Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2024/spring/Section13/Frank Nesbeth

Overview

Frank Nesbeth was an African-American restaurant cook and bootblack working to make ends meet for his family. He came from a sharecropping background in the rural town of Tryon, North Carolina, which is just north of Greenville, South Carolina. He was interviewed by writer Adyleen G. Merrick on December 12, 1938 as part of an entry to the Federal Writer's Project. The struggles that he faced in his life most notably align with the social contexts of the polio virus, sharecropping in the rural South, and high child mortality rates during the Great Depression.

Biography

Early Life

Nesbeth was born into an African-American sharecropping family in Tryon, North Carolina, located in Polk County. He and his family's experience on the grape farm was tough, but they were treated to better conditions as a black family opposed to others around him. Nesbeth and his family were grateful to have a schoolhouse instituted for him and the other black children on the land. His mother, “Aunt Ella,” raised Nesbeth under their “boss,” as she tried to keep him in line accordingly during his youth. He gained both his education and early working experience from the grape farm, and Nesbeth was lucky enough to survive as many of his own siblings died before reaching maturity.

Adulthood

After leaving the farm and working a series of odd jobs in Chicago, Illinois, Nesbeth was diagnosed with infantile paralysis, which forced crutches upon him for the rest of his life. After being diagnosed with the disease, he would endlessly pray for a secure job and better life. Nesbeth was able to convince a white man to allow him to work as a horse-drawn carriage driver until automobiles would eventually killed the industry. He then worked more contract work before finding his place as a cook in a black restaurant back in North Carolina, along with having a bootblack set for the weekends. Nesbeth would barely provide enough money taking care of his mother and father while severely crippled, as he would commonly only scrape by while taking care of his parents.

Social Context

Sharecropping in the Poor, Rural South

The rural South was incredibly poor during its share-cropping era, and there was a massive economic difference between white and black farmers during this period. The inequality arose as “the share-cropping system was a compromise solution to serious conflicts between landowners and the emancipated slaves." White farmers who already had capital from the use of slavery enforced a system of oppression over sharecropping black families who relied on manual labor and their “bosses” to stay afloat. While the period of Southern Reconstruction had shortly ended at this time in American history, Southerners still felt largely oppressed given the lack of industries that were available to prosper compared to the North. Many had to continue the destructive cycle of farming on the same property or plantation as their parents had, and the pattern of relying on the black, Southern population did not pass with these transitions. Sharecropping continued to exert the form of racial superiority over black sharecroppers, as the South found a loophole to lessen some of the harsh aspects of slavery, but not the effect it had on the black population. The lack of technological advancements in the region did not help with social reform either, as the South stayed true to its roots dealing with the traditions of racism, farming, and the lack of social fluidity that it emitted upon its residents.

Infantile Paralysis during the Great Depression

Infantile paralysis, the former name for polio, causes those who are diagnosed to have crippled limbs in many cases. In 1914, the disease was sweeping the East coast of the US as a burden which would cause stress, the deterioration of health, and even death. The polio virus deals harm when "a localized hematogenous myelitis has attacked the cord and has destroyed more or less at random certain areas of spinal nerve centers." The vaccine to prevent polio was not released until 1955, and thousands of children who grew into infantile paralysis faced the difficulties of terminal crippled limbs that forced many out of ever landing future work. While the virus did not always kill the victim of its contamination, it would lead to difficulties they would have to thrive against if they wanted a decent life at all. The disease caused many rough situations, especially in a period of American history where so many people were already struggling in a poor economy and society. The polio vaccine put a general end to the virus's existence in the United States in 1955, but many other countries in lesser-developed regions struggle with the disease to this day, as cases still arise from multiple areas around the world.

Infant and Child Mortality Rates

From the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth, infant and child mortality rates were incredibly high in the US, especially in the more rural South. Added with the racial inequalities that were largely prevalent in this region, it was very hard for African-Americans to find sufficient health outlets for their children at the time. Medical discoveries and advancements were lacking compared to Europe, as it was a difficult struggle given the much more elementary technology when it came to tackling health issues during these years. Contributing to the state of failure regarding health, “medical journals carried little information about the European developments, and medical research was poorly organized and under-funded." Common diseases included polio, tuberculosis, pneumonia, and enteritis, and the general economic poorness surrounding the Great Depression also saw rates of malnutrition rise, especially in the deaths of children. Unfortunately, the general lack of communication that existed during the Depression caused increased casualties in many cases, as doctors and researchers had no way of sharing successes on their mission to end many of these deadly diseases that killed a huge portion of children and infants during these years. The early 1900s acted as a sort of awakening for many aspects in America, as with the increasing acts of reform during the period, medical technology and researched prospered during the following New Deal era.

Footnotes

1. Mann, Susan. "Slavery, sharecropping, and sexual inequality." Hine, King, and Reed," We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible (1995): 281-301.
2. Wright, Wilhelmme G. "Muscle training in the treatment of infantile paralysis." The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 167, no. 17 (1912): 567-574.  
3. “History of Polio Vaccination.” World Health Organization. July 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-polio-vaccination#:~:text=In%20the%20late%2019th%20and,the%20disease%20faced%20lifelong%20consequences.
4. Preston, Samuel H., and Michael R. Haines. Fatal years: Child mortality in late nineteenth-century America. Vol. 1175. Princeton University Press, 2014.
5. Preston, Samuel H., and Michael R. Haines. Fatal years: Child mortality in late nineteenth-century America. Vol. 1175. Princeton University Press, 2014.

References

Badger, Tony. “Great Depression in the South.” Encyclopedia.com, March 18, 2024. https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/south-great-depression.

Mann, Susan. "Slavery, sharecropping, and sexual inequality." Hine, King, and Reed," We Specialize in the Wholly Impossible (1995): 281-301.

Preston, Samuel H., and Michael R. Haines. Fatal years: Child mortality in late nineteenth-century America. Vol. 1175. Princeton University Press, 2014.

Wright, Wilhelmme G. "Muscle training in the treatment of infantile paralysis." The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 167, no. 17 (1912): 567-574.  

“History of Polio Vaccination.” World Health Organization. July 2021. https://www.who.int/news-room/spotlight/history-of-vaccination/history-of-polio-vaccination#:~:text=In%20the%20late%2019th%20and,the%20disease%20faced%20lifelong%20consequences.