Ola Mae Carter was born in Waynesburg, Mississippi, on a small farm with a house that had no roof and hardly a bottom. She was one of six or seven children and started working at a young age, helping a local woman with her garden and cleaning up the yard. When she was still a young girl, she traveled with the woman's daughter who was on her way to California for business. They stopped in St. Inigoes, Maryland, where Ola Mae eventually settled. During their journey, they faced racial discrimination when they were denied accommodation at a hotel because Ola Mae was Black. They were eventually able to find a place to stay with the help of a local woman who ran a soda house and cooked barbecue. Ola Mae had a memorable encounter with a soft crab for the first time in Maryland, which she initially mistook for a bug. She also developed a love for singing, with one of her favorite songs being "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." She would often sing this song while shucking oysters, a task she learned after moving to Maryland. Despite the hardships she faced, Ola Mae's story is one of resilience and adaptability. Her experiences provide a glimpse into the racial discrimination that was prevalent during her time and the strength it took to overcome these challenges.

Scope and Content Note
Carrie Kline interviews Ola Mae Carter, who talks about a lady who offered her a job and took her to Maryland, but they faced racism when trying to get a room in a hotel. Eventually, a kind lady offered them a room in her house.  Ola was introduced to new experiences, such as trying crab for the first  Ola Mae talks about how she got pregnant at a young age without realizing it and gave birth to a baby without knowing what was happening. She took care of the child and bought it everything it needed but was later told by someone to give the baby away to another lady who would take care of it. Carter got married and was refused permission to take the child back but was told that she would get the child back after the lady who took it had passed on. When the lady died, the child came to live with the speaker. She also learned how to shuck oysters and pick crabs at the seafood factory.  She describes working in seafood processing plants and how she used to work in an oyster house and crab house, where she had to shuck oysters and pick crabs. Ola Mae became the fastest oyster shucker and used to help slower workers to earn enough to survive. She also describes how the working conditions were tough in the past, with no heat, but now they are much more comfortable. However, she had a lot of problems picking crabs, and her fingers used to be all cut up. Ola Mae mentions that there were initially about thirty people working in the oyster house, but this number decreased over time because many workers developed arm and back problems. Finally, Carter sings a popular song from the oyster house.

subject: Fishery processing plants--Maryland, Southern; Oyster fisheries--Maryland, Southern; Maryland, Southern--History