Ten Questions:

Woodrow Crockett

Mr. Crockett’s answer:

            I was born in Homan, Arkansas, right near Texarkana.  I went to school there in Homan, where my mother and father were teachers in a two-room schoolhouse.  But the school only went to eighth grade, so I moved to Little Rock to live with my older sister, so that I could continue my education at Dunbar High School.  I graduated from Dunbar and went on to Dunbar Junior College.  I felt that I was the best math student in Dunbar High School and Junior College.  My teacher, Mrs. Weaver, went to the principal and got permission for me to teach her classes while she was away from school.  But then my sister, who was a nurse, lost her job and we could not afford the $6 per month tuition at Dunbar Junior College.  So, I dropped out of junior college and went home to Texarkana.

           Farming and the army were the only employment opportunities open to young black men at that time.  Even though my parents were schoolteachers, they also had a farm.  We had pigs and chickens.  We raised sweet potatoes and corn.  They also had a sorghum mill.  I asked my mother about farming.  She said, “You till the soil, plant your seeds, and if it’s successful, you pick the cotton and the corn.”  You worked all year and might have a good crop, or you might have a bad crop.  Farming did not sound very appealing, so I joined the army.

2. Why did you join the army?

Grades 3-5