1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:10,559 Speaker 1: To me, that was success where most people were dying 2 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: to get away from the country because they saw other 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: people going north look like they was building a better 4 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: life because they came back driving a new car. I 5 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:27,120 Speaker 1: didn't look at having a new car as being success. 6 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: I looked at my dad having a better crop. That 7 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: was the success that I was looking for, even as 8 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: a smaller child. I wanted my success to be right 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: here on the land. 10 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,159 Speaker 2: On this episode, I want to introduce you to a 11 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 2: fourth generation soybean and rice farmer, eighty seven year old 12 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 2: Ellis Bell from Forest City, Arkansas. Today, he still farms 13 00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 2: on the land purchased by his great great grandfather in 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty one. Mister Ellis as an African American, and 15 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,680 Speaker 2: many in his community left the South in what historians 16 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,840 Speaker 2: call the Great Migration, which took place between nineteen ten 17 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 2: and the nineteen seventies. But mister Ellis wanted to make 18 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 2: a life for himself on the land that he was 19 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:20,680 Speaker 2: born on, and with much struggle, grit, and wisdom he did. 20 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 2: Mister Ellis is a renaissance man. He had to be 21 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 2: creative to keep his farm alive, and in his career 22 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 2: he built airplanes. He was an insurance broker. He's a pilot, 23 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 2: but deep in his bones he's a farmer. In twenty 24 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 2: twenty three, he was inducted into the Arkansas Agricultural Hall 25 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 2: of Fame, but the future of his farm is in question. 26 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 2: This is an extraordinary story and I really doubt that 27 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 2: you're gonna want to miss this one. And Hey, this 28 00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 2: week on the Meat Eater YouTube channel, my Alaskan goat 29 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 2: bow hunting film comes out. You should check that out. 30 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 2: My name is Clay nukemb and this is the Bear 31 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 2: Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 32 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 2: for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 33 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 2: story of Americans who lived their lives close to the land. 34 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 2: Presented by FHF gear, American made purpose built hunting and 35 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 2: fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the 36 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 2: place as we explore. 37 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: My name is Ellis bell I was born in Foyst City, Arkansas, 38 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:57,840 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty eight. My great great grandfather, he was 39 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: discharged in eighteen eighty three, came out after the Civil War. 40 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 1: They was either able to bude through whatever the government 41 00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: program was, but my great great grandfather obtained this eighty 42 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: three acres at that time, but it's my understanding he 43 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: paid about three hundred dollars for this land. 44 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 2: Mister Ellis is sitting at his dining room table in 45 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 2: his home built sometime around nineteen thirty, and he seemed 46 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 2: proud to mention that the joys were handcut by his father, 47 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 2: Rice Bell. Myyars perked up when I learned that in 48 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:42,040 Speaker 2: eighteen eighty one, his great great grandfather purchased the land, 49 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 2: just sixteen years after the end of the Civil War. 50 00:03:46,440 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 2: Joseph Doody, that was the name of his great great grandfather, 51 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 2: and he moved here from Tennessee after the war, but 52 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 2: was never enslaved. But he lived a short life. 53 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:02,000 Speaker 1: My great great grandfather he passed away at and he 54 00:04:02,160 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 1: was like a forty three or forty four. At an 55 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:09,760 Speaker 1: early age. Supposedly he got kicked by a mule in 56 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: the service and never recovered from it. So I've got 57 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: many many letters and things like that where my grandmother 58 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: was trying to get a pincheon that was given to 59 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:25,880 Speaker 1: soldiers who had got injured in the wall, and she 60 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,159 Speaker 1: was getting the pension to raise her daughter, you know, 61 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: after he after he. 62 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 2: Died, Joseph Dudy died a year's long, slow death from 63 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 2: a mule kick. Mister Ellis's home and farm is just 64 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 2: outside of Forest City, in a region we called the Delta. 65 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 2: It's flat, fertile agricultural land influenced by the ancient flooding 66 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 2: of the Mississippi River. It's also the region of Arkansas 67 00:04:55,839 --> 00:05:00,359 Speaker 2: where the vast majority of slavery took place. There was 68 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,800 Speaker 2: big ag there was a need for big labor. Like 69 00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 2: mister Ellis, I've lived in Arkansas my whole life, and 70 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,840 Speaker 2: I can testify that there are social artifacts of this 71 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 2: tragic period in American history still evident today. And if 72 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 2: you'll permit me to be real, I'll share with you 73 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,039 Speaker 2: something that's always puzzled me. I grew up in western 74 00:05:24,160 --> 00:05:28,320 Speaker 2: Arkansas and didn't go to school with a single African 75 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 2: American person. I didn't know a black person growing up, 76 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,680 Speaker 2: while some schools in eastern Arkansas in the Delta were 77 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 2: almost all African American. This snippet will find relevance as 78 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:46,919 Speaker 2: we continue to tell this story. And it's interesting to 79 00:05:46,960 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 2: me the stories that we remember and the stories that 80 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 2: mister Ellis Is gonna tell us. It feels like age 81 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:55,800 Speaker 2: weeds out the riff raft and by the time a 82 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:58,920 Speaker 2: man is in his eighties, even his late eighties, the 83 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 2: ones that he can recall all are clearly essential and 84 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:05,440 Speaker 2: they formed the architecture of his life. This next story 85 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,919 Speaker 2: is from the nineteen forties and was formative. It was 86 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:10,680 Speaker 2: when mister Ellis was just a child. 87 00:06:12,800 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: And I like to tell the story when my father 88 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: told my mother. This was in March. He said, they're 89 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:22,479 Speaker 1: getting their loans and I'm going up here to the 90 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: bank to see if I can get a loan. And 91 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: I heard them talking, and I says, can I go? 92 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: And they says, no, it's too cold to No, you 93 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:35,080 Speaker 1: can't go. Because I like to follow my dad everywhere, 94 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:41,599 Speaker 1: And so we went to bed. The next morning, my dad, 95 00:06:41,920 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 1: I heard him. When he got up, he put the 96 00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:48,240 Speaker 1: team together, he tied them off, came back and eat breakfast. 97 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: And I was still begging to go, so they let 98 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:58,160 Speaker 1: me go. We drove downtown and we tied off those 99 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: team and we walked down to the bank, and we 100 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: walked in the lobby of the bank, and I had 101 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: never seen so many white men's in one place, and 102 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: all of my life they were all having fun. And 103 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,400 Speaker 1: you know they were all there. I guess they knew 104 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:14,800 Speaker 1: that they were going to get their money to farm 105 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: that year. And my dad we walked down into Rotunda 106 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: and my dad by we got about halfway in the 107 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,320 Speaker 1: Bank of Metals and he says to my dad, Rice, 108 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: I can't let you have no money, he says, but 109 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: if you go out to see the Lindsey Boys, they'll 110 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: take care of you. 111 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,200 Speaker 2: That story gives a razor sharp image of the nineteen 112 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 2: forty South. There's a controversial idea I've heard much of 113 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 2: my life regarding America's past, and it's problematic in a 114 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:54,200 Speaker 2: generalization at best. If you'll permit me, I will say 115 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 2: something that's usually unset and it's this that the South 116 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:03,000 Speaker 2: valued the individual black man but devalued the race on 117 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 2: a systemic level, and Northerners didn't value the individual black man, 118 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 2: but valued the race. And I'm being vulnerable here because 119 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 2: it feels weird to say that out loud, but we 120 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,640 Speaker 2: see this in history, and thankfully that thing is less 121 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:24,840 Speaker 2: true today than it was forty years ago. The exact 122 00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 2: reasons are unclear, but mister Rice, who this banker knew 123 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 2: by name, wasn't able to get money from this bank 124 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 2: because he was an African American. But ironically the bankers 125 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:39,040 Speaker 2: seemed to treat him with respect, but they'd arranged for 126 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 2: someone else in town to handle the black business. I'd 127 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 2: also like to note that in the early nineteen forties, 128 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 2: mister Ellis's family was still driving a wagon. The model 129 00:08:50,880 --> 00:08:53,840 Speaker 2: T had been around for almost four decades. Cars and 130 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 2: trucks were the norm. But the story continues, We're now 131 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 2: back with mister Ellis in the wagon. 132 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:08,560 Speaker 1: So we walked back down there and got in the wagon, 133 00:09:09,559 --> 00:09:13,960 Speaker 1: drove for four miles out here to Carwell, Arkansas, and 134 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: we got out of the wagon and we proceeded into 135 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:23,000 Speaker 1: the Lindsey Boys store and there was a man standing 136 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: on the porch crying, and I was looking him up 137 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:29,959 Speaker 1: and down because I had never seen a grown man cry, 138 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,319 Speaker 1: so I felt like that either he had a broken 139 00:09:32,480 --> 00:09:35,080 Speaker 1: arm or somebody didn't beat him up or something. But 140 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 1: he was holding it up against the post, the post 141 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:40,720 Speaker 1: to hold the porch of he was crying, so I 142 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: was that's my dad, that's the word man crying. My 143 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,000 Speaker 1: dad didn't say anything. So we walked in there, and 144 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,200 Speaker 1: the Lindsy guy knew my dad, and I guess he 145 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 1: knew who he's out there for. He says Rice. He says, 146 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:59,240 Speaker 1: we got you covered. He said, anything change. My dad said, yeah, 147 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: I like to buy another meule, another cow or whatever, 148 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,079 Speaker 1: few plow or whatever. He said, that's what a couple 149 00:10:06,160 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 1: hundred dollars, three hundred dollars. My dad said yeah, he said, 150 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,840 Speaker 1: we got you covered. So we proceeded to walk back 151 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,080 Speaker 1: out of the Lindsey Boys store and this man still 152 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 1: sitting there crying, and I'm looking him up and down. 153 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: Why is this man crying? I'm asking my dad. My 154 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: dad's not telling me he knew because he was listening 155 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:26,439 Speaker 1: to what the other guys was saying. But I wasn't 156 00:10:26,480 --> 00:10:30,600 Speaker 1: listening to them. I'm wondering to what's thrown this man. 157 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: So we get in the wagon and my dad said, well, 158 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:39,440 Speaker 1: the reason he's crying is because he lived on this 159 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,719 Speaker 1: man's farm. And I guess you're sharecropping or whatever. And 160 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: he got his money from this from the Lindy brother 161 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,520 Speaker 1: for his part, and he went in there and they 162 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: told him that the man said he couldn't stay there 163 00:10:52,160 --> 00:10:56,760 Speaker 1: any longer. Hit the move because they the man told him. 164 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:58,920 Speaker 1: He says, you can't ready to your kids in school 165 00:10:59,480 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: until I get through picking my cottin And he raised 166 00:11:02,880 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 1: his kids in school anyway, So he had to go 167 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: home and tell his wife that they had to move. 168 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: And he didn't have no place to go, he said, 169 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 1: and that's why he's crying. 170 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 2: The crying sharecroppers. Landowner wanted the man's kids to work 171 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:22,000 Speaker 2: the fields until the cotton was picked, but the father 172 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 2: pulled them out of the fields and sent them to 173 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,080 Speaker 2: school in the late summer. It's clear this man wanted 174 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 2: the best for his kids. He wanted him to get 175 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 2: an education. But it made the landowner mad and he 176 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 2: kicked the whole family off the land. This is the 177 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 2: kind of stuff that made many African Americans want to 178 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 2: leave the South, and they did in great number. It's 179 00:11:44,840 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 2: called the Great Migration. Let's get back in the wagon 180 00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 2: with the young Ellis Bell. 181 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: And of course by this time, you know it's I mean, 182 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:02,320 Speaker 1: we got started that morning before day, going downtown. By 183 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: this time it's wed in the afternoon, it's windy, it's cold, 184 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 1: it's hell. And they had put a palette in the 185 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: wagon for me because they knew that I'd be took 186 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 1: it out befo. I got back so my dad put 187 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: me back there on the pallette and covered me up. 188 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: And if you ever rolled on a steel wheel wagon 189 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: over the rock road, that wheel did not miss a 190 00:12:28,679 --> 00:12:33,679 Speaker 1: rock in that road. Looked like it drove me crazy 191 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: while I was laying there until I went to sleep. 192 00:12:36,200 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: But anyway, that was a story I thought was worth 193 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: telling because again that's part of the hard times that 194 00:12:42,679 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: I've seen in my life. Well, we raised the hogs 195 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:11,719 Speaker 1: in cattle. Like I said, it was the natural American community, 196 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:16,520 Speaker 1: and we would get together as a community and kill hogs. 197 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,400 Speaker 1: You know, we may have five or ten may would 198 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 1: kill hogs all day long. You know, you'd bring you 199 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: three or four up and they'd dress them and kill 200 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:30,680 Speaker 1: them and you know, work them up. And the families 201 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: would get together and they would do a lot, do 202 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: the hams. And then you know they'd get together and 203 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:42,360 Speaker 1: they'd cure them together. But you know, we raised hogs 204 00:13:42,360 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: and we raised cattle, and we had a smokehouse, and 205 00:13:45,800 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: my mother and them used to have to go to 206 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:52,359 Speaker 1: their smokehouse and feed other people in the community. Sometimes, 207 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: you know, there would leave new people come into this 208 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: community that didn't have anything, didn't have anything to eat. 209 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: They could always go to their house, the smoke house, 210 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: and get a ham. She can a lot, so she 211 00:14:06,559 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: raised big garden and she'd give them a jaw. There's 212 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: a jar there. That's what Afro American people did together 213 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: back in those days. And I won't say they flourished, 214 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: but maybe that's how they came through hard times together 215 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: by working together. It looked like it was until integration 216 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: started taking place that people started scattering. They start not 217 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: doing his merch together, and it's been splintered. Looked like 218 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:40,920 Speaker 1: to me pretty much ever since. In certain ways like that, 219 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:42,720 Speaker 1: we didn't do that, and then a lot of people 220 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 1: left the country. Of course, you know, I went north, 221 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 1: started working in the factories and stuff like that. 222 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:54,760 Speaker 2: Mister Ellis saw something interesting, tragic and complicated. It's far 223 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 2: beyond me to understand in its fullness. But did you 224 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:03,640 Speaker 2: hear him say that desegregation splintered Black communities. It's clear 225 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 2: that segregation was a destructive cultural practice and desegregation was 226 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 2: a positive for society. But many now see the implementation 227 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 2: of integration brought forth many problems. Like mister Ellis saw. 228 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 2: It broke up many traditionally black communities and resulted in 229 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 2: what author sheare of Cash and described as social and 230 00:15:25,920 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 2: political fragmentation because it replaced community institutions that were led, supported, 231 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 2: and filled with Black people for community institutions that were 232 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 2: led by somebody else. Schools are the best example. Segregated 233 00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 2: schools had black teachers and faculty, and now the black 234 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:46,640 Speaker 2: kids went to schools without any black people and leadership 235 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 2: at all. And this hostility isn't speculative or exaggerated, as 236 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 2: evidenced by the Little Rock nine incident from September nineteen 237 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 2: fifty seven. I think you can see where all this 238 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 2: is going. Mister Ellis graduated from a segregated school in 239 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,800 Speaker 2: nineteen fifty six, just ninety miles east of Little Rock. 240 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 2: But the next thing that he saw kind of blew 241 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:11,440 Speaker 2: my mind. 242 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,120 Speaker 1: I didn't spend time crying over something that somebody didn't 243 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 1: want me to do. You know. I was raised up 244 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:22,800 Speaker 1: here in Arkansas, and you know, and we passed by 245 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:27,120 Speaker 1: the white schools all the time on our way to 246 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:31,240 Speaker 1: the black schools, so you know, and what was hard 247 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: for me is that sometime we didn't walk almost seven 248 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: miles of school, and we would pass Chinese people walking 249 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: from their home to the white schools. And we would 250 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: be passing in going to the black schools. 251 00:16:51,080 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 2: The rabbit hole of the South just keeps getting deeper 252 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 2: and deeper the more that you peer in. Arriving as 253 00:16:57,240 --> 00:17:00,440 Speaker 2: early as the eighteen seventies, there were many chineseants in 254 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:03,120 Speaker 2: the South who came here to fill in the labor 255 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:07,480 Speaker 2: void created by African Americans leaving after the Civil War, 256 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,320 Speaker 2: and many in the South would find themselves in the 257 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:14,240 Speaker 2: grocery business. By the mid nineteen hundreds. Do you remember 258 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,920 Speaker 2: Bear Grease Hall of Famer Hulk Collier of Mississippi having 259 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,719 Speaker 2: the neighborhood kids buy him an orange drink from the 260 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 2: China grocery before he would tell them stories. That's interesting. 261 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 2: These formative memories of mister Ellis are so powerful. But 262 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 2: this next one set the tone for his life. It's 263 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:35,400 Speaker 2: a story about his mother. 264 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: When this was an all Afro American community out here, 265 00:17:41,480 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 1: most people that lived out here, I didn't know about 266 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:48,240 Speaker 1: one family that was Caucasian that lived about a mile 267 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 1: down the road. And there was a stir to be 268 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: told about that, and that is their name was Jones. 269 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: And I remember them fairly well. And one night it 270 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,120 Speaker 1: was cold in the wintertime, and we had pulled all 271 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: the beds into the room where the fireplace was, and 272 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:17,359 Speaker 1: my two sisters were sleeping at the head of the bed, 273 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: and I was sleeping at the foot of the bed, 274 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:24,399 Speaker 1: and my dad mother had another bed off to the 275 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:26,600 Speaker 1: side of that bed in the same room. And we 276 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:31,399 Speaker 1: had a fireplace in there, and we had a frame house, 277 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:37,760 Speaker 1: and you know, it was opening the bottom, and you know, 278 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:39,680 Speaker 1: it took a lot to keep it warm. It was 279 00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: because back in those days, that's when we had zero 280 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: degrees for five and six and seven days, like it's 281 00:18:48,359 --> 00:18:52,120 Speaker 1: almost unheard of now, you know, like it was back 282 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:57,439 Speaker 1: in those days. And one night I awakened when my 283 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:02,159 Speaker 1: dad opened the door. He said to my mother and 284 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: he says, I got the horse saddle and tied to 285 00:19:06,080 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 1: the porch, and I saw my mother. She was dressed 286 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 1: so bunterly tight that all I could see was like 287 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:21,800 Speaker 1: a ball standing there, still wrapping herself. So I says 288 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: to my mother, says, where are you going? And she says, 289 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: I'm going to help missus Jones. And I thought about 290 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: it for a little bit. She said, I don't want 291 00:19:32,600 --> 00:19:34,919 Speaker 1: to help miss Jones, she says, having the baby. And 292 00:19:34,920 --> 00:19:37,720 Speaker 1: I said, well, missus Jones. I don't know no black 293 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: people with the last name Jones. So I said to 294 00:19:41,320 --> 00:19:47,440 Speaker 1: my mother, I says, that's a white woman. She turned 295 00:19:47,560 --> 00:19:51,119 Speaker 1: and looked at me, and I hadn't seen her face, 296 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,600 Speaker 1: but I had saw her body being wrapped, and all 297 00:19:55,640 --> 00:19:59,199 Speaker 1: I could see was her eyes. And she says to me, 298 00:20:01,320 --> 00:20:09,400 Speaker 1: AL said, but she's a human being. And then she 299 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: walked out of the house and got on this horse. 300 00:20:13,840 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: And back in those days, the bridges was impassable. You 301 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: had to the horse had to go around the bridge 302 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,040 Speaker 1: almost to get across him. You had to go around 303 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:26,680 Speaker 1: in the creek. And then of course it was woods 304 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,640 Speaker 1: all through here. And I we was living right over there, 305 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:33,280 Speaker 1: and I told you it was born. And I didn't 306 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:35,159 Speaker 1: know if she's going to come through the woods to 307 00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:37,600 Speaker 1: get to Missus Jones, or she's gonna try to go 308 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 1: around the road to get to Missus Jones. I didn't 309 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: know any of that. But anyway, I started crying because 310 00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: I felt like that whatever route she took was gonna 311 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,600 Speaker 1: be very dangerous, and I didn't know if i'd see 312 00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: her again. So I stopped crying. 313 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:58,879 Speaker 3: And that was a lesson to me, you know, for 314 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:01,320 Speaker 3: her to tell me that she was a human being. 315 00:21:04,359 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 2: What a powerful story that shows the character of his 316 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:15,879 Speaker 2: mother and father. I know we're neck deep in the 317 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:19,520 Speaker 2: bear grease, but this next story is probably gonna make 318 00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 2: you laugh. I wanted to know if mister Alice ever 319 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 2: did much hunting. 320 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 1: I wasn't fishing with you know, I like to follow people, 321 00:21:31,560 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: like to do things. My dad was never a hunter. 322 00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:35,760 Speaker 1: I had an uncle. 323 00:21:37,040 --> 00:21:41,200 Speaker 3: My cousin was Hannah. 324 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:41,639 Speaker 1: And they used to talk about the fun they'd have 325 00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,120 Speaker 1: going out of what hunt at night. 326 00:21:45,720 --> 00:21:49,760 Speaker 3: One night they was going out coon and I went 327 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:53,920 Speaker 3: with him. The scariest night of my life. 328 00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:02,439 Speaker 4: Oh, I was from fridaticle falling a hole. They wouldn't 329 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 4: fight me and they were shooting them cool. They was 330 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 4: falling out of the tree. That was an experience what 331 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,440 Speaker 4: I got back home, I never wanted to go again. 332 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,120 Speaker 3: That's my experiencing hunting. 333 00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: Otherwise. You know, you know there's plenty of rabbits running 334 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: around here. You know, we'd shoot one every once in 335 00:22:28,119 --> 00:22:28,480 Speaker 1: a while. 336 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:33,800 Speaker 2: Mister Allie got a kick out of telling that story, 337 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 2: and so did I. But let's get back to the farm. 338 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 1: See in this part of the country, this land, back 339 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,199 Speaker 1: in the day wouldn't raise anything. Anything that was west 340 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:50,840 Speaker 1: of the ridge up here wouldn't hardly grow anything. When 341 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:54,000 Speaker 1: we picked cotton, we had knee pads because cotton wouldn't 342 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: grow two feet high, Holly, But cotton back in those 343 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:04,000 Speaker 1: days was you know, and because cotten was king, they 344 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:06,959 Speaker 1: could still make a little money by growing cotton. There 345 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: was a knee high you know in the sheds that 346 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:11,720 Speaker 1: would be when I was a kid, that would be 347 00:23:11,800 --> 00:23:15,920 Speaker 1: knee pass all around the wall where people had to 348 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: get on their knees to pick the cotten. Well, I 349 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,199 Speaker 1: worked very closely with my mother and my father. I 350 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:28,200 Speaker 1: would help them, I would. I was there, chatter wherever 351 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 1: they went, wherever they did. I was always there, being nosy, 352 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:34,720 Speaker 1: trying to help her in the way, you know, it 353 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 1: was cooking or whether it was out, you know, rowling 354 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,159 Speaker 1: the horses and music. You know, I was rowling the 355 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:43,720 Speaker 1: horses and music. When I had to stand on the 356 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: gate to put a bridle on them. You know, I'd 357 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: drive them to come up and get some coin, and 358 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:50,760 Speaker 1: I'd stand up on the gate and put the bridle 359 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,679 Speaker 1: on them. And uh, you know, I remember when I 360 00:23:54,720 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: was probably four years old. I guess again, I would 361 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: follow my daddy place he went. Whenever he went out 362 00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,840 Speaker 1: to feed the hogs and stuff. I'd go and he 363 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: finally built something where I could clumb up that, and 364 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,639 Speaker 1: finally he put my clothes on me, and he says, okay, 365 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,640 Speaker 1: you can do it by yourself. Man. Oh sure. I'd 366 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:20,679 Speaker 1: show him how I could do it, and I was 367 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:22,920 Speaker 1: happy to go out there early in the morning. They'd 368 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: bottle me up and put some clothes on me, and 369 00:24:25,040 --> 00:24:28,320 Speaker 1: I'd go feed the hogs. I was that kind of 370 00:24:28,359 --> 00:24:31,639 Speaker 1: a person. And of course that's where he used to 371 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: hide his piece round there in the cotten seed hogs, 372 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,440 Speaker 1: you know, you say, the cotton seeds for the next year, 373 00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: and he'd make his brand in. I knew where he 374 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,440 Speaker 1: had his stash, so i'd go feed the hogs and 375 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: I had a jug. Did I turn up and get 376 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:54,320 Speaker 1: me a few swags every every day? That's probably about 377 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: four and a half and one day I looked at 378 00:24:58,080 --> 00:24:58,639 Speaker 1: that jug. 379 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 3: It was only fool. That's so boy, I'm in trouble now. 380 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:05,879 Speaker 3: I don't remember. 381 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: I drank it all up. I pulled it out, but 382 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: I didn't want him to know that. You know what, 383 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,760 Speaker 1: I got three feet in a hog go back in 384 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: the house, and they'd be set at the table drinking 385 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,640 Speaker 1: coffee and tea and stuff, and I'd be feeling good. 386 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 3: That was something that I kept to myself. 387 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: I didn't never tell him by. 388 00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:33,399 Speaker 2: It, you know, mister Ellis, I think you knew better 389 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:37,560 Speaker 2: than to be chugging your daddy's peach brandy. And what 390 00:25:37,600 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 2: he'd tell us later was that his dad made it 391 00:25:40,520 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 2: from wagon loads of peaches that he'd bring home. But 392 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 2: we're now at a major transition point in mister Ellis's life. 393 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 2: In the chronology of his story. He graduates high school, 394 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 2: but he quickly gets sucked away from the family farm. 395 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:01,399 Speaker 1: And I graduated in fifty six, I went away to 396 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:05,920 Speaker 1: the Saint Louis area full of winter, and then I was 397 00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 1: going to come back and farm. Fifty seven. Landed a 398 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:16,760 Speaker 1: job for the winter. While they're in Saint Louis, I 399 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: was taking boys out to McDonald Douglas Aircraft where they 400 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: were seeking a job, and I was there transportation person 401 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: because I had a car, they didn't they have one. 402 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 2: He graduated and went to Saint Louis, Missouri, in nineteen 403 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:34,719 Speaker 2: fifty seven. While he was taking some friends to a 404 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,959 Speaker 2: job interview. He ended up landing a job at a 405 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:43,160 Speaker 2: major aircraft manufacturer, but was quickly confronted with the attitude 406 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 2: of the nation towards integration. 407 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: I found out that McDonald douglas was taking in black 408 00:26:50,280 --> 00:26:56,800 Speaker 1: people because they were being asked to do it, because 409 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: they weren't hiring minority people out there, and they didn't 410 00:27:01,160 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: really want you out there, even though there was a 411 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: mandate to do it. And I found out that after 412 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:14,239 Speaker 1: I was there, they wouldn't give me anything to do. 413 00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 1: They wouldn't tell me, they wouldn't say good morning to me. 414 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,440 Speaker 1: They just let me stand around out there in the shop. 415 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:25,040 Speaker 1: And what McDonald had I used to call it fifteen 416 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:29,639 Speaker 1: in and fifteen out. They would bring fifteen in on 417 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: Monday and start them for training, but on Friday they 418 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:38,720 Speaker 1: would let fifteen go. So if you were there thirty days, 419 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: I believe it was thirty days, you could get in, 420 00:27:40,720 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: you could you could join the union, and so to 421 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,960 Speaker 1: keep you from joining the union, they would take you 422 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,359 Speaker 1: out of there. In other words, on Friday evening they 423 00:27:52,520 --> 00:27:56,439 Speaker 1: let you go. So I was watching and I was 424 00:27:56,480 --> 00:28:00,480 Speaker 1: seeing that every Friday, and I'm saying to myself, since 425 00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: they're not giving me a job. They won't sign me 426 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:06,000 Speaker 1: in to a job, but they won't give me a job. 427 00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: They won't talk to me. I'm probably gonna be one 428 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:13,600 Speaker 1: of those and shown up. They told me one Friday morning, 429 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,120 Speaker 1: says get your belongings, and they already had a group 430 00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:19,439 Speaker 1: of black boys standing over there, and they says, go 431 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 1: get in that line over there, And of course, me 432 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:28,840 Speaker 1: being visual, I saw. I knew where the supervisors were, 433 00:28:28,960 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: the general formers and people like that. I got to 434 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: know who they were. I've got to know their names. 435 00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:36,280 Speaker 1: I didn't know them personally, but I've heard their names 436 00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: enough to know who they were. So when they asked 437 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:40,920 Speaker 1: me to get my belongings and go and send in 438 00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:46,080 Speaker 1: that line, I broke rank and went and went to 439 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: the superintendent's office, and I asked the young lady. I says, 440 00:28:52,120 --> 00:28:54,120 Speaker 1: you know, there's Mike Golion in that said it was 441 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 1: the general forman's name. She said, no, he's out. I says, 442 00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: She says, can I help you? I says yeah, I says, 443 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 1: I like to talk to him. I said, and I 444 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,080 Speaker 1: was upstairs and I pointed to her as a big wonder. 445 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,520 Speaker 1: I said, I'm standing over there with that groups of boys, 446 00:29:10,880 --> 00:29:13,480 Speaker 1: and I says, I would like to talk to him, 447 00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,560 Speaker 1: and she said, when he come back, i'll tell him. 448 00:29:16,720 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: So sure enough, about fifteen minutes he came out on 449 00:29:20,360 --> 00:29:23,400 Speaker 1: the floor and he grabbed my supervised. He didn't talk 450 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: to me, and he told my He just told my 451 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:30,600 Speaker 1: supervitor what my name was, and my supervisor looked over 452 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,280 Speaker 1: there at me, and then he begged for me to get. 453 00:29:34,120 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 3: Out of the line. 454 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: And that's how I got sieved. Otherwise i'd have been gone. 455 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:47,760 Speaker 2: This nineteen fifties company checked its integration box while hiring 456 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 2: but firing these men. Because they knew that mister Ellis 457 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,280 Speaker 2: could see what was going on. They let him keep 458 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 2: his job, but no telling how many others were fired. 459 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:03,600 Speaker 1: I landed a job there and took training and smart 460 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: which was sheet metal work, and after mastering that, I 461 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: went on to become a aircraft mechanic out on the 462 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: flight line there at McDonald Douglas, and I stayed there 463 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 1: thirteen years. 464 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:23,680 Speaker 2: And anyone who's ever tried to save a family farm 465 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 2: knows that it takes some creativity and hard work. In 466 00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:29,760 Speaker 2: mister Ellis's case, it meant that he had to build 467 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 2: a career somewhere else, with the end goal of making 468 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 2: it back to the farm that was purchased by his 469 00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:39,880 Speaker 2: great great grandfather Joseph in eighteen eighty one, the Bell Farm. 470 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 2: There just wasn't enough money in farming to support him 471 00:30:43,480 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 2: and his parents right out of high school, but he 472 00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 2: made regular trips back to Arkansas to help his dad, 473 00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 2: but the end goal was always staying on the farm. 474 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 2: During his time with the aircraft company, he also earned 475 00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:59,840 Speaker 2: his pilot's license, which is an incredible feat in an 476 00:30:59,840 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 2: out of itself. But mister Ellis's work ethic didn't stop 477 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,720 Speaker 2: in the aircraft industry. He started up a completely new 478 00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 2: career while working up there. 479 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: While there, I also took insurance courses in the evening 480 00:31:17,200 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 1: and started selling insurance. But in the meantime I was 481 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: almost had dual residency. I was still coming home to 482 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,080 Speaker 1: help my father farm because I felt like one day 483 00:31:30,120 --> 00:31:31,840 Speaker 1: that I still might be able to come back to 484 00:31:31,880 --> 00:31:38,760 Speaker 1: the farm. And finally, at a point in time after 485 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:45,320 Speaker 1: leaving McDonald Douglas, I became an insurance broker and that 486 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: gave me, you know, my own bass, so I could 487 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:53,480 Speaker 1: be away three or four days in a row out 488 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:55,800 Speaker 1: here on the farm and then go back to my 489 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:59,880 Speaker 1: insurance business. I had a nice staff and everything. So 490 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:04,200 Speaker 1: that was a great experience for me, and it taught 491 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:06,719 Speaker 1: me a lot about business. Even though I only had 492 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 1: a high school education, I pretty well had a photostatic memory. 493 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,760 Speaker 1: I didn't have to write things down. I could remember things, 494 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 1: and I could get things done. And you know, I 495 00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: could go out and visit with a family and I 496 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: can remember all the kids' names and wether or that 497 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:28,760 Speaker 1: they went to college, and all those kinds of things. 498 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,520 Speaker 1: So it was a great experience. But my experience in 499 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,520 Speaker 1: having a dual residency because I'd never forgot my roots. 500 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: Arkansas is where I was born Rokansas, where I really 501 00:32:40,840 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: wanted to be, and that's where I still am. 502 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,160 Speaker 2: From nineteen sixty five to twenty fourteen, mister Ellis ran 503 00:32:47,280 --> 00:32:52,760 Speaker 2: Bell's and Associates insurance agency and managed billions of dollars 504 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,000 Speaker 2: in assets. He had to go to the city to 505 00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 2: make money so that he could survive back here in Arkansas. 506 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 2: That's the difficulty with many of these rural, poverty stricken 507 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:06,520 Speaker 2: states is that you got to go somewhere else if 508 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:09,160 Speaker 2: you really want to make the money. But the thing 509 00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 2: that stitched it together, stitched the city and his farm together, 510 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 2: was that he was able to fly. He was a pilot, 511 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 2: and he managed to buy his own plane. It was 512 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 2: the only way that he could run a farm and 513 00:33:21,840 --> 00:33:25,320 Speaker 2: an insurance agency out of Saint Louis. But one day 514 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:27,680 Speaker 2: early in his career, he got a tip from a 515 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:31,520 Speaker 2: crop duster that he was in serious jeopardy and it 516 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 2: could have cost him everything. 517 00:33:46,520 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: And very often, you know, I would leave Kansas and 518 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 1: head read straight into Foyst City, or I would leave 519 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: from Chicago and head straight into Foyst City. And often 520 00:33:59,160 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: i'd come in and because I did a lot of 521 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:06,920 Speaker 1: night flying, and that would be uh. And I used 522 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 1: to come into the Foyd City airport and I would 523 00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:15,640 Speaker 1: see cars out there, and I knew that they were 524 00:34:16,840 --> 00:34:22,719 Speaker 1: detective cars, I suppose, and I thought nothing about it. 525 00:34:23,680 --> 00:34:28,759 Speaker 1: And one day they flew They flew crop dusters and 526 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:31,520 Speaker 1: stuff out of the airport in the daytime, and I 527 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: had crops and they would fly my crops and stuff 528 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:37,520 Speaker 1: like that. And these guys knew me, they knew kind 529 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:41,120 Speaker 1: of what I was doing. And I had seen these 530 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:44,439 Speaker 1: guys out there, and one night I flew in there, 531 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,080 Speaker 1: and when I pulled my airplane into the to the 532 00:34:49,120 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 1: parking place. They all came up to me, and when 533 00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 1: I opened the door and stepped out, they were all 534 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:57,319 Speaker 1: laughing and smiling and everything. And when I stepped out, 535 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:02,800 Speaker 1: all those smiles came to a front and I wondered why, 536 00:35:02,880 --> 00:35:07,839 Speaker 1: But I didn't know. I didn't know why. But one day, 537 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: one of the pilots that was flying my crops, he 538 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 1: found out that I was in town because that was 539 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:16,960 Speaker 1: the day that I did. I didn't. I came in 540 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,719 Speaker 1: in the day, so I parked on my private runway 541 00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,040 Speaker 1: on the farm, didn't have lights. He came out and 542 00:35:23,080 --> 00:35:25,880 Speaker 1: he says, change your pattern, And I says, what do 543 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:29,839 Speaker 1: you mean? He said, well, you're coming in at night 544 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,840 Speaker 1: and you're disrupting their drug pick up out there, and 545 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,560 Speaker 1: they're gonna put some drugs in your airplane and bust you. 546 00:35:37,400 --> 00:35:41,880 Speaker 1: Because when you come in, if they're plane that's delivering 547 00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:46,279 Speaker 1: their drugs can't land, he's burning up fuel and he 548 00:35:46,360 --> 00:35:48,040 Speaker 1: may not be able to get to his next stop. 549 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:49,880 Speaker 1: So they're gonna they're gonna put a stop to you. 550 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:54,600 Speaker 1: And that was very dishearted to know the way I 551 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:59,000 Speaker 1: was working and my earnesty, you know, my not being 552 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:02,640 Speaker 1: able to borrow money, and it was one thing, and 553 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:08,360 Speaker 1: I'd kind of overcome that, but through skill and hard 554 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,759 Speaker 1: work overcome that. But here's something now that I'm not 555 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,600 Speaker 1: gonna be overcome because I'm gonna be in jail. I 556 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,759 Speaker 1: really it really made me angry at first. And there 557 00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:24,000 Speaker 1: was some people who just couldn't understand, even from my 558 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:26,560 Speaker 1: own people, how I was doing all of these things, 559 00:36:26,640 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: buying land, buying an airplan, farming, come in and go 560 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,160 Speaker 1: on when I want to. They just see people around 561 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 1: it does that they do that, not even white, holly 562 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: white people. So I said, well, you know, I was 563 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,799 Speaker 1: gonna go up there and confront the authorities about what 564 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:45,799 Speaker 1: I was hearing. And I said to myself, boy, you're 565 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,279 Speaker 1: gonna be righting the way in jail. When people be said, 566 00:36:49,360 --> 00:36:52,920 Speaker 1: I know that he was doing something wrong, finding that 567 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:55,319 Speaker 1: airplane and doing all that stuff. We knew he was 568 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:58,560 Speaker 1: hauling drugs. Had to be doing something. I says, no, 569 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,560 Speaker 1: just change the pattern. So I stopped coming in at night. 570 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:09,400 Speaker 1: I saw purposely coming in in the daytime. So I 571 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:15,560 Speaker 1: was feel well thankful to that guy who came out 572 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: to the farm to tell me that. 573 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,120 Speaker 2: I think this is a testament to the wisdom of 574 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,880 Speaker 2: mister Ellis and navigating his life in this era. Ego 575 00:37:24,920 --> 00:37:27,200 Speaker 2: could have got him into a fight that he couldn't win, 576 00:37:27,840 --> 00:37:31,520 Speaker 2: but he just changed his pattern and he beat the system. 577 00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,479 Speaker 2: His life is full of stories like this and him 578 00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:38,680 Speaker 2: overcoming the odds. I'd also like to note that this 579 00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:41,360 Speaker 2: man spent the first fifteen years of his life riding 580 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,320 Speaker 2: in a wagon pulled by mules. He only had a 581 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 2: high school diploma, and then by middle age he owned 582 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:51,360 Speaker 2: his own plane and would fly across the country running 583 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:56,200 Speaker 2: a business and farm. Even from a technology aspect, wagon 584 00:37:56,719 --> 00:38:00,680 Speaker 2: to plane pretty astonishing. He did this all the while 585 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 2: acquiring more and more land adding to his Arkansas farm. 586 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:08,839 Speaker 2: This is truly an incredible story, but I think you're 587 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 2: going to be surprised at the end. I now want 588 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:18,080 Speaker 2: to understand how mister Ellis evaluated success. 589 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:24,240 Speaker 1: When I saw my life one year and one year 590 00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:26,880 Speaker 1: or two years later, I had a better life than 591 00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:32,600 Speaker 1: I had two years before. To me, I was always 592 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:39,360 Speaker 1: sending some success, and it was in small increments. Sometimes 593 00:38:39,480 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: looked like it didn't move, sometime it did move, and 594 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:50,000 Speaker 1: sometimes it leaf rocked. To me, that's what success it 595 00:38:50,080 --> 00:38:53,840 Speaker 1: was about. Having gone to school was about having a 596 00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:56,000 Speaker 1: little bit more money in my back and a little 597 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,000 Speaker 1: bit more knowledge in my head, a little bitter outlook 598 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,960 Speaker 1: on life with my mother and them having more meat 599 00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:06,840 Speaker 1: in the smokehouse, more hogs and a hog lot, more cattle. 600 00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:11,400 Speaker 1: Going from a wagon to a car to a truck. 601 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:17,440 Speaker 1: To me, that was success. Where most people were dying 602 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:22,319 Speaker 1: to get away from the country because they saw other 603 00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:26,120 Speaker 1: people going north looked like they was building a better 604 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:29,120 Speaker 1: life because they came back driving a new car. 605 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 3: I didn't look at. 606 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,799 Speaker 1: Having a new car as being success. I looked at 607 00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:39,840 Speaker 1: my dad having a better crop. That was the success 608 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:42,560 Speaker 1: that I was looking for. Even as a smaller child, 609 00:39:43,400 --> 00:39:46,319 Speaker 1: I would go north for the summer some time and 610 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:50,680 Speaker 1: spend a week or twfty days with somebody and come back. 611 00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: I still had no desire to go north. I wanted 612 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:59,160 Speaker 1: my success to be right here on the land. That 613 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:03,160 Speaker 1: was what I I had looked upon as success. 614 00:40:05,280 --> 00:40:08,200 Speaker 2: In the time period when over six million African Americans 615 00:40:08,239 --> 00:40:11,560 Speaker 2: moved out of the South to northern cities, mister Ellis 616 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:15,480 Speaker 2: stayed home to scrap through the inherent difficulties of the 617 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:19,480 Speaker 2: region and make it here. And at eighty seven years old. 618 00:40:20,040 --> 00:40:23,040 Speaker 2: I think we can say that he's done that. This 619 00:40:23,120 --> 00:40:26,880 Speaker 2: next story is a significant part of mister Ellis's legacy, 620 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,799 Speaker 2: and it came from an unlikely place. You may recognize 621 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:32,319 Speaker 2: the name Monsanto. 622 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:35,840 Speaker 1: I had been buying mon Santral's stock for a while, 623 00:40:35,920 --> 00:40:40,080 Speaker 1: but I've never been going to the stockholders meeting, and 624 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:43,359 Speaker 1: I had signed up for it, but I would never go. 625 00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:48,520 Speaker 1: And my office was a couple of miles from Monsanto's headquarters. 626 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 1: And I happened to be in town one day and 627 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:55,279 Speaker 1: I knew the stockholders meeting was being held. So I 628 00:40:56,080 --> 00:40:58,800 Speaker 1: said to myself, I think I'll go to a stockholders meeting. 629 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,480 Speaker 1: So I got up and I went down there. When 630 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:07,880 Speaker 1: I was approaching the table where you sign in, I 631 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,000 Speaker 1: noticed there was some afore Americans standing around in there. 632 00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,600 Speaker 1: You know, I didn't know them, but they were standing 633 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,520 Speaker 1: around in there, so I was cool, you know, other 634 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:20,120 Speaker 1: black people here, but I didn't see many in the line, 635 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:23,360 Speaker 1: and I didn't know what the position was there. I 636 00:41:23,360 --> 00:41:26,440 Speaker 1: guess they was in security or something, you know, And 637 00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:28,600 Speaker 1: people was kind of looking at me, kind of funny. 638 00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:32,160 Speaker 1: So I gets to the table and the lady stops 639 00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:36,200 Speaker 1: me and she looks at my condenials, and she asked 640 00:41:36,200 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 1: me to step aside. And I was wondering why she 641 00:41:40,239 --> 00:41:42,680 Speaker 1: asked me to step aside. I knew I done took 642 00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:44,520 Speaker 1: care of everything. I hadn't done this two or three 643 00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,000 Speaker 1: years in a row, but I hadn't been there. And 644 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:48,799 Speaker 1: so she went back in the back, and I guess 645 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,200 Speaker 1: she talked to some people because they had never seen 646 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:54,480 Speaker 1: an A for American come through the line. So the 647 00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:57,919 Speaker 1: lady that came from the back says to me, mister Bell, 648 00:41:58,160 --> 00:42:00,880 Speaker 1: come on here. So I go on here and I 649 00:42:01,000 --> 00:42:05,719 Speaker 1: take my seat. They're holding Stockholds meeting and they got 650 00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:08,080 Speaker 1: a couple of Afro American people who was on the 651 00:42:08,120 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 1: board of Monsanto. They're sitting up there on the front 652 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,440 Speaker 1: on the on the podium, and there's some other employees 653 00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,640 Speaker 1: setting in the audience. You know, I didn't know them, 654 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:18,880 Speaker 1: but they were sitting here and there. You know, you 655 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:20,800 Speaker 1: could see a black face every once in a while. 656 00:42:21,800 --> 00:42:25,560 Speaker 1: After the meeting was over, people who had bought stock 657 00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:29,880 Speaker 1: was testified about how well the stock had been doing 658 00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,960 Speaker 1: and how they was enjoining their entire retirement and their 659 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:37,360 Speaker 1: dividings and stuff that they were getting. And I'm sitting 660 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,200 Speaker 1: there listening to all of this, and something was telling 661 00:42:40,280 --> 00:42:44,440 Speaker 1: me say something. So when I got a break, I 662 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:48,000 Speaker 1: got up and I said to the board, my name 663 00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:52,000 Speaker 1: was Elis bell I was I'm a fourth generation farmer 664 00:42:52,200 --> 00:42:56,760 Speaker 1: for City, Arkansas, and I says, and I read many 665 00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:00,799 Speaker 1: magazines and I see where mansanto was given to schools. 666 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:07,080 Speaker 1: That's helping Caucasian kids, I says, But I'd never see 667 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:12,759 Speaker 1: them giving to schools that's helping after American kids. And 668 00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:16,320 Speaker 1: when I say that, the CEO stood straight up and 669 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:17,319 Speaker 1: he's talk guy. 670 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:23,239 Speaker 3: He's standing there and I'm still talking. And when I 671 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:27,480 Speaker 3: finished talking, he, uh, don't you go nowhere? I want 672 00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:34,879 Speaker 3: to talk to you. So after the meeting is over, well, 673 00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:38,759 Speaker 3: he makes a v I n off that stage. I'm 674 00:43:38,800 --> 00:43:42,759 Speaker 3: over all right. He sets them in and we started talking. 675 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:47,720 Speaker 3: We stayed there two hours after the meeting. Everybody was gone. 676 00:43:48,440 --> 00:43:51,279 Speaker 3: He says, I think it's a legitimate question, and I'm 677 00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:53,880 Speaker 3: gonna see if I can do something about it. And 678 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 3: that's how I got my non private organizations called it. 679 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:00,799 Speaker 1: The next thing we know, we were on our way 680 00:44:02,000 --> 00:44:07,600 Speaker 1: educating kids about agriculture in conjunction with the Universe of Missouri, 681 00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:15,000 Speaker 1: Junction of Illinois, East Saint Louis, Illinois, Bolivar County, Mississippi, 682 00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:19,799 Speaker 1: High Bluff, Arkansas. We were setting up agg classes to 683 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,400 Speaker 1: show kids where their food was coming from and telling 684 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:26,000 Speaker 1: how imparted there was to get involved in agriculture. 685 00:44:27,239 --> 00:44:30,920 Speaker 2: In two thousand and seven, mister Ellis founded bell Agtech, 686 00:44:31,480 --> 00:44:34,520 Speaker 2: which for almost twenty years has helped minority high school 687 00:44:34,560 --> 00:44:40,800 Speaker 2: students find pathways into agriculture. However, there is an irony 688 00:44:41,160 --> 00:44:43,799 Speaker 2: which is sad to me, when he spoke about the 689 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 2: future of his own farm. I consider not putting this 690 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:51,480 Speaker 2: in the story because it's deeply personal to mister Ellis, 691 00:44:52,000 --> 00:44:55,800 Speaker 2: but it's just the hard reality that isn't the beautiful 692 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:57,680 Speaker 2: bow that we'd like to see at the end of 693 00:44:57,719 --> 00:44:58,280 Speaker 2: the story. 694 00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,520 Speaker 1: Of course, the farm is not being passed on. I'm 695 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:06,759 Speaker 1: probably the last generation of farmers. How does that make 696 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 1: you feel tired? At eighty seven, I don't feel like 697 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,040 Speaker 1: I may find one more year of me. I'm trying 698 00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:18,239 Speaker 1: to put together something to. 699 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:18,960 Speaker 3: Go one more year. 700 00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:30,080 Speaker 1: I still like to look back and said, I've still 701 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:34,200 Speaker 1: had a good life. I've had a not a happy 702 00:45:34,239 --> 00:45:36,680 Speaker 1: life all the time, but it was it was a 703 00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:43,000 Speaker 1: you know, kind of painful, and there's some stories to 704 00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:47,200 Speaker 1: be told. You know, I've enjoyed my life. You know, 705 00:45:47,239 --> 00:45:50,040 Speaker 1: you got to have a mindset. You know, when I 706 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:54,279 Speaker 1: say mindset, it gets back to that decision thing. What 707 00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:56,960 Speaker 1: decisions do you make? How do you make them? What 708 00:45:57,120 --> 00:46:00,640 Speaker 1: do you make them? Just decisions decisions. As it said, 709 00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:05,719 Speaker 1: I was always guided to do the right thing. Very 710 00:46:05,719 --> 00:46:11,080 Speaker 1: few times I wound up failing to get the job done. 711 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:14,560 Speaker 1: Faith that I could get it done. You get the 712 00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:18,480 Speaker 1: Good Lord look deaft at me. You know it's me 713 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:20,680 Speaker 1: and the Good Lord and my health. You know, I'm 714 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:22,280 Speaker 1: trying to keep them all together. 715 00:46:26,160 --> 00:46:29,840 Speaker 2: The complexities and challenges of the large scale row crop 716 00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:35,040 Speaker 2: agriculture of the last thirty years have seemed almost insurmountable 717 00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,680 Speaker 2: to small time American farmers, and though mister Ellis's great 718 00:46:38,719 --> 00:46:42,120 Speaker 2: great grandfather Joseph would now marvel at the size and 719 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,759 Speaker 2: scale of the Bell Farm in twenty twenty five in 720 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:50,640 Speaker 2: a big ag world, it's a small farm. Keeping it 721 00:46:50,680 --> 00:46:53,640 Speaker 2: alive this long has been a feat, not far from 722 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:58,640 Speaker 2: a miracle, fueled by the hard work, grit, and determination 723 00:46:59,480 --> 00:47:05,759 Speaker 2: of one. What an incredible story. Thank you, mister Ellis 724 00:47:05,800 --> 00:47:09,520 Speaker 2: for who you are. I can't thank you enough for 725 00:47:09,600 --> 00:47:13,799 Speaker 2: listening to Bear, Grease and Brent's This Country Life podcast. 726 00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,839 Speaker 2: Please leave us a review on iTunes and share this 727 00:47:17,960 --> 00:47:23,000 Speaker 2: podcast with a friend. This week, keep the wild Places 728 00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:25,040 Speaker 2: wild because that's where the Bears live