William Witherspoon and Frances Mansfield
Recorded
January 26, 2021
Archived
January 20, 2021
27:02 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
atl004347
Description
Bill Witherspoon (66) interviews his cousin Frances Mansfield (96) about her early life, and the land and house where she was born in Smyrna, Georgia.Subject Log / Time Code
Frances Mansfield (96) says she was born in Smyrna, Georgia on her family's land they called Honeysuckle Hollow. She also talks about her birth certificate originally stating that she was born on November 31st, instead of December 1st.
Bill Witherspoon (66) asks Frances (F) to describe the first house that was built on that land, and in which she was born. F says that it burned down in 1938 and also talks about their dog that loved watermelon.
F talks about her "Mammy", Odessa Young, who helped F's grandparents raise F, and how she and Odessa remained friends even after F was an adult with her own children.
F says that Odessa and F's family taught F not to be a racist.
F says that her family thinks that the Ku Klux Klan may have been the ones that burned down their house in 1938 because her family had African-American tenant farmers, and were known to treat African-Americans well.
F talks about her family giving 40 acres of land to Cobb County to establish Rhyne Park.
Participants
- William Witherspoon
- Frances Mansfield