Phone Interview with my Grandfather

   Last week (9/21) I had a phone conversation with my grandfather and I asked him about being born in Baltimore. Although he doesn't remember Baltimore much, he gave me valuable information for a time period that I only had knowledge of in the text books. I learned about everyday life events rather than huge moments in time and how they are connected with my family. Even if this story doesn't exactly match with our class, I still think it is interesting to hear stories from the past and to learn about where we come from.

   My grandfather was born on June 18th, 1924. He lived on 2242 E. Fairmount, Baltimore in a then 80 year old, brick low rise building. His father owned a laundry in Baltimore where clothes were washed by hand on washboards, making this a very labor intensive profession. In 1921, his father returned to a village in China to marry his wife and they both returned to the U.S. where his mother started working in the laundry as well.

   In 1929, the entire family moved from Baltimore to D.C. and then later to Charlotte, North Carolina. His father decided to move because he was tired of their current lifestyle in Baltimore and wanted better for the family business. Luckily for them, they had pulled their money from the banks before the Crash of '29. From then, his father opened up another laundry in Charlotte, but was able to use machines to clean and press the clothes. In addition to that his mother ran a Chinese restaurant called "The Far East", which was extremely popular with the locals, especially the African American population. His mother also provided meals for needy families, which I thought tied in a little with our class. An interesting  side note that my grandfather mentioned was that the Chinese in the south (3 families in Charlotte) were not discriminated against while African Americans were discriminated against. I enjoyed learning a little piece of history from my grandfather and getting to know some of his experiences.

A photo of my grandfather, grandmother, and myself.

~TJ