Oral history interview with S. J. and Leonia Farrar, May 28, 2003
Subtitle: interview K-0652, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)
Contributors: Van Scoyoc, Peggy, interviewer; Farrar, Leonia, interviewee; Southern Oral History Program; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Documenting the American South (Project); University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library
Edition: Electronic ed.
Publisher: University Library, UNC-Chapel Hill
Published: 2007
Place of publication: [Chapel Hill, N.C.]
Language: eng
Subjects: Interviews; African Americans; African American farmers; Social conditions; Farm life
Other titles: Interview K-0652, Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007); Interview with S. J. and Leonia Farrar, May 28, 2003; Oral histories of the American South.
Description: This interview is a chronicle of a lifetime of hard work. Samuel and Leonia Farrar both grew up in poverty in rural Chatham County, North Carolina, although Samuel's family was poorer than Leonia's. Samuel tried to follow his father into the sharecropping business, but became so frustrated with his treatment by his white landlord he left his farm and tried to make his way in Durham, marrying Leonia in 1949 and taking her with him. By 1951, homesick and overworked, Samuel and Leonia returned to farm life. But racism drove the couple from their rented farmland, and in 1957 Farrar built the Cary home where the interview took place in 2003. The Farrars reflect upon their lives in this interview, recalling decades of manual labor, saving money, raising a family, and enduring racial discrimination from landlords, coworkers, and others. Their hard work, always a source of pride, eventually offered other rewards as well: Samuel became a minister, eventually supervising twenty-three churches, and after years of work as a beautician, Leonia found her calling in charitable work.
Notes: Title from menu page (viewed on December 16, 2008).

Interview participants: Samuel James (S. J.) Farrar, interviewee; Leonia Farrar, interviewee; Peggy Van Scoyoc, interviewer.

Duration: 01:29:20.

This electronic edition is part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.  It is a part of the collection Oral histories of the American South.

Text encoded by Jennifer Joyner.  Sound recordings digitized by Aaron Smithers.

Text (HTML and XML/TEI source file) and audio (MP3); 2 files: ca. 126.1 kilobytes, 163 megabytes.

Original version: Southern Oral History Program Collection, (#4007), Series K, Southern communities, interview K-0652, Manuscripts Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Transcribed by Peggy Van Scoyoc. Original transcript: 29 p.

Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the electronic publication of this interview.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements:  Web browser with Javascript enabled and multimedia player.