Ms. Ola: The Story of a Silent Generationer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Verginia Jackson is currently the Math Coordinator in the Writing & Math Centers at Albany State University, which is also her alma mater. She tells us that she “love[s] math to the nth degree.” Between tutoring students, she can be seen reading math books and working toward new certifications in mathematics. With a desire to leave a legacy for her family, Verginia writes to record for the future, and as a way to express her devotion to “my Lord, family and church.” She lives in the country raises chickens.
Ms. Ola: The Story of a Silent Generationer
BY VERGINIA JACKSON
Copyright 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Ms. Ola was born in 1939. This time frame was marked by war and economic depression. She was the eldest of eight children (seven girls and one boy, born next to last). Times then were very hard, with money and jobs in short supply. Her parents were share-croppers, which means they worked the farm of others for room and board plus a share in the profits from the sale of the crops at the end of the year. The main cash crops in the South during that time were tobacco and cotton.
Ms. Ola started working in the field to help supplement the family income at around ten years of age. Her day started well before sunrise and did not end until after sunset. Although she was only 10-12 years old, she had to do a woman’s share of the work. That included cooking for the family, cropping tobacco (in season) and picking cotton and other produce in season. She could only attend school when the crops were all harvested or none of the “rich” people on the “place” needed her to help out at the “big house.” Since tobacco season did not end until around June or August and cotton season did not end until around September or October, her school days were limited. Although tobacco left stains on her hands and clothing, cotton picking was the most grueling. She got paid three cents a pound for cotton. A grown man could pick about 100 pounds or so a day but a child, not nearly that much. Therefore, she may have earned $1.50 or less a day.
At the age of twelve or thirteen her mother told her she could only go to school one day a week as long as the “rich” ladies did not need her help. So, while in the fifth or sixth grade, she decided there was no point in her going to school for such a short period of time and that time not guaranteed. Her only choice was to drop out of school and work full time to help the family. Sometimes while working for the “rich ladies,” her pay was old newspapers. She appreciated those newspapers, because with them the family could help seal out the drafts in the house, thereby making it warmer for the family.
When she turned sixteen, she got married. By the age of twenty-one she had four kids of her own. Within another five years she was a single mother with six children to take care of. There was little assistance available to her to help feed and clothe her children There were no food stamps available and welfare was hard to get, especially when your mother-in-law reports that you are receiving money from your ex-husband to meet the needs of the children.
So, Ms. Ola got a job working at a restaurant making pies, cakes and biscuits to feed the prisoners in the local jail. Then she worked as a maid earning about $25.00 a week. This was not enough to properly support her family. Ms. Ola took advantage of an opportunity to go back to school to get more education and hopefully a better job. After completing this new program, she was able to read, write and cipher (do math) a little better. With her new skills, Ola landed a job at a candy factory called “Bob’s Candy.” She worked at Bob’s for about twenty-five years, going from a line-worker tubing candy canes to the stockroom before retiring.
As a Silent Generationer, Ms. Ola had no choice but to take whatever opportunity was presented to her. Her family always came first, as a child and as a mother. She finally retired from Bob’s after working there for over 25 years. She used the money from her profit-sharing to buy her own house. She even went back to work at the candy factory for a short time, just before the company moved to Mexico. Yes, Ms. Ola did pretty well for herself as a Silent Generationer. She left her family a legacy of love, hope and hard work—that also paid off for her.