Mark, Cleveland

268a: In this interview with Jonathan Gerland, Cleveland Mark discusses growing up in the Trinity County community of Nigton and living in Diboll in the 1940’s and 1950’s. He talks about living with his grandparents in the small, tight-knit African American community founded by freed slaves after the end of the Civil War. He discusses farming methods, raising animals, attending church and school, going to Apple Springs in a wagon, smoking meat, and making soap. He also talks about race relations in Nigton and Diboll, discussing segregation, visits by white vigilantes, and Jay Boren’s treatment of Diboll’s African American community. Mr. Mark mentions Willie Massey, Professor Jackson, Arthur Temple, the Ligon family, the Deason family, the Lacy family, Snuffy Harris, the Roach family, the White family, and the Womack family.