Nancy Payne
I learned what I could do and what I couldn’t do. And I made myself satisfied, not doing what other folks done… I was always independent. I was poor but I was independent… Because that’s the only way to be independent anywhere you are. You have to accept it.
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In 1947 at twenty years old, Nancy Payne moved from Virginia to Chester, Pennsylvania. She was one of the many in the Great Migration from the South to the North, a period from 1910 to 1970 that would transform the entire United States and all the people who lived through it. Like many before Ms. Payne and afterwards, she migrated seeking employment. Yet, that was clearly not the only reason she moved. In her interview, Ms. Payne expressed her desire for independence and freedom. She moved to the North looking for opportunities in labor, but also to find a chance to live the life she wanted.
Interviewed by Abraham Bae on March 16, 2009