Willie Nickens interviewed by Inez Ramsey and Vicki Lloyd

Creator:
Nickens, Virginia "Willie" Rouser, 1895-1985, Ramsey, Inez Linn, 1938-2025, Lloyd, Vicki, and Staropoli, Theresa
Scope and content:

Records the reminiscences of Virginia "Willie" Josephine Nickens (b. 1895) of Harrisonburg, Va., school teacher and maid for twenty years at Madison College. Describes childhood incl. experiences driving cattle thru town for Siebert family; "switching" (discipline); riding horses, downtown stable, local race track; roller skating, double decker sleds; bear and snake stories, fortune telling by Bob Rawls, the half-breed Indian blacksmith; heating with pot bellied stoves, lighting by kerosene lamps; early education (Effinger, Lucy Simms schools -- knew about Tin Cup Alley school, teachers Fannie Wilson, L. Simms and brother), training at Hampton Institute and meeting President Taft; cooking (quince honey, apple butter); gardening; home remedies; Madison College (Newman farms, first men on campus, soldiers, three sorority houses at Fine Arts bldg. where she was maid); stories of Indians in Bath County where her mother was born, also in Rockingham County (dug a tunnel from Hilltop to spring at Court Square in Harrisonburg); Red Hill and Zenda; churches (AME church and the missionary from Africa, John Wesley Methodist Church, Rev. Ronald Colley); Court days; various town personalities and black businesses (barber shops, black restaurant owner, first black policeman, Joseph Williams, the Olympian, R. Earl Johnson); her family (incl. story of her mother, born into slavery -- father the master, later escaped and caught), her children; mixed race families, voting privileges; and relations between blacks and whites over the years. Recorded at the home of Mrs. Willie Nickens, Harrisonburg, Va. on July 17, 20, 24, 1978 and Feb. 14, 1979. Tapes for four interviews. Note that some tapes contain blank sides: 5-3f (side 2 of tape 3); 5-3h (side 2 of tape 4); 5-3i (side 1 of tape 5)

Other descriptive data:

The home of Willie Nickens in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Access and use

Location of collection:
James Madison University
Second Floor Room 203, MSC 1704
Carrier Library
James Madison University
880 Madison Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Tiffany Cole
Phone: (540) 568-3444
Phone: (540) 568-3612
Fax: (540) 568-3405
Restrictions:

Oral history is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright interests have been transferred to Carrier Library.

Parent restrictions:
Access to the Oral Histories is governed by agreements with the narrators. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Parent terms of access:
Copyright interests have been transferred to Carrier Library.

Contents