Eva McLeod interview, 2018-12-07

Item

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

In this oral history interview, Eva McLeod, a long time D.C. resident, discusses her life and experiences moving from Albany, Georgia, to Washington, D.C. Mrs. McLeod, now a widow, discusses her upbringing and education in the South, moving to D.C. with her husband in the mid-forties, career with the postal service, and volunteer work to advance equity in D.C. Mrs. McLeod’s daughter Kay Washington, also present for the interview, helps answer some questions

Dates

Creation: 2018-12-07

Creator

Language of Materials

English

Biographical / Historical

Eva M. McLeod was born in 1918 in Albany, Georgia. She celebrated her 100th birthday in July of 2018. Graduating high school as valedictorian when she was 15, she went on to what was then Georgia Normal and Agricultural University, now Albany State University, a public HBCU (Historically black colleges and universities). Mrs. McLeod taught for about two years before moving on to a four-year college in Savannah, Georgia, where she met her husband. She and her husband taught for three years in Georgia before he decided to look for work in D.C. At this point she and her husband had three children, and he felt they needed a greater income. After settling in D.C., she found that life was different yet similar in the Black communities, as many people she knew had settled from southern cities. In thinking about moving from Albany to D.C., working and raising her children, caring for her grandchildren and elderly husband before he passed, Mrs. McLeod remarks that, “I've had my hands full all my life.”