History interview with Allensworth town resident, Armilda Archer Smith, daughter of George and Lucy Archer. Her father was a farmer and her mother was a midwife and general nurse in Allensworth. The Archer family had relocated along with Joshua Singleton to Allensworth from Kansas in 1912 when Mrs. Smith was 10 years old. She was educated at the first town elementary school, located in James Hackett’s home, by William A. Payne and Margaret Prince. During summer breaks, Mrs. Smith worked at the granaries and frequented the Mary Dickinson Memorial Library run by Ethel Hall Norton. Born May 30, 1895, Norton was among those few African-American librarians in the early 20th century with an opportunity to provide public library service to an African-American clientele. Mrs. Smith also recalls various town residents such as Joshua Singleton, the General Store Owner and friend of the family, Mary Gross, owner of the Allensworth drugstore, and other early citizens.
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