Tang’s Interview

(Wilbert) Tang Watson Interview

September, 2021

Me:  Here are some questions to think about….please just write what you are thinking as if you were having a conversation, and add anything else you want to say. 

1. Did you attend Tensas Elementary before Rosenwald High School? 
2. Were there ever separate high schools for non white students in Waterproof or Newellton, or was the high school always consolidated?
3. What was the building like, the sports facilities, the equipment, books, classrooms, teacher materials?
4. Who were the most respected leaders in the black community at the time?
5. Was there a black school board member representing your school?
6. What about your coaches, principals, teachers? Looking back, do you fee that they met your needs? Why or why not?
7. As an athlete, you mentioned that no one came to look at you or recruit you. Why do you think that happened? (My husband was an athlete at Davidson and Tensas Academy where they won the state championship and he remembers very little recruiting from Tensas Parish……at any school?
8. You left Tensas Parish at a young age and have obviously been successful, what if anything would have made you stay there?

Tang:

Yes, I was a pretty good basketball player, especially 65/66/67. I was raised up and around Tensas Parish,born in Madison Parish though I attended Tensas Parish schools all my life, graduated in 1967. Your experience seems to be mine too, I never knew any white people either, my age. I do admit I was really curious about white people and they were not all bad, though, good ones too. I can say I hated the black/white concept and never believed for one minute that whites were superior or better than me. Ha, Ha, Ha, I never believed anybody was better, or could do more than me, given the chance! That’s mostly because, as anyone can see, I’m a real dark man/kid,and  I learned at an early age, when you are this black in the South for sure, you gonna have to show or do something, or nobody was gonna even notice you, period. Plus black and white looked at you negatively until you showed your talents, etc. which in the beginning was just my smile!

Honestly, there were no role models in the black community that impressed me, no teachers or coaches or anyone.

I didn’t like farm work, I liked communication type stuff and wanted to be a lawyer, but not a doctor. I love sports because it was a way to express myself by doing something I liked and no one could stop me from being as good as I could be, but me. I had one coach my whole school, except my senior year in high school. Neither one of them were good for my kind of person, the first one was mean spirited and egotistical. The last one was not there long enough; I think we could have been better together with time.

After high school I left and went to N.O. for about 5 or 6 months, got me an ok job working at Swagman Gas and Market. Made enough money and saved most of it, Only bought clothes and paid my rent. No car, even though I could have and wanted to buy one. I knew I was leaving asap to go to California, L.A. That was the plan, I didn’t care much for N.O. I wanted to go to the land I had imagined my whole life as a kid. I got home from N.O. just before Christmas and planned to leave for LA first of the year, early in January. 

Quick story here: I just got home from New Orleans,looking forward to seeing my family and friends. It’s December 27, just after Christmas. Me and my little cousin Charles Richard are uptown at one of the bars having a few beers, on me. There is a guy there, my mom’s age, now living in California and home for vacation. He and my mom have talked about me going or coming to California. He has told her I can ride back with him and his family free of charge. Great, right? The only problem is, he is leaving in the morning at 5:00 A.M.! At first I thought, I have not even seen all my friends yet. Charles and I have a few more beers, on me (ha ha), and Charles looks at me having a good time and says , he thinks I should go home, pack my stuff and be ready to leave with this guy in the morning at 5:00 A.M. So as he was saying it, I know he was right. Some people miss their opportunity to leave, get comfortable, and never leave. That was not going to be me, but why take the chance? I had money to buy my ticket, so to wait was not a problem. 

Either way, we had one more beer, it was late, about 2:00 A.M. Charles and I got up and walked downtown, packed my bags, and when that guy showed up at 5:00 A.M, I was packed and ready. I had three suitcases. I always had a lot of clothes. He told me to put what I really wanted into one suitcase, and I was on the road to Los Angeles. As I write this, even after all these years, I’m crying. I remember my mother giving me a paper bag with two pieces of my favorite part of the chicken, a leg and a thigh, and a biscuit. She was crying out one side of her face and smiling out the other, and we hugged for the last time. I told Charles to tell my friends goodbye and I was gone. Best advice anybody ever gave me was what Charles told me to do.

Within a week, I had me a little job, I’m still 17 years old, so nothing big, but I didn’t have to use all my little money before I started to make a little more. It was great, California, and I loved it from day one! I knew that to stay here, I had to make money and use common sense, and I would be just fine.  I was right. 

There were no jobs I wanted in St. Joe. I was, and still am, a very outgoing personality. I love to express myself and in that town, nobody wanted to hear me, black or white people! Ha Ha My mother knew what kind of person I was and she never forced me to do that farm work. She, and pretty much all who came in contact with me, thought I was funny and I kept her and my sisters laughing all the time. She didn’t know what I would become with this personality, but she loved me the way I was. She never said I was better than anyone, just different. That’s why her friend and neighbor, a lady named Ms.Edna started calling me Tang. Nobody had a nickname like that! Ha Ha

I gave my first two sons Tang as a middle name. Neither one of them ever use it, even though it’s their official names, on their birth certificates. I asked one of them one day, why? One of them told me, “Tang is so you, Dad, not us!” I never asked the other one. Ha Ha

You are right, things are way better now than before and getting better every day in a lot of ways. Almost all ways. We still have work to do, but we all know now that we all can become anything we want. We are a stronger nation when it is like that.

I started at Tensas Elementary in the first grade and twelve years later I finished at Rosenwald High School in 1967. Our school was way newer than Davidson High School, nice grounds and building. Our gym was my second home and I loved being in there, but there was one problem–our coach was mean spirited and ran it like it was his. When he went home, or wherever, he would close it down. Nobody else in town could use it or would open it. Nobody cared or saw how much it meant to have it open. We kids had nowhere else to gather and play.

Our teachers were from other places and really didn’t care about most of the kids, just a few that they liked for their own reasons. Sad, but true.

Talking about how whites treated black people, some blacks treated blacks just as bad. It was simple most of the time. The blacker you were, the more bad you were treated or not respected. Not all, but some. If your family didn’t have a lot of educated members, others didn’t respect you. Not at all, but some.

I don’t think there was a black school board member back then, not sure though

My family has and had been in this area forever. Not many of them were educated and were big, tall black people with outgoing personalities. We were very popular though, because we had in our large family plenty of beautiful women and fun guys. Some enjoyed us, some disliked us because of this.We didn’t care. We were movers and doers and had fun. 

My mom was the oldest of five sisters, no brother. Crazy, but my wife is one of five sisters, no brother. I have four sisters, two older than me, two younger than me and two older brothers. My mother lost two kids as babies. The reason I think I am so lucky and blessed is because I’m a son and the 7th kid. 7th son.

I’m a natural born salesman, I moved to Los Angeles in 1968 and was lucky and smart, all my life. Took the U.S. Post Office test in early ‘68, lucky and smart enough to pass it, even though I didn’t know anything about the Post Office, the 150 questions or anything else city wise. Passed it and began working for them, making almost $3000 a month and I’m 17 years old. It was only me, so I had plenty enough money. No money problems at all. I worked there for about 5 years, taking some classes at the local Junior College. I didn’t like the POst Office kind of work and knew I wanted to get out when the time was right. I did and got into sales. Never did anything else but sales to this day. Sold everything from women’s shoes to million  dollar houses/properties. Being a natural, made it as easy to sell one thing as another. Sales took me though into some amazing situations, especially commissions sales, which means, if you don’t close your deal, you don’t get paid!