T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Beachaump, Estelle COLLECTION: 4700.0881
IDENTIFICATION: Estelle
Beachaump is the oldest member of the Shiloh
Missionary Baptist Church of Baton
Rouge,
INTERVIEWER: Salaam,
Tayari kwa
PROJECT: McKinley 3: African American Churches
INTERVIEW DATES: June
23, 1997
FOCUS DATES: 1904 – 1997
ABSTRACT:
T 1259, Side A.
Introduction; Estelle Deda Beachaump was born
in 1904 in the Spanishtown area of Baton Rouge;
attended Leland College and had two beauty parlors; will turn ninety-four;
occupation of beauty culture and religious education; educated at Leland
College in Baker and in St. Louis; father, Sam Beachaump,
was a painter; mother, Mary Beachaump, was a
housewife, raising thirteen children; Estelle is the oldest child living;
parents had educations; believes religion helps you live right; names Shiloh's
pastors as Byrd, Mitchell, Smith, and Smith; Shiloh has Christian education,
not secular education, and has always had educated leaders; founded by Reverend
Byrd; Shiloh moved with the colored people out of Spanish town; presently
located on Eddie Robinson Drive; has been added on to four times; tells of her
mother's story of the church being built out of piano boxes and logs out of the
Mississippi River, and Reverend Thompson making pews out of logs; remembers
Reverend Mitchell and the Shiloh Kindergarten School; Estelle reared her
niece's four children; remembers Pastor D. T. Smith and the educational building
and the church annex; reflects on current pastor Smith and children's
education, helping the old folks in homes, and missionary work; Smith's
personality and treatment makes people want to come to church; believes Shiloh
is about the best church in Baton Rouge due
to over sixty years service; was baptized at age twelve; explains “confessing”
and baptism as saying you have religion and believe in God; loves Shiloh, the
religious education, and how they help anybody and everybody; likes everything
about Shiloh and would tell them if she didn't.
TAPES: T1259 TOTAL
PLAYING TIME: 26 minutes
# PAGES
TRANSCRIPT: 24 pages
OTHER
MATERIALS: Index,
Interview Data Sheet, Interviewee Information Sheet, Correspondence
RESTRICTIONS:
None