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He said, “Okay. You saw what happened. She is going to the sheriff to say that I attacked her. You know that was not what happened, right?”
I told him I didn’t know anything and that I wasn’t gonna help him with nobody!”
He told me he could hurt me if I didn’t speak up for him. He said, “She went after me just like she always does.”
I slammed the door in his face and locked it. Then I started shaking again.
I quit that job and am living with another family in a nearby town. I am not keeping children. I’m cleaning house. I know you all are laughing at that because I am not good at cleaning. But I am a heck of a lot better at cleaning than this family.
That’s all I’ll say for now.
Caroline
* * *
My dear Nash sisters – April 4, 1930
Oh my God, Caroline, how terrible! I can’t find anything good in that story except you got out of town! Dianne, how wonderfulforyouinBurlington!It sounds like Joe is working hard. Ethel, I am glad you are enjoying the company of a good man . . . I think. How is Marie, Ethel? You didn’t say much about her.
As you can see, I am typing my letter. We use typewriters all the time in the secretarial pool at work. I am staying after work to type this letter. Maybe I can write more on two pages than when writing by hand.
I knew I would love getting letters from all of you at once, but this is hard. I want to be with you all right now. And at the time you were going through the things you describe. I want to hug you all. I can’t wait until we will be home together again.
My job at the bank is interesting. They set me up in a typing class. I work on the third-floor writing correspondence for the directors of the bank. There are three of us doing this work, and we get along well. The other girls are about my age, and we often go out after work where we could find a place to drink champagne and listen to music. It is not as easy to find in Washington. Not like you can find bootleg liquor in NC. But we were clever and found a few “blind pigs” (that is what they call them here). I never have to pay because one of the women has a company account she can use at all the places we enjoy. That’s just the cat’s meow! Fun and free!
I am learning some new dances. At just about every club, there are men looking for women to dance with. Sometimes the club owner teaches couples to dance. The Charleston is my favorite. It is really easy to learn. They say it is the rage in the Big Apple. Last week we learned the Foxtrot. That is a dance where you have to really watch the man’s movement or you will step all over his feet. I got the hang of it after two nights going out to the dance halls. I can’t wait to teach you when I get home. We can buy a phonograph and some records. Even Momma will love it.
Dancing does not require a relationship. Just someone to dance with. At the boarding house, the girls that live here dance together as partners in the parlor on Wednesday night. So fun!
I am working for men, dancing with men, and going out with men occasionally but have not found any #1. I am not in a hurry because I love being my own woman. I do what I want, go where I want, and will not get hurt by a man. I also am able to spend my money anyway I want.
I marched in a rally two weekends ago. We went all the way from the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Did you realize that even though women were given (given?) the right to vote in 1920, most women do not vote? The men who are elected to represent us do not think about how women and families will be affected by their newest law. Since Jeanette Rankin from Montana, the first woman in Congress, is no longer in the House of Representatives, there is only one woman representing our voice in the Congress, Senator Rebecca Felton of Georgia. There are mostly men deciding to go to war, allow child labor, and other mandates that would be different if women used their voices. The rallies can make a difference! It gets our view in the papers and on the radio. I know the Nash sisters have always voted. Now we need to vote women into public office!
Hey, Caroline, do you think Mrs. Murphy would run for office? It seems like she knows how to get what she wants from a man! Or at least get what she needs from a man! Ha Ha!
One last piece of news. I meet so many interesting people in D.C. I want to tell you about Jane Hines. We related to each other on growing up in the South. Jane is from Virginia and grew up the way we did -- farming, poor, and with lots of siblings. She told me about getting her degree in psychiatric nursing from the Medical College of Virginia. She was visiting D.C. to talk to people in Congress about what she called “problems of the mind.” I was fascinated with how they are thinking about mind illnesses people have.
Remember Uncle Elmer, Momma’s brother? They used to say he was a mean son of a gun and drank too much. Jane was educating me about new techniques to improve the care for people like Uncle Elmer. You know they threw him in jail for months and would not let him come home. According to Jane, they have found better ways to help people like Uncle Elmer. If we had known this back then, they probably would have said he was mentally ill, not just mean and a drunk. Jane works in Raleigh at Dorothea Dix State Insane Hospital where they are studying better ways to help those with mental illness. This in little old Raleigh, North Carolina! How about that! Jane said at Dix they are investigating different therapies and remedies. And she said it is working. I want us to go visit her sometime when we are all home. I think you would like Jane. Until now, I have never been interested in college. The secretarial courses I took were all I needed to keep a good job. I thought that would be the end of my school days. But maybe not.
I can’t wait for the next letters! Sorry I went on a little long on this letter!
Love you bunches,
Annie
* * *
JANUARY 1931
Annie
Disaster at Home
Our momma died just after Christmas 1930, leaving Dianne, Annie, and me to work out the details of the estate and Caroline’s care.
The Nash girls have not been together since Christmas 1929. Our lives were all so different now that all of us lived away from each other. It was good staying in touch by writing the Nash Round-Robin letters. Since Caroline was included in those letters, not much was shared in them about her fits of anger and sadness. Momma and I had been making decisions about what needed to be done. Annie was especially anxious to get home to see Caroline. Since those two were the youngest, they held a special friendship.
Here Annie tells about her Roaring Twenties lifestyle and a shocking visit home.
