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Biography

Barbara Elam shares her place of birth with General Pershing, but that is not her only claim to fame. As a teen she was mentored by Mrs. Viola Gibson and Cecil Reed as a Civil Rights Worker. As a young woman she was appointed to a government position by Governor Hughes which she found difficult and rewarding. Now, she is writing a book on her incredibly talented Aunt Dori Akers. A loving giving woman, her life has been shaped by her talent and determination as well as the grit and gusto of the people who have graced her life.

Transcript

Date of Interview: June 11, 2009

Shawndell: Today I’ll be interviewing Mrs. Barbara Elam. Nice to meet you.

Barbara Elam: Thank you.

Shawndell: Are you ready to get into the interview?

Barbara Elam: I am ready.

Shawndell: Where were you born?

Barbara Elam: I was born in a tiny, tiny town in Missouri, called Laclede. It was about as big as this room and is the hometown of General Pershing. That’s my claim to fame.

Shawndell: Where’s home now?

Barbara Elam: Home now is here in Cedar Rapids. I’ve been here for 66 years.

Shawndell: What brought you to Iowa?

Barbara Elam: Well my grandmother initially moved here with my step grandfather and worked on a farm and little by little family members started coming. So, my mother and dad moved here and we lived out on (some people may recognize this name) Lakeside. And my father worked with the horses. So, that’s how we got here.

Shawndell: Where did you go to school?

Barbara Elam: I went to school, elementary school, Tyler. That is now Metro, but it used to be Tyler. And then I went to McKinley. When I went to McKinley it was a junior and senior high school.

Shawndell: OK. What do you do for entertainment?

Barbara Elam: Not much. Not much anymore. I do like to sing. And I am in the process of writing a book on an aunt of mine. Her name was Doris Ackers. So I’m trying to write her story and put it in a book.

Shawndell: Why are you writing a book?

Barbara Elam: Well, she was a person of some gospel faith. And the story is long so I’ll really make it short. She wrote music. She wrote over 500 songs. The reason that is so awesome is that she didn’t know what she was writing ’cause she could not read music. She would just sit down and play the piano, or play the trumpet, or play the organ. And she never knew what she was playing. Other people had to write the music out for her. And so she finally was recognized by the NAACP and received the NAACP Image Award. And she wrote a song for Broadway. And like I said, she wrote over 500 songs. Some people are very familiar with her songs: Sweet, Sweet Spirit, Lead Me, Guide Me, Lord Don’t Move the Mountain. And her music is still being sung in Japan, China, Russia, New Zealand, Australia, and England. People are still singing…she has several songs in…in …like Sweet, Sweet Spirit is in one of the hymnals, and so is Lead Me, Guide Me, I think.

Shawndell: Was any of them like CD wise, or recoreded?

Barbara Elam: Unhuh, yeah, and there’s a person who has been in touch with me who found out who I was. I don’t know how, but she did. And she has downloaded 300 of Aunt Doris’s songs as a gift to me. Which I thought was really amazing. So because of that, that’s one of the reasons. That’s the main reason I want to write this book because I do come from a singing family; my grandfather had a beautiful tenor voice. And it has gone all the way down through generations.

Shawndell: How has the Civil Rights movement helped you?

Barbara Elam: I don’t know how much it helped me. But I was, at the time that I became a young person in this city, I became heavily involved in the Civil Rights Movement and Mrs. Viola Gibson was my mentor. So we went through a lot. For example, we could not eat at, well, none of the restaurants. And at the time I grew up there was no place for us to swim. So Mrs. Gibson organized a walk, and we walked from Jane Boyd Community House to Ellis Pool, where she demanded that we be, that we have entrance into the pool which was not very easy, because they said we would never get in there and she said we would. So that’s one way that I became involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Housing was another area. We could not live in certain areas. We could not swim in Bever Pool. Many things that young people now take for granted, we didn’t because there was no such thing as being able to swim. So for many, many years I was involved in the Civil Rights Movement.

End of first section, beginning of second.

Shawndell: What was segregation like for you?

Babara Elam: It was awful. I can recall many instances that, you know that happened to me. One thing for example, when I went to McKinley High School. There were several blacks on the foot ball team. They had to ask, or said that they would like to have a black girl be represented on the homecoming queen event. And so they called me in the counseling office and said how nice it was and they had wanted me, but this year they was only going to have seven candidates instead of eight. And so of course, I was going to be number eight so I got ousted of that. And that, you know it’s things like that, that I didn’t think about at the time. But I thought about later, and I thought, “My God what is wrong with me?’ You know it kind of messes with yourself esteem, if you allow it to. That was one incident. There are several. One is I grew up and went to business college and I was excited about graduating and trying to find a job. I went to a (and I won’t mention the name of the business) and went there to find a job. And they said, “Well, we don’t hire Niggers or Indians here.” Yes, very blatant racism. And I don’t think people have any idea how those kind of things affect young people, especially young people. And I was a person who was very excited about trying to find a job. But those are a couple of things I can recall.

Shawndell: Have you been involved in any other Civil Rights Movements?

Barabara Elam: Yeah, I have. At the time I can’t, right now I can’t remember everything. As, like I said, Mrs. Gibson was my mentor. There were many things I became involved in that I probably would not have if it had not been for her. And one of them was, I’m sure you’ve heard the name Cecil Reed.

Shawndell: Yes I have.

Barbara Elam: OK. Mr. Reed and Mrs. Gibson were those people who kind of pushed me into doing things especially in the Civil Rights Movement at the time. There were no black teachers in Cedar Rapids, when I was growing up. And so, Mrs. Gibson and Mr. Reed decided that they wanted that. And so Mrs. Gibson called me every Saturday morning. “Get up, it’s time to get up. We’ve got work to do.” So this Saturday she called and we all got together and decided that we were going to try and get some black teachers. I don’t remember how long it took us, but we ended up, Cedar Rapids ended up hiring thirty-four black teachers, principals, and counselors. Some of them we still have in Cedar Rapids like Dr. Ruth White. She was one of the people we recruited. So that was another thing that I became involved in.

Shawndell: Why did you choose to get involved?

Barbara Elam: Because, for one thing because Mrs. Gibson did push me. And I thank her to this day, for all the things that she had me become involved in. I think it made, I think it made me a better person. It made me become more aware of my surroundings and what was happening in my life, and it also made me want to teach young people, how to act, what to do, you want something? You can do it, but there is a way to do it. And that’s what Mr. Reed and Mrs. Gibson taught me. As a result of that, Mr. Reed and then the Governor, was Governor Harold Hughes, brought me to Des Moines. They said, “We want you to take a job, and it’s a tough one.” At that time it was the unemployment agency. And I took the job and they said just take it for a year. And I did. And my job was to get the hard to employ, hired in some of the businesses in Cedar Rapids. As a result of that, I got sixty-four hired at Collins. And oh, I don’t know, thirty-some hired in other places. But what an eye opener for me, to be able to go out. I went out to the businesses. I tried to recruit these hard to employ. That probably was the most interesting job that I’ve ever had. But what that did for me as a person. I look back on it. Mr. Reed. I love Mr. Reed and Mrs. Gibson! And to think that they had that kind of faith in me, that they thought I could do these jobs. They were always recommending me. I didn’t think about it then. But years later I thought, “Isn’t that something? They thought I was good enough that they recommended me for doing things.” That still means a lot to me.

Shawndell: What were you doing before this?

Barbara Elam: When we, me and my brother grew up, we lived on 12th Ave SE, 1603. My parents reared altogether (there were only two of us) 22 kids, in and out of the house all the time. Yeah, so I was accustomed (even though was just me and my brother) I was accustomed to having just people in that house all of the time. Eating and sleeping. My mother was just that kind of person. Our house was open.

Shawndell: What was your biggest accomplishment?

Barbara Elam: Oh my biggest accomplishment? I don’t know; that one kind of took me off guard. I think, I think just being able to. Oh! Somebody here reminds me that I sing. I never thought of that as an accomplishment because in my family everybody sings and I thought everybody was a singer. I mean it wasn’t any big deal. But yeah, I’ve had some accomplishment in that, and I that I think was nice. But the singing was not the biggest accomplishment for me. I think the biggest accomplishment now that I am the age I am and think back, was the day that I decided to give my life to Christ and become baptized and try to be a Christian. That was my biggest accomplishment.

Shawndell: What is the most important thing in your life?

Barbara Elam: In my life now?

Shawndell: Mm-hum.

Barbara Elam: I guess now, it’s working on myself and becoming a better Christian than I am. And I have a great love for family, a great love for family. And even the little ones and not just family, but I can see a little kid and just fall in love with him. So, I do like that.

Shawndell: Well thank you for interviewing with me today.

Barbara Elam: Well you’re more than welcome. I appreciate it. I appreciate the opportunity.