somebody got him out.
  • [01:13:13.71] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: And it must have been a couple of them. Because he was heavy. Because it had taken two of the policemen to get him out the back of the car to put him back with the big cement block on his feet.
  • [01:13:34.10] INTERVIEWER 2: You could put a little microchip. Next time, you can track him.
  • [01:13:41.65] SANDY: What hasn't been captured is her 40-plus years that I've been here of her service and outreach to the African American community through opening her house on Sunday dinners and her cash, her homes, to people, university students, newcomers to the area and so forth. And she's done that without any complaints or reward. But she's been steadfast with that.
  • [01:14:11.23] You have people who have retired from professionals and so forth like that. I would think that anybody who's been around in Ann Arbor would attest to that part of it. She's modest in that she won't talk about that. But everybody else in Ann Arbor talks about that. Everybody else who's a U of M alumni talks about that who's been around.
  • [01:14:35.55] PAT: Because the Hudson couple we were talking about, he went on to be president of Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia. She's spent a lot of time with them in her home.
  • [01:14:45.67] INTERVIEWER 2: Wow, well, can we get you to say something about that, a little more than you have? Did you hear what your friends where saying?
  • [01:14:57.76] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: I heard what they were saying. That was some of the people that I invited over. And I still invite people over. I don't get around as much as I used to. But that's when I was cooking more and all. And I've had students to come in and study in my living room. And sometimes, they fall asleep. And I go and throw a blanket over them on the couch. And so I--
  • [01:15:43.53] INTERVIEWER 2: And how long did you do that kind of mothering of students and other people in this community?
  • [01:15:54.33] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Gosh, I still do that. Still, a lot of the students come over now. And they can study where it's quiet, you know?
  • [01:16:10.60] INTERVIEWER 2: So your friends said that you did that for more than 40 years.
  • [01:16:16.53] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Yes, uh-huh, but I don't have as many now as I used to who do that.
  • [01:16:22.68] INTERVIEWER 2: Well, now they can invite you over to their house.
  • [01:16:26.08] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: That's right, I had two weddings. Has it been this year or last year?
  • [01:16:34.47] SANDY: Last year.
  • [01:16:35.65] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Last year that they sent for me, flew me down to their weddings.
  • [01:16:45.35] INTERVIEWER 2: That's great, and you didn't even have to cater them, I bet.
  • [01:16:47.74] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: No, I didn't have to cater them.
  • [01:16:49.92] INTERVIEWER 1: That's nice.
  • [01:16:50.89] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: Didn't even have to pay my way down there. They sent for me, that's right.
  • [01:16:58.97] INTERVIEWER 2: It wouldn't be the same occasion without you.
  • [01:17:02.72] JOHNNIE MAE SEELEY: So they've been-- and everybody-- they're just as nice and bossy as they can be. That's too old [INAUDIBLE] they sit there waiting. If I said something wrong, they're going to correct me.