{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/iiif/wm13n21b4k/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Gwen Nichols oral history, 2002 July 9"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":[" Gwen Nichols (1916-2008) was a music teacher for Baltimore City Public Schools. She studied with W. Llewellyn Wilson at Douglass High School and earned a degree from Coppin State. After retiring in 2002, she opened her own studio and taught privately. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, Nichols discusses her musical training and her teaching career. (Abstract)"," Low audio levels on source media. Ending cut off. (Physical Description)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":[" 2002-07-09 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":[" Nichols, Gwen, 1916-2008 (Interviewee)"," Schaaf, Elizabeth M. (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":[" English (Primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["audio/mp3"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["https://aspace.library.jhu.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/215384"]}}],"summary":{"en":[" Gwen Nichols (1916-2008) was a music teacher for Baltimore City Public Schools. She studied with W. Llewellyn Wilson at Douglass High School and earned a degree from Coppin State. After retiring in 2002, she opened her own studio and taught privately. In this interview with Elizabeth Schaaf, Nichols discusses her musical training and her teaching career."," Low audio levels on source media. Ending cut off."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["The collection is open for use. Contact peabodyarchives@lists.jhu.edu for more information."]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/008/original/peabody-institute.logo.large.horizontal.blue.cropped.png?1549570058","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/476/small/nichols_photoshop.jpg?1651084305","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 3 - pims0091_NicholsG-1_01.mp3"]},"duration":1857.0449,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/476/small/nichols_photoshop.jpg?1651084305","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/476/original/pims0091_NicholsG-1_01.mp3?1624270948","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1857.0449,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["NicholsG_101_OHMS_20220609 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ELIZABETH SCHAAF: Can we start out, Miss Nichols, by asking you where you were born? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I was born in Baltimore. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And where did you grow up in Baltimore? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: In Baltimore. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: In what part? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, I grew up in, principally in the northern part, in what they\ncall West Baltimore. My grandmother had a home that as far as I can remember was\non McCulloh Street. And I used to spend to some time in East Baltimore. In the\nsummertime I spent a lot in East Baltimore. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Did you have family in East Baltimore? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. I had family in East Baltimore. And I had a great aunt, and I\nlived with her. Because I was a delicate person, and she helped, I'd say she\nsort of fattened me up. I have some pictures trying to find a few things I\nhadn't seen for years, ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and I saw this one picture of me she used to show me at\nthirty-five pounds when I was very young.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You look like she did a very good job of taking care of you. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Thank you. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now your mother was a musician? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: No, my grandmother. My grandmother reared me. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And can you tell us a little bit about her and where she was born? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I don't, because all I can tell you she wasn't a person talked\nabout herself very much. So I said if you have those notes, that's all right\nthere. As far as I know, she was born in -- I think in South Baltimore, because\nshe was very familiar, and she had a studio in South Baltimore also for teaching\nmusic, teaching piano. She had students from both sides of town in South\nBaltimore and in North Baltimore. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And can you tell me her maiden name? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Um, let me think. I had it on that sheet of paper her maiden name.\nBailey. Bailey. Because her mother was named Laura Bailey. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And when did she meet your grandfather? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I don't know that. I don't know that. I didn't know anything. My\ngrandfather died in 1915, I understand, and that was the year before I was born. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: I see. Do you know how many students she used to teach? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I would say many, many -- that was her livelihood. Her livelihood\nwas teaching music. Voice. I saw one card, one business card, and I think we put\nthat on that paper that you have there. But she taught piano, organ, voice, ear\ntraining and sight reading. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And I just happened to find one business card. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: What a treasure. What a treasure. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Uh-huh. Which I kept. I can't find that now. I don't know why. Or\nwhat I did with it, but I did have that card.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Was she your first music teacher? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: My only music teacher. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Your only music teacher. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Until I was an adult. I only went to the colleges to get what I\nneeded on paper. I needed some credits on paper. But she taught me all I knew.\nShe used to put my hands on the piano when I was three years old. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, my goodness. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I don't know when I didn't play. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, that's wonderful. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: And I taught piano lessons when I was in Coppin. I was about\nseventeen years old. Because that's when I'm going back to my roots again. I\nwant to try to get out of the school system. And I am setting up a studio in my\nhome with what they call group piano. It's a modern way of teaching piano,\nparticularly to beginners. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And that's what I'm working very hard in getting my\nplace set up for.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Did you and your mother go to concerts together when you -- \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: My grandmother. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: When your grandmother -- when you were young. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: My grandmother. My mother did not rear me. It was my grandmother.\nNo. She was too busy. We didn't go to concerts together. I was young. I don't\nremember going. Oh, I used to live in church with her. I stayed with her all the\ntime. We didn't have a lot of concerts back in those days.  \n\n\n\nYeah. I think I do remember the first concert when Roland Hayes came to\nBaltimore City. I remember that. I was in the balcony at Bethel AME Church. I'll\nnever forget him coming in. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, that must have been a thrill. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I think I have a record of his. But I was an adult then. See these\nare not the days when we had a lot of concerts. You couldn't go to a lot of\nplaces and she would not go. She was a person of very meager means. She\nwasn't able to go to the concerts and the things of that sort. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So as far as I\nknow I didn't know of any that I went to with her. But somebody took her to the\nopera. Once a year a lady used to take her to the opera, which was an exciting\nexperience for her. \n\n\n\nBecause in those days, you remember, just stop to think, the stamp was two\ncents, you know, two cents. The streetcar was ten cents. She walked sometimes\nfrom McCulloh Street to Lexington Street, where her church was. Old St. John's\nChurch was on Lexington Street, and that's where she had her Concert of the Holy\nCity that I wrote you about. As I begin to think right now, my goodness, did she\nwalk down there to -- as far as I can remember she had the first sunrise service. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: That's right. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: And the Christmas cantata. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And now we have the Christmas programs\nor what not in the churches, or we used to for years till we, lately, got a\nproblem with somebody robbing you or attacking you. We used to go to midnight\nMass or midnight services. But that has changed again because of the danger of\nolder people coming out at night. But we used to come out. I remember up to six\nor seven years ago to midnight Mass, because I'm Catholic now. But that's why\nI'm saying that. Or midnight services, for Christmas. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And she played for church? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: She played, as I told you, for St. John AME Church, which started\non Lexington Street, and they moved up to, I think, to Arlington Avenue, across\nthe square, across Hollins Square, and they moved up there. She moved with them\nup there to the new one there, new St. John's.  \n\n\n\nBut we were Bethelites, we belonged to Bethel Church. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But that was her work. She\nplayed at eleven o'clock services on Sunday morning. Then we walked from there\nup to Bethel, and she played for the Sunday school at Bethel. And I walked with\nher. I remember that. Because she had to find me something to eat because I had\na very delicate stomach, and I had to eat on time. I remember. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now where did you go to elementary school and middle school? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, well, I do remember I went to [Public School No.] 103. I\nremember that on Division Street, elementary school. Yeah, we used to walk\nthere. That's up on McCulloh Street. It was 103. Yeah, I think I even went to\n122, I believe, once. And I think Robert Street School. I haven't really thought\nabout those things. That's when you went home for lunch. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=420.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"They were the days. It\nwas way back. I'm eighty-five. That's when you went home for lunch. Didn't have\nlunch in school, come to think about it. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And did you have music teachers in the school? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: No. We didn't have music teachers then in the school. We didn't\nhave any music teachers in the schools. I do remember though, it's funny you ask\nme these questions. But I have quite a knowledge of music, so my first-grade\nteacher, I was telling my principal this yesterday. My first-grade teacher\ncouldn't teach a music lesson for me. I mean I would correct her. So she let me\nteach the children the music lesson. Whatever the song was. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, that's wonderful.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Because I was, I was criticizing her if she wasn't doing something right. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So, you started your teaching career really early. [Laughter] \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: That's the truth. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=480.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I met her some years later. That's what she told\nme, you know. Yes, she did.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now when you went on to high school, where did you go to high school? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Douglass. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: At Douglass. And who were the music teachers? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: That was Mr. Llewellyn Wilson. Do you know about him? I know\nyou've heard some more about him. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, yes.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. Mr. Llewellyn Wilson was my music teacher at Douglass, and I\nbelonged to the chorus there, and we sang, I think it was The Mikado. The money\nran out, so we had to. In fact, it was around World War I, the money ran out for\nus to perform it, and that's when we did something else. Hiawatha, I think we\ndid Hiawatha.  \n\n\n\nCome to think about it, the new Douglass, the auditorium is named for somebody\nor that was someone in my father's family. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=540.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"My aunt. Mary West Miller was my\naunt, and the auditorium was named after her because she was a dramatic teacher\nat Douglass High School a long time. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: But Douglass has had such a wonderful reputation for its teaching. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, that's all, we all had to go, that was the only school we --\nexcept Dunbar. Everybody went to Douglass. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: What do you remember about Mr. Wilson, about the way he\nhandled his music classes? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: He was very strict. I remember that. And I was always a talker. I\nremember he turned around, looked at me real firm, and told me to shut up.\n[Laughter] And he was very strict, but he was a wonderful teacher. One of his\ndaughters was a great friend of mine. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=600.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I stop back and think about her. \n\n\n\nAnd he presented, did you know, operas every year. He did. I'm trying to think.\nOne opera is named after a ship. But he presented an opera every year with\ncostumes and the background and all of that. Because when our time came to do\nour opera, that's when I think the money ran out. We were having a war or\nsomething, and we couldn't get the money to buy the settings, you know, the\nbackgrounds to do The Mikado. That's what we were going to do. But he was a\nwonderful teacher.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now was there another teacher, a voice teacher there, or -- ? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Not then. No. Not then. And I don't think we had instruments. I\ndon't think we had instruments even. You know, like they have now. Yes. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=660.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He\nplayed the piano and did all the teaching himself. I guess you know about\nGeorgia McMechen. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Tell me about Miss McMechen. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Did you know about her? Well, she was the oldest. Well, I wouldn't\nsay she was at the beginning. She came much later. And Mildred Williams at\nDunbar was a great music teacher. Has anybody told you about Mildred Williams? \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: No. No. This is a new name for me. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, that's a new name you can check out a little bit more\nbecause she was wonderful. Go back and think maybe how far back this was. I know\nit was before I moved, maybe thirty years ago. Because I used to go to the\nChristmas concerts. I used to go down to the Christmas concerts at Dunbar to\nhear the choir sing. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=720.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And everybody sang the \"Hallelujah Chorus.\" And I thought\nit was so wonderful. Her choir sang the \"Hallelujah Chorus.\" And, of course, we\nall had to stand up to do that. \n\n\n\nBut she was a wonderful music teacher at Dunbar High School. Mildred Williams. I\nforget what church she went to, but she passed on, was also director of her\nchurch music. But she, look up the background on her. \n\n\n\nAnd Georgia McMechen, now, the McMechen Building at Morgan College, one of them\nis named after her father, who was in politics, and his name was McMechen. And\nshe, Georgia McMechen was one of the later music teachers at Douglass. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=780.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She was a\nvery small size, and they lived on McCulloh Street. Because she used to take me\nto school. I can remember that. She was a thin person, but she passed on too,\nrather young. But I think she taught long enough to retire I believe, but her\nname was Chester. Her married name was Chester. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now, Georgeanna Chester, I have heard about her. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes, she was Chester. I thought I would forgot it. You remember\nthe old things. It's a funny thing. Because I always worry about my memory. Some\nthings escape me. I have a neighbor, and I constantly try to keep his name\nstraight. I know it starts with S, and I couldn't get it straight so I had to\nthink about how you can smother something with onions. And his name is Smothers. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: There you are. [Laughter] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=840.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"You know, these mnemonic devices\nwork pretty well. Now, when did you enter Coppin? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, I went to Coppin in right after -- I came out of high school\nin '34. I wasn't eighteen. And I went to Coppin the following year. I mean that\nsame September. So it was in September of '34. See I graduated in June, and I\nwent right into school in September.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And who was teaching music at Coppin back in the '30s? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I forget about that part. I don't remember who was teaching music. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Coppin's grown so much in the --  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I don't know who was teaching. Oh! Dukey Wood [phonetic]. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=900.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Did you\nknow about her? \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: No. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Dukey Wood was teaching music. Dukey Wood. And a lot of people\ndon't seem to remember. Oh, what's the fellow's name? It'll come back to me. He\nwas just a great friend of hers and he was a music teacher. Oh, my, I hope his\nname will come back as well -- [unclear]. But they were great friends, and Dukey\nwas the music teacher there at that time. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And what was her instrument? Did she play piano? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: She played the piano, I think. Yeah. She used to play the piano. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Was there a choir at Coppin back then? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: They didn't have a choir in those days. I was just looking back at\nsome of my old -- went through some of my albums. And I noticed we had a\ncelebration after fifty years. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=960.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We had a fiftieth celebration of our class.\nWhat's his name? He was always so funny. He was a friend of Dukey Wood's, and he\nwas one of the early music teachers. I was with a group of beginning music\nteachers, as they called it. And he had the first boys' choir here. His name has\nescaped me. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, if you're like me, it'll come flying back when you least\nexpect it.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I was thinking about him yesterday even. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So, did you start working for the Baltimore City Schools right\nout of Coppin? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. Yes. As a substitute. They made us class 1 and class 2\nsubstitutes. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1020.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And my first job was really in the kindergarten. And the teacher\nwas -- the principal was in that was very upset with her because of her\nlateness. She wasn't I say very competent in -- she was a good teacher, but she\njust didn't pay attention to rules and regulations as she should. And she would\ncome in late or wouldn't come in at all. So he fired her and made me the\nkindergarten teacher. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And what school was that? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I think it was 103. I think, I'm not sure of that because Mr.\nProctor [phonetic] was the principal there. It may have been 103, the old 103.\nIt was called Division Street School. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, Division Street School. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Uh-huh. Division Street School. I think that's where that was. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: How big was your class? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1080.0,1140.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I don't recall that. That's too far back. We had children, then\naround forty children, that we have come down. Meredith Birch. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Meredith Birch. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: That's the one I was trying to remember. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, someone else spoke about him. He was a music teacher. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah. He had the first, he had the first boys' choir. He had a\nwonderful boys' choir. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Right. James Jones talked about. He was his teacher. Another\nmusic teacher. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah, music teacher. Yes. Meredith Birch. Because he died in his\nprime I would say. I used to go and hear his choir, boys' choir. Because I\nalways wanted to have a boys' choir too, after that. He started it, though we\nwere on the same level. We were all teachers together. But I just admired his\ngroup because he was full of fun. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1140.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And just kept us laughing all the time. \n\nAnd Mrs. Dukey Wood and he were very close friends. Because Mrs. Beer, she was a\nWhite lady, she was the supervisor then when we were the first music teachers\nput together. Mrs. Alice Beer was our supervisor.  \n\n\n\nThat was Meredith Birch, yes, and Dukey Wood was our -- I guess you heard about\nthe dance teacher. What in the world was his name? He came up there and did\nreligious dancing a long time ago. That was my first religious dance. \"Go Down\nMoses,\" \"Let My People Go,\" I think it was. Now we do religious dancing, and I\nlike dancing quite a bit. We had an outstanding Black man that taught dancing as\nwell. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1200.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"There were two of them. One was an old-timer, and he was a modern one. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now, I remember hearing about Ellsworth Toomey. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, yes. Ellsworth Toomey was the older one. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Okay. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I'll say. He was very formal. Because I remember somebody took me\nto one of his concerts, and downstairs he had a dance. Everybody danced. Because\nI wanted to dance and nobody asked me to dance. So I guess I was about -- had my\ngrandmother died then? I don't think so. I was quite young. But Ellsworth Toomey\nwas a young dance instructor. Ellsworth Toomey. I remember what he looked like.\nAnd I was trying to recall what the program was. We went to see. But it was a\ndance program I'm sure. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1260.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"He was one of the early dance teachers. And I'm trying\nto think of this other man. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, Mr. Toomey, was he from the islands? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I don't know. I don't know a thing about him. I really don't know.\nI hardly remember what he looked like. I really don't. But I know he was a dance\nteacher, formal dance teacher not in the way of dramatic dancing what you see now. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, I read that he was the only African American who was\nallowed to hold events at the Lyric Theatre. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah. That's where we went. We went to the Lyric. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: The May Ball. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah. Something like that. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Okay. It must have been his May Ball at the Lyric Theater. He\nheld that once a year there. And who else used to go to that? Lovey Husketh's daughter. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, yeah, Llewellyn. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Llewellyn. Right. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1320.0,1380.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Llewellyn Husketh. Yes. I'm trying to think of this other dance\nteacher. The years have made me recall some things that I had really forgotten about. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now when you were in school at Coppin, did you do practice\nteaching before they sent you off? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, we had to do that. Yes. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Okay. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: We did this practice teaching. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Okay. So, I mean, you weren't just flung into the classroom. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, no. No. We had a three-year course. Yes. And I think it was\nthe second year, where we went into what they called practice. Yeah, because we\ndon't have four years, we only had three. And we went into practice. There were\ntwo sessions, I think, of practice. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So you were paired with a regular teacher. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1380.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"They had us teach with a regular teacher. And, you know,\nwrite our plans and teach some demonstrative lessons. We had to teach. And we\nhad two sessions. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So by the time you took a regular position in the schools, you\nfelt very comfortable. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, sort of, sort of comfortable. But I do remember where we\nwere given an appointment. That's where I went to the kindergarten class, you\nsee. I went there. And that's how I sort of eased into class one. Because the\nprincipal made me the teacher and fired the other woman. So I sort of stole into\nthat too.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So where did you go from Division Street? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1440.0,1500.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I really don't remember that. I went to Division Street School,\nbut where I went for practice -- let me see that was that lady, that same\nschool. Because I can see down Division Street. That was not where I practiced.\nNo. When I went into practice, that was another school up the hill. Mr. Proctor\nwas the principal, and on Carrollton Avenue, somewhere up that way. Division\nStreet School was down on Division Street, it was going down McCulloh Street.\nYou see, I lived McCulloh Street and I used to run up the hill for lunch. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, that was very convenient.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: No, it wasn't. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1500.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But I think we had an hour for lunch. I think we\ndid. There was a crab house nearby, and we used to love to go in there and get\nthree or four [unclear] of crab legs and eat those and all that. That's what I\nbought some recently. They don't taste the same, the crabs that you get now. I\ndon't know what they've done. But you can taste the difference in the flavor.\nOne thing, they don't even come from here. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: That's right. They're coming in from out of state. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: They're coming from Virginia somewhere. Our crab industry has just\nbeen ruined. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, I wish they still had that crab house down by McCulloh Street.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. The crab house there. We used to run in there for our lunch.\nGrab some, three or four cents' worth, and then dash back to school. When I\nstarted teaching, that was, I think, it was the school that is up on Carrollton\nAvenue, I believe somewhere up that way with Mr. Proctor. He was the principal\nup there.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1560.0,1620.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So how long did you teach in kindergarten? And you moved up\nfrom -- After teaching kindergarten, what was your next -- ? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah, kindergarten. Oh, yeah, well, I was under Mr. -- I was in\nEast Baltimore. Let me think who the principal was. Because the principal became\nthe superintendent. Mr. Henderson [phonetic]. He was the principal. I do\nremember because that was up on, I was living then on Eden Street. That's when I\nwas teaching. I'm trying to think of some other people, there were some other\npeople named Nichols, but they're not relatives of mine. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: This must have been close to World War II by this time. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1620.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Yes. I guess so, around there. Right around '39, '40. But I\nremember where I was teaching. Oh, I know where it was. I was teaching then at\n101, which was next door to Dunbar, old Dunbar.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, okay. All right.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah, because we had to go up the steps. You know, that was old\n101. And Mr. Henderson was the principal there. Because that's when my aunt\ndied. My great-aunt died.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Who lived in East Baltimore. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah, because I told him. I sat in the office so long, and he\nwanted to know what did I want. And I said I came to tell you I won't be to\nschool. Because we were afraid to stay home from school because we were afraid\nwe would lose our position. So I told him, I said, I came to tell you that I\nwon't be to school Monday. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1680.0,1740.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I told him that I wouldn't be in on a Monday. I said\nmy great-aunt told me she will be deceased by Monday, and I won't be here. And\nhe dropped the pen. I didn't realize what I had said until I had said it. I was,\nbut that's what she told me. She said go to school, tell your principal I will\nnot be here because I will be deceased. I will be gone Monday. And it was true.\nShe was dead before that Monday. So he said to me, I remember, he said, you go\nhome and don't you worry about a thing. I'll take care of everything for you.\nAnd I did. I went home. Because I didn't have a car then, I had to walk home.\nThat's right.  \n\n\n\nSo that's where I was teaching when I left, I was the class 1 teacher there, and\nI stayed with him until he moved me to another principal named Cecilia Rezar.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1740.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476/transcript/38482/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"She was not a musician at all, but she was a very strict principal which we\nnever forgot. Her name was Cecilia Rezar. Because she said, one thing she\nwouldn't observe me on was music. One thing you can teach. [Laughter] Cecilia\nRezar. She was the terror of the school system.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, my goodness. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: She was a terror. A terror. And everybody who taught under her\nbecame a very good teacher or else. [Laughter] Yes. So that was at 116. That\nschool was then on Aisquith Street at 116.  \n\n\n\n[END PART 1] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117476#t=1800.0,1860.0"}]}]},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 2 of 3 - pims0091_NicholsG-1_02.mp3"]},"duration":1859.0302,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/477/small/nichols_photoshop.jpg?1651084313","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/content/2/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/477/original/pims0091_NicholsG-1_02.mp3?1624270949","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":1859.0302,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["NicholsG_102_OHMS_20220609 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"GWEN NICHOLS: I'm trying to think how I got away from her. Because she passed\non, Cecilia Rezar. Oh, I remember. I think she transferred me. Yes. Oh, what was\nthat principal's name? He and I got along very nice. I can't think of his name,\nthat principal. I taught under him for a while.  \n\n\n\nThen I got into School 102 I think it was. Mrs. Anne Payne was the principal\nthere at 102. I think the other principal retired, and Miss Anne Payne came in.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Not Anna, but Anne Payne. And I was a teacher under her. I think I had a fourth\ngrade. But I had a choir. I always loved to have choirs. And I had a nice choir.\nAnd she was thinking of Christmas and that sort of thing. So she wanted to be\nthe superintendent to -- well, somebody, I guess it must have been a supervisor,\ncame down to hear my choir sing because we were on the stairway. We didn't have\nan auditorium. And she wanted to have me released so I could teach music for her\nschool for a half day. So he was so impressed with my choir that's when he told\nher he would like to make me one of the music teachers that he was establishing\nas elementary teachers of music. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And that's how I got out of the classroom. And\nhe was very pleased with my choir, and that's when I began teaching music. And\ncame into the music department. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: What kind of music did you have the choir performing then? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, we did classical music. We didn't do any -- I don't\nremember. I always did like spirituals. But we sang classical music for the\nchoir. I don't recall what the pieces were way back then. But I'm trying to\nthink of did I have a piano? I don't even know if we had a piano out there in\nthat hall then. I think I used a pitch pipe. Because we had to move the pianos\naround. But I remember the choir was up on the stairway. We didn't have any\nauditorium. We used to have to go, I think, across the street to the church if\nwe wanted to have a performance. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And there was a church, I think, yes. A church\nacross the street, but they moved from there. So that's how I got into the\nschool system as a music teacher. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So you were a full-time music teacher by the time World War II\ngot underway. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: When was that? \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: In the 1940s. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: '41, '42. I suppose so. Yes. Yes. Because '37 I came out, and in\njust about a couple of years I was a substitute teacher. And I finally got\nmyself down to around '40, '41, '42.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You must have seen a lot of changes taking place in Baltimore\nduring those years. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, yes. Like what kind of changes? \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, so many people moving into the city because of the war\nindustries gearing up and the shipyards gearing up --  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oh, oh, oh. Yeah, lots of people coming in from their car from the\nCarolinas to get jobs, to get better work. Yes. Yes. There was. A lot of people.\nIt was hard to find somebody who was a Baltimorean. Yes. Because so many came\nfrom North and South Carolina. You're right. Yes. They did at that time. To get\na better job. Yes. That's right. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And the war, as terrible as wars are, seemed to open up a lot\nof opportunities especially for African Americans who were frozen out of a lot\nof factory jobs. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. That's true. Because I remember that next door to me when I\nwas on Caroline Street, as I said I was looking at these pictures ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"and my\nneighbors next door to me, her husband was from South Carolina, and I think she\nwas from North Carolina. The Bowmans [phonetic]. And he was working at Sparrows\nPoint. I don't know where Mrs. Bowman worked. I think she worked in the service\nthen. But that was the case. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Was there any friction between a lot of the new people coming\nin from the Carolinas and the established families who lived here for generations? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I didn't notice much as a very young person. I can't recall, I'd\nsay, so much friction between them. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"No. I just can't think of any, too much. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Did it have an impact? Were you seeing more students coming\ninto the classes? Were the classes getting larger during that time? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, there were. Yeah. Because they had to pare down after a while. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And then of course, I guess a lot of the men teachers probably\ngot called out --  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, when that happened -- I'm trying to figure what I was doing.\nI was very close with [my mother]. People didn't move quite so much. Because I\nlived on McCulloh Street, and most of the people there were home buyers. May\nhave been one or two families.  \n\n\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But the McMechens lived down the street and Mrs. Vivian Cook lived two doors up,\nwho was the principal. We also stayed pretty sturdy through that time. And I\nwent to both churches. St. John's for services. But I sat on the organ stool\nwith my mother for a long time. She wouldn't let me start playing. That's why,\nshe passed away it was just a year before she said she was going to let me. She\nwas going to start teaching me organ lessons. And she used to practice that\nstuff. Because it was a three-manual organ. I used to go in there for my lunch\nwhen she was down there practicing. But I wasn't too much aware I would say of\nfriction between [them] at that time. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: I was just curious because often when you have a large\npopulation moving in, there's sometimes a little.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=420.0,480.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"No, Mother, she rented a room, but I don't think that lady was\nfrom the south. No, not so much around where I lived. And in East Baltimore when\nI would go down there, they were the same people lived down there in those\nhouses. They stayed there for years. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: When did you start seeing the changes in the neighborhood?  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Changes like what? \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, I mean, you were saying that people felt comfortable\ncoming and going all times of the day and night, and that the residents tended\nto stay settled. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=480.0,540.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Well, that's been since not too long ago. I'll say things changed.\nI think when this dope got involved. People got involved with this dope problem,\nwhich is the last ten years or so. When you were afraid, you didn't want to\nleave your door open. Because it's just two nights ago, two days ago, in the\nmorning news someone's giving all these reasons why you should be very careful.\nAnd I thought because I always had a dog, and I miss my dog. Because I had a\ngiant schnauzer, and I really found a home for her, and she was adopted, but I\nalways felt safe and never paid too much attention to my security service. I had\nit, I kept on paying for it, I own it, but there were times. You know it was\njust lately. Now that you have to be searching or take all these precautions.\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=540.0,600.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Have a light on and keep your outside lit up. Because I just did a lamp because\nI need another lamp. The lamp should be focused on the back way. \n\n\n\nI have physical problems with the eyes. I don't like driving at night. Well, the\ngirl I picked up for church Sunday she had something on her key ring, and I\nasked her what was it. It was mace. Because she said somebody tried to snatch\nher pocketbook. It's just been in the last ten years or so since so many people\nare involved with -- finding money for dope. All these terrible things that are\nhappening to us now. You know, and you're so leery of --  \n\n\n\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=600.0,660.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I'm almost afraid of policemen so to speak. You don't know who. You call him for\nsafety, you don't know whether you're safe or not. It seems as though you're\njust afraid of everybody.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, going back to your mother. After her death, did you take\nover her church job? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, no. They wouldn't because they owed her money. And I couldn't\nplay the organ anyway. And I still can't play the organ. I didn't take her\nchurch job. No. I took other little jobs. I always played the piano. I tried to\nplay the organ. I just had some jive jobs [unclear]. I've had a couple of jobs\nwhere I played the organ, or played the piano. For services. I did some of that. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now, how have the students changed since you started teaching?\nThere have been a lot of changes. I mean, the musicians, the teachers union for one. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=660.0,720.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oh, you're possibly talking about, we call it now the climate in\nthe schools. A nice word for having one. But there are more problems now. The\nchildren are not like they used to be. Because, we'll say, of the lack of the\nhome training from the parents. If they are not well trained by their parents,\nand their parents don't hold them up to certain behavior patterns, they bring\nthose patterns right to school with them. \n\n\n\nSo you don't know. I haven't been so aware of this until I have made home\nvisits. Even last year, as I told my principal. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=720.0,780.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I made some home visits. Because\noften you want to see where the child's coming from. Because oftentimes when you\nsee where the child is coming from, you understand a little bit better sometimes\nwhy they have the problems that they would have. And discipline is one of the\nbig problems that we have in the schools. Yes. A big problem. Yeah. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So you have to be a music teacher and parent.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. Yes. You have to try. That's where I was too anyway teaching\nwas a different story. They expect to hear the same kind of music in the\nclassroom that they hear out in the streets and on television and radio. Rap and\nso forth. Because where I was, they hadn't had music for five years. But I\ndidn't have any problem before I got to a school like that. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now where are you teaching now? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=780.0,840.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Well, now I'm not teaching at all. They dropped me. I had what\nthey call -- They dropped my particular job at the end of each year. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Okay. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Because they called me a senior teacher exemption. They didn't\nknow what year I guess I would stop teaching. So they stopped me. They broke me\noff each year. I have to find another place. My supervisor, in other words, had\nto find another place for me. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So every year is an adventure, you know. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. Well, really, I have never been in a music position two years\nstraight. There always was a change. So it didn't upset me too much, but I still\nhadn't been cut off, as they say. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Right. That must be a challenge. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah. Well, I was very upset about it. That's why I went down to\nNorth Avenue to find out what was going on. And that's when I got to the bottom\nof it. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=840.0,900.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Because I was thinking that I needed some courses to take. And when we\ngot the catalogue for the courses. The catalogue was a day late. And the\nclasses, the application to apply for the classes, to sign in, was due the\nsixteenth, and we got the books, it was due the seventeenth. And that's when I\neven said to my principal, I said, look, I just got this book here the\nseventeenth. So I said, well, how am I going to apply? So she said, well, why\ndon't you go up there to the professional building, which was up on North\nAvenue, and I did. And when I went up there, she said the same thing. She said,\noh no, that was the sixteenth. So she said, well, why don't you call the teacher\nwho was teaching it? And I called it, but she never answered. Never got an\nanswer from her. So I was very worried. That was when I wanted to take one of\nthe courses I was going to take. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=900.0,960.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So I went down to North Avenue, and the man\nthat I went down to see, he was not there. And he didn't come in. So I said,\nwell, I'll go up and see my specialist. And I went up to see her, and that's\nwhen I told her. I said, I'm trying to find out why I was cut off. I said what's\nthat all about?  \n\n\n\nSo a lady had written something on a piece of paper. Yes. I went up to see\nsomebody else before I went upstairs to see Jill [phonetic]. And this lady\nscribbled something, you know, on this paper. And she said you have senior\nteacher exemption, and you don't have to take any more courses. It's not\nnecessary for you to take any more courses. I said, oh, that's fine. So I\ncarried this upstairs to my supervisor, to Jill. And I showed her this. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=960.0,1020.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And she\nsaid, this isn't a bit professional. This isn't done right. I'm going to go down\nthere with you. So I trailed on back down to with her and we found this lady.\nWell, she had written it, you know, just scribbled it, tore the piece of paper\nin half and scribbled it. So she said, won't you put this on some kind of form,\nshe said, so she can have to present to somebody. \n\n\n\nShe could talk all the way she knew how. That lady would not give me anything\nformally on paper. Like a certificate or something or other that I have senior\nteacher exemption. So she said if she does find a job, if you find a place for\nher, now this will do. She said this is all right. We left her. So I said, they\njust don't want to write anything for me. I guess I said, maybe I'll drop dead.\nI'm still living. [Laughter] I'm eighty-five. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1020.0,1080.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Because Jill said to the lady,\nlook, she's eighty-seven. I said, no, I'm eighty-five. [Laughter] \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Please. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Don't add more years to it. But I guess I'm the oldest one\nteaching in Baltimore or something. [Laughter] So of course I had my salary\nbased on the courses. Because I had taken the equivalent to my master's. And\nsometimes I think that's why they found it hard to find a place because they\ndictate my salary from North Avenue. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now have you ever thought of doing anything but being a music teacher? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I haven't until these last couple of weeks or so. I had to take\neverything I had home. Well, a lot of us did not know exactly where we would be\nthe next year. But this is a new system that's come along just this year, or say\nlast year. My supervisor had to write a cover letter and send in an application\nfor her job. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1080.0,1140.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oh, my goodness. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: My supervisor. This is something has come down here. These people\ncame down from Philadelphia they said with all this stuff. And my place is a\nmess. I have brought in everything. I have no place to try to put it. And I'm\ntrying to make up my mind, and I'm getting ready for my studio. Well, that's why\nI want to do something different. I said, I'm going back and see how well I can\ndo with this group here to teach. It'll be four students at a time. And work in\nprobably some private students. But I was making a very, very good salary in the\nsystem. And of course I may do some subbing. Now if Jill finds me a place, I\nwill take it. But we never know. \n\n\n\nOne place, I had the teacher quit. She hired a girl. Jill had to give her the\nnext teacher available. There was a girl who came in and saw me teach at Bernard\nHarris [School], and she's got my job. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1140.0,1200.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"But how long is she going to stay?\nBecause I had my best class for her. \n\n\n\nBut now these new teachers come in sometimes and just quit. Because I was at the\nspecial high school -- I'm trying to think of what it's called -- and the\nteacher quit there, and that's how I got that opening at the high school. It was\na special high school. I'm trying to think of what they call it. But we don't\nknow what's going to happen from year to year. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: You know, I've always been impressed whenever I've gone into\nthe schools when they have music programs. There are so many talented young\npeople in the schools, and it's so exciting to see these fresh faces. And, of\ncourse, we're getting them here now out of School for the Arts, and it's just\namazing. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1200.0,1260.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And Douglass still seems to be turning out really talented young\nmusicians, and Dunbar. How do you broaden their world of music, the ones that\ncome in just wanting to hear the things they've heard on the street, as you describe? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah. Well, I wouldn't play it, you know. I would try to become\nenthusiastic about some of the other selections and programs or with the CDs. I\nfound some CDs that had some treatment -- the treatment of better types of\nmusic. They have some students, I don't care what you did with them, you had\nsome that didn't even come into the room because they didn't want to hear. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1260.0,1320.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I had\none boy and he was quite obnoxious about hearing any kind of music that I\nplayed. Only wanted to hear some of the rap. But I said I'm sorry, because rap\nis not music. I said that's poetry put to a beat. I said that's what that is.\nAnd we had some we just couldn't win over, and we had some others that would go\non with what I was trying to do. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: It must be exciting when you open a window for somebody like\nthat, the ones that are receptive. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Uh-huh, uh-huh. As I say, you never would know just what would\nimpress them. That was often one of my big problems, what would they like\n","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1320.0,1380.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"besides the technical things that you were supposed to try to teach. You know,\nthe notation. Half notes and quarter notes. It just wasn't easy. And the\nclassical, the modern world is changing too so fast. Every time you turn around\nit's a new star. Somebody that's come up and they're crazy about them. You know,\nthe next two months is gone.  \n\n\n\nI used to tell them, they drop off from the charts very quick, I said, but Mr.\nBeethoven, he stays. [Laughter] I said, Beethoven's Ninth [sic]. They say,\nwhat's that? I say -- [sings theme of Beethoven's Fifth]. [Laughter] \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Then they get it. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, yeah. So you sort of take it with a little sense of humor and\nso forth. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1380.0,1440.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Well, if you were going to change classroom teaching nowadays,\nif they came and asked you what you wanted to make your work --  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah. That's why I wouldn't teach the piano. It was always so\nboring sort of to me. I really found teaching, believe it or not, in the\nclassroom much more exciting somehow. I got more pleasure out of that. I really\ndid. And I didn't think I would go back to piano because I made some little\nsigns and I was putting them at the schools. I went to four schools yesterday\nand left notices. And the principal where I just left, Miss Coates [phonetic],\nshe was sort of surprised. And she said where are you going to do this? I said\nI'm going to do this in my home. I said, yes, I'm going to do this in my home. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So are you still on McCulloh Street now? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1440.0,1500.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Where? \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Are you still on McCulloh? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, no, I'm on Kingsley. I moved. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, that's right. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: I'm on Kingsley. I moved up in the Morgan University area. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: When did you leave McCulloh Street? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, I left McCulloh Street when my grandmother passed.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: I see. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: My father had to come down from New York. I think he sold the\nproperty. He took care of that. I didn't know too much about what happened\nthere. But I had to move. That's when I moved to East Baltimore. Carried all of\nher antique furniture that she had. It happens, the way it was, it was\nincidental. My great-aunt was getting ready to move, or had just moved. I didn't\nmove down to Stirling Street. That's where she was. She was moving up to Eden\nStreet, in the 1000 block, 1006 Eden Street. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1500.0,1560.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"So my furniture, my piano was moved\nright in there with her. She had a big house that she had moved in on Eden Street. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: I see. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: That's right. I may have stayed with my father a little while in\nNew York because I really didn't see that moving. I think they tried to keep me\nfrom having -- I was under so much stress, the pressure from losing my\n[grandmother]. Because my grandmother died suddenly. She walked home with a pint\nof ice cream in her hand. She died suddenly of a heart attack and stroke. And I\nthink he dragged me up there to New York, and I stayed up there. So when I came\nback, I came back to Eden Street, 1006 Eden Street. Then there was a square. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Right. Oh, yes. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Do you remember anything about that?  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Yes. I do. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1560.0,1620.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Yeah, my great-aunt, because I was just looking at her picture --\nMy great-aunt used to take her chair across the street there so she could sit\nthere by the pond and look at the fish. The fish in the pond in that square\nthere before that school was built up on that hill. I went to Coppin right from\nthat address, 1006 Eden Street. I went to Coppin. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: While you were at Coppin, that must have been about the time\nthat Captain Charles Harris was forming that Colored Symphony Orchestra, which\nW. Llewellyn Wilson ultimately became conductor of. That was in the late '30s at Douglass. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, it may have been at Douglass. Yeah. Because I had graduated\nfrom Douglass. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Right. You would have been graduated by then. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Because we had no instruments then. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1620.0,1680.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Yes. That was after I had\ngraduated from Douglass. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: And I think part of what might have made that possible was\nthat Peabody got a grant from, I believe, the Ford Foundation to teach\ninstrumental music in the schools. And so they did put some instruments in the\nschools at that time. And I know Mr. Wilson was connected with that project in\nsome way. So that all must have happened about the same time. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah. A little bit after I had graduated.  \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: So how long did you have the chorus when they wanted you to be\na full-time music teacher? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh, well, I left. I finished the year out. I think I may have\nfinished the semester out. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1680.0,1740.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And in the following semester that's when I became\none of the early elementary teachers of music. And we were assigned to schools.\nBut then, at the very beginning, I had what they called two and a half days. We\nhad two schools. Because I remember I had one school -- I had to split a half a\nday, teach in the morning and then grab a lunch and then go to the other school.\nAnd they changed that around so that we would have three days at one school and\ntwo days at the other school alternately. So scheduling was quite a hassle then.\nThen it narrowed down eventually to one school. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, that must have been a relief. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yes. So that's why I was in so many schools. Somebody was asking\nme yesterday, they said, well, how many schools? I said, well, I guess I've been\nin twenty schools. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Good heavens.  \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: And I had a book that had all my schools, and I lost that little\nnotebook. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1740.0,1800.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477/transcript/38483/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I was so upset about that because I had listed year after year. But\nnow I can just go back because they have a list now that they can send to you of\nall the schools, and I can just check off where I have been. Where I've been. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Well, if you were going to give advice to a young person going\ninto teaching, who was a music teacher, what would you tell them? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Oh. What would I tell them? I would say, well, look at the\npositive side. There's always something good in everything and everybody.\n[Laughter] That's the best thing I would tell them. Yes. If you find something\nnegative, I'd say, well, at least see if you can supersede it or compare it with\nsomething --  \n\n\n\n[END PART 2] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117477#t=1800.0,1860.0"}]}]},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 3 of 3 - pims0091_NicholsG-2_01.mp3"]},"duration":453.04163,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/117/478/small/nichols_photoshop.jpg?1651084320","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/content/3/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-peabody.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/117/478/original/pims0091_NicholsG-2_01.mp3?1624270950","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mpeg","duration":453.04163,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["NicholsG_201_OHMS_20220609 [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"ELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now, Miss Nichols, tell me about these plays. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Yeah, well, one of them was something like Mary Ann Comes to\nAmerica. This is a play that really shows or emphasizes all the various holidays\nthat we have in America. And we go right through the year the special, the\nEaster holiday, and then the summer holidays like the Fourth of July holiday.\nAnd Thanksgiving and Christmas and so forth. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=0.0,60.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And then, of course, there were\nsome dreams included in that to make it all come together. And we had a chorus\nthat sang some parts of it. The principal, she wanted to be certain that the\nplay was written well, and I had it checked over by one of the teachers. I think\nit was Nick Aaron Ford who was at Morgan. He was an English teacher, and he\nchecked over the play to see if it was okay. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: When did you start writing plays? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Well, I sort of started out, say out of necessity. I never could\nfind a play that I liked. So I wrote my own play. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Do you think that W. Llewellyn Wilson was an inspiration for\nthis? ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=60.0,120.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I mean, it sounds like you're following Wilson. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: No. He wasn't, not at all. I just had to find something for my\nchoir, and I just decided I would just write the whole thing, and I wrote the play. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Now, is this the one that was performed at the school above\n33rd Street? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: 33rd Street, above 33rd Street. No, there's another one. I wrote\nanother play. It was the story of the Negro spiritual. I'll say that was the\nlargest play that I did, and that was performed at three or four different\nschools. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=120.0,180.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"And that one started with the African people being taken from their\nhuts, from their homes and carried through the forest or through the jungles to\nthe ships that brought them over into the United States. That's how this play started.  \n\n\n\nIn fact, it had a little preview before that where there was some Englishmen\nthat were actually poaching the Africans. The tribe of people who were very tall\nto go into our villages and capture us. And here these watches and jewelry and\nthings like that to poach them. And then, of course, after they came over into\nAmerica how we sang in the fields and whatnot and impressed the plantation\nowners. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=180.0,240.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"We were singing spirituals. And that type of spirituals really started\nI'll say with a moan. And I saw this in black and white one time because we were\nso unhappy with our situation.  \n\n\n\nAnd the play goes right on through to where we were emancipated. And how we\nbecame very happy. We were emancipated, but we had no job, and we ran into\ntrouble with that. But it goes through the whole era of the Negro from slavery\non up to freedom. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: When did you have this performed? \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=240.0,300.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Oh, it was -- when was it performed? If I knew this, all this\nabout me, I would have brought something with me. Because I did it about three\nor four years in different schools. And that's when I was trying to think of\nthis special school I went to because I had boys that were as tall as the\nAfricans, you know, who stood straight, and they were six feet. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, my. Perfect. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: And we had the village scenes where they were making a porridge.\nAnd that's when we were captured from the village and carried us through the\nwoods and what have you. And I performed this. I know I did it at two or three\ndifferent schools. I did it at 39, that was the last one that I did it. Because\nI remember the principal. I was just there yesterday. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=300.0,360.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"The principal asked me,\nshe hoped that I could get my plays written. She'd like to see this one written\nout. Because I did this here. I did this, as I said, at that special school. And\nsomewhere across town I did it as well. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: That would be really exciting to see this go into print. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: The one that's called Joe's Christmas. I had a little play I did.\nWell, I wrote that play mostly the choir was singing. But there was a little\nplay called Joe's Christmas. If I could get those three written up, I'm going to\ncall them Gwen's plays. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: Oh, that's good. That's wonderful. So you have the possibility\nof opening up your own studio ahead of you. The possibility of just being back\nin the classroom next year and getting these plays published. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: And yes, I would like to get that published. ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=360.0,420.0"},{"id":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478/transcript/38484/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"I wish I could learn\nhow to work on that computer right. They say I got a bad job at that computer,\nso I'm going to get another one. I understand they are not brand new when you\nbuy them from out there in Timonium. I didn't know that. \n\n\n\nELIZABETH SCHAAF: But I wanted to thank you for coming down. It was really\nwonderful to have you here. \n\n\n\nGWEN NICHOLS: Okay. \n\n\n\n[END OF SESSION] ","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://streaming.peabody.jhu.edu/collections/1178/collection_resources/44162/file/117478#t=420.0,480.0"}]}]}]}