RM3 Jessie Ada Richardson Oral History Side A

title:

RM3 Jessie Ada Richardson Oral History Side A

creator:

Richardson, Jessie Ada (1923 August 14 - )

subject:

Navy WAVES

description:

Side 1 of 2. Jessie Ada Richardson was born on August 14, 1923 in New Orleans, Louisiana as the eighth child and second daughter in the family. Her family was very poor when she was a child, her mother did laundry at home and her father was a waiter on the railroad line. Her father was away a lot, but he wrote them letters every day. Her mother died when she was 5 years old of a ruptured appendix. She had gone to the hospital, but they did have enough space for “Coloreds”, and she was denied a bed. Jessie graduated from high school from MacDonald No. 35 in 1941. She was selling government bonds in Chicago, Illinois when she heard on the radio in 1944 that they were going to allow African American women to enlist, so she went down to enlist in the Navy WAVES the following Monday morning. Her father disowned her for joining, arguing the Navy was a hotbed of prejudice. Later, he still didn’t write her letters but did watch her on newsreels and read articles about her. She went to basic training at Hunter College in New York. She believes she was the first African American WAVE and remembers the press taking pictures of her and being in newsreels. (The interviewer shares that there were two women before her by date) She was assigned to her first apartment by name, so she was grouped with white women who she bonded with quite easily, much to her surprise. She went to Saks Fifth Avenue for her uniform fitting, and they took pictures of the process for the press. Training was 6 weeks, but it took an extra 6 weeks for the Navy to figure out assignments for her and the 8 other black WAVES. The nine of them were all assigned to San Diego, California. They initially lived in a hotel off-base due to some conflict surrounding integration. She started with clerical work, but she taught herself Morse code and was assigned to the radio room. She recalls being in the room and crying when they decoded the message about the atomic bombs and she learned how many people had died. When she was out, people would take pictures of her and were very proud of her. She received almost 300 letters from people. When she was at jazz concerts, sometimes the musicians would see her in uniform and ask her on stage. She stayed in the radio room in San Diego until she was discharged in 1946. While in the service, the doctor found an issue with her heart, and she believes this led to her discharge in 1946 despite her wanting to stay in the service. After her discharge, she had trouble finding a job despite her experience, because she was African American. She eventually found a job with the city of Detroit, Michigan while living with her sister. She later moved to Los Angeles, California since she didn’t particularly like Detroit, Chicago, and New Orleans and figured she could go back to California. When she left the service in 1946 Richardson had reached the rank of radioman 3rd class, and for her service she was awarded an American Campaign Medal and World War II Victory Medal. A transcript of this interview is available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Scott, Kate M.

date:

2005-06-22

type:

Audio

format:

Cassette

identifier:

787; 2005.787

source:

CLIR - Recordings at Risk

language:

English

relation:

358129

coverage:

World War II (1939-1945) | 1944-46

rights:

Unrestricted