Cora Lee Washington Goodwin

Profile Updated: April 17, 2022
Residing In Birmingham, AL USA
Spouse/Partner William Lagrange Goodwin
Occupation Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN)
Children Norma Jean Gaston Goodwin, dob March 3, 1939
William LaGrange Goodwin iii, dob April 17, 1942
Ronald More…Goodwin, dob December 18, 1943
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Cora Lee Washington Goodwin was born on May 11, 1916 in Birmingham, Alabama to Mary Witt Washington and Robert Lee Washington. Cora grew up in the Oak Ridge Park community, later expanded and known as Woodlawn, Five (5) miles east of downtown Birmingham. Cora attended Patterson Elementary School, and graduated from Industrial High School, later known as A. H. Parker High School. Cora graduated in 1934, receiving a High School diploma. Cora's first employment, a domestic worker, began as an assistant to her mother, doing domestic work for the Bracket family as a teenager. In (1952) Cora earned $8.00 per week from the Bracket family, and $9.00 per week fromthe Whitehurst family, simultaneously. Opportunities were very limited for women of color to earn a livable wage in the South, and Birmingham in particular. Expressed differently, there was no net increase in wages between the age of 15 years old when she started helping her mother and 30 years old when she had another opportunity and changed the type of work that she performed. In the south, share croppers, domestic workers and most non union jobs for blacks did not have a net increase in income over an average of 20 years. All of Cora's siblings left the South, either entered the Military, or had migrated, to the cities of Detroit, Michigan, New York or cities that offered a living wage or diversified employment opportunities for people of color. Segregation was a term used and forcefully employed by racist and not even on the radar for people of color in 1934, you were taught the compelling survival skills of the day, and the customs and the history of the volatile black and white relationships that existed at the time. You were given a very valuable lesson in sociology, psychology, common sense, and taught a special skill set by your parents, teachers, your Church Family, and you never missed what you never had. In principal, you were taught how to cope and survive in a hostile racial hotbed that often went berserk if you did not follow the oppressive customs of the day. There was one Black owned neighborhood grocery store in the community, named after the owner, Macon Store. The streets of the black community were not paved. The major utilities such as water, sewer service and natural gas were not available in the black neighborhood. You learned to enjoy the use and experiences associated with an outdoor toilet, a Slop Jar in the house for night use, and if you were sick, sometimes called a honey bucket. A water well was located in every yard to bring fresh water up from below the ground. Every house had a dish pan, rinse pan, and a special drinking water bucket and a dipper near by for the storage area of the drinking water inside the house. Every house had a #1, #2 and #3 galvanized washing tub. A small porcelain wash pan for refreshing your self, and for what may have been referred as a sponge off, a foot tub for multi-purpose use, a number # 1 tub for rinsing clothes, a number #2 tub for washing clothes and the # 3 tub was the main bath tub for your Saturday night bath. Obviously, for special occasions, the frequency increased. The house had a small, double, back to back fire place with one common flue for heating, supplemented by a "Pot-Belly" stove for the whole house, a wood burning cook stove in the kitchen that used wood as fuel. On the outside at the rear of the back yard was a small shed called the coal house for storage of coal, a wood pile, a chicken coop, for raising chickens, ducks and gathering eggs. Fruit trees bearing apples, peaches, plums, figs, and pears, were in every yard or near by, and obviously every house had a garden for vegetables and spices to feed the family. Plums and blackberries were plentiful every where. Let us not forget the big black wash pot, in the yard used for canning foods, washing clothing and it was the major source when large quantities of hot water were needed. A smoothing iron heated by the stove for laundry and maintenance of clothing. The kitchen did not have a sink, and a separate table for storing a dish pan, dish rinse pan, drinking pail and drinking dipper was stored on the table. Every house had an Ice box to store ice and extend the life of perishables, left over meals and items that required cooling. Vendors came into your community daily with goods to sale and provide services that you could not provide for yourself, at a certain time of the day. There was the vegetable man, the watermelon man, the sugarcane man, the ice man, the milk man, the news paper man and the lists goes on. Other vendors were there to buy unused and unneeded items, the rag man, tin man, the Iron man, who purchased scrap metals from you to be resold. Repairmen came around, the cane bottom chair man, and many others providing door to door service for a fee. There was always a "Hot" house in the community where after hours drinks could be purchased by the bottle or shot glass. The barber shop was down town, but usually your hair was cut by a neighbor, and the beauty shop was usually in someone's home that you knew. There was no time to run your fingers through your hair and care for your long manicured nails as we do today. Your time was managed by you or for you but spent wisely as compared to today's climate. Exposure to responsibility began at a much younger age then than it does today. The transfer of information, personal supervision and discipline was more profound then than now, and at the end of the day, there was less turmoil, trauma, and indecisiveness that you see in our youth today. Your neighbors had the authority to discipline and it extended into the schools. Cora and Lagrange William Goodwin married in 1938. They began raising a family in the community named Acipico, named after the American Cast Iron Pipe Company, where Lagrange worked for 42 years and retired. The opportunity came in 1953 for Cora to enter a training program to become a licensed practical nurse, upon the passing of the State Board Examination. This new training program took all of the women of color out of the kitchens in the white neighborhoods in Birmingham, Alabama and placed them in a position to qualify for Social Security, Medical Insurance and Retirement, a revolution for black women who grew up in the South. One out of ten (10) poor white families could hire a maid because the wages for a black woman were around $1.25 a day in Birmingham, Alabama. As I recall, a balanced meal and milk in the lunch room at school cost about 25 cents per day. I earned more than my mother when I was eleven (11) years old cutting grass in the white community. The unwritten law of the land is "Keep a black family poor and at low wages, they cannot send their children to college, and they will be in turmoil generation after generation" and we are still struggling with this problem after 300 years, because we do not prepare ourselves when we are young, starting around ten (10) years old. After a few years Cora and Lagrange moved back to Woodlawn to assist in taking care of her mother Mary Witt Washington, whose health was failing and a sister, Katie Mae Washington, who had a crippling disease and could not care for herself as a teenager. After graduating from Nursing School, Cora's first job was at the Jefferson Sanatorium, that treated tuberculosis for patients in the state of Alabama, where she continued to work for 20 years. Cora took advantage of the opportunity to work for the Spain Rehabilitation Center, specializing in the treatment of stroke victims and persons suffering from multiple traumas. Cora joined a Social Club called the Royal Arts and Savings Club, a women's only club which consisted of life long friends and persons in the surrounding communities. The arts included sewing, quilting, and music, they encouraged their children to pursue some area of music, public speaking, and field trips to see the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Mrs. Blakely who lived in the neighborhood taught piano, and many girls in the neighborhood received their first introduction to music on the piano during their elementary school years. The boys seemed to never have a desire to participate. The clubs focus on savings gave the ladies the opportunity to save money for Christmas, and understand the value of saving, and being a savvy shopper. The Club met once a month. The membership was composed of ladies of refinement, culture and leaders of their community. All of the ladies were married but not all had children. The club had civic projects and they had an annual Christmas party that was usually the highlight and context of talking points long after the party. The Royal Arts and Savings Club celebrated their Christmas in grand style with a party given at the Ballard House. Blacks were not allowed to use the facilities at any major hotel in Birmingham during this era. The women and their husbands (whom they insisted come to the annual event and show up or else) dressed to the nines in their finest for the event. They were just as excited as if they were going to their high school prom. Cora was a devoted member of the Jackson Street Baptist Church for more than 50 years. Cora had a very simple approach to her religious views. She never lectured you from a text, it was leadership by example. It was mandatory to go to church for all of the children in the family, but religious views were not overbearing as it is in some family settings. Cora was the wisest and strongest of all of her siblings, a leader, a peace maker, a broker, communicator, one who listened and brought stability to the table, even in the most difficult circumstances. Cora would not dodge the issues, she would bring and include everyone at the table, and a system of fairness would always prevail. Even when there were disputes between her siblings and their wives or husbands, she never took sides , if you were wrong, you were called out. In raising children, she never gave one preferential treatment over the other, she would always find the time to call all of her children once a week after they moved away, brothers and sisters included, and this extended to cousins uncles and aunts. Cora believed that everyone should go to college or have a specialized skill that would enable them to live independently, and this included other members of our extended family. Cora organized our first Washington-Witt Family Reunions, as we now know them, in the city of Detroit, when one brother was unable to travel, and in Washington DC. During the last healthy years of Cora's life. Cora was able to travel a few places during the later years, such as St. Louis, Missouri, Cincinnati, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Washington DC and Honolulu, Hawaii and to see her favorite cousin Edwin Witt in Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1957 Cora had a stroke that left a slight paralysis on the left side of her body, but through the grace of God, her training as a nurse, experience with patients at the Spain Rehabilitation Center, and self determination, she was able to make a complete recovery. On the first day of her stroke, she used a rubber ball, diligently and frequently for the assistance of her recovery. Additionally, she exercised and participated in the therapeutic procedures offered at the time. In approximately one (1) year, she was back at work and you could not tell that she had suffered a stroke. In 1978, Cora had a debilitating stroke that damaged her brain stem, her nervous system and even her body temperature was no longer involuntarily regulated by her brain and nervous system. Cora lived a good life and her spirit still lives today.

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Posted: Apr 17, 2022 at 3:58 PM
This picture was taken in 1976 at the home of Ronald Goodwin, our first Family Reunion held in Washington, DC, Cora Lee Washington Goodwin, her brother James Dordy Washington, and Vera, girlfriend of James. This was Cora’s first visit to 3746 Southern Avenue and her second visit to Washington DC. On the first visit, she was accompanied by our father, Lagrange William Goodwin who died in 1970, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Posted: Apr 17, 2022 at 3:58 PM
1976, Cora Goodwin smoking Ribs and Chicken in Washington, DC at our family reunion, and William LaGrange Goodwin, 111 sitting at the table. This picture was taken in the backyard of Ronald and Mary Goodwin. Robert Lee Washington, had a previous stroke, could not travel. William Leroy (Didly) Washington of New York had passed at this time, Jewell Washington (sister) and James Dordy Washington (brother) and Thomas (brother) Witt were present. Cora Lee Goodwin Washington passed in 1978 in Birmingham, Alabama.