O\i l\0,\o Transcript of an Interview with Nellie stone Johnson July 15, 1975 Interviewer: David Taylor Project Mrs. Johnson was born in 1905 on a farm owned by her father two miles from La.keville. She is Societya founder and organizer of Minneapolis Local 665, affiliated with the Hotel and Restaurant International Union.History She was a m.mber of the Farmer-Labor' Party and the first Black and the first woman vice-president r( of the Minnesota Women's Auxiliary. The interview concerns her background, union activity and Blacks in the Blacklabor movement. This is a verbatim transcriptHistorical of a tape recorded interview. The recording is available in the Audio-Visual Library of the Historical Society. MinnesotaMinnesota INTERVIEW WITH MRS. NELLIE STONE JOHNSON July 15, 1975 Interviewed by David V. Taylor Taylor: This is an oral interview with Mrs. Nellie Stone Johnson, taken July 15, 1975 in Mrs. Johnson's business establishment, Nellie's Zipper and Shirt Repair Shop, 628 Nicollet Mall, Room 320 (Minneapolis). Mrs. Johnson was born December 17, 1905 two milesProject from Lakeville, Minnesota in Dakota County. Her parents were William R. Allen of Dalton, Missouri, born May 7, 1880 and Gladys (Foray?) born in 1881 in Rising Sun, Indiana. Her parents came Societyindividually to the Lakeville area - to Minneapolis - and were later married and obtained a farm and farmed in the LakevilleHistory vicinity. Mrs. Johnson was a founder, or one of the founding members, of the Hotel and Restaurant Local 665 which is affiliated with the Hotel and Restaurant Inter­ national, and her fatherBlack was one of the first members of the Farmer­ Labor Party. She herself hasHistorical been involved in the Farmer-Labor Party since 1924. She was also one of the founding members of the merger of the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party. She was also the first vice president - the first black and woman - vice president of the Minnesota Culinary Council. Mrs. Johnson when and where were you born? Minnesota Johnson: TwoMinnesota miles north of Lakeville, Minnesota in Dakota County. Taylor: What was the date? Johnson: December 17, 1905. Taylor: And what were your parents' names? -2- Johnson: My father was William R. A11en. My mother was Glady Foray (?) Taylor: And where were they from? Johnson: My father was born in Dalton, Missouri and my mother in Rising Sun, Indiana. Taylor: When did your parents come to Minnesota? Johnson: My father, I would suspect, came here about 1899, making his first trip, and my mother came about 1903. They met in Minneapolis. Project Taylor: What was your father's occupation? What did he do for a living? Johnson: He, being a farmer, having grown up on a Societyfarm, he liked to make the harvest during the summer. Then he worked with Linseed Oil in Minneapolis during the winter months.History Sometimes as a packing house worker also. Taylor: And what was your mother doing at this time? BlackHistorical Johnson: My mother worked at Powers department store. Taylor: Did they . They married in Minneapolis? Johnson: They married at the old Bethesda Baptist Church on Eighth and Eleventh Avenue South in Minneapolis. MinnesotaMinnesota Taylor: What was the date of the marriage? Johnson: January 4, 1904. Taylor: Did your father immediately go to the Lakeville area and begin to farm or did they begin to live in Minneapolis? -3- Johnson: No. They went on kind of a honeymoon. They had a house already out there, some pieces of furniture in it. The rest they took with a horse and spring wagon and drove up (from) Minneapolis, and that was kind of like a honeymoon. Taylor: How large was the homestead? Johnson: The farm that they settled on was about eighty acres. Taylor: Were there any other black families in the area? Johnson: Not at that time, that I know of. But laterProject on, I think about the time I was five, six, maybe seven years old, I knew of the Edwards family in Lakeville; lived right in the town. They called him Grandpa Edwards and then later on a son moved Societyout from Minneapolis and his wife. Name was Clyde Edwards. They worked at the Lakeville flour mills. History Taylor: What was it like growing up on the fj,arm? Did you have any brothers or sisters? BlackHistorical Johnson: Yes. I'm one of seven. Taylor: What were their names? Johnson: Brother Richard, brother Herbert, a sister Gladys, a brother Portland, a sister Almeda. How many is that, six? MinnesotaMinnesota Taylor: Six. Johnson: And me. Taylor: And which are you? Johnson:' I'm number one. -4- Taylor: Number one. Johnson: It was about a year's difference between the marriage and me. Taylor: How was it like? What was your family life like? Johnson: Well, I thought my family life was pretty good. I heard about people not having enough to eat and a place to live, but this never occurred to me that it really happened to people, because as far as I remember we always had plenty enough to eat, milk to drink, and plenty of chickens to eat and everything else. We butchered our own beef and all of our pork. Project Taylor: Did you go to school in the Lakeville area? Society Johnson: Yes, I did, a little school out in District 102 of which my father was already on the schoolHistory board when I started to school. Taylor: What was the relationship that your father or your parents shared with the neighbors, the surrounding farmers? BlackHistorical Johnson: Well as far as I know, it was very good. We still have friends - or I do - out in that area that I went to school with; people who are in business, and so forth. Some retired now, because none of us are so young any more. Taylor: Did your father produce crops for the market or was he more or Minnesotaless a Minnesotatruck farmer? Johnson: l~en they first started out he did do some truck farming, but that was in relation to an awful lot of hay and grain and corn and that sort of thing. Before we were large enough to work he had about three hired men during the summer. Taylor: Does your family still own land out in that area? -5- Johnson: No. Later on they bought land at Hinckley, Minnesota in Pine County. We still have two farms up there. Taylor: What did you do or what led you to move away from the farm? Johnson: Well, one of the things was he wanted more land and we wanted to get bigger into dairy. And at the time that we moved from out there I guess we were milking around twenty or twenty-five cows. And when we moved into Pine County, of course we moved up to around thirty or thirty-five; had a rotating herd and began to build a very good - when I left home - a very good thoroughbred herd of Holsteins. Project Taylor: Were there any dairy cooperatives in those days, or was it every man for himself? Society Johnson: No, we had cooperative creameries.History In fact, as strange as it may seem, Land Q'Lakes used to be very much of a cooperative creamery. My father was also on the board of that. And that creamery was started . When we moved to Pine County, the closest town was fourteen miles, whichBlack was Hinckley, and then about four miles from our place they had a corner Historicalgrocery set up and this Land Q'Lakes Creamery. My father helped to get that started and was on that board. There wasn't any electricity out there. Electricity was a little slower coming because Roosevelt hadn't come in with the philosophy of REA and so forth. So my father served on that board, and finally got electricity too. Minnesota Taylor: YourMinnesota father seemed like a very interesting and dynamic person. I remember you saying that he was involved in labor politics; that he helped to organize, as it were, the Farmer-La.bor Party. Johnson: Well he certainly was a member. He was probably one of the charter members in the state of Minnesota because he was very interested in the Nonpartisan League movement which came out of North Dakota -6- prior to the Farmer-Labor Party. I think that's the beginning of . my interest too, because I read all the publications. Taylor: Then you moved away from home at what age? Johnson: Seventeen. Taylor: And where did you go? Johnson: I came to Minneapolis. I came down with the idea of becoming a chemist or something, I was always very interested in chemistry. It was beginning to get into the heart of theProject Depression and jobs weren't too easy to find and it kind of curtailed my going to school. However I did go to the University quite a bit. But I didn't dabble in chemistry. I dabbled in politics and the wholeSociety economic end of things because I was getting interested in the labor movement at that time. This sort of dove-tailedHistory with what my activities were. Taylor: What exactly was your involvement with the labor movement during the Thirties? BlackHistorical Johnson: Well, one was very interesting, the starting of 665, which was the Miscellaneous Workers local affiliated with the - or the beginning of it - affiliated with the International Hotel and Restaurant. And I helped to organize that and I was on the board. I served on the policy-making boards - or committees rather - and bettered conditions all the way around. MinnesotaMinnesota Taylor: Were you working in a related area at the time? Johnson: Yes.