Oral history with Laura Mae Davenport

              Oral history with Laura Mae Davenport
F341.5 . M57 vol. 743, pt. 1
Funding for this project provided by The Mississippi State Legislature, The Mississippi Humanities Council, The Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.
This transcription of an oral history by the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage of The University of Southern Mississippi may not be reproduced or published in any form except that quotation of short excerpts of unrestricted transcripts and the associated tape recordings is permissible providing written consent is obtained from the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. When literary rights have been retained by the interviewee, written permission to use the material must be obtained from both the interviewee and the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage. Please call ( 601) 266- 4574 for more information.
Biography
Mrs. Laura Mae Davenport was born in Gholson, Mississippi, on October 22, 1908 to Annie Elizabeth Haynes and Will Hailey. Her father was a mail carrier and farmer and her mother was a housewife.
Mrs. Davenport has fond memories of her childhood, both in Gholson and with at her grandmother's house in Shuqualak, Mississippi. She attended the Noxubee County Agricultural High School before moving back to Shuqualak to finish high school in 1927. She began a teaching career and completed one year of course work at The University of Southern Mississippi, at that time known as State Teachers' College.
Mrs. Davenport married her husband Ernest, a World War I veteran, on December 1, 1932 in Columbus, Mississippi. She lived as a housewife until her children were grown and then helped Ernest open a Western Auto Store. Although Mrs. Davenport did not finish her college education, her three children, two daughters and a son, all received advanced degrees. Her daughters hold doctorates in psychology and English literature, and her son holds a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Mrs. Davenport has eight grandchildren and eleven great- grandchildren.
Table of Contents
I. Family history
II. Early education
III. Teaching career and social life in Mashulaville
IV. Marriage and the Depression
V. How to make lye soap
VI. Children
VII. Living in a household that was both Methodist and Baptist
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