Friday. November 5. ms

SCARLET AND BLACK

Page Fin

 

View Poverty

Des ﬁctions Bottoms direct Shows
iiiiﬂy @f life Beneath The Edit?!

By JOHN WOLF
JEAN VANDERVOORT
JOHN PHILLIPS

We went to Des Moines last Fri-
day not knowing too much about
poverty conditions in Iowa’s capi»
tat. other than the {act that there
weie major “modest” areas.

The southeast “Bottoms" area
was mh‘ immediate target. This
section lies about a mile trom the
nculy gilded capitol dome, which

THE FIRST WOMAN we ialked to

is a prominent feature to the north
ol‘ the Slums, In theory, this is the
worst slum area, and for some
reason has so far been passed up
in Des Moines' urban renewal
plans.

The residents of the district are
well integrated—7o per cent white.
25 per cent Negro, and 5 per cent
Mexican. They aren't crowded,
either; the area has a rural, al-
most appealing (at least on a
warm fall day), appearance it you
ignore certain unpleasant aspects.

our approach to learning about
the Bottoms area was [0 walh’
conspicuously and gruboily
tlii-o gh the streets rind to look
tor people who might be willing
to talk to lhzee obviol out tiers.

t~ t proved unexpectedly

l, and 0111' first contact

'lln an old Mexican wnman

Whﬂ had lived l'Cl’ 1.0 years in the

house from which she emerged to

l‘ .

She spoke poor English, but she
was glad to answer our questions.

"All my children were born and
wet: married in this house. NOW
both boys are divorced," She said
without much concern.

Bath her daughters lived up the
bl .i. Her daughters' children ap—

. cntly were among the old la-
dies pleasures in life. she had
Halloween decorations, made zit
school by her grandchildren, pasted
on the windows of her home —
probably among the beslrkept
houses in the neighborhood.

 

The neighborhood on a whole is
quite unlike the pleasant houses
that surround our college. About
90 per cent of the homes don't
have complete plumbing facilities.
Consequently, otithotises, and de-
crepit ones at that, add their una
painted and ramshackle appear-
ances to an area that otherwise
is sufficiently drab and run down.
Many of the streets remain unr
paved, Yards are generally filled
with grass and weeds which grow

had lived in the same
Bottoms—area house since coming to Des Molnex from
Mexico 40 years age.

over broken machinery and other
junk scattered thrnugh the area.

But the old Mexican woman
didn't complain about her condi-
tions. In fact, she claimed, "1 am
happy." Happy despite her inabil-
ity to communicate easily With
her neighbors, who included Nee
groes, Italians, and a group which
the woman simply called “Amen
icons." No one nearby spoke her
native Spanish, not
daughters. _

Her activities consisted of going
to church once a wcclt, going
downtown occasionally to eat at a
dlmestore, and visiting her husA
band's git a. With little more
than a tinge oi grief, she said,
“The cemetery is my life."

Her husband had worked in thc'

nearbytmilroad freight yards. She
now lived on social security and
other benefits.

The railroads provide employ;
ment tor a number 0! the Bottoms

residents. There are manufactur-
ing concerns and some packing
houses on the southeast part of

A FACTORY that males
night bags wanted the pipe
party of this old Negro
women. She thinks she will
lell bul doesn't know where

she will move.

even her '

 

town to keep nearly everyone in
the area employed. Unemplaye
ment doesn't seem to be at the
base or Des Molnes' poverty. Des
Moines seems able to provide
each citizen ivtth a job, btit the
city can'[ follow tip that achieve
ment with commensurate living
conditions.

As we were about to leave, the
lady wondered why they didn’t fix
the place tip. and she pointed to
the unpaved streets and two anr
cieni houses that were fallng a
part across the street. She thought
maybe the area was being re-
served tor a factory sometime in
the future. Why pave the streets
if you’re gomg to build a factory?

.Illlllllllllllllllllllllllllilllllll:llllllllltliillllllllllllllllllllltllllllillllllllllllllll

Lives in House
Behind Factory

illllllllllllllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllIIIIlllllllllllllllilllllllliilllilllll

We wandered toward a factory
that makes the little travel bags
you get trom some airlines. Just
behind the plant we saw an old
Negro woman working in her yard
which was the site or a typical
area hnmckadded to piecemeal
over the years. erratically paint-
ed, glassed in with plastic sheets,
and just not possessing the uni-
fied quality generally associated
With a house.

The woman disappeared inside
beiore we got to the house, so we
went to the back door and
knocked. In the back was a pump,
on Outhouse, and a small coop
for chickens.

The woman, dressed in denim
Coveralls and a wide»brimmed hat,
answered our knock and talked
rettccntly tor awhile from behind
her screen door, and then stepped
outside to answer our queries.

The woman surprised us when
she noted that she was 72 years
old. She had lived on the property
she now occupies (or 35 years,
she said.

 

 

ii hes Molues, Chicago, urinate

 

The IOWA CAPITOL is only a mile away train the Bot,
rains district, where you can ﬁnd wooded areas — and
ouihnuses near home: without plumbing.

Now, however, her property had
become destrable. The flight-bag
tactory wanted it for expansion,
“and ii they otter me enough I'll
let them have it."

She didn‘t have any idea where
she would move II she sold her
land, but she said he had lots
of relatives on the west side of
Des Moines.

Her parents came from Virgin»
la, but she was born in Iowa.
Her family moved to Des Moincs
in 1917, and her father started the
Cafeteria in the IDwa Slate House.

We were impressed by her in-
telligence and again were stir-
prised to learn she had gotten no
further In her formal education
than one semester at East High
School ln Des MDines. Still, she
knew a lot about the natural his-
tory and geology of the area and
was well acquainted with the op

erotions of the flightrbag factory.

The old Negro woman made a
little money trom her chickens, but
her main support was from her
late husband‘s pension; he had
worked at the Burlington Railroad
roundhﬂuse.

We asked her if she got water
from the pump in h - yard. “The
pump doesn't wor was her re-
ply. “A neighbor up the road
brings me water. I use rain water
—sott waterilor doing dishes.
Otherwise 1 only use about a buck.
or a week."

She was very proud oi the fact
that in her immediate family
“eight boys are in the service, and
we have five or siX_ nurses. I
don‘t know about the sixth one
because she’s only three months
old." '

We walked several blocks and

(Continued on Page ii)

 

