Full Transcript: Reverend Darla Swint on Ducktown
Darla: My name is Reverend Darla Swint I am a resident of Hamtramck, Michigan. I am third generation blacks from this city. My grandparents were in this city when it was a village. We owned two family homes in an area on the north side of Hamtramck that was known as Ducktown. It was known as Ducktown because many blacks that migrated north found the land there to be somewhat the same as in the southern states. It was swampy, a lot of trees, and when it would rain ducks would come and just swim down the street. So it’s been known as Ducktown to this present day. And I am very proud to be what is known, a Ducktown girl. Actually there is a club here in Hamtramck of younger generation black women whose parents and grandparents were original settlers here. And the name of the club is Ducktown. So often times when I’m campaigning for different city positions or I go to an event you will often hear me same, ‘I’m one of the original Ducktown girls.’ Even in the schools, I teach in the Hamtramck schools, and the children will ask, well Ms. Swint where are you from? And I won’t even say Hamtramck, I’ll say Ducktown. And, you know, people are like well what can you tell us about Duck Town. It’s not the same as it was back then, other than its diversity. Even now there are about three or four different nationalities on that one street. And when I was a little girl growing up we had whites, we had Polish people, the majority was black, there was truly a black community. It was after World War II and a lot of the men on the street had married Phillipines and had brought them back so they lived in our community. I remember one family were pure Africans, very sweet, nice people. I am still in touch with one of the girls, from time to time I’ll see her in different places. I’m trying to think who else was on that street. We had what you would call--well my parents were of mixed race. Mulatta, my mom, my grandmother. My grandmother was mulatta. My mom’s father was, Seminole Indian. On my dad’s side it was pretty much the same. So our community, I guess that’s why growing up here I can’t afford to see color, because it’s in me to accept all races and all colors because it wasn’t an issue back then for me to go into the Phillipines home and whatever they were eating, it was ok if the house was clean. There were rules and regulations that your parents gave you, some homes you didn’t go in at all. But there were never racial tensions or issues, we were one tribe or one community. Like they say, it takes a whole tribe to raise you know one child, and I came out of that type of environment.
Most of the men worked in the factories, Dodge Main, Chrysler, they were all factory workers. There was one lady on the street that worked, she worked in the Fisher building. I don’t know what she did but she was a beautiful mixed woman, no children. And for us younger girls she was a role model because she always stayed dressed so beautiful, and her mannerism was you know because the rest of the women were housewives. And they took care of each other.
If a woman on the block had a child while the men would be at work, the mothers on the street would go to that home, clean the woman, clean the baby, cook, clean the house and by the time the father would come home everything would be done, because they had to get back to their homes to, you know, do the same thing. When someone died in our community, if a family didn’t have insurance, we had a black undertaker on Mitchell Street right behind the post office, and he would get most of the blacks’ business, and he would work with the family. And we would go from door to door and get a collection. And if, you know, for the burial, for flowers, to help the family if need be. I can remember, by the time we would get home, hundreds of dollars being collected. Today, the neighborhood would probably be considered low middle class, because everybody worked just about. In that, in that area. The mothers didn’t, but as you know back then you couldn’t, for a black person with no education, there wasn’t a better job than working in the plants. And as time went on and doors opened for blacks, they moved out into better homes, better neighborhoods. And most of them moved in a neighborhood in Detroit called Coney Gardens, and it’s northeast of Hamtramck.
Most of the men worked in the factories, Dodge Main, Chrysler, they were all factory workers. There was one lady on the street that worked, she worked in the Fisher building. I don’t know what she did but she was a beautiful mixed woman, no children. And for us younger girls she was a role model because she always stayed dressed so beautiful, and her mannerism was you know because the rest of the women were housewives. And they took care of each other.
If a woman on the block had a child while the men would be at work, the mothers on the street would go to that home, clean the woman, clean the baby, cook, clean the house and by the time the father would come home everything would be done, because they had to get back to their homes to, you know, do the same thing. When someone died in our community, if a family didn’t have insurance, we had a black undertaker on Mitchell Street right behind the post office, and he would get most of the blacks’ business, and he would work with the family. And we would go from door to door and get a collection. And if, you know, for the burial, for flowers, to help the family if need be. I can remember, by the time we would get home, hundreds of dollars being collected. Today, the neighborhood would probably be considered low middle class, because everybody worked just about. In that, in that area. The mothers didn’t, but as you know back then you couldn’t, for a black person with no education, there wasn’t a better job than working in the plants. And as time went on and doors opened for blacks, they moved out into better homes, better neighborhoods. And most of them moved in a neighborhood in Detroit called Coney Gardens, and it’s northeast of Hamtramck.