Hello, my name is Ida Mae Brandon Gladney. I was born on
March 5, 1913 in
Van Vleet, Mississippi. Growing up I had two brothers and two sisters. My three
oldest siblings had a different father from me. Growing up my family knew where
we were in the caste system. We were poor and knew how we had to act and where we stood with the white folk. My father always treated my oldest
brothers and sister wrong because they weren't his kids. Some nights he would
beat them & I would hear the screams thinking I'm having a nightmare. When
my brothers and sister got old enough they left right away leaving me with my
mom, dad, & little sister. It was kind of miserable. I miss all the fun I
used to have with my brothers, always sneaking behind them in the woods. After a
couple of months my father passed away; well the doctors said he "was"
dead but I know deep down inside he was in a coma and back then they didn't
know what exactly a coma was. Life was hard when he passed away. I needed to
start working at an early age to help support my family because it was just me
my, my sister, & my mother. As soon as I turned 16 I found my true love,
his name was George. I loved him so much and he meant the world to me. I knew he
was the one so we got married and we moved together into a cabin in Edd
Pearson's Plantation. From there on George and I had to wake up before the
crack of dawn and pick cotton. It was so difficult for me to do that, I wasn’t use
to it like how George was. I needed to learn new things. Getting married at a
young age; but do I regret it? No. After
a couple of years settling down me and George had four children, but two died.
Later on something bad happens at the Plantation that changed George’s
mind on staying in Mississippi. So, George and I start to plan on moving up
north where my sister lives at in Milwaukee. Before we moved up north I found
out that I was pregnant with my 5
th child. So when we finally got up
north we stayed with my sister until we could find a job and support ourselves.
Up north is different. Tall buildings everywhere, it’s different than down in
the south. We needed to get used everything the to the first couple of month. I went home to have my baby and when s I went back up north, instead of going to
Milwaukee we went in Chicago. That’s how I started my life in Chicago.
