Interview with Melvia B. Anderson Fields, October 18, 2010

Interview Summary

In this second interview with Mrs. Melvia B. Anderson Fields, Mrs. Fields talks about the home her family lived in after WWII; the home belonged to her husband's family. The house was next to the projects and there were lots of children. It was a close knit neighborhood, a good environment for raising children. The families shared babysitting because many of the African American women had entered the workforce in the 1950s. Mrs. Fields gives the names of many of the families who lived on Lylesville Street, and the social interaction that made it a vibrant neighborhood. Mrs. Fields also talked about life in rural Bourbon County in LIttle Rock: hog killing, the making and canning of sausage, cooking, family, race and relationships, and living on a farm. She also talks about her employment at the Paris-Bourbon County Hospital and the employment of African American women, and the notoriety of the cooks in the hospital. Mrs. Fields helped found the volunteer program at the hospital. She also discusses her employment at Avon (Lexington-Blue Grass Army Depot), and the difficulties for African American women to gain employment at Avon. It took Mrs. Fields twelve years to become employed at Avon. She helped found the Avon Black History Month Annual Celebration.

Interview Keyword

African American women African Americans in Kentucky baking Bourbon County, Kentucky cooking employment employment discrimination family cemetery handed down knowledge hog killing hospital volunteer program housing authority (projects) interracial relations iron stoves making butter Race relations women horse owners women volunteers

Interview LC Subject

African American families Bourbon County (Ky.) Fields, Melvia B. Anderson Fields, Melvia B. Anderson--Interviews African Americans

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.