# Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105/Section 061/Auguste Mollie
## Auguste Mollie
### Biography

Auguste Mollie was born in 1858 in Dauphine in South-Eastern France. Mollie worked as a farmer, taking care of fruit trees, but later became tired of his occupation and decided to make a career/life change. Auguste had 2 brothers and 2 sisters but at the age of 35, left all of them and moved to Canada which he lived in for 3 months before realizing he could not handle the cold and moving again to Kansas City for two years, and then packed up again and moved to Spring Hill Alabama. Mollie worked for a man named Albert Stein that created a waterworks system in Mobile, Alabama. Mollie also worked for Spring Hill College to save up money to buy a new home. After saving up some money, Mollie bought a new home on Dog River and helped to create one of the first unpaved roads in Springhill to allow neighboring citizens to get to him and visit. Mollie never married or had kids, and was never truly able to live his life because he was always working so hard. He had an African American caretaker named Clarissa who came to look after him in 1914 when he became ill with malaria. Clarissa described Mollie as a hard worker saying that he worked from 6 am until the sun went down and if he had to stop work early due to weather, he would tell his boss that he did not need a full day’s pay. She also said he had a green thumb, planting pecan trees, two grape arbors, a banana plant, a pear tree, a plum tree, and two quince trees. In his old age, Clarissa stated that Mollie was an impolite man who just sat and read the paper. His only source of income came from the fruit that he grew, and Clarissa took care of him until he died of a stroke years later.

### Turn of the Twentieth Century
#### European Immigrants in America

At the turn of the twentieth century, a massive wave of migration occurred in The United States. Europeans were moving to America and making the same amount of money in the workplace as those born in the U.S. The United States had open borders during this migration period and, because of this, took in more than 30 million immigrants. As time went on, many immigrants came from more impoverished regions of southern and eastern Europe. Many people born in the U.S. believed that these European immigrants would never actively fit into their society. In 1924, Congress set a quota of 150,000 immigrant arrivals per year, with more spots reserved for immigrants from wealthier European countries (north and west Europe) than those from poorer European countries (South and East Europe). Immigrants from these poorer countries started with lower-paying jobs and were unable ever to make as much as an individual born in the U.S. However, Immigrants from wealthier areas of Europe that lacked the necessary skill sets for the American workplace were eventually able to close the wage gap between those born in the U.S. and those who immigrated.

#### Social Isolation

Social isolation has been studied and found to be directly linked to possible early death. Although underlying health risks play a factor, social isolation’s connection to an early death stays consistent when taking into account gender, age, and region of the world. Several lifestyle and environmental factors are risk factors for an early death as well. These factors include smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, and air pollution. Living alone with a minimal social interaction is a major sign of social isolation. The risks associated with social isolation and loneliness line up with the risk factors for death identified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. These risk factors include physical activity, obesity, substance abuse, responsible sexual behavior, mental health, injury and violence, environmental quality, immunization, and access to health care.

#### Malaria

Malaria control in the twentieth century consisted of limited research with no significant new means for controlling Malaria. The United States’ work with therapeutic agents resulted in a few solutions that gave researchers hope, but none appeared promising enough to really treat Malaria. Results had been obtained on malaria immunology and immunogenetics, but researchers were nowhere near an effective treatment.

#### Alabama Slavery

Although Alabama was going through much change due to peaceful protests and boycotts, slavery was still a genuine issue. Slaves were considered property. Some masters and their slaves had real relationships; however, slave and master's power imbalance made any friendship limited.
Some black women did housework for their master and his family. These women were referred to as "house servants." These workers were fed little to nothing, and comparable to how much work they did, they were not provided enough food to be healthy. These people lived in shacks. Their homes were so small and shabbily built, leaving them exposed to dangerous weather and disease.
Slaves in the South had had to abide by the Slave Codes. The codes were different in different states, but the idea was the same everywhere: slaves are property, not people. Slaves lacked fundamental human rights such as "the right to testify in court against a white person, leave the plantation without permission, strike a white even in self-defense, buy and sell goods, own firearms, gather without a white present, or visit the homes of whites or free blacks (Conditions of antebellum slavery 1830 - 1860). If a slave were to be killed, it would rarely be regarded as murder, and if a slave woman were raped, the woman would be punished for trespassing on a white man's property.

#### Historical Context

At the turn of the twentieth century, The United States was considered a "world power" (America at the Turn of the Century: A Look at the Historical Context). The nation had a strong industrial capacity due to the copious amounts of steel being produced. Several men were striking it rich during this industrial revolution. For example, Andrew Carnegie and his men constructed the world's largest steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Because of this innovation, the United States took on the role of the largest producer of steel in the world, producing over ten million tons of steel a year.
Around this time, the U.S. had a very eventful presidential election. The representative for the Republican party, William McKinley, represented the Eastern conservatives and factory industries for the working man. The representative for the Democratic Party, William Jennings Bryan, stood for "Western radical agrarian interests" (America at the Turn of the Century: A Look at the Historical Context). McKinley was a supporter of "high tariffs and the Gold Standard" (America at the Turn of the Century: A Look at the Historical Context). Bryan stood for more accessible credit and "free silver." State Politics started trying to implement reformation such as "women's suffrage, direct election of United States senators, primary elections, and laws setting minimum wages, work standards, and regulated rates for common carriers and services" (America at the Turn of the Century: A Look at the Historical Context). Progressive movement followers believed in the "perfectibility of man and his society" (America at the Turn of the Century: A Look at the Historical Context). The nation was at a peak, and European immigrants were flooding in.