Interview: William Fields, March 23, 1984

Interview: William Fields, March 23, 1984

Migration, Internal.

African Americans--Employment.

African American churches

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social conditions.

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Social life and customs.

African Americans--Economic conditions.

African Americans--Social conditions.

African Americans--Social life and customs.

African Americans--Politics and government.

Philadelphia (Pa.)--Politics and government.

William E. Fields (b. 1889) the son of a farmer in Denton County, Texas, left home at the age of 17. He soon married, started a family, and moved to Dallas, Texas. Though he had a good job, Fields in 1917 hopped a train for Philadelphia. Though he traveled up on the free transportation the Pennsylvania Railroad offered to those willing to work on the railroad, Fields never did a day’s work for them. Instead, he worked a number of other jobs including Baldwin Locomotive Works and Hog Island Shipyard. He spent the next seven decades living in Philadelphia and during that time, the City of Brotherly Love became his home.

1984-03-23

audio

2014OH163GN015

Charles Hardy

William Fields

African Americans--Societies, etc.

Railroads--Employees.

African Americans--Southern States.