Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105/Section 88/Henry Kelly

Overview
The purpose of this Wikiversity page is to document the life of Henry Kelly through primary source information gathered by Jack Kytle who was part of the Federal Writer's Project in 1939. HEnry Kelly was a self proclaimed "river rat" during the Great Depression in Sylacauga, Alabama.

Early Life
Henry Kelly was born in Sylacauga, Alabama around 1870. He went through high school and would have graduated around 1890 and received a level of education not common at the time. Eventually he moved to Akron, Ohio. There he married his unnamed wife, had a daughter named Lola, and worked at a rubber factory.

After Marriage
Just before 1920, when his daughter was in her teens, he had a fight with his wife. His wife and daughter left him, and he gave up on his job at the rubber factory. With nothing left for him in Akron, he moved back to where he was born in Sylacauga. He eventually migrated further south to Talladega Springs along Coosa River.

As of 1938 he continued to live by Coosa River in a poorly made shack with a straw bed. He fished for food and traded what surplus he could spare for goods in town. He often went hungry, unable to catch anything. Kelly’s poor nutrition and living conditions have contributed to his deteriorating health. He was described as having leathery, brown skin that outlined his ribs and the pallor associated with malaria. He told Jack Kyle in 1938 that he had almost died the year before to pneumonia and he did not expect to live much longer.

Kelly never took another partner, saying that he could never be happy with a subservient river woman when he had loved a strong-willed, civilized woman. He no longer spoke to his wife by 1938 and had minimal contact with his daughter. He told Kyle that his daughter told her friends that he was dead, and he felt that he should be. Kelly bought moonshine from a man named Uncle “Bud” Ryland who lived up the river. He would often drink himself to sleep at nights, saying he wished to sleep like the dead man that he felt he was.

Prohibition
Prohibition was repealed in 1933 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in efforts to raise money to support the new deal. As the Great Depression loomed, citizens began to recognize the loss of alcohol related tax revenue and jobs. The 18th amendment had forced roughly 250,000 workers out of their jobs. Once the 21st amendment was repealed in 1933 it brought over $1.30 billion in revenue, or nearly half of the government’s budget.

Despite becoming legalized nationwide, many states and their counties in Alabama continued to remain “dry” with several still banning alcohol in modern day. The possession of a liquor still needed to make moonshine is still considered a crime in the state as well.

Mental health
Mental health in the early 1900’s was still in its beginning stages. For those who had no money, they could not afford the treatments offered at the time, and likely didn’t want to. Treatments included hydrotherapy, metazol convulsion, electroshock therapy, and insulin shock therapy. Hydrotherapy involved the patient sitting in a sort of sauna for hours, allowing the heat to ease their body but doing little to aid in mental health other than perhaps calm them for a while. Metazol convulsion and insulin shock therapy meant the patients were drugged into a weaker state, thinking that if they were calmer they were better. Electroshock therapy patients were tied down and electrical nodes were attached to their heads. While it is said to aid some brain function, it is unpredictable, and scientists are still questioning whether or not it can be safely used.

Patients were often seen crying and attempting to resist medication, because the treatments caused varying degrees of pain. Anti-depressants were not widely known. For those whose mental health was affected by the Great Depression

Education
In the late 1800’s the public education system was getting a major rework. The growing middle-class population needed jobs in fields that involved more of the natural sciences, and education grew to support that. Chemistry, physics, and biology all garnered more attention in classes. The school systems also became decentralized. Instead of curriculum being state or federally mandated, it was under the control of the county board of elections. Students of the late 1800s, 1890’s especially, received a public-school education beyond that of their seniors.

Alabama social life
During the early 1900’s, women were still socially supposed to be submissive to men. Divorce was not that common. However, women did begin to challenge victorian rules with the way they dressed and their push for equality.