BY JANIE GOULD

Decades before integration, black children in Indian River County traveled to Fort Pierce to go to school. Then, in the 1920s, someone donated land along U.S. 1 for a school in the predominantly black community of Gifford, just north of Vero Beach. Eddie Hudson went to school there in the 1940s.

“It no longer exists there, but it was a frame building that had a big hall down the middle,” Hudson said. The classrooms were on either side. The drinking fountain was like a cows’ trough.”

Q: “And it was sulfur water. Right?”

A: “Yeah. We didn’t have running water in Gifford. Either you drilled your well yourself and put your pitcher pump on it or some people in Gifford were able to have an artesian well drilled and they would charge families a small fee to tap into it.”

Q: “What did you have?”

A: “Originally, we had our own well. Then when our neighbor had a company drill an artesian well, our father was able to come up with the $50 to tap in.”

Q: “But you didn’t have running water…”

A: “We did not have inside plumbing at all.”

Q: “What was school like?”

A: “We had excellent teachers!  The only problem, and I didn’t learn that until after the fact, was that the books that we got were always used. The kids in town used the books when they were new.”

Q: “You mean the Vero kids?”

A:”The Vero kids, yes.  There were never enough books. God rest her soul, Mrs. Bernice Johnson had about 35 kids in her class. She may have had 10 spellers and 15 math books.  It hurt her so much that some of us didn’t get books to take home. She found out where each one of us lived. Back then, we didn’t have street names so we had to describe to her where we lived.”

Q: “The streets weren’t named?”

A: “No. There were no signs on the streets. Mrs. Johnson was one of the teachers who would find out where you lived. If I lived near you, she would give me a math book to take home and maybe give you a speller. If I had math homework, I’d get it done and then I’d bring that book to you. By that time, you should have your spelling words done and you’d give me the speller.”

Q: “What about lunch at school?”

A: “You had to pay for your lunch.”

Q: “How much?”

A: “I think it was ten cents a day.”

With nine children in the Hudson family, paying for school lunches was out of the question. Their mother would make extra pancakes in the morning and send them to school in a sack.

“When lunch time came we would all gather around!”

A more modern Gifford High School came along in the early 1950s, but unlike Vero Beach High School it didn’t have a laboratory or gym at first. But Hudson has happy memories of growing up in Gifford. Kids played marbles and made their own toys, he says.

“We’d make bird traps. We’d take those birds home and clean them. My mother would take the birds and cook a pot of rice, put the birds in it and it would make a meal.”

Q: “What kind of birds?”

A: “Any kind we could get! Blue birds, red birds, cardinals, quail.”

Q: “Was this in your yard?”

A: “Oh no. We’d go out in the woods. I’m surprised that none of us really got bitten by snakes.”

Q: “Were you barefoot?”

A: “Yeah. I went to school barefoot sometimes!  But we had fun. I mean, there was no life like it growing up.”

Eddie Hudson and one of his brothers used to hunt rabbits, which often congregated in culverts in citrus groves.

“Some guy told us that what we could do was get a big sack, put it on one end of the culvert, and get something like a fishing pole and run it down the other end, and the rabbits would run out and get into the sack. The rabbits, of course, provided meals for us as well. My mother used to put batter on them and fry them like chicken. A couple of years ago, I went out to one of the supermarkets and bought some rabbit and made a rabbit meal out of it. Very delicious!”

Q: “Did it bring back memories?”

A: “Oh yes.”

Eddie Hudson, who earned a doctorate in education, retired in 1995 after 34 years as a teacher and administrator in Indian River County.

This story was first heard as a radio segment on Janie Gould’s Floridays show on WQCS/88.9 FM, NPR for the Treasure Coast. To hear more Floridays shows, go to wqcs.org and click on News.