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Today is June 23, 1976. I am Ella Pruitt. I'm interviewing Augustus Moore at 3026 East 21st Street, Kansas City, Missouri, 64127 at the Mason and Plasters Tinder local number 555. We're going to start the interview, uh, giving, uh, mostly. Biographical information of Mr. Moore's life. Mr.

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Moore, can you tell me when and where you were born? Huntington, Arkansas. OK, what month, year? October 3rd, 1932. OK. Who were your parents? Their names Wilbur Noble Earl Moore. OK. Do you have any brothers or sisters? 11, but I had 32 of them died. OK,

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could you give me their names? I don't know. And Billy Moore. OK. How early in life did, uh, you come to Kansas City, Missouri? I was 18. You were 18, so that means most, uh, most of your early childhood when you were growing up was in

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Huntington, Arkansas. I'm 10 years old. OK, uh, in Huntington, Arkansas, what elementary school did you attend? It was Washington. OK, do you remember what type of courses they offered there at that time? Was it basically reading, writing, arithmetic? Reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, history. English. Hm, that's

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geography. OK. Uh, after leaving, uh, Booker T. Elementary school, did you attend a junior high school there? No, because we didn't have it. I left and moved to Haskell, Oklahoma. Haskell. Up on, uh. Traveling to Haskell and staying in Haskell, how did Haskell compare? What type

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of activities were available for you at that age? Were you about 10, you said when you went, moved to Haskell? 10 and 11. What type of activities they have for, did they have for, uh, black, black youth at that time? All kind of, you mean work

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and stuff? Um-hum. Well, most of all they had there was, uh, cutting spin and shit. Picking cotton and different things like that. Can you recall how much cotton you could pick? I think it was 150 pounds. Uh-huh. And that was all day. Uh-huh. OK. Uh, Uh,

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you said you came to Kansas City when you were 18, right? Turned 18. When you had just turned 18 years old. Uh, what did you do when you first came here? Well, McC came and got me in the union. Um-hum. So that was 1949. And what

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was your first job with the union? Were you, uh, I tender. And did you have to go to any kind of training? Well, we had a school we trained to care, how to carry the heart. before they sent us to work. OK, can you recall, you

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know, they always said that, uh, I've always heard that Kansas City was supposedly doing the uh early 40s and 50s, 1 of the highlights of where you could hear good jazz and where they had many jazz. Did you ever attend anything, any of the dances or

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anything? When they say, what is this going to Kansas City on 5th and 6th and 18th and Vine, right, uh-huh. Well, with the Two or three of them, and that's about all because I never didn't go for that. Oh, do you recall who was playing at

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that time? Let's see, I think Lewis Jordan was at the all in trouble. I want to see him. It's all I can remember. No, I can't remember this lady's name. And I went in to see her and I think she sung one song and she didn't

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sing anymore. Um-hum. I can't think of her name right now. OK, now, presently you are a member and you have a position with Local 555. What is the position? Well, one of them a secretary now, and assistant business manager. OK, as a business manager, what do

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you have to do? I have to go out, out in the field, check jobs, make sure the men's cars paid out and the contractor treat them right. OK. And I'll try to run over. Uh, do you run into very many problems? No, not since I've been

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in. I might have one or two, the only one I had one with the black guys. Um-hum. And that was one. So that's about it. OK. Now you were living in Kansas City, uh, Missouri during the time of, uh, King's assassination then, right? Yeah, I was

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out in the field working. Do you recall how the people were reacting to the assassination? Well, some of them was acting crazy and some of them wasn't. Were they trying to boycott? What were they doing? Well, like on the job I was on, the Metropolitan. The

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white fellow, he carried a gun on the job. Every day? So I quit. Uh, just after that assassination. Yeah. When they were going to do the march or something. Uh-huh. So, I quit the job and, uh, one of the bricklayers quit because we were a bunch

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of guys, he, he didn't need to carry that on the job. Um-hum. Well, after that, I don't know what they done. OK, can, uh, uh, do you also remember, uh, we, I've done some other interviews and they were saying that uh. For a certain time, the

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blacks were only within a certain area, you know, like they were living so far, say, off of, uh, a certain area in Brooklyn. I don't think anybody was living past 28th. Do you recall that? Where I was living? Uh-huh. I lived, I was living at 2909

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Florida. Now, was that an integrated area or was this basically black people at that time? Well, it's a woman, a German lady lives there and she still lives there. OK. So, what, you didn't have any trouble with it. I didn't have any problem. OK. Except where

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my girlfriend work, I, well, she went to work once and uh Seemed like he tried to bother her, so she didn't go anymore. Um-hum. OK, uh, dealing with the different, uh, racial groups in Kansas City, have you ever been a, a victim of, uh, uh, public

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harassment by any person other than a, well, not a black person, but possibly a white person that was, you know, just steady bugging you or trying to embarrass you? Have you ever been a victim of that? No, not since I've been here. OK. In, uh, Arkansas,

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what type of, uh, Little activities they have for black youth that was basically just playing in the backyard or. Well, We got a playground on the school. And mostly go out, you know, around 4 or 5 miles out of the country and ride our horses. And

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just play like that baseball and different things. Oh, what did your, uh, father and your mother do for a living? Well, my father worked in a coal mine. My mother didn't do anything. OK, so she was just at home, right? The housekeeper. Oh, your other, uh,

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two brothers, are any of them involved in, with local 555? Well, they used to, but my brother, he, one of them is still living. He's working at AAA, Alcoholics Anonymous. Uh-huh. And before my other brother got killed, he used to work at a foundry. Hm. Now,

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you also told me you had a daughter and her name. Moore. Right. OK, is she presently living in Kansas City? Yes, she is. What does she do? Well, she Been working a little bit when she could find a job, but I told her to quit because

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they didn't pay anything. Then you need something out of the paper. So, she's not working right now. She went to get a job and she got sick and so her motherfucker stay home and, Get well and go out and work. Work, OK. Uh, as far as,

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uh, local 555, now, we say there are plasters. Mason Masons. Now, what is, you know, some, when I think of Mason, I'm, I'm thinking about, uh Stonemason. I'm thinking about shrines. What, what do they mean by masons? I don't know. Well, he's a tend. He, uh,

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He attends, like a mason tender, he attends bricklayers put up brick buildings. Oh, and, uh, so block, put up block buildings, warehouses kind of thing like that. Um-hum. Do, do they have to have a contract to do these kind of things the contractor. Do the hiring,

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call here for the men. Um-hum. And we send them on the job. OK. And that person would have to belong to the union then? Right. Oh, is there any, uh, period of time in which you have to actually be on the job before you can join

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the union, or is that the first thing you do? Well, you can work 7 days if the steward don't stop the man from working or we don't stop, they're going to call us. You got 7 days to work. Um-hum. And if he don't join then, We'll

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pick the contract. OK, what about black women, do you? OK, what about, do you have any women that are employed? Through or that are members of the union. Is this because, no, uh. Well, how many women's tried? But it would be uh open if they

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wanted to. If they could do the work. Well, yeah, I would have to ask Leo on that. Uh-huh. I can't answer that. OK. OK. Uh, Are you a member of any church? Second Baptist, but I'm out right now. I'm trying to get back in to find

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a church. Um-hum. To go to. Um-hum. OK. Uh, what about, are you a member of any clubs or organizations here in Kansas City, Missouri? Oh I'm not. OK. Uh, now, dealing with the, uh, masons and plasters. Uh, is it unusual for a person to, first of

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all, join the union and then want to, you know how someone, you start something and then you decide it's not, well, I don't think I like that after all. Is it very unusual for any of them to just stop working and. Well, uh, you mean after

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they pay the fee to join the union? Um-hum. Well, hard to imagine what you kind of mean is, uh, you have a withdrawal card. Right. And we don't have it. If they decide to. Don't want to work, uh, you know, they have to find another job

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before they don't work maybe a certain time, then they change their mind. They probably was working on this job before, and the job laid them off and, like a strike or something. OK. Then they come and get in here and time for people to call them

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back when they want their money. Um-hum. See what they'll be done out there and work. Um-hum. But they can. To do that thing. They, they can't't can't have, you can't get a withdrawal card. Can't get a withdrawal card. OK. Uh, what about strikes? Uh, the Masons

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and, you know, we have everybody, everybody's striking. Right. Has that, uh, been a problem here in Kansas City, Missouri as far as Local 555? Well, we had a strike about 1970. And uh well some of the contractors went on and every active pay they were going

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and paying and some of them would uh would pay it back after the strike was settled a few of them done it. Well, there wasn't too many men around here. It's local. OK, well, what about, uh, did they have any, I don't mean physical problems, was

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there any actual fighting, say, on the picket line? Not that I know of. OK. Not anyway. OK. Uh, now did you finish high school? No, I went to the 9th grade. To the 9th grade. And that was in high school? Um-hum. Do you recall the name

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of the school? Booker T. Washington. Booker T. Washington also. Can you recall any of your teachers? Well, uh, my name is Clark. And the principal was named Tucker. And did uh Haskell High School have about the same curriculum, like reading and writing, or did they have

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any harder courses, what they consider to be? At that time it was 49. Let's see, no, 46 or 46, something like that. Um-hum. OK, um, Uh, where they give you music and they didn't give it in Huntington. Now, was Hassel, the, the, the, the school that

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you were attending, was that school a basically black school? It was all black. It was all black. Uh-huh. Uh, do you, could you maybe roughly say about how many students were in that school? I imagine I got about 150 or 200 people. OK, uh, how did

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you get to school? Was it a walking distance or were they bussing children in school? OK, what type of community was it where you lived? did they, you know, a long time ago I've heard my grandmother say, well, uh. If you're down the street acting a

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fool and Miss Jones catches you acting a fool, Ms. Jones is going to whoop you and I'm gonna get you when you get home. It was the same type of thing. Well, it wasn't in high school, but in Huntington it was. But people in high school

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was a little different. But everybody, you know, will cooperate though. They didn't, don't seem to have it like that. Um-hum. Well, it seemed like everybody was nice people to me. Um-hum. We'd all get along, you know. Have you ever worked any place other than with the

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Masons? I worked at Arnold Packing house back in 1953. Um, off and on, the plumbers were on strike. Um. And I go to packing house. I worked on about five years. OK, now, were, at that time, did you consider it good, pretty good pay? Well, It

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was around about $150 a week. Yeah, that was Pretty good. Yeah, some people are not making 150 now, yeah. OK. Um, Also, uh, when you first came to Kansas City, could you see whereas, uh, possibly the people, the black people in Kansas City didn't seem to

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have as many opportunities as the white people did, or was it basically as far as you could see it maybe, each man for his own, at that time. The white people had all the best jobs. So it's like taking me while I went to Hallmark card

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to fill out an application for a job. Hey, Jessie, can you get the phone? OK. What's some. The fellow that, uh, college education, to me, the man said he'd have. Work along with them. I wish they never get

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caught. Some of the rest got hired. I never did get hired. OK, but the, the rest of them, meaning the rest of the white guys got hired. Um-hum. But you didn't? Yeah. OK. And they never bothered to call you or anything? No. Huh-uh. Have you had

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that happen since? Um, no. Cause I went out to Chevrolet to get a job. My brother called me to come out there and fill out an application, and they never called me out there, but I didn't have no competition out there. Um-hum. They just never did

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call. OK, uh, you know, uh, in the, well, here in Kansas City as every place else across the in the world, there are a lot of, uh, problems dealing with the black youth of today. If you could tell a black youth something that you would consider

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to be very advisable to him, something that. Uh, something to look forward to or tell him something that you think would help him in life. What would you tell a black youth? Yeah I don't know right now, so I ain't answer that. Yeah right. You mean

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for helping to get a job or something? Yeah, but what to do. Do you think I refer him to a few people, you know, that I know and see what they do, you know, help him. OK, uh, we were talking about. You something to help you,

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man. Well, uh, I try to, like, uh, well, a lot of them come over here and try to get a job. And I prefer him to a different kind of, you know, factories and buildings like that, because here, the guy got a good education. There ain't

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no place for him. So, it's mostly for, uh, what would you say, you wouldn't have to have, uh, like a college education or anything like that, but be able to just work with, uh, labor. Right. Right, this kind of thing. Um. It don't make sense to

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throw his life away like that, you know, and got that, so he might have a degree, something like that. Um-hum. Fool around construction. Well. Cause there's no, there's no benefit, Oh, well, if you had a, say if you had a son, say between the ages of

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16 and 18 right now, would you advise him to go on and get an education or just do what's best for him or what? For me, which they got a better chance now than they did when I was coming up. Right. So, I didn'tencourage them to

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go head on. OK. And which I do a whole lot of people on the outside because and, and learn how to treat people. That's, that's the main thing, you know, don't be overbearing and rough. Like me, I want a man to treat him like I treat

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you. Right. Oh. I think I'd carry through life. And you meet better people like that. OK, they respect you. When you were in Oklahoma and, uh, You said that, uh, some of the things you did was pick cotton and Cut spinach. Do you know how much

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they were paying? My spinach was 10 cents a basket for 23 pounds. Um-hum. The cotton, I think, was, About 75 cents to 100. Now, did you have to make your own way of getting there where you had to work at or did they pick you up?

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The truck would, uh, pick us up, You say uptown, we'd all meet up there and he'd bring us back there. Then we'd walk home. Levada. About three blocks. Did you have to be a certain age before you could even get on the truck? Well, I'd say

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about 14. Um-hum. And they, I mean, this, you were just doing this and then they take out, like, you know, they take out federal tax and then. They didn't do it. This is just money just from me to you. Right. Um-hum. And, OK.