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1 Ancestry - Negro-Indian-Caucasion
2 Place and date of birth - Elmwood, Ill. 1870
3 Places lived in - Lewiston, Ill. until 1883, 1883-1939 Lincoln.
4 Family - Three
5 Education, with dates - Fifth grade
6 Occupations and accomplishments, with dates - Housewife
7 Special skills and interests - Novelty work---Gift Shop
8 Community and religious activities - Methodist
9 Description of informant - Little, frail, white-haired mulatto
NAME OF WORKER Albert Burks ADDRESS 239 S. 20th DATE Jan. 4, 1938 SUBJECT American Folklore NAME AND ADDRESS OF INFORMANT Mrs. Allie O. Hardy 520 N. 19
"I came to Lincoln in 1883 and believe I have lived here longer then any other colored woman now here. When I came here there was about fourteen Negroes living between nineteenth and sixteenth on O in little frame cottages. There was also a group of about thirty or forty living in what they now call "Russian town." Most of them were settlers from Georgia and when a man came around signing colored folks to go to Liberia, all but a few left, and I heard from one of them a long time.
The group that were from Georgia were kind of clannish when it Came to mixing with the other colored folks in town, and when we had our picnics or dances they would hang together among themselves; I don't know just why. Most of the colored folks around here in the eighties were ignorant but they got more jobs then we have today; I just can't understand it. We had much better times then the younger generation have today too.
It was here that I saw my first street car. It ran between tenth and O to A street and was driven by two horses. Every time I got a chance I would go over to tenth street to see it.
My mother was part Indian and taught me how to make many novelties. When my eye-sight was good I operated a gift shop and sold the articles I made.
One of the articles that was a good seller, was a tray I made out of a phonograph record. I put a record in fairly warm water and let it stand until it was soft. When I take it out, I make it into any kind of shape that I wish, and after it is hard again, draw different designs and paint it different colors; gold I think is one of the most attractive.
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