Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Spring/Section33/Mary Hines

Overview
Mary Hines was interviewed by the Federal Writers Project in 1939. She was born in Monroe County, Alabama, but later spent the majority of her life in Atmore, Alabama, where she pursued the profession of teaching while overcoming racial inequality and the financial hardships of the Great Depression.

Early Life
Mary Hines was one of seven children born to a poor family. Her father was a tenant farmer and her mother cared for her and her siblings. Due to her father being the sole breadwinner for her family, the family moved to areas where the farming industry was most lucrative. Instead of pursuing the industry of farming or electing to get married and move away from home such as her siblings, Mary decided to focus on gaining an education.

Later Life and Education
Education had always been an essential aspect of Hine’s life. After being raised on a farm, Mary begged her parents to allow her to attend school. After graduating college, Hines moved to Atmore, Alabama to pursue her career in teaching. After teaching for three years, she met her husband Dock Hines. He was also a teacher. Together, they had nine children, but five died due to unknown causes. Although this was a traumatic event for their family, Mary continued to expand the availability of educational resources for minority children by teaching part-time in local school systems as well as caring for her family. Hines’ lifelong goal was to positively influence children's lives and to give them the ability to choose their destiny.

Surviving the Great Depression
The Great Depression was one of the United States’ most difficult economic events recorded in history. Unemployment rates and debt were skyrocketing while resources were exponentially depleting. Those in professional careers such as education and other vital aspects of society were out of work, therefore losing their primary source income. Loss of income forced families to relocate to rural areas since they could no longer afford their homes in urban areas. Oftentimes those relocated families took up the practice of farming. During the Great Depression, farming was one of the few occupations available to minorities and, although it did not pay much, it was a way that families could keep food on their table. President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted government plans such as the New Deal and Social Security, but it did not benefit all populations. Specifically, low-income African Americans and farmers were excluded from these plans since they were identified as private tenant farmer sectors. They were also not given fair opportunities to own land as their white counterparts were. Tenant Farming was created to silence the minorities desiring to own land by establishing a lending land program. This lending program was another form of institutionalized slavery and the gateway for African American families in the South to be in debt. Tenant Farming is the practice of farming on rented land and all harvest values and surpluses are automatically given to the owner of the land. This allowed landowners to not only gain more profit, but they were also outsourcing free labor because tenant farmers were paid little to nothing for their labor. This method of farming was most commonly practiced in rural southern states since agriculture was a large part of the South’s economy. This lack of security for these individuals led to periods of uncertainty and increased poverty rates.



Race Relations in the South
Significant incidents of educational inequality and discrimination were taking place against African Americans. The South was the leading geographical area experiencing racial conflict. Individuals were not speaking up against the incidents of discrimination and instead were displaying behavior of subordinance. African Americans were socially recognized as second-class citizens compared to their white counterparts. African Americans were automatically denied loans, white-collar jobs and educational opportunities. Change didn’t occur until the 1950s, when individuals began speaking up and seeking civil and expanded educational rights within the United States. Those first to speak out against these inequalities were African American educators within the classroom. African American educators in the South during the 20th century were some of the most influential and inspiring models of activism for black youth. Leaders who were on the front line of helping these youth included Anna Julia Cooper, Charlotte Forten Grimke and Ida B. Wells, all of whom advocated on the platform of better conditions in public schools, more government funding, and the expansion of school systems to rural areas in which communities of minority students mostly lived. These three women were some of the first voices to speak out against the injustice within the educational system and to gain recognition by government officials due to their persistence and passion.