What Adventist icon
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went from the cotton
fields to the mission fields?
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Stay tuned to find out.
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My name was Yvonne Lewis,
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and you're
watching Urban Report.
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Hello and
welcome to Urban Report.
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My guest today is
Dorothy Knight Marsh,
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author of the
Anna Knight biography,
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"From the Cotton
Fields to the Mission Fields".
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Welcome to
Urban Report, Dorothy.
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Thank you for having me.
Oh, it's so great to have you.
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You know, you sent me this book,
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and it's just so interesting.
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First of all,
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what is your
relationship to Anna Knight?
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Because the book is a
biography, Anna Knight.
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What was your
relationship to her?
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Anna Knight was my great aunt.
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Ah! Yes.
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I used to see her at Oakwood,
I lived at Oakwood as a child,
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and I would see
her on the campus,
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and I regret now
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that I never had a
conversation with her.
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I didn't know her journey,
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but your book so beautifully
outlines her journey.
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But before we
talk about her journey,
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let's talk a little
bit about your journey,
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what made you write this book?
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Well, I found this information,
all of her information,
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but then I found
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the handwritten
copy of her biography,
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and I thought that maybe
I should just share this,
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and so with the new information
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that I've found and incorporate
that into the biography
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that she had already
written, and to update it,
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and I found a lot of
information in interviews.
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It was just so much information
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I just wanted to share it
with the rest of the world.
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Yeah, because her
life was so interesting.
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Where were you born?
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I was born in Soso, Mississippi,
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but I left
there as a young child
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about five years ago,
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and we moved around quite a bit
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and I had lived in cities,
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my father was a
builder for the conference
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and he built a lot of churches,
so we moved around quite a bit.
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So you grew up
in a Christian home.
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Yes.
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And when your
father was a builder
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for the, which conference?
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Well, he work for
several conferences,
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built several churches
in different conferences.
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But I spent a lot
of time in Oakwood,
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growing up mainly at
Oakwood as a young child
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and then entered
an academy there.
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Okay, and so
your whole background
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then was kind of church focused?
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Yes.
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Yeah, and so did you
decide at an early age
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that you wanted to be an author
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or did you take a
different career path?
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What career path did you take?
Well, I was a business woman.
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My husband and I had
our own business for years,
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and I didn't start
out to be an author,
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you know, because that was
not my journey at that time,
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but then, when I
found this information,
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then I started writing the book
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which took me about 15 years
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because, as usual,
life just gets into the way.
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So once we
retired and moved back
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to my birthplace of Mississippi,
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then I decided I
would get really serious
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and finish the book.
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Ah, so this was not something
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that you did in like
a year or six months.
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This was a 15-year project.
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Fifteen-year journey.
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Wow. How did you...
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Was it like giving
birth or did you feel,
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when it was done?
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How did you feel
when it was done?
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When it was done, it
was like giving birth
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because I wanted...
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When it got near to the end,
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I just wanted to hurry
up and push this book out.
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I wanted to get it done. Yeah.
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So when it finally
happened, I was just so happy.
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Oh, I'm sure.
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Let's talk about Anna Knight,
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first of all, her
parents, her family situation.
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I found it to be
very interesting,
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explain that to our viewers.
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She had a very
interesting family.
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Her father was a white farmer,
her mother was a mulatto woman,
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and she had two
sisters and one brother.
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Now they lived
in an area called,
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it was Jones Jasper County,
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and it was just like a compound
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where they were from a
mixed racial community,
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it was the first
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mixed racial
community in that area.
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So therefore, she kind of stayed
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in that community
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with her mother,
and with her brothers,
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her aunts, and uncles
all stayed in that community.
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So her dad was Newt
Knight? Was Newt Knight.
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About whom they
made the movie. Yes.
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With... The Free State of Jones.
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The Free State of Jones.
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So her dad was Newt
Knight, her mom was...
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Georgeanne. Georgette?
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Georgeanne, and they...
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So when you say it
was a mixed community,
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do you mean it
wasn't segregated?
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When you say it
was a mixed community,
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was it a segregated community
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or were blacks and
whites living together?
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How was that?
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Well, there was...
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Newt was a very busy man,
he had an all-white family,
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he had two mixed race family.
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So head of family, my
great grandmother Rachel
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who died at early age,
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and then they had a
family by Georgeanne,
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and they were all mixed,
you know, the white and black.
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Too black to be white
and too white to be black.
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Yeah. So they lived there.
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You know, when I would see
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Sister Anna
Knight on Oakwood campus,
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she looked white.
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I mean, she absolutely
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I guess passed for
white in certain environments,
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but they were
called at that time
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White Negros, correct?
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Correct. The book you said...
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Yes, they were
called White Negros.
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White Negros.
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And so what kind of life...
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Like, as a White Negro,
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could you pass like
in certain environments
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or people knew
that you were black,
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so you couldn't, you
didn't fit in anywhere,
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how was life as a White Negro?
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Well, some of them left the area
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and did pass for
white and lived as white
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most of their
lives, they still do.
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And then the
others, they stayed there,
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everybody knew who they
were, but they never bothered,
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it was just something
nobody never talked about
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but they knew exactly
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who they were and
who we were living there,
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but no-one just
never talked about it.
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They just said those are
the Newt Knight's children
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from Jasper
County and that was it.
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And did the black children
associate with the white,
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you know, the brothers
and sisters from Newt Knight?
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Yes.
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So the family, the
children played together
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and knew each other
as sisters and brothers?
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That is correct.
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And so how did the, I
know I'm asking a lot,
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but these are
questions I'm pretty sure
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viewers would want to know
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because you kind of
automatically assess like,
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how did the white wife
deal with the black wife.
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I mean, how did they get along?
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At first, they did not get along
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and she had left at one
point but she came back.
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Who, the white wife?
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The white wife Serena,
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she left at one
point but she came back,
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and Rachel, like I
said, died at an early age
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and they didn't
associate that much.
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But Newt took
care of all of them,
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all the
children, all of his wives,
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he took care of them in
his own little community
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there that he had established.
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It's an area called
Six Town in Mississippi,
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so he established that community
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and he just took care
of all of his families,
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the white, half white,
and another half white.
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So he kind of,
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he was a man that
nobody questioned him
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and he could do
exactly what he wanted to do.
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Was he a wealthy man?
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Not a wealthy man,
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but he was a hard worker
and he owned a lot of land.
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But he wasn't
wealthy by any means,
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but he was just a hard worker
that took care of everyone,
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not only his
family, but during the war,
00:08:47.39\00:08:50.43
he took care of
all the other families
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and the widows that
were left from the war.
00:08:52.76\00:08:55.13
He was the one that gave
them the food and the shelter
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that they needed
during the Civil War.
00:08:59.43\00:09:02.17
So he was a man that
you loved or you hated.
00:09:02.20\00:09:06.84
Interesting character. Yes.
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Did he consider
himself a Christian
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because he was a polygamist,
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I mean, he had
these different wives,
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but he wasn't,
probably wasn't legally married
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to the black ones
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'cause you
couldn't legally marry
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black in those days,
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you couldn't mix
races at that time.
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No, but it was thought sort
of like a common love marriage
00:09:27.13\00:09:30.47
between the wives,
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but, you know, like I said,
he played by his own rules.
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Yes, he called himself,
he was a Baptist, I think,
00:09:35.80\00:09:40.51
but he called
himself a Christian man
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but I don't know
how you could say that.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, it's a perspective. Yeah.
00:09:49.42\00:09:52.42
So it was out
of that environment
00:09:52.45\00:09:56.66
that Anna Knight was
born into a mixed household?
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That's correct.
00:10:03.57\00:10:04.90
How often was her dad around?
Was he or around regularly?
00:10:04.93\00:10:10.11
Was he there on a
regular basis to parent her?
00:10:10.17\00:10:14.18
Or did her mom just
kind of have to do it?
00:10:14.24\00:10:17.21
He was involved in
all of his family's lives,
00:10:17.25\00:10:19.85
all of them.
00:10:19.88\00:10:21.22
He would come around to
see to it that everything,
00:10:21.25\00:10:24.82
everybody was taken
care of and they had their,
00:10:24.85\00:10:27.96
they were not slaves now,
00:10:27.99\00:10:29.49
all these women
lived in his property
00:10:29.52\00:10:30.93
but they were free women
00:10:30.96\00:10:32.43
and they were sharecropped,
00:10:32.46\00:10:33.86
so they had their own land,
00:10:33.90\00:10:35.23
eventually
Georgeanne and his mother
00:10:35.26\00:10:37.13
bought her own land,
00:10:37.20\00:10:38.53
she owned about 160
acres of land herself.
00:10:38.57\00:10:41.90
So she was hard
working woman herself
00:10:41.94\00:10:45.04
and so she
provided for her children
00:10:45.07\00:10:47.94
and he provided for them also.
00:10:47.98\00:10:50.88
So Newt was not
Georgeanne's father.
00:10:55.15\00:10:57.82
No.
00:10:57.85\00:10:59.19
Okay, so Rachel was
Georgeanne's mother.
00:10:59.22\00:11:03.29
Right. But Newt wasn't.
00:11:03.32\00:11:05.29
And so Georgeanne grew up
and then Newt married her.
00:11:05.33\00:11:08.76
That's correct. Yeah.
00:11:08.80\00:11:10.67
When Rachel came
to live with Newt,
00:11:10.73\00:11:13.50
she had Georgeanne
00:11:13.54\00:11:16.37
and another little
girl named Rosette,
00:11:16.40\00:11:19.24
which we don't
know too much about,
00:11:19.27\00:11:20.84
and she was
pregnant with Jeffrey.
00:11:20.88\00:11:23.65
And then, so Georgeanne
was not related to Newt at all.
00:11:23.71\00:11:29.52
So it was just
Rachel's daughter.
00:11:29.55\00:11:32.39
Right, right. By another man.
00:11:32.42\00:11:34.22
So what kind of
childhood did Anna Knight have?
00:11:34.26\00:11:37.89
It was kind of a rough childhood
00:11:37.93\00:11:39.63
because there was so many
people living in this log cabin
00:11:39.66\00:11:43.30
besides her two
sisters and brother,
00:11:43.33\00:11:46.47
there were
uncles that lived there,
00:11:46.50\00:11:48.80
they were married,
00:11:48.84\00:11:50.24
and they were just
hardworking people.
00:11:50.27\00:11:53.11
They had one big house
where there was the bedrooms
00:11:53.14\00:11:57.08
and they had another
house that was the kitchen
00:11:57.11\00:11:59.51
where everybody would eat,
00:11:59.55\00:12:01.08
and this is where
they cooked their food.
00:12:01.12\00:12:02.95
But Georgeanne...
00:12:02.98\00:12:04.32
I mean Anna was always felt like
00:12:04.35\00:12:06.96
she was in the
way and pushed around
00:12:06.99\00:12:08.86
'cause there was
just so many people.
00:12:08.89\00:12:10.63
So she spent a lot of her
time out in the woods, nature,
00:12:10.66\00:12:14.10
and that's why she
loved to go and take her dog,
00:12:14.10\00:12:17.60
and go to the woods,
and eat the wild berries
00:12:17.63\00:12:19.77
and the nutgrass and muscadines,
00:12:19.80\00:12:22.07
and that's what
she preferred to do.
00:12:22.10\00:12:24.94
So she was kind of a
loner, was she introverted?
00:12:24.97\00:12:29.44
No, not at all.
00:12:29.48\00:12:31.38
No, she always
loved to be around people
00:12:31.41\00:12:34.68
and always was
the teacher preacher,
00:12:34.72\00:12:37.62
just the kind of person she was.
00:12:37.65\00:12:40.82
So how did she...
00:12:40.86\00:12:43.73
Because she
learned to read. Yes.
00:12:43.79\00:12:45.83
How did she learn to read?
00:12:45.86\00:12:47.83
Her mother did chores
00:12:47.86\00:12:50.50
for the other
families in the area,
00:12:50.53\00:12:53.37
and for doing the laundry,
00:12:53.40\00:12:56.00
doing the chores
for the families,
00:12:56.04\00:12:58.11
they said, "I would do this
00:12:58.14\00:12:59.77
if you would teach my
daughter how to read."
00:12:59.81\00:13:02.38
And Anna decided
00:13:02.41\00:13:03.75
that she would do
the children's chores
00:13:03.78\00:13:05.68
if they would teach
her how to read too.
00:13:05.71\00:13:07.95
So when they were
finished their books
00:13:07.98\00:13:09.95
the Blue Back Speller,
00:13:09.98\00:13:11.45
they would give them to Anna
00:13:11.49\00:13:13.39
and they would teach her
00:13:13.46\00:13:15.09
how to form the
letters and the words,
00:13:15.12\00:13:17.79
and that's how she
learned how to read.
00:13:17.83\00:13:21.33
And she was very
motivated, wasn't she?
00:13:21.36\00:13:23.43
Yes, she was.
00:13:23.47\00:13:24.83
From the book,
00:13:24.87\00:13:26.20
it sounded as though
she really wanted to learn,
00:13:26.23\00:13:30.17
she had a zest of
thirst for knowledge.
00:13:30.21\00:13:33.64
Yes.
00:13:33.68\00:13:35.01
And she would go off and read
00:13:35.04\00:13:36.38
and just like enjoy
00:13:36.41\00:13:38.41
that time away
and read and study.
00:13:38.45\00:13:42.22
Read and study.
00:13:42.25\00:13:43.59
She knew there was
something better in life for her
00:13:43.65\00:13:46.62
than what she had.
00:13:46.65\00:13:48.06
So the only way
for her to get out
00:13:48.09\00:13:50.89
was to get an education
00:13:50.93\00:13:52.59
and to read and
learn how to write.
00:13:52.63\00:13:54.83
And how did she
get that education?
00:13:54.86\00:13:59.63
Her mother,
00:13:59.67\00:14:01.07
when they went, glimpse
back, she went to the Soso,
00:14:01.10\00:14:04.84
which is a town about six
miles from where they lived,
00:14:04.87\00:14:08.01
and there a man came by
was selling these magazines,
00:14:08.04\00:14:11.88
subscriptions to
a little newspaper,
00:14:11.91\00:14:14.95
and Anna begged her
mother to give her the money
00:14:14.98\00:14:18.32
so she could get
that subscription
00:14:18.35\00:14:20.46
and her mother gave it to her
00:14:20.49\00:14:21.86
but she gave her a
big tongue lashing,
00:14:21.89\00:14:24.13
"So you should never ask me
00:14:24.16\00:14:26.13
in front of
people like that again."
00:14:26.16\00:14:27.96
So in the
magazine, she found letters,
00:14:28.00\00:14:31.70
I mean place
called Cousins' Exchange,
00:14:31.73\00:14:34.34
and there is where
she learned how to write,
00:14:34.37\00:14:38.47
other people her age and said,
00:14:38.51\00:14:40.74
"Would you please
send me some reading matter
00:14:40.78\00:14:43.71
and I want to read."
00:14:43.75\00:14:45.65
And so she
received a lot of magazines
00:14:45.68\00:14:48.05
like Wild Bill magazines,
novels and stuff like that,
00:14:48.08\00:14:53.02
but she finally
ended up getting a magazine
00:14:53.05\00:14:56.32
from Miss Emery, which
was Signs of the Times,
00:14:56.36\00:15:01.03
and when she
found that magazine,
00:15:01.06\00:15:03.23
that was the one that
she fell in love with.
00:15:03.26\00:15:07.04
So that was kind
of an introduction
00:15:07.07\00:15:11.27
into spiritual information?
00:15:11.31\00:15:13.31
That is correct.
00:15:13.38\00:15:15.21
So expand on that, how did she,
00:15:15.24\00:15:17.15
how did her
spiritual path develop?
00:15:17.18\00:15:19.78
Then after she started
getting that information,
00:15:19.81\00:15:22.05
Miss Emery put her in
touch with the Chambers,
00:15:22.08\00:15:25.12
Mr. and Mrs. Chambers out
of Chattanooga, Tennessee,
00:15:25.15\00:15:28.56
and so he would continue
to send her information,
00:15:28.59\00:15:30.93
a youth
instructor, and a little friend
00:15:30.96\00:15:35.50
so that she could
read the information
00:15:35.53\00:15:38.33
but she didn't know
what she was reading,
00:15:38.37\00:15:40.14
she didn't know
what religion this was,
00:15:40.20\00:15:41.77
all she knew that she loved it,
00:15:41.80\00:15:43.51
she had to find out
more and more about it.
00:15:43.57\00:15:46.74
And so they kept
sending her the information,
00:15:46.78\00:15:49.48
and finally,
she told her mother,
00:15:49.51\00:15:52.65
"I want to go to Chattanooga,
you know, to meet the Chambers.
00:15:52.68\00:15:57.15
And so I can get an
education and find out
00:15:57.19\00:16:00.42
what is this newfound religion."
00:16:00.49\00:16:02.82
And then that's what she did.
00:16:02.86\00:16:04.49
She left home
and... How old was she?
00:16:04.53\00:16:06.46
She was about 16 at
that time and everybody said,
00:16:06.49\00:16:10.17
"You can't go out there,
00:16:10.20\00:16:11.53
you haven't caught
a train by yourself,
00:16:11.57\00:16:12.90
somebody will kill you,
get kidnapped or anything,
00:16:12.93\00:16:15.87
so you can't go."
00:16:15.90\00:16:17.31
But she went anyway,
00:16:17.34\00:16:18.67
she was a very,
very determined lady,
00:16:18.71\00:16:21.64
but she went anyway.
00:16:21.68\00:16:24.25
So she went to
Chattanooga from Mississippi?
00:16:24.28\00:16:26.82
Right.
00:16:26.85\00:16:28.18
On her own at 16. At 16.
00:16:28.22\00:16:30.69
How did her mom
feel about her going?
00:16:30.72\00:16:33.36
Like what kind of reaction
did she get from her mother?
00:16:33.39\00:16:36.59
She didn't like it at all.
00:16:36.62\00:16:38.33
She said, "But if
your head did set on it,
00:16:38.36\00:16:40.43
you go ahead and go."
00:16:40.50\00:16:42.06
So her father
came around and said,
00:16:42.10\00:16:43.77
"If you're gonna go,
00:16:43.83\00:16:45.40
and if people ask who
you are, what you are,
00:16:45.43\00:16:48.10
just say nothing."
00:16:48.14\00:16:50.07
And so she kept those words,
00:16:50.11\00:16:51.54
she didn't say anything
when they ask, "Who you are?"
00:16:51.57\00:16:55.14
And but she went ahead anyway
but her mother and her family
00:16:55.18\00:16:58.41
did not like her
leaving home at an early age.
00:16:58.45\00:17:02.78
So when she got to
Chattanooga, how she received?
00:17:02.82\00:17:06.82
The Chambers
received her with open arms.
00:17:06.89\00:17:09.79
It was a family,
they kind of like
00:17:09.82\00:17:11.23
took in a lot of
young girls to train them
00:17:11.26\00:17:14.63
and to help
them to go to school.
00:17:14.66\00:17:16.77
So she was no different
from any of the other girls.
00:17:16.80\00:17:19.40
They didn't ask who she was,
00:17:19.43\00:17:20.77
if she was white
or black or what,
00:17:20.84\00:17:23.04
they just took her in
just like one of their own
00:17:23.07\00:17:25.94
and they taught her
about Seventh-day Adventism.
00:17:25.97\00:17:29.64
And so she decided
she would join the church
00:17:29.68\00:17:32.85
and get baptized
while she was there.
00:17:32.88\00:17:35.42
Wow. So look at God.
00:17:35.45\00:17:37.09
I mean look at how God
orchestrated all of that,
00:17:37.12\00:17:41.29
you know, brought her
to Him through literature,
00:17:41.32\00:17:46.43
and then she got an education.
00:17:46.46\00:17:49.96
I mean, God is
just... He's so amazing.
00:17:50.03\00:17:52.57
He has a plan
for everyone's life.
00:17:52.60\00:17:55.27
He does.
00:17:55.30\00:17:56.67
She had no idea were
God was gonna take her.
00:17:56.71\00:17:59.44
No, she didn't. She had no idea.
00:17:59.47\00:18:01.61
So she got that education there,
00:18:01.64\00:18:04.71
and she had, I
remember reading in the book,
00:18:04.75\00:18:07.35
she had a hard time at first
at the school in Chattanooga,
00:18:07.38\00:18:11.59
tells us a
little bit about that.
00:18:11.62\00:18:13.69
Well, they asked her,
00:18:13.72\00:18:15.32
"Since you're
gonna be up here with us,
00:18:15.36\00:18:16.69
we're gonna send you to school."
00:18:16.76\00:18:18.69
So they sent her
to Graysville Academy
00:18:18.73\00:18:22.13
to go to school.
00:18:22.16\00:18:23.77
And while there,
the other students said,
00:18:23.80\00:18:27.04
you know, "We have
somebody in our classroom,
00:18:27.07\00:18:30.71
a gringo they called her,
00:18:30.74\00:18:32.61
and we don't know
who or what she is,
00:18:32.64\00:18:34.84
but if she's in our classroom,
00:18:34.88\00:18:36.98
we don't want to
come back to school."
00:18:37.05\00:18:38.51
So the parents said,
00:18:38.55\00:18:39.88
"If you don't take this
person out of this classroom,
00:18:39.91\00:18:42.25
we will not send our
children back to school."
00:18:42.28\00:18:44.89
So she only had attended
a real school for one day
00:18:44.92\00:18:49.69
and she had to leave the school.
00:18:49.72\00:18:52.16
And the Chambers
taught her, home-schooled her.
00:18:52.19\00:18:56.50
So how beautiful of them,
they didn't send her back.
00:18:56.53\00:18:59.03
They didn't send her
back They home-schooled her.
00:18:59.07\00:19:01.94
And then she left
there and went where?
00:19:01.97\00:19:04.14
To Mount Vernon Academy.
00:19:04.17\00:19:06.71
And they prepared her to
go to Mount Vernon Academy
00:19:06.74\00:19:10.18
and that was
further away from home.
00:19:10.21\00:19:12.61
She, you know, she
didn't tell her mother,
00:19:12.65\00:19:15.15
mother didn't know
where she was going
00:19:15.18\00:19:16.92
but she would write the
letters back to her and tell
00:19:16.95\00:19:19.82
"I'm in Mount Vernon, Ohio now,
going to Mount Vernon Academy."
00:19:19.85\00:19:24.26
She always made sure
that mother knew where she was
00:19:24.29\00:19:27.23
even though her mother
did not answer her letters.
00:19:27.23\00:19:30.97
Could her mother read?
00:19:31.00\00:19:32.33
Yes, she could read. Okay, okay.
00:19:32.37\00:19:34.50
If she couldn't, she had
someone to read it for her,
00:19:34.54\00:19:36.81
but she understood.
00:19:36.84\00:19:38.17
Yeah, but she
never answered her.
00:19:38.21\00:19:39.84
Never answered her. Wow.
00:19:39.87\00:19:42.18
So from the
academy, where did she go?
00:19:42.21\00:19:45.98
She went to Battle
Creek Industrial School.
00:19:46.01\00:19:50.29
They heard about that,
00:19:50.32\00:19:52.09
and it was two
nurses that she had met
00:19:52.12\00:19:55.12
while she worked in Chattanooga,
00:19:55.16\00:19:57.33
they recommended her to go to
00:19:57.36\00:19:59.79
the Battle Creek
Sanitarium Industrial School,
00:19:59.83\00:20:02.90
and she was accepted into that.
00:20:02.93\00:20:04.47
She went to
Battle Creek, Michigan.
00:20:04.50\00:20:08.27
There again,
further away from home
00:20:08.30\00:20:10.77
and started
school and worked her way
00:20:10.81\00:20:13.38
through school there.
00:20:13.44\00:20:15.18
And one of the things
that I noticed in the book is
00:20:15.21\00:20:18.01
how industrious she was,
what strong work ethic she had.
00:20:18.05\00:20:22.65
She wasn't somebody
who would just slouch
00:20:22.68\00:20:25.79
or half do anything.
00:20:25.82\00:20:27.89
She really focused on getting
the job done and doing it well,
00:20:27.92\00:20:31.96
and she stood
out among her peers
00:20:31.99\00:20:33.90
as a result of that.
00:20:33.96\00:20:35.26
She did. She did.
00:20:35.30\00:20:36.70
How did she get to India?
00:20:36.73\00:20:39.83
I think is 1901, when she left,
00:20:39.87\00:20:42.50
when she graduated
from Battle Creek in 1898.
00:20:42.54\00:20:45.61
She came back to Mississippi
00:20:45.64\00:20:47.91
because she graduated
as a missionary nurse,
00:20:47.94\00:20:51.35
so they ask her
what does she want to do,
00:20:51.38\00:20:52.88
she said, "I want to go to
00:20:52.91\00:20:54.25
the mission
field to Mississippi."
00:20:54.28\00:20:57.82
When she went
back to Mississippi,
00:20:57.85\00:21:00.16
then she got a call
00:21:00.19\00:21:01.52
to attend general
conference session
00:21:01.56\00:21:04.03
and Dr. Kellogg asked for people
00:21:04.06\00:21:06.46
to go to India as
missionary nurses,
00:21:06.49\00:21:09.66
and she and another
lady volunteered to go.
00:21:09.70\00:21:13.60
So there again, she
never returned home,
00:21:13.64\00:21:16.91
she said, "But if you send
someone to take over my school,
00:21:16.97\00:21:20.14
then I will go to India."
00:21:20.18\00:21:22.01
Because she had started a school
00:21:22.04\00:21:24.31
among the black
people in Mississippi.
00:21:24.35\00:21:28.98
The mixed race
community which no school
00:21:29.02\00:21:32.12
will accept the
children from that community.
00:21:32.15\00:21:35.86
No school?
00:21:35.89\00:21:37.23
No school, they
could not go to school
00:21:37.29\00:21:39.73
because they were
too white or too black.
00:21:39.76\00:21:42.83
And so they
couldn't go to school,
00:21:42.86\00:21:44.90
so she came back and
started her own school
00:21:44.93\00:21:47.80
for the children.
00:21:47.84\00:21:49.17
That's beautiful.
00:21:49.20\00:21:50.54
So she started the school
00:21:50.57\00:21:52.67
and one of the
things that she asked God
00:21:52.71\00:21:55.24
to let her know if she
should go to India was...
00:21:55.28\00:21:58.51
Tell us.
00:21:58.55\00:21:59.95
If she'd go to India,
00:22:00.05\00:22:01.38
"If you helped meet
since went to my school,
00:22:01.42\00:22:03.22
then I'm going to India."
00:22:03.25\00:22:05.02
She prayed all
night and cried all night.
00:22:05.05\00:22:08.09
And she made up her mind
00:22:08.12\00:22:09.46
that she's going
to go ahead to India,
00:22:09.49\00:22:11.03
they did find someone to go
to her school in Mississippi,
00:22:11.06\00:22:14.73
and she went to India
as a missionary nurse.
00:22:14.76\00:22:18.20
Wow. What happened to
her while she was in India?
00:22:18.23\00:22:21.84
She did a lot of
things, she worked,
00:22:21.87\00:22:25.24
first she
started out in Calcutta,
00:22:25.27\00:22:27.14
but then she heard
about the Karmatar mission
00:22:27.18\00:22:29.74
that needed people,
needed some help there,
00:22:29.78\00:22:32.88
so she went to the Karmatar
to work as a nurse, bookkeeper,
00:22:32.91\00:22:38.49
taught classes and
did a lot of medical work
00:22:38.52\00:22:42.76
with the village people.
00:22:42.79\00:22:44.69
She loved working with
the lower income people
00:22:44.73\00:22:48.80
and so she preferred
working with the village people.
00:22:48.83\00:22:52.23
And so she did a lot of work
00:22:52.27\00:22:56.27
with the local people,
traveling back and forth
00:22:56.30\00:23:00.58
from North and South
India always on the train
00:23:00.61\00:23:04.25
and selling books, magazine,
and just teaching the people.
00:23:04.28\00:23:09.85
In the book, you
have some great pictures
00:23:09.88\00:23:12.05
of Anna and her family,
00:23:12.09\00:23:14.09
let's take a
look at some of them.
00:23:14.16\00:23:15.79
I think the first
one that we have is Newt,
00:23:15.82\00:23:19.13
tell us about that picture.
00:23:19.16\00:23:22.40
That's a picture of
her father Newt Knight,
00:23:22.43\00:23:25.03
and he also was, they
call him Captain Newt Knight
00:23:25.07\00:23:28.90
because he formed his own
army during the Civil War,
00:23:28.94\00:23:31.51
but that was her father.
00:23:31.54\00:23:32.87
Wow. And now we have her mom.
00:23:32.91\00:23:35.34
Her mother is Georgeanne,
00:23:35.38\00:23:37.81
and she was Anna's mother
00:23:37.85\00:23:41.32
and they had four
children together.
00:23:41.35\00:23:46.19
Four children. Together. Wow.
00:23:46.22\00:23:47.86
The next one we have
is Anna as a young girl.
00:23:47.89\00:23:51.16
How old was she in this picture?
00:23:51.19\00:23:52.53
She was about 17 years old.
00:23:52.56\00:23:55.10
That was the first
time she was leaving home
00:23:55.13\00:23:56.83
when she had
their picture taken.
00:23:56.90\00:23:59.63
Oh, so she had it
taken just before she left?
00:23:59.67\00:24:02.14
Yes.
00:24:02.17\00:24:03.51
And we have
another picture of her.
00:24:03.54\00:24:06.14
And that's when she graduated
00:24:06.17\00:24:07.58
from Battle Creek
Sanitarium in 1898
00:24:07.61\00:24:11.61
as a missionary nurse.
00:24:11.65\00:24:14.02
A missionary nurse. Yeah.
00:24:14.05\00:24:15.42
Look how lovely she looked. Yes.
00:24:15.45\00:24:18.62
And then I think
we have one more,
00:24:18.65\00:24:20.19
the couple that was good her.
00:24:20.26\00:24:22.96
That was Elder
and Mrs. Dyo Chambers,
00:24:22.99\00:24:25.83
and they were the ones
00:24:25.86\00:24:27.20
who helped her
to get her education
00:24:27.23\00:24:29.56
and the ones that were sort of
00:24:29.60\00:24:30.93
like a surrogate parent for her.
00:24:30.97\00:24:32.97
Wow.
00:24:33.00\00:24:34.34
And then the
last one is a more...
00:24:34.37\00:24:36.87
Well, it's not current,
00:24:36.91\00:24:38.24
but this was in her later years.
00:24:38.27\00:24:40.84
What was this, the center?
00:24:40.88\00:24:43.61
This is the Anna Knight
Center for Women's Leadership
00:24:43.65\00:24:47.75
established at
Oakwood University,
00:24:47.78\00:24:49.92
it was dedicated last
March, very, very proud of that.
00:24:49.95\00:24:54.69
Our family gifted
all of the information
00:24:54.72\00:24:57.49
regarding Anna
Knight to the university.
00:24:57.53\00:25:00.96
And this is going to be a center
00:25:00.96\00:25:02.63
where young women could
come and train to be leaders.
00:25:02.66\00:25:06.53
We want them to take a role
as leaders in their communities
00:25:06.57\00:25:12.51
and in their church in
order to be change agents.
00:25:12.54\00:25:16.21
So that's what
the center is about.
00:25:16.24\00:25:18.85
They'll be able to come there
and study her life what she led
00:25:18.88\00:25:22.48
and any other women
that have done great things,
00:25:22.52\00:25:26.59
information is in that center.
00:25:26.62\00:25:29.16
So we're very,
very proud of that,
00:25:29.19\00:25:31.16
we did a lot of hard
work and got that through,
00:25:31.19\00:25:34.46
and it's a
beautiful, beautiful center.
00:25:34.46\00:25:37.13
And when you see go there
00:25:37.17\00:25:38.50
and you see her
coming out of the door,
00:25:38.53\00:25:40.14
you have to take a step back
00:25:40.20\00:25:41.54
because it looks like
00:25:41.57\00:25:42.90
she just walking
straight toward you.
00:25:42.94\00:25:46.11
It is kind of 3D.
00:25:46.14\00:25:47.54
It's beautiful, yes,
00:25:47.58\00:25:48.91
it's located in
the Dykes Library
00:25:48.94\00:25:52.78
in the bottom floor
00:25:52.81\00:25:54.18
across from
Ellen G. White Estate,
00:25:54.22\00:25:57.55
so we are very,
very proud of that.
00:25:57.59\00:25:59.72
Very nice, very nice.
00:25:59.75\00:26:02.56
What do you think
00:26:02.59\00:26:04.36
would be her burden
for young women now?
00:26:04.39\00:26:09.06
I think her burden
would be that women have to,
00:26:09.10\00:26:15.44
don't take no for
an answer, you know,
00:26:15.47\00:26:18.34
even though a lot of obstacles
could be put in your way,
00:26:18.37\00:26:21.58
you must learn
how to get over them
00:26:21.61\00:26:24.15
and she started
everything with nothing,
00:26:24.18\00:26:27.02
and they can do the same
thing is to start with nothing
00:26:27.05\00:26:30.89
and make something
really, really great
00:26:30.92\00:26:34.16
because she was a little
green girl from Mississippi
00:26:34.19\00:26:36.49
who turned out to be
00:26:36.52\00:26:38.36
the marvelous
woman that she was.
00:26:38.39\00:26:40.50
Yes. When does she live and die?
00:26:40.53\00:26:43.97
She lived, she retired
at Oakwood College then,
00:26:44.03\00:26:48.14
and she died in
1972, at the age of 98.
00:26:48.17\00:26:53.98
Ninety-eight, when
was she born, do you know?
00:26:54.04\00:26:56.31
She was born in March 4th, 1874.
00:26:56.34\00:27:00.05
1874. Yup.
00:27:00.08\00:27:02.98
She saw a lot.
00:27:03.02\00:27:04.35
She saw a lot
00:27:04.39\00:27:05.82
and she's buried in
00:27:05.85\00:27:07.19
Newt Knight
Cemetery in Mississippi,
00:27:07.22\00:27:09.52
and she was the last person
to be buried in that cemetery.
00:27:09.56\00:27:13.09
Did she ever
marry or have children?
00:27:13.13\00:27:15.20
Never married,
never had children.
00:27:15.23\00:27:17.63
Her thing was
that all the children
00:27:17.67\00:27:20.44
that she taught
or helped to educate,
00:27:20.47\00:27:24.11
those were her children,
you know, that was her,
00:27:24.14\00:27:27.28
she just wanted to
make sure that every child
00:27:27.31\00:27:29.41
that wanted
education could get one,
00:27:29.44\00:27:32.25
and that's what she
dedicated her life to,
00:27:32.28\00:27:34.32
training teachers to teach
00:27:34.35\00:27:36.92
and to making sure the children
00:27:36.99\00:27:38.79
had all their
physical examinations,
00:27:38.82\00:27:40.86
and then she prepared the
curriculum for the teachers
00:27:40.89\00:27:43.63
and made sure that
everyone got an education.
00:27:43.66\00:27:45.73
Wow.
00:27:45.76\00:27:47.10
You know, when
I went to Oakwood,
00:27:47.13\00:27:49.16
I went there in my childhood,
00:27:49.20\00:27:51.67
Anna went there
partially for college,
00:27:51.70\00:27:54.30
and as a child,
00:27:54.34\00:27:55.67
I went to the Anna
Knight Elementary School.
00:27:55.70\00:27:57.07
That's right.
00:27:57.11\00:27:58.44
So they even named
the school after her?
00:27:58.47\00:28:00.61
That is correct.
00:28:00.64\00:28:01.98
And which is now
Anna Knight Hall,
00:28:02.01\00:28:03.78
which is the education
building on the campus.
00:28:03.81\00:28:06.65
Wow.
00:28:06.68\00:28:08.02
Well, thank you so
much for being with us.
00:28:08.05\00:28:09.38
You're welcome.
00:28:09.42\00:28:10.75
This was such an
interesting journey that she had
00:28:10.82\00:28:13.82
and interesting
interview with you
00:28:13.89\00:28:15.69
as you share her life
with us, thank you so much.
00:28:15.72\00:28:19.49
Thank you.
00:28:19.53\00:28:20.86
Ecclesiastes 9:10
00:28:20.93\00:28:22.53
in the New King
James Version says,
00:28:22.56\00:28:24.60
"Whatever your hand finds to do,
00:28:24.63\00:28:27.14
do it with your
might for there is no work
00:28:27.17\00:28:30.04
or device or
knowledge or wisdom in the grave
00:28:30.11\00:28:32.71
where you are going."
00:28:32.74\00:28:34.31
Anna Knight did her very best
00:28:34.34\00:28:36.88
and therefore, she
inspired us to do likewise.
00:28:36.95\00:28:41.15
You too can be a leader.
00:28:41.18\00:28:44.02
God's got a plan for you,
00:28:44.09\00:28:46.19
just ask Him what His
plan is and go for it.
00:28:46.22\00:28:50.33
Well, I can't
believe our time is up.
00:28:50.36\00:28:52.66
Thank you so
much for joining us.
00:28:52.69\00:28:54.73
Join us next time
'cause you know what?
00:28:54.76\00:28:56.93
It just wouldn't be
the same without you.
00:28:56.97\00:28:59.83