Willie and Fred: 1908

Novilla, Willie's daughter, was my grandmother. My dad was the only boy she had out of six kids. His name is Joe Smith, but not really a Smith at all. We don't know who his father was. Novilla was an incredible woman who like most Southern women held many secrets. Also could you send me info concerning her mother's race? She was not white. Thank you!

-- Jamie Smith
othomail@yahoo.com

These boys could've been in 1837. For hundreds of years poverty has never been addressed let alone dealt with. Can you imagine an era that looked no different from 100 years before. Shocking and detestable.

[In 1837 they would have been working in the fields. It's technology and industry that lifted people out of poverty. - Dave]

This is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. I found some interesting information about Willie. He died in the late 1920s. He was married at the time, and had one daughter, Novilla, who was born in 1923. I have talked to one of Novilla's daughters, and will be talking to another soon. They never knew their grandfather Willie, of course, but have some stories to tell. More later.