Animals, meals, animals that are meals and inventive repurposing of toilet paper substitutes.
There was a little of everything talked about when local author and historian Ella Joyce ‘E.J.’ Stewart held forth over the participatory “Sit a Spell” oral history event at the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library on Saturday, as part of its Black History Month series.
“One thing we talk about is oral history — remembering those stories, remembering those times, remembering those pets, remembering the people who loved you who are gone now,” Stewart said.
She started the discussion by relaying her story on moving to Lenoir County. Her family didn’t have much, living in a house off Will Baker road.
“It was 1956 when we moved there,” Stewart said. “We had hard times. Tobacco wasn’t selling that good and cotton — cotton was no longer the king. The world had discovered Listerine and polyester. It was hard times.”
Gradually, her audience shared their stories of what it meant to grow up in the country. Indoor plumbing, or the lack of it, was a common experience. While one family used the pages of the Sears catalog — the black and white colored pages were better because they were less glossy — another used corn husks or sycamore tree leaves.
Food, which can get creative when people must provide for themselves, was a popular topic. And not all the stories were from far in the past.
Kinston resident Ola Baker told of how she tried to make cow tongue once, unaware you’re supposed to skin the tongue before cooking it.
“I don’t want to taste something that can taste me back,” said Antuan Hawkins, programming co-chairman for Friends of the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library.
Woodland creatures were discussed as well.
“I bet you we had something for supper Thursday night that none of y’all have had lately. We had a beaver,” said Jean Tripp, who like Stewart is originally from Johnston County.
There was a palpable feeling of shock in the room at the revelation.
“You quieted the crowd,” Stewart said.
A man had a beaver nuisance at his farm and contacted Tripp’s family, who subsequently bagged a 40-pounder. It was grilled and served with collards and cornbread.
Asked how the beaver tasted, Tripp said, “Kind of a little bit livery. It’s a dark meat, a really dark meat. Now, I’m not into beaver.”
With the animal being as large as it was, there was plenty to go around.
“My husband makes his own barbecue sauce, see, and just before he got done, he put this barbecue sauce on the beaver, and turned it over. Then they had a beaver pickin’,” Tripp said.
There was also talk of catfish stew, how to properly prepare possum and tales of raccoon trapping. Even a tale of a wily goat who jumped on one car hood too many.
“That’s part of oral history, passing history on — that’s what you do,” Stewart said. “That’s what your grandparents are doing and your parents do. You take those stories and do just what you’re doing, telling it. … Anybody here who’s talking, you share those family histories. Then if you share them with young people, they’ll have stories. And hopefully, that will encourage them to start telling their stories.”
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at WolfeReports.
Breakout Box
Future Black History Month events at the Kinston-Lenoir Public Library:
A staged reading of ‘Fences,’ the August Wilson play
Feb. 16, 3 p.m.
The History of Gospel Music Concert
Feb. 17, 3 p.m.
Ms. Sadie Pepper: Lessons on Life, Loving and Living
Feb. 24, 3 p.m.
Urban Literature Book Club: ‘Their Eyes Were Watching God’
Feb. 26, 6:30 p.m.
Black History Knowledge Bowl
Feb. 27, 10 a.m.