Patricia (Quote) (00:00:00) - I been at the shop on 21st and he told us to go in the house and cut off all the lights. And he had a big fire in the front yard, in the front of his shop, with a shotgun ‘cross his lap. He said, “If I get killed, y'all pray.” And Granddaddy sit there and burn that fire. Next thing we know, Charlie was gone. Charlie was gone and they found him the next day.

Man (Intro) (00:00:31) - Welcome to Life’s a Beach and Then You Die. From personal growth and self-discovery to challenges and victories, we discuss it all. Join us as we dive into the extraordinary stories of ordinary people, all the way to the end.

Julie Ellis (00:01:03) - Today I am talking to Patricia Burgess. Patricia grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in the 1940s and ‘50s. It was a time of segregation, racial inequality, and severe hardship for Patricia and her family. Her story is one of perseverance, resilience and making the most of what you got. It's truly inspiring.

Patricia Burgess (00:01:28) - I was born on 21st Avenue. Daddy was a bartender. My daddy was my daddy-and-a-half. <laugh> He instill in us no matter where you’re at, be yourself and be grown. If you're gonna be grown, act grown. Don't do nothing you gonna be ashamed of. My mother, Mom raised me and my oldest sister. My mama had children young; she was young when she had her kids. She died when she was 22 years old and she had four kids. The oldest one and the youngest one died before she did. Now as far as back I can remember and I remember my sister dying at five years old and my brother, but he wasn’t young. He had tuberculosis ‘cause he couldn't keep it in the hospital down here and they couldn't help him.

Julie (00:02:16) - Tuberculosis was common in the Jim Crow-era South and it ranked the highest among African Americans living in poverty. The death of their two siblings, as well as their mother, left Patricia and her sister in the care of their maternal grandmother, who she refers to as ‘Mama.’

Patricia (00:02:33) - My grandmother raised — did the best she could with me and my older sister. My grandma was a mixed child and her mother was a white lady and her daddy was black. The lady that was sharecropper on these people's land raised her. She married their son John McKnight. And then my granddaddy got killed when my mama was 12 years old. So she had three children to raise by herself. So she start doing picking cotton and doing everything she can to make a living.

Julie (00:03:03) - How was your grandfather killed?

Patricia (00:03:05) - They had a man named Malachi doing something he ain't no business doing, going with that man's wife. You know how them people doing back then? He wouldn't listen and doing what he wanted to do, so he shot him.

Julie (00:03:19) - Oh, so your poor grandmother was widowed and left with three kids of her own and then was in charge of taking care of you and your older sister, too. How did she do it?

Patricia (00:03:28) - She started working on George Traff Farm, picking beans, anything she could do, she did. And taking in washing and whatever. The man on the farm, Mr. Traff give her a job in the house where she could wash clothes, fold clothes so she wouldn't have to be outta work during the planning season. And mom used to cook for the people at the racetrack.

Julie (00:03:51) - What kind of things did your grandmother make typically? What was the food like here?

Patricia (00:03:55) - It would be something simple like liver or pork or chicken or fish or something simple. And she used to make her own hamburger and then she had a smokehouse. It wasn't nothing for her to have smoked ribs and stuff like that. And she used to get cracklings and make crackling for 'em and we had a lot of beans and peas and stuff. [Every]day she had something different. If it didn't come out her garden, it ain't nothing for her to kill a chicken. She wouldn't even eat a chicken off the yard, but she'd cook it for you.

Julie (00:04:26) - And what about your grandmother's other children? Your mom's siblings?

Patricia (00:04:30) - She had a oldest son, the only son — John McKnight; and he went to the military and he came out the military and he got married to Lolly — Lala Lee McKnight. She's a McKnight now. She was a Gethers before. So all the Gethers and his wife and his aunt. But Scott came from Anna. Scott was my granddaddy, other granddaddy.

Julie (00:04:54) - Ah. So your mom's side of the family and your dad's side of the family were tied together two ways, right? Two marriages, your parents, and the second was the marriage of your mom's brother and your dad's aunt. That means the two sides of your family, the McKnights and the Simmons were very close to one another, right?

Patricia (00:05:12) - Mm-hmm. <affirmative> And my other grandmother, Annie Simmons, she lived next door to us and in the community I was growing up on was Carver Street. There was a cousin here and a friend there and a cousin back here. And one need a slice of bread? One would buy a loaf of bread and share that loaf of bread. You don't take things and put it in your cabinet and don't share it. It was so much family going on in Myrtle Beach. Boys couldn't court none of the girls. Cause every time they get ready to court somebody, “That's your cousin.” <laugh>

Julie (00:05:41) - Oh my goodness. That's a problem. That's a problem.

Patricia (00:05:44) - A big one.

Julie (00:05:46) - Can you describe Myrtle Beach to me back in the ‘50s or when you had your earliest memories?

Patricia (00:05:51) - We would clean up and pick up cans and bottles and stuff. They didn't have many cans. Then we had the hog pens. We had feed the hogs. Slop the hogs. We had it right around in the neighborhood. Me and my sister worked when we was 11 years old, babysitting. And that's what I did growing up on Carver Street, getting the garbage, feeding the hogs. <laugh> Cutting the wood. I had a good time.

Julie (00:06:13) - Right. Tell me about Carver Street at that time.

Patricia (00:06:15) - Carver Street was a wide open street.

Julie (00:06:17) - It was wide open and there were a lot of businesses, right?

Patricia (00:06:19) - Yes ma'am. First one was my granddaddy’s shop. Scott Simmons, the barbershop. And Charlie's place, Pastime Grill, and the beautician. All the beautician was on the other side on the right-hand side. But they had nothing but business. And that mean they was busy the whole time.

Julie (00:06:46) - While business was thriving on Carver Street, there was still a looming issue in the region — racial segregation and discrimination. Patricia described a few instances, among many I'm sure, of racial prejudice she faced during her younger years.

Patricia (00:07:01) - We couldn't go in Mack’s Dime Store. You can go in there but the lady had to follow you around.

Julie (00:07:07) - Wow.

Patricia (00:07:08) - She follows around everywhere you go in the dime store and you could see the people stealing up front and they was white people.

Julie (00:07:13) - Right. <Patricia laughs>. So how did that make you feel? Was it just a rule, you just did it, or were you rolling your eyes going, “There's white people stealing up front and they're following me.” Like, what did that feel like?

Patricia (00:07:26) - It never been — No. Just laughed at 'em.

Julie (00:07:28) - Right. <Patricia laughs> Now I've heard that at the time in Myrtle Beach there was a whites-only drinking fountain and a blacks-only drinking fountain. But that, everyone just drank from the white’s and no one really cared. Is that true?

Patricia (00:07:39) - Nobody didn't cared.

Julie (00:07:40) - While no one cared about segregating drinking fountains. There certainly were some things that kept people strictly divided. One of those things was schools. I mean, there wasn't even a black high school in Myrtle Beach, so you had to go, like, 25 minutes inland. Can you tell me about going to a segregated all-black high school out of town?

Patricia (00:07:59) - We had to graduate from Whittemore. And we used to ride the handicapped bus to Conway to school. And to get on top of the old bridge and stop. We had to push it and run and jump on it when it got rolling back down the hill.

Julie (00:08:12) - Every time?

Patricia (00:08:13) - Every time! <laugh>

Julie (00:08:16) - Wow.

Patricia (00:08:13) - But it was a joyful time when we first started going to Whittemore. So they had 13 girls in the eighth grade and I had one friend, Francis Jackson — Me and her was the only one didn't get pregnant.

Julie (00:08:30) - Wait, so out of 13 eighth grade girls, you and your friend were the only two not to get pregnant?

Patricia (00:08:35) - I was one of the ones didn't get caught up in the mess, ‘cause Mama, my grandmamma wouldn't allow that. <laugh>

Julie (00:08:39) - That's right.

Patricia (00:08:41) -I know I couldn't think of it. I couldn't do it. <laugh>. So they had a lot of children come to Whittemore. Good Lord, have mercy.

Julie (00:08:46) - Okay, good. So you didn't get pregnant in high school, but did you graduate?

Patricia (00:08:50) - I quit school and got married at 16.

Julie (00:08:54) - Okay. Why did you quit school when you were 16? ‘Cause you wanted to be married?

Patricia (00:08:57) - No, I quit school cause I was mad with Daddy. When we was in school, we had to save money for the 11th grade to get your cap and gown so that when you get in 12th grade you didn't have to pay.

Julie (00:9:08) - Right.

Patricia (00:9:09) - And I had my grandma keeping my money and daddy told me to get my money from my grandma. And when I got ready to get my stuff, money was gone. I said, “Well I'm just gonna quit school. I done work the whole summer, and y'all took my money and spent it.”

Julie (00:09:21) - Now you didn't have the funds to finish high school, but what did you do about it? What did you do next?

Patricia (00:09:27) - The first thing come along, I married it. And that was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. And I had two children for him. The first one died; then my oldest one now is Anthony.

Patricia (00:09:39) - I was pregnant. That man used to beat me when I was pregnant. And that went all the way through my baby. Doctor took me because my first baby died and he put Anthony on that bottle and Anthony started crying. He said, “You had a trauma session with your first husband?” I said, “Yes sir.” He said, “That's what's wrong with your baby.”

Julie (00:10:00) - Oh my.

Patricia (00:10:01) - “Well, he used to beat you and you was five months pregnant and that baby going through a trauma.” He said, “You talk to him while he’s crying and talk to him and let you know you love him.” And said, “Give me plenty of love.” And he told me and my grandmama that and that's all he had, and my granddaddy. Oh God. He had all the love he needed. Mm-hmm! <affirmative>

Julie (00:10:19) - How did you get away from your abusive husband?

Patricia (00:10:22) - You don't wanna know that, do you?

Julie (00:10:24) - Yeah, ‘cause that's a lot of courage to me.

Patricia (00:10:26) - Went to George Harrison.

Julie (00:10:28) - A judge named George Harrison. Not the Beatle. I gotcha. I gotcha. <laugh>

Patricia (00:10:31) - George Harrison said, “Look at your face, love. You're too young to look old like that.” And he had beat me up and busted my lip and had my eye black. He said, “Lemme tell you something. You come and take a warrant out on him,” and said, “Monday, when you wake up, you come straight down here and I'll press charges on him.” And that's what he did. And it took him three weeks to find him; to lock him up for beating me up.

Julie (00:10:52) - As you've heard through Patricia's stories, there were some serious hardship in Myrtle Beach at the time. There was, however, a bright spot in all this. A local club in a restaurant called Charlie's Place. Popular musical artists such as Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, and Little Richard frequently performed there. And the owners, Charlie Fitzgerald and his wife Sarah were pillars in their community.

Patricia (00:11:19) - But Charlie’s Place was for the upper class. I put it like that, ‘upper class.’ Where he take you out to dinner and take you out dancing and take you out just to sit at the table and look at you.

Julie (00:11:31) - Wow.

Patricia (00:11:31) - That's where Charlie's Place was when I was growing up.

Julie (00:11:32) - No kidding. Do you have any specific stories that you remember about Charlie, though? Did you interact with him?

Patricia (00:11:38) - Listen, Charlie was a good fella and you either respect him or you hate him.

Julie (00:11:44) - I've heard that about him.

Patricia (00:11:45) - Yeah. You respect Mr. Charlie. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because Mr. Charlie was always good to us. He would allow the children to come over there for Christmas. He'd give everybody’s child — who could walk, who could crawl, who could dance, who could do anything. He give everybody’s child a gift.

Julie (00:12:01) - Wow.

Patricia (00:12:01) - For Christmas. Easter, he have a truck load of eggs, somebody hide 'em and you go and look for ‘em. Charlie Fitzgerald was a good man to the whole neighborhood, the town, everywhere.

Julie (00:12:14) - Did you ever go in? I mean, I know it closed in 1960.

Patricia (00:12:18) - Did I ever go in there?

Julie (00:12:19) - Did you go in and dance?

Patricia (00:12:20) - Oh, yes. God, Ruth Brown, James Brown. Oh my God.

Julie (00:12:26) - What was it like?

Patricia (00:12:27) - It was good. You know it’s a barn-like thing, but they had tables all the way around. They didn't allow children in there but a certain time. And see, the dance start 6:30. Ten o'clock we had to be out of there. And girl, I see so many people up in there. It was crowded. People from all over South Carolina was at the Sarah and Charlie Fitzgerald Place. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Julie (00:12:47) - And the white folks were in there, too?

Patricia (00:12:49) - The white folks went in there, too.

Julie (00:12:54) - Unfortunately, not everyone agreed with whites and blacks mixing in places such as Charlie's Place. The following information is gathered from both Patricia's firsthand account and an article titled, “The Night The KKK attacked Charlie's Place, Myrtle Beach's Melting Pot during Segregation” by Gerard Albert.

Julie (00:13:18) It was a very warm August of 1950 and Charlie's Place was full of white and black people dancing together, despite warnings from local authorities who said that integrating like that was dangerous. Late on the night of the 26th, 60 members of the KKK from inland communities drove all around Myrtle Beach to intimidate people, and they wound up driving right by Charlie's Place.

Julie (00:13:44) - Charlie called the police and said if they came back there would be trouble. And a deputy reported that to the KKK. They took the challenge and went back. Charlie had set up camp in his front yard. He had a shotgun ready to protect his family, his home and his business. And when the Klan arrived, they opened fire. They shot up his business, injuring many, and there was one casualty. It was a KKK member who was likely shot by another. Klansman mayhem ensued. Charlie was grabbed and they took him away.

Patricia (00:14:21) - They took him across that bridge in Conway and brought him back across. So they said they cut off his ear and shot him and whatever.

Julie (00:14:30) - Were you in the neighborhood that day?

Patricia (00:14:31) - No, I was in my grandad's shop on 21st and he told us to go in the house and cut off all the lights. And he had a big fire in the front yard, in the front of his shop, with a shotgun ‘cross his lap. He said, “If I get killed, y'all pray.” He said, “But you don't hear no shots, y’all stay where you at until I turn on the lights.” And granddaddy sit there and burn that fire. Next thing we know, Charlie was gone. Charlie was gone. And they found him the next day.

Julie (00:15:05) - Did you hear anything about the activity that happened there?

Patricia (00:15:09) - They wrote it. They wrote it in a newspaper.

Julie (00:15:11) - Okay.

Patricia (00:15:12) - They wrote an article in the newspaper how they dragged him and burned him.

Julie (00:15:18) - Miraculously, Charlie survived the attack and was taken to jail, reportedly, to protect him from the Klansmen. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing and ran Charlie's Place until he died from cancer, five years later. During our interview, I asked Patricia several times what the aftermath of the KKK attack was like in the neighborhood. I wanted to find out if Myrtle Beach changed after such a terrible tragedy. But from what I understood from Patricia, significant change wasn't seen for years, really. In fact, the next day Patricia went to work as usual, babysitting for a white family.

Patricia (00:15:59) - I went to work the next day and I was babysitting a little girl and this sheet thing with the hat and everything was laying across the bed. Little girl said, “If you touch that thing, I'm gonna put your behind in jail and I'm gonna have my daddy kill you.”

Julie (00:16:13) - Oh, wow.

Patricia (00:16:14) - Yeah. That's the way the little kids was. “If you put your foot in that water, in that ocean over there, that black gone come off you, on me — and you gonna get killed.”

Julie (00:16:22) - You mean the little white kids would say that? Wow.

Patricia (00:16:23) - Yeah. They'll tell you anything — First thing come to their mind, they'll tell you. “Don't you take your shoes off out here ‘cause you gonna lose all that black and you be white. No, no, no. Don't do that.” <laugh>

Julie (00:16:38) - And that's just how some of the white kids were. I would imagine there were some adults who were much worse.

Patricia (00:16:44) - We had a garden charging people $25 for a little block of dirt. But they segregate the garden. There's a lot of things they did wrong. They wouldn't give the black children the opportunity to be a police. They wouldn't give them the opportunity to make something out their life. They wouldn't hire ‘em at a motel because they didn't want him to have that percentage of the job. They wouldn't hire to do no car work. I send my son to be a mechanic at Georgetown-Horry Tech. He come back with a license, but they wouldn't give him a job working in the car place.

Julie (00:17:20) - Wow. That must have been infuriating. If you could give advice to people facing racial discrimination, what would you say?

Patricia (00:17:28) - Don't be mean to each other. There's nothing you can do about it. But you can live. Live a clean life and you won't have to worry about what goes on.

Julie (00:17:44) - As you've heard throughout Patricia's story, she has an incredible ability to find joy in her life. Despite the segregation and the racial prejudice in the poverty that she's faced. She credits her resilience to her grandmother who raised her and taught her the importance of love.

Patricia (00:18:02) - She was so strong and she used to love everybody. She said, “You don't have to go around hating people. People didn't make themselves, so you pray. No matter where you at, don't forget about Jesus.” That's what she taught me.

Julie (00:18:22) - And those lessons from her grandmother allowed her to handle some really tough situations in her adult life. Patricia shared with me some of the difficulties she's faced as well as some triumphs. Did you remarry?

Patricia (00:18:36) - Yeah. I married my husband, Henry Burgess. We stayed together 55 years and he died with the Covid, two years ago.

Julie (00:18:43) - Oh, I'm so sorry.

Patricia (00:18:45) - I buried my brother, my husband, and my sister, two years ago, and I tried to get over that — three people in one year.

Julie (00:18:51) - Ah, Patricia, I am so sorry. You've been through so much in your life. What would you say has been the biggest tragedy?

Patricia (00:19:00) - The biggest tragedy that I have in my life has been, my grandma died. I know she had cancer, but the cancer came on her side. I wanted take care of my grandma, like she took care of me.

Julie (00:19:11) - Aw. How old was your grandmother when she passed and —

Patricia (00:19:13) - 55.

Julie (00:19:14) - She was only 55?

Patricia (00:19:17) - Yep.

Julie (00:19:17) - What year was that?

Patricia (00:19:19) - Oh my god. Somebody was… Daddy, Granddaddy was 77. She was 55. I don't know what year that was. I can't keep up with that. I gotta look at my Bible.

Julie (00:19:28) - How old were you when she died?

Patricia (00:19:29) - Oh, I had all three of my kids cause she helped raise them and my baby 55 now.

Julie (00:19:35) - She helped raise your babies too?

Patricia (00:19:36) - All three of my kids. I didn't want to leave my kids with nobody but my grandma. She didn't read until my children showed her how to write her name.

Julie (00:19:47) - Aw. How did you continue after she died? How did that affect your life?

Patricia (00:19:53) - It made me a better person. Nobody here forever.

Julie (00:20:00) - And part of becoming a better person for Patricia included accomplishing two of her lifelong goals.

Patricia (00:20:08) - I didn't never take my kids on vacation all my life. I wanted to take 'em someplace. I rent two vans, <laugh> and carry 17 parts of my family to Florida, to Disney World. And they haven't forgot it yet.

Julie (00:20:21) - And at the age of 50, she accomplished her other lifelong goal.

Patricia (00:20:26) - Went back to high school and got my diploma.

Julie (00:20:28) - How old were you then?

Patricia (00:20:29) - I was about 50. That took me two years. I was 48.

Julie (00:20:34) - You're 48. You went back to high school. Good for you. That is—

Patricia (00:20:37) - I sure did.

Julie (00:20:38) - That is awesome. Were you, was it an adult program?

Patricia (00:20:41) - Yes ma'am.

Julie (00:20:42) - What, if you could talk to the kids in your neighborhood, what kind of advice would you give them?

Patricia (00:20:47) - I'll tell them to study your lesson. Come over here, let me read to you.

Julie (00:20:52) - So mostly what you would wanna tell young people is to make sure they're getting their education.

Patricia (00:20:57) - Get their education and don't forget about Jesus. Serve God first.

Patricia (00:21:07) - But all this I gotta wrote down in my Bible so my children can remember their history.

Julie (00:21:10) - Well, everybody has a story. Everybody has things they've overcome. And I'm interested in Charlie's Place. I'm interested in the history of Myrtle Beach and I just love hearing people's stories and you've got an amazing story. Patricia, I really appreciate your time. It's been delightful talking to you. And thanks for coming in.

Patricia (00:21:30) - God knows you can listen at a woman, too, oh Jesus!

Julie (00:21:33) - Patricia's story is one of positivity, even in the most difficult of circumstances between losing her mother at a young age, living through racism, an abusive marriage, and losing relatives throughout her life. She has really seen it all, but she has still managed to keep a smile on her face and love in her heart for all people.

Julie (00:22:07) - For more inspiring stories from Myrtle Beach like Patricia's, keep listening to episodes of Life's a Beach, and Then You Die. I'm Julie Ellis. Thanks for listening.

Woman (Visit Myrtle Beach) (00:22:22) - Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is The Beach. Here, you're free to be your best self because Myrtle Beach is 60 miles, made for you. You belong at The Beach. Woman (Beach Easy) (00:22:34) - Beach. Easy.