Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105i/Section 22/Gretchen Branch

Overview
Gretchen Branch (pseudonym) was an African American woman born around 1913 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She was a violinist and worked as a music teacher. Branch was interview by the Federal Writers Project Federal Writers Project on May 30th, 1939.

Early Life
Gretchen Branch was born in 1913 on an unknown date in Fayetteville, NC. Her father was a Presbyterian minister and her mother was a school teacher. Branch had two sisters, one younger and one older. When she was eight, she received her first violin on her birthday. However, because of her race, it was difficult to find an instructor that would teach her. Branch's parents convinced Mrs.Gustav (pseudonym), a Belgian music teacher, to give her lessons. Branch continued playing the violin throughout high school and graduated with honors at about 15 years old. Because of this, she received a $150 scholarship to study music at Hillsdale College (not a real institution).

At Hillsdale, Branch joined the choir and was given many solos. When it came time for an “important” performance, she missed her solo on purpose and was expelled from the college. According to an interview with the Federal Writers Project, she told her mother that she wanted to go to a school in the Midwest. Once at this school, Branch did better musically and academically, and at the end of her time in college, she received a scholarship to study music in New York.

She lived in New York for an unknown amount of time, worked as a showgirl, and rented an apartment there. Her mother said that her job was indecent so, she brought her back home to Fayetteville. She got a job teaching in a mining section and bought herself a car with the financial help of her boyfriend Eric Taylor (pseudonym). The next summer she got another teaching job in the small town of Wormly (a fake name for another town), which was close to her home, and after 2 years she got a job teaching music in a college farther down south.

Later Life
Branch taught in the college down South for an unknown amount of years. In her interview, she said that she didn't find the prejudice towards her as bad as people expressed. However, she wanted to see equality in job opportunities and travel. Her date of death is unknown.

African American Classical Musicians in the 1900s
In the 1900s, because music was defined by gender, women could only be publicly successful on certain instruments. A woman violinist could only be accepted if she had begun her career as a child prodigy. This standard was held for white women, so it took more talent and time for an African American woman to be noticed by a musical audience. Even if a woman was publicly known, her pay was still not as high as a man’s.

Music, classical included, was segregated. Record companies of the twenties and thirties divided music into two categories: one for Blacks and one for Whites. Music in the Black category included blues, jazz, religious music, and vaudeville songs. And in the White category was the fiddle, banjo, some religious music, classical music, and jazz performed by whites.

African American Teacher Pay in the 1930s
The Great Depression worsened teacher’s working conditions due to the lessening of programs that schools offered. Teachers had to teach famished children affected by the loss of jobs of their parents. African American teachers also had significantly lower pay. The monthly salary of African American teachers down South was about $73 per month, while white teachers averaged about $118 per month. The gap was made larger when considering that the school year for white students was two months longer than those of African American students.

African American teachers were also given less money by the school district for teaching materials and classroom items than white teachers. For example, Alabama spent $37 on each white child and $7 on an African American child, in Georgia, it was $32 and $7, in Mississippi it was $31 and $6, and in South Carolina it $53 and $5.

North Carolina Schools During the Great Depression
North Carolina had 6,729 schools in 1931 and about 1,600 were one-room schools with only one teacher. So, teachers had to adjust their lessons so that all students could learn properly in one room. Also, due to the lack of funding, schools found ways to reduce costs by closing cafeterias and having students bring their own lunch, which many could not afford to bring much and often left school hungry. Many schools also got rid of classes such as art and music and others cut back on activities and sports. Even less money went to schools for African American students and many schools were given discarded or leftover materials from white schools.

In 1933 the General Assembly initiated a 3 percent a 3% sales tax and lessened the number of principals in school systems. Along with principals and cafeteria workers, many teachers were also fired. The teachers that kept their jobs had more students per class and received salary cuts. Some counties gave teachers vouchers which promised pay at a later date.