Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Summer II/Section 12/Odessa Polk

Overview
Odessa Polk was an African American cook born in Charlotte, North Carolina of 1897.

Early Life
Odessa Polk was born in 1897 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her mother was married twice and she was the younger of the first set of children. At the age of 3 Polk moved in with her grandmother due to issues with her stepfather. Her grandmother was older and not able to work, so her sister stepped in to work. . When they were smaller they did not attend church as much because they did not have decent clothes, so a lady from the church helped fix them up. Polk started working at the age of 9 making twenty-five cents a week washing dishes. She finished the fifth grade and then went to work full-time. Polk’s grandmother died, so she had to go live with her aunt who had a health condition that limited her from working.

Adulthood
Polk had three daughters and was never married: Wootsie, Sarah, and Madeline. She was able to move into her own home before Sarah, the youngest child. Things started to get hard, so she had to quit working away from home to take care of her children. Polk had struggles with money, but still maintained to make sure that her children went to school. Wootsie was always sick since she was ten years old, but Polk wasn’t making enough money to pay the doctor bills and tried to pay what she could. The daughters were just like their mom, never finished school, had kids, and no marriage. At the time of the interview Polk, her daughters, and grandchildren all lived in a 4-bedroom house, her daughters had jobs and Polk was a cook making 9 dollars an hour. During her free time she spent time working at the church and attended all her church clubs. Polk died March 1959.

Education
During the Great Depression many schools closed the doors due to a lack of funding, but North Carolina did not. In the 1940 census over 100,000 people 10 years old or older had not finished one year of schooling or are classified as illiterate. With that number about 95% was African American. Public schools were separated between three races. North Carolina public schools received recognition, but the problem wasn’t only race it was funds. The average daily attendance in elementary schools were 90.3% and those in high school 93.7% both were lower than the daily attendance of Caucasians. From 1923-24 the African Americans had an over 4,000 people. From then attendance continued to increase from 1930-1941.

Religion
The Church is one of the most important and financially stable places for African Americans. It was more than just a place for worship but for social, economic, and cultural life. Church and religion was a haven from a hostile world and served as an outlet for emotions. Without church and religion, African Americans would have been unsupportable. Early African American, especially slaves learned how to read and write in Sunday school. The church is deeply attached and important to African Americans. African American churches in North Carolina have been and still are an important racial organization that influences social and economic life. A large number of females went to church and had memberships than males.

Politics
The politics of the south focused on the efforts to gain schooling, jobs, and income. Many appeals were made to elected officials to help with work discrimination. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had many complaints about discrimination in offices and not being able to get a job. Some African Americans used their right to vote. In the 1930s the political voice assisted in the appointments of African Americans in the Roosevelt administration, there was a diverse group known as the “Black Cabinet.” Also the New Deal reforms strengthened the African American support from the Democratic Party. The New Deal programs benefited the African Americans in a great way. The Works Progress Administration gave jobs too many African Americans and the Federal Writers Project supported African American authors.

Jobs
The Great Depression worsened the economic situation for African Americans. They were the first to lose jobs and suffered from the unemployment rate. In many instances, the type of job determines the individual's income and the income profoundly affects the standard of living he maintains or determines whether the individual is able to secure the necessities of life. In public assistance programs they received less than others and some organizations didn’t except them. In 1929 a movement started boycotting business that only hired Caucasian workers but most of the customers were African American. In 1936 and 1937 African American and youth groups unified to found different congresses.